Our Debt to the Gift of Prophecy

To the gift of prophecy as manifest through Moses, we owe, as expressed by another, “that important portion of Holy Scripture, the Pentateuch, which makes us acquainted with the creation of the world, the entrance of sin and death, the first promises of redemption, the Flood, the peopling of the postdiluvian earth, and the origin of nations, the call of Abraham, and the giving of the law. We have, indeed, in it the early history of religion, and a key to all the subsequent dispensations of God to man.” “The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia and Scriptural Dictionary,” Vol. II, art., “Moses,” p. 1189.AGP 54.4

“There is, therefore, no sphere of human life today in Europe or America where the influence of Moses is not overwhelmingly felt…. If Moses has been so immeasurably important to the human race, why is it that some scholars have questioned his historical existence? It is a strange and interesting fact that the greater a man is, the more probable will be the denial, some centuries after his death, that he ever existed at all.” “The Story of Religion,” Charles Francis Potter, p. 35.AGP 54.5

Bible expositors and commentators are prone to point to the genius of Moses, and to his scholastic and military training in the royal family of Egypt, in accounting for his great achievements.AGP 54.6

They enlarge upon his great gifts as statesman, organizer, administrator, and writer, implying, if not directly stating, that the great accomplishments accredited to him were the natural products of extraordinary human gifts lavished upon him by nature and training.AGP 55.1

But this was not the view held by Moses himself, nor is it the representation set forth in the Scriptures of truth. That word declares that Moses “endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” Hebrews 11:27. He lived, moved, thought, and acted through fellowship with Christ. He kept in close touch with his divine Leader, and through the revelation of the Holy Spirit received divine instruction and guidance in all that he attempted to do. The great accomplishments of his life were, therefore, the product of this instruction. He was God’s prophet, God’s ambassador to men. To him the prophetic gift was imparted in the highest and fullest degree. Kyle estimates the man Moses correctly when he says:AGP 55.2

“The career and the works and the character of Moses culminate in the prophetic office. It was as prophet that Moses was essentially leader. It was as prophet that he held the place of highest eminence in the world until a greater than Moses came…. Moses’ revelation of God ever transcends the speculations of theologians about God as a sunrise transcends a treatise on the solar spectrum. While the speculations are cold and lifeless, the revelation is vital and glorious…. Such was the Hebrew leader, lawgiver, prophet, poet; among mere men, ‘the foremost man of all this world.’” “The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,” Vol. III, art., “Moses,” pp. 2090, 2091.