Have There Been ANY Prophets
Since the New Testament was Completed?

What Does the Bible Say? 

Lorraine Day, M.D.

 

In Bible times, both the time of the Old Testament and the time of the New Testament, few people knew how to read and write, and there were no printing presses.  The Bible was copied by scribes, one copy at a time, a very slow and tedious process.  Therefore, the Scriptures were available to only a few.  Without the prophets, the masses would have no access to information from God. 

In the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophets who then spoke to the people, giving them messages from God. 

“God, who in many times and in many ways, spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all, through whom He also made the eons (incorrectly translated “worlds”). Hebrews 1:1,2 

The Old Testament prophets wrote down what God told them.  It has all been captured in the books of the Old Testament for us to read and study. 

Approximately 400 years after the Old Testament was completed, Jesus Christ was born into the earth, after which God spoke through “His Son” and the God-inspired New Testament writings about “His Son” - Jesus Christ - according to Hebrews 1:1,2 (above).  

The inspired writers of the books of the New Testament wrote everything that was necessary for us to know about Jesus Christ - and about prophecy.  It’s all in the Bible – in the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Nothing is missing, therefore there is no need for any prophets after the New Testament was finished, including any supposed “prophets” in our time. 

Since the completion of the New Testament, those who claim to be “prophets” are clearly defying God’s Word in Hebrews 1:1,2. 

Again, God tells us:

“God, who in many times and in many ways, spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.” Hebrews 1:1,2 

The Scriptures are God’s “Word” – and Jesus IS the “Word.” 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1: 1, 14 

Therefore, God speaks to us through “His Son” – God’s Word – the Bible. 

The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy 

In Revelation 1:9, the apostle John, the author of the book of Revelation, tells us that he was exiled to the Island of Patmos, an island that is 62 miles from the mainland of Turkey and almost 200 miles from Pireaus, the main port of Greece.  Even today, it is a 9 hour trip by ferry.  John was about 90 years old when he was exiled to Patmos, so his captors felt comfortable that he could never leave.  It was highly unlikely that he would have attempted to swim to shore to escape his imprisonment. 

In Revelation 1:9, John gives the reason why he was exiled to this lonely deserted island: “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” 

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” 

Later in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 19:10, John tells us that the testimony of Jesus IS the Spirit of Prophecy. 

“And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.  And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 

“And I fell at his feet to worship him.  And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” John 19:9,10 

John has clearly told us that he was exiled to Patmos for the “word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ which IS the spirit of prophecy.” 

Obviously, John was not exiled to Patmos because he was reading the writings of any present day supposed “prophet.”  He clearly states that the “testimony of Jesus” – the life that Jesus lived on earth as documented in the New Testament books – IS the “spirit of prophecy.”  And John was exiled because he was a follower of Jesus Christ. 

Unfortunately, some Christians have fraudulently confiscated the term “spirit of prophecy” and applied it to the writings of a person they have decided on their own to be an end times “prophet” when the Bible tells us it only applies to Jesus Christ, Himself. 

No “End Times” Prophets 

The Bible tells us very plainly that there are no “end-time” prophets.  Hebrews 1:1,2 reveals that God spoke through prophets before Jesus was physically born into the earth.  But after Jesus came to earth as a “man,” God spoke “through His Son” – the God-inspired writings of the New Testament. 

The Life of Jesus on earth IS the Spirit of Prophecy.   

The Old Testament (the First Testament) was written by God by inspiration through the Prophets.  The New Testament (the Second Testament) contains the words and actions of Jesus (God) Himself, and the writings about Him and His earthly ministry, also inspired directly by God. 

The Book of Revelation was a vision given to John by Jesus Christ directly, telling of things to come in the End Times (the “day of the Lord”). 

God, in His Word, is telling us that with the last of the Prophets – the ones clearly chosen by God, including John, the Revelator, that there would be NO MORE prophecy given.  All prophecy – the foretelling of the future - would be right in God’s Word. 

There would be those who spread the message of the Gospel and by so doing, “speak for God” (“your sons and daughters will prophesy – “speak for God” – Acts 2:17) but all the foretelling of events is already in the Bible that we now have. 

More About “The isle that is called Patmos"

The island of Patmos is today part of Greece. It is located among the Sporades group of islands in The Aegean Sea near the west coast of Turkey. It is a relatively small member of the group, measuring only about 6 by 10 miles with a very irregular coastline.

The Romans used Patmos, and numerous other legally remote (i.e. where the prisoners had no legal rights but were held indefinitely without charge or trial, subject solely to the whim of the Roman emperor) bases like it as a place for political or religious prisoners.  This is similar in purpose to the modern-day "detainee" concentration camp run by the US in communist Cuba during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. 

According to Eusebius, John was sent to Patmos in the year 95 by the Roman emperor Domitian.  Since he, and all of The Twelve Apostles were roughly the same age as Jesus, John would by that time have been 80-90 years old - making him very likely the only apostle to survive to old age.  All the rest were martyred much earlier.