In Deuteronomy 18, Moses told the people that prophets other than Moses would rise from the nation to “speak to them” all God required of them, (cf. 18:15-18). This, of course, is seen in the history of the nation. The most significant voices that followed, men like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc., have had their voices recorded in the canon of the Old Testament. The Hebrew writer spoke of these men. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets…” (Hebrews 1:1).
An obvious question arises. How were they to know the prophet was from God? Consider Moses words, “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
The presumptuous prophet is one who speaks on his own authority, not God’s. With regard to the prediction of upcoming events, it is easy to see which prophet is not of God, as the event does not come true. Simply put, every prediction regarding the Lord’s second coming that has not come to pass was predicted by a man who spoke presumptuously.
Consider God’s instructions regarding such men. “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:20). To speak presumptuously, that is, to speak with the claim that a word is from God when it is not, is an abomination to the Lord.
Today, do we have to wait for fulfillment (or lack thereof) to determine if a prophet is from God? Actually, no. The next verse of Hebrews 1 says that God has, “in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they” (Hebrews 1:2-4).
Jesus is the final prophet. His words have been compiled into the finished product which is our New Testament. Now that we have “that which is perfect” (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:-10), partial prophecy has been done away with. Hear this: Any man who claims to be speaking words given Him directly by God is a false prophet. Any man who departs from the words written in the pages of the New Testament is acting presumptuously, and is endangering himself and those who hear him (cf. 2 Peter 2:1-3). Beware the presumptuous prophet, and do not “be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).
