The prophet who speaks to the king this way had better be sure he has heard the word of God!
Any man who accuses the king of such a heinous crime must be sure that he is righteously accusing the king—if not, he is risking his life!
Prophets were in the old days called "seers," as in "one who sees."
Read that again, because it's revelation.
A prophet is a "seer"—one with SUPERNATURAL EYESIGHT!
Nathan had to "see" into the spirit and discern what David's crime was and what God wanted him to say to the king.
That is the gist of supernatural eyesight. It is "seeing"
into the spirit and reporting what God wants reported.
Another prophet who had to be sure of what he was saying was Elijah the Tishbite, who is unceremoniously introduced to the Bible reader like this:
"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
1 Kings 17:1
This prophet has seen so clearly into the spirit and the supernatural that he is confident saying that rain will only fall when he says it will fall.
Dew will only gather on the ground when he says it will.
Now, rain is one thing, dew is quite another.
Dew forms on the ground as the water vapor in the air condenses and clings to the grass, the ground and other objects.
Elijah pronounced that not only would rain not fall—but dew would also not form on the ground during the time until he would say it would again form.
The prophet had to be sure that he had heard this from the Lord—that his statement was true.
Such was his confidence in the vision God had given him that he was able to pronounce that he himself would be the one whose announcement would bring the rain back.
The role of the prophet is such that the men and women who fill it must be plugged into God—they must be sure of the revelation they are receiving and they must be able to communicate that message effectively to the audience God has called them to communicate it to.
Even when a prophet profoundly dislikes the duty he has been called to do, in his heart, he knows that what God has called him to do is true.
The prophet Jonah, for instance, obviously had supernatural eyesight—he was called to preach to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, that they were about to be overthrown for their sin.
But Jonah, as a good, patriotic Israelite, wanted Nineveh to be overthrown. Assyria was a constant threat to Israel, and
it was the hated enemy of his people.
Jonah, who had insight into the spirit, knew that if Nineveh repented at his preaching, God would have mercy on the people there and the city would not be overthrown.
In other words, as a good, patriotic Israelite, Jonah had no desire to see Nineveh repent. He would much rather see them overthrown.
And for awhile, his patriotism wins out—Jonah flees his responsibility:
"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD."
Jonah 1:1-3 His loyalties were with Israel, not with God at that point
—mainly because his desire was to see the enemies of Israel perish.
But Jonah knew in his heart that he had to deliver the message God had given him.
When a storm threatens the ship upon which Jonah had escaped, he claims that he fears the Lord and the Lord is the one who has brought about this storm.
We know the story: a giant fish swallows Jonah, and then spits him upon the ground three days later.
Jonah, understanding that he must obey God's call on his
life and the things he has seen with supernatural eyesight, goes to Nineveh and preaches.
"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish:for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be
angry for the gourd?
And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto
death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity
on the gourd, for the which thou hast not
laboured, neither modest it grow; which came
up in a night, and perished in a night: And
should not I spare Nineveh, that great city,
wherein are more then sixscore thousand
persons that cannot discern between their right
hand and their left hand; and also much
cattle?"
Jonah 4:1-11
Jonah again talks to God and says, "I told you so! When I was still in Israel, I didn't want to come here because I knew if they repented, You'd have mercy on them."God uses the metaphor of the gourd to explain to Jonah that, if he could have pity on a plant, God certainly could have pity on an entire city of people who knew no better than to lose themselves in sin.
Even in his disgruntled state, Jonah is taught a tremendous message about God's mercy—that His mercy is not relegated to one nation or one group of people. God is looking for hearts that will turn to Him, not just hearts from one nation.
Supernatural eyesight brings with it a responsibility to learn at the feet of the Lord, even when that lesson may be one that disagrees with everything you have ever believed, as it did with Jonah.
But one prophet stands head and shoulders beyond every other prophet for the depth of his supernatural eyesight—the breadth of his understanding of God and His nature.
That prophet, of course, is John the Baptist, about whom Jesus said,
"Verily I say unto you, Among them that are
born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."
Matthew 11:11
John the Baptist was the prophet who prepared the way for Jesus.His role in life was to prepare Israel for the advent of its
Messiah. He was the one who called the nation to repent, told the king of the nation that his relationship was unholy.
And he was the one who pronounced that Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world."
His supernatural eyesight was so pervasive, so all-present in his life, that while he was yet in his mother's womb, he rejoiced in the presence of God as Jesus approached, also in his mother's womb.
Such supernatural eyesight is clearly in the Old Testament and the early New Testament the role of prophets
—those specifically called to peer into the supernatural and relay the message found there to those who are solidly living in the natural.
But with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit made His home in men, and the nature of God's relationship with mankind fundamentally changed—making all believers "kings and priests."
CHAPTER 6: