If it’s not in the written Word, one cannot say, “Thus saith the Lord”

If it’s not in the written Word, one cannot say, “Thus saith the Lord”

The Bible affirms that the era of the prophets, as with the canon of Scripture, has closed. There is no necessity for new revelations today. We already possess the sufficiency of the Bible, which declares, "Thus says the Lord." Shouldn't we consider what we have in the Bible as sufficient? Why then do people persist in either adding to or subtracting from the Word of God by proclaiming their own "prophecy," most of which fail completely? In the Bible, every word spoken by the prophets was on behalf of God and constituted the word of God. Adding to Scripture is to tread on perilous territory (Deut 4:2; Prov 30:6; Rev 22:18-29).

Regarding the legitimacy of someone claiming to be a prophet, Deuteronomy 18:22 offers guidance: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." God's prophets are infallible, as their prophecies always come true because they originate from God, who is never wrong. Unlike humans, God has the power to fulfill prophecies. Jeremiah states that a prophet's authenticity is confirmed when their prophecy is fulfilled, as noted in Jeremiah 28:9: "The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him." Otherwise, they are not a true prophet, but a false one.

To affirm that the Bible, or the canon of Scripture, is complete and therefore closed, the author of Hebrews states, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;" (Heb.1:1-2). This is expressed as past tense, indicating that it has already happened. It does not imply that God continues to speak through the prophets today. Similarly, Jude refers to it as "... the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 1:3), emphasizing again the past tense; it has been delivered, and there are no further deliveries from God.

Scripture provides us with everything we need and more. For over 2,000 years, Jesus has been establishing His church, and as the Apostle Paul states, the church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" (Eph 2:20). After two millennia, there is no need to lay another foundation atop the ancient one already set. Stability comes not from new foundations, but from building upon the ones the Apostles and Prophets laid, with Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. The task now is to continue the growth of the church. Currently, God communicates through His Son (Heb 1:2).

The Bible contains numerous instances of "thus saith the Lord," particularly attributed to Old Testament prophets, without any human authority attached to these divine words. This contrasts with modern-day prophets who claim to speak for God. They have reversed the roles; in ancient times, God spoke to men, not the other way around. It is straightforward to test if someone has truly spoken "in the name of the LORD"; a single error disqualifies them as God's spokesperson. Regardless of whether the error occurs once or multiple times, genuine prophets were never wrong. Any self-declared prophet today, prophecies from human imagination, driven by pride and the desire for acceptance. Given that the Scriptures are considered complete (Deut 4:2; Prov 30:6; Heb 1:1-2; Jude 1:3; Rev 22:18-19), any individual claiming today to fill the office of a "prophet" or "apostle", similar to those of the same office in the Bible, are not conveying messages from God. Today we have teachers, evangelists, and pastors, all of which can teach their audiences the rightly divided Word of God from the Bible texts, but no human today can claim to speak new revelations from God, or speak of future events, or speak God's instructions and will over people. Every saint, no matter how small or tall, can open a King James Bible, the written Word of God (in English), and read it for themselves, finding revelations that God spoke, learning of future events, and discovering God's will and desires for them. The Bible is the words that God speaks today. Everything else is human imagination and ultimately, vanity.

The Bible provides criteria to discern whether a prophet's words are truly from God. Numerous verses suggest that no further revelation is needed beyond what is already provided in Scripture. Is that not sufficient? Is additional divine revelation necessary beyond the Bible? Do we question if the Bible alone is enough? Engaging in such questioning is risky, as there is another entity in this world that seeks to mimic God and His prophets (2 Cor 4:3-4). God will not employ humans to deliver a "new Word from God." He will not resort to human imagination or divination above His already established Word. We should heed the cautionary tale of Aaron's sons who presented "strange fire" (novel doctrines) before the Lord and suffered death as a consequence (Lev 10:1-3).

Inspired and adapted from this source.