Chapter 14 Who Has Spoken by the Prophets

Who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

1. We are told in this section of the creed that the Holy Spirit "has spoken by the prophets" and draw warm comfort and joy from that fact.
2. The words of God have come most commonly and clearly through the prophets of God to His people.
3. Prophets are referred to as "the mouthpiece of God" because by the Holy Spirit these men spoke the very words of God.
4. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says, Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
5. Proverbs 29:18a (Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.), is often misused as a positive thinking or motivational type verse when the words used in the verse - in Hebrew - are a parallelism that restates a truth about the revelatory word of God.
6. The popular notion today of a prophet is more of a 'fortune teller' or one who only predicts future events.
7. In classical times, a prophet was used to interpret signs & dreams, like the Oracle at Delphi.
8. In pagan rituals, drugs/narcotics or frenzied activities were used to induce prophecies.
9. Pagan prophecies originate from the person who is involved, the are self-induced. 
10. For a biblical prophet there is always an intelligent discourse.  God speaks to his prophets in an intelligible exchange.  (ie Moses - Ex. 4:15-16, Jeremiah - Jer.1:6-9, and Isaiah - Is. 6:1-8)
11. God continues to speak to us today through the Holy Spirit that dwells within us as believers.  He is revealed in His holy word - the Bible.
12. Verses:
    Daniel 4:8 & 18   Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.)....."This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."
    Ezekial 11:5  Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon me, and he told me to say: "This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, O house of Israel, but I know what is going through your mind.
    (example of direct exchange) Numbers 27:12-18  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes." (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.) Moses said to the LORD, "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."
    So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him.