In a recent attempt to define the difference between Old Covenant prophecy and New Covenant prophecy a columnist advocated that the focus of prophecy for believers is the dirt in other people’s lives, urging believers to “treasure what’s in the dirt”. 

This is another shocking example of what happens when those who are not apostles are allowed to teach the doctrine of Christ. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Prophecy for the believer today is the treasure of the heart of God—Jesus Christ.

We ought to treasure what God treasures. Jesus Christ is the Oath of all creation. He is the very will and conscience of God, our Redeemer, Lord, and Saviour.

When in covenant with God, He daily gives us confirmation upon confirmation of Jesus Christ. These gifts of grace fill the heart with wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual understanding, which the Holy Spirit breathes upon to affect change for the purpose of maturing us in spiritual things. New Covenant saints prophesy Jesus Christ.

In this article we’ll learn the goal of New Testament prophecy and learn how prophecy in the New Testament differs from prophecy in the Old Testament and equally important, how they are remarkably the same.

We’ll also get into the reason behind the distortion (wanting to prophesy the dirt in one’s life) to learn how this priesthood of the flesh got rooted in the minds of believers, and why it is seen as a virtue, when in reality it is a transgression against God.

The calling of the prophet is one of the 5 callings into the government of God. God calls prophets into His government to function with a measure of grace in the Body of Christ. Not all are called into the office of the prophet, but God calls all believers to function as priests at the altar of Christ to offer up to God spiritual sacrifices of knowledge, which is priesthood prophecy. When Apostle Paul wrote, “You may ALL prophesy one by one” he was speaking of priesthood prophecy, not the prophet’s calling.

The priesthood of each believer is focused on reciprocating the knowledge of Christ. That is, to prophesy Christ, to give utterance to His knowledge, drawing from the foundation of truth set in the heart by the apostles God called into His government. A minister cannot simply step into the office of the prophet not knowing anything about the terms of the New Covenant and never having learned or functioned in priesthood prophecy.

This is a powerful point of discernment for you. In the past it was possible for this charade to go on unchallenged. False ministers claimed to be God’s generals of prayer, they taught about naming, claiming, confessing. They wanted their prophetic words and ministry to be judged on their people skills, networking skills, ministry connections, ability to write articles, their financial successes, speaking engagements, etc.

Gone are those days. Anyone claiming to prophesy in the name of God, check if they are functioning in priesthood prophecy. The one (the office) does not come before the other (the altar).

Once believers get this, you’ll find that some will try to implement this shift on their own, but their prophecy is bombastic, filled with high-sounding words that inflate the aspiration and thus again besmirch the name of Christ. They designed their own altar of knowledge to retain their independence, which thing God hates.

False ministers are building false altars, which are made of knowledge that is colored with the flesh and hence they will see virtue in the dirt of the old man as they exchange these tokens of the flesh to honor each other. They have cast off the cords of God’s love in the oversight of His apostle that He assigned to place the stones of Christ in their heart and thus prophesy the condition of their own heart—darkness.

The basic job of each Old Covenant prophet was to confirm the present covenant, while testifying of Christ to come. When God sent prophets to the children of Israel to warn them of pending judgments against them it was because they had departed from the covenant He established for their faith to be expressed.

This was not always the case, but each time they did abandon the covenant, pattern, and priesthood God gave to them through Moses, God sent prophets to them to warn them and teach them. Isaiah not only prophesied of Christ to come, but warned the children of Israel that in departing from the covenant they departed from their God. Jeremiah and Ezekiel did the same.

When the children of Israel wandered from the covenant it was not because they were  weak in the flesh, but because they were idol worshippers. While they served God with their lips, their heart was far from Him. That’s not weakness, that’s a choice of will.

As believers, we are each called to be New Covenant prophets (not the calling, but the altar). I am speaking of priesthood prophecy. The prophesy we utter daily at the altar of Christ to confirm Jesus Christ. The difference between New Covenant and Old Covenant prophets is that the prophets of the Old Covenant prophesied of Christ to come and the prophets of the New Covenant prophesy of Christ who has come, but both Old and New Covenant prophets confirm the present covenant, not mixing the old with the new.

We prophesy of the provisions in Christ. Not the provision of health and wealth, not the psychology of the old man, but the spiritual provisions made manifest in each of the 12 altar stones: grace, faith, righteousness, justification, sanctification, holiness, peace, rest, charity, truth, regeneration, and renewing of the mind.

God has made us partakers of Him and therefore we prophesy of the anointing to give evidence to Christ; for charity, as the dew of heaven upon our lips, reveals our labor with His grace. We prophesy of Christ in His truth as each altar stone reflects His image and work within our heart.

We cannot approach God or come into His presence without a gift. God gave us a gift for reciprocation in giving us Jesus Christ. So God gave us a gift for our approach unto Him. We offer to God the gift He gave us.

The reflection of God’s grace is in His altar and the altar identifies the covenant. The First Covenant altar was built with stones of the earth, it was earthly. God assigned priests to serve Him at the altar of the stones of this earth, to offer upon the altar sacrifices that reflected the sin of the people by the shedding of dumb beasts. God thus reproved the people for sin, showing them that until Christ came, their offerings to Him would bring sin to remembrance.

Hebrews 10:3,
“But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”

We can see that the approach to God involved an altar, an altar of faith. Faith was expressed at an altar. God sanctified their faith by providing the pattern He would enter into and thus accepting their faith and becoming a covering to them. As long as they approached the altar according to the pattern God gave to Moses, they had a covering of forgiveness for their sins. By this act of obedience they accepted the terms of the covenant and God accepted their faith.

When Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, shed His blood for the sins of the world, God preached to us that we have a new altar in Christ and identifies each believer as priests, “We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle,” (Hebrews 13:10)

Apostle Peter instructs believers in their priesthood saying,“As lively stones, (you) are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” He goes on to teach, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (1 Peter 2:5,9).

So God is making a connection for us between the altar and the sacrifice and the priesthood and our worship of Him. If you claim faith in Jesus Christ and do not know how to offer spiritual sacrifices at His altar, now is the time to learn.

The goal of New Testament prophecy is NOT that we would find treasure in the dirt of people’s lives, but to offer to God spiritual sacrifices, which is the utterance of His light, the knowledge that reflects the stones of Christ in His altar. You are engaging God on the terms of the covenant and He’s providing the power and witness that makes your faith living.