The Prophets’ Counsel
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret
unto His servants the prophets
Amos 3:7
“The Prophets’ Counsel” is the second kind of
heavenly gathering.
GOD Almighty, indeed, will do nothing if He has not
revealed His secret to His prophets.
‘The prophet’ is GOD’s mouth-piece—GOD speaks to people, He
speaks to the nations through the ministry of His prophets. The prophetic
ministry is GOD’s agency in the world, by which He unveils His will, plan and
purposes; as they are written in His Word.
He declares “the Mystery of GOD” to His servants the
prophets (read Rev. 10:7).
Prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 23:
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my
bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome,
because of the LORD, and because of the Words of His holiness.
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the
land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their
course is evil, and their force is not right.
For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I
found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon
them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they
prophesied in Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing:
they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of
evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto
Me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah (verses 9-14).
“The prophets of Samaria” prophesied in the name of Baal
(verse 13).
“The prophets of Jerusalem” committed adultery, and walked
in lies: they strengthened also the hands of evildoers… (v.14) Because of this
horrible thing, the LORD said: “they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the
inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.”
Verse 15 states, Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water
of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all
the land.
Wormwood is mentioned seven times in the Hebrew Bible,
always with the implication of bitterness.
The word “wormwood” appears several times in the Old
Testament, translated from the Hebrew term (la'anah, which means
"curse" in Hebrew).
Wormwood is only mentioned once in the Book of Revelation:
"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star,
blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the
springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters
turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter"
(Rev 8:10–11).
Verse 16 says, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words
of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision
of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
Verse 17: They say still unto them that despise Me, The LORD hath
said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the
imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
Verse 18 declares, For who hath stood in the Counsel of the LORD, and hath
perceived and heard His Word? who hath marked His Word, and heard it?
The prophet perceives the divine thoughts of GOD’s heart
and hears a Word of Prophecy or ‘Word of Knowledge’ from GOD, on behalf of the
nations and the people.
Continuing this passage as is on record:
Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a
grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He have executed,
and till He have performed the thoughts of His heart: in the latter days ye
shall consider it perfectly.
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken
to them, yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to
hear My Words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from
the evil of their doings.
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?
saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in My
Name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that
prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
Which think to cause My people to forget My Name by their dreams
which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten My
Name for Baal.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that
hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?
saith the LORD.
Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD,
that steal My Words every one from his neighbour.
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use
their tongues, and say, He saith.
Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the
LORD, and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies, and by their
lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not
profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask
thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them,
What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that
shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to
his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every
man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the Words of the Living
God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered
thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith
the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent
unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I
will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you
out of My presence:
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten (vv.19-40)
The true prophet stands in the LORD’s Counsel.
But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to
hear My Words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from
the evil of their doings (Jer. 23:22).
GOD's Word is like fire!
His Word is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.
“The Prophets’ Counsel” is ‘the LORD’s
Counsel’. This
is why Amos 3:7 declares:
Surely the Lord GOD will
do nothing, but He revealeth His secret