The Spirit of Prophecy always points to Jesus

The book of Revelation states that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). In this article, I will explain what the spirit of prophecy is, and show how it always points to Jesus.

What is the Spirit of Prophecy?

All of the biblical writers were prophets of God, in that they were operating under the inspiration of the spirit of prophecy. This spirit is the source of all true prophecies that come from God, and its identifying mark is that it always testifies of Jesus Christ, for as the book of Revelation testifies: “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10). But what exactly is the spirit of prophecy? It is in fact the spirit of Jesus Christ himself (1 Pet. 1:11). This claim no doubt seems strange, because if Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of prophecy testifies of Jesus–then that would mean that Jesus testifies of himself. And yet we find that this is perfectly in line with Jesus’ character, as he himself said: “Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true:” (John 8:14)

Of course, we know that not all prophecies come from God. In fact, a close analysis of the biblical record reveals that in any given generation, the prophets of God were usually outnumbered by numerous false prophets who were active in their societies. Perhaps the most memorable example from the Bible is the prophet Elijah, who stood alone against 450 state-sponsored false prophets of Baal in Northern Israel in the ninth century BC. Yet it is important to note that just because a prophecy is false, does not mean that it is not also spiritually inspired. Just as all true prophecies come from the spirit of Christ (which is the spirit of prophecy), so too all false prophecies are inspired by the spirit of Antichrist–which is the spirit of false prophecy. To this agrees the following Scripture:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

Thus just as the spirit of Christ is the spirit of prophecy, so too the spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of false prophecy. But what, or better yet–who is the spirit of Antichrist? A clue to this spirit’s identity can be discerned in the word “Antichrist” itself, which means “opposed to Christ.” With that in mind, the first question we must ask ourselves is “who is Christ?” The answer is that he is the Word of God, who made himself a man, that he might also become the Lamb of God. So now I ask–what spiritual being in the Bible opposes the Word of God? Let us go all the way back to the very beginning:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

Here we see that God commanded Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning him that if he did he would surely die. Now let’s look at what the serpent told Eve in the very next chapter:

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (Genesis 3:1-4)

Comparing God’s divine warning to Adam with Satan’s deceitful flattery to Eve reveals something very important about Satan’s nature. Note:

Comparative table showing how Satan opposes the Word of God by adding to it, which negates it and transforms it into its antithesis.

Notice here how God says one thing, and Satan says the exact opposite. Here we have a beautiful introduction to the nature which defines the old serpent, that is–he opposes the Word of God (Zech. 3:1). As we will see, every single thing that Satan does throughout the biblical narrative is always motivated by his desire to overthrow the promises of God and prevent his Word from coming to pass. But there is something else about his character here that is revealed by the specific way in which he opposed the Word of God. Note that he opposed the Word of God by merely adding one word to it. Yet although the alteration to the divine warning is the addition of a single word, it nevertheless had the effect of negating the divine warning and transforming it into an antithetical statement. The result of this is that, while Satan’s antithesis opposes God’s thesis, the antithesis nevertheless looks very similar to the thesis.

This reveals something else about Satan’s character which reveals why he is so deceptive, that is—he never comes against the Word of God by completely discarding it and attempting to reinvent the wheel according to his own creative vision. Rather, he mutates it by adding to it or taking away from it (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19). He is the father of all imitators, and he imitates the very God whose plans he seeks to overthrow. God is light, so Satan therefore presents himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). God’s prophets often communicate the Word of God to people through symbolic actions which illustrate a point figuratively—Satan’s false prophets therefore do the same (1 Kings 22:11; Jer. 28:10-11; 2 Cor. 11:13). This is why the spirit of Antichrist is so deceptive. It does not come against the spirit of Christ in an outwardly obvious way, as it retains the outward form and appearance of it. It is literally a mock spirit of Christ. All of this is rooted in Satan’s desire to be like the Most High (Isa. 14:14).

The Spirit of Prophecy VS. The Spirit of False Prophecy

The spirit of Christ, which is the true spirit of prophecy, always testifies of Jesus; while the spirit of Antichrist, which is the spirit of false prophecy, always denies Jesus. It is important to note that there is a slight difference in the prophetic orientation of these two spirits in terms of the way that they functioned before the cross and after it. Note the following table carefully:

Comparative table which demonstrates how the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) and the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) each functioned before and after the coming of Jesus.

As can be seen, prior to the coming of Jesus—the Spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) always testified that Jesus Christ would come in the flesh (Acts 7:52; 1 Pet. 1:11), while the Spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) always testified that Jesus Christ would not come in the flesh. Once Jesus Christ finally came in the flesh and was crucified, there was a subtle albeit very important change in how these two spirits operate. As indicated by the above table, ever since the cross—the Spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) always testifies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, while the Spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) always testifies that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh (1 John 4:3). This truth can perhaps be better explained by the following symbolism that was revealed to me by the light of divine revelation almost a decade ago:

The key needed to unlock the spiritual meaning of the above illustration can be found in the book of Revelation, which states: “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10). Let’s start with the obvious–the purple cross represents Jesus Christ. The two arrows on either side of the cross pointing to it collectively represent the testimony of Jesus, which, as the book of Revelation rightly states—is the spirit of prophecy.

In the West, when we visualize chronological timelines in our mind, we begin at the left and move to the right. Accordingly, the blue arrow on the left represents the testimony of Jesus before he came in the flesh, while the red arrow on the right represents the testimony of Jesus after he has already come in the flesh. In other words, it is as if the blue arrow is pointing ahead in time to the future coming of Jesus in the flesh, while the red arrow is pointing back in time to his coming which has already come to pass.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39)

The above words of Jesus are very illuminating. For if the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and the Scriptures themselves testify of Jesus—then the transitive law of equality tells us that the Scriptures themselves must be relationally interchangeable with both the testimony of Jesus as well as the spirit of prophecy. Indeed, this is affirmed by the fact that the spiritual logic under-girding our illustration above fits beautifully when applied to the Holy Bible itself. Viewed through this lens, the blue arrow represents the spirit of prophecy speaking through the Old Testament, which was written entirely before Christ came; while the red arrow can be thought of as the spirit of prophecy speaking through the New Testament, which was written entirely after Christ came. Indeed, the spirit of prophecy testified through all of the Old Testament prophets that Jesus Christ would come in the flesh, while the spirit of prophecy through all of the New Testament prophets testified that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh.

In order to better illustrate how these two spirits operated before and after the cross, let us consider some examples from the two testaments.

The Spirit of Prophecy VS. The Spirit of False Prophecy before the cross

After the fall of Creation, God prophesied the following to Satan:

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:14-15)

As can be seen, God stated that he would put enmity between him (the serpent) and the woman, and between his seed and her seed—declaring that the seed of the woman would one day crush his head. This was a messianic prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, who would crush the serpent’s head through his death, burial, and resurrection. As soon as this word of God went forth, Satan immediately set out to try and stop it from coming to pass.

While the seed of the woman in the prophecy of Genesis 3:14-15 ultimately refers to Jesus Christ—there is a “seed of the serpent” and a “seed of the woman” in every generation of man. Satan works through unregenerate secular men in positions of power, while God always works through his holy remnant of covenant people who have been “taken out” of the ungodly multitude and sanctified through his name. To word that a little more plainly—Satan works through the world system, while God works through his Church. These two separate spheres are figuratively represented by Adam and Eve, where Adam represents the world system, and Eve (who was taken out of Adam(Gen. 2:23)) represents God’s holy remnant in every generation. Thus in any given generation, those who are part of the world system (who walk according to the desires of their sinful human nature)–are the “seed of the serpent,” while those who have been taken out of the world system and purified of all its pollution (who walk by faith and are led of the Spirit) are the “seed of the woman.”

In the time of the first generation after the fall, the “seed of the serpent” refers to Cain and his descendants, while the “seed of the woman” refers to Abel/Seth.1The text is silent about the youth and upbringing of the two boys, yet we are told that at some point they both brought offerings to the LORD. Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof, while Cain brought fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. Without giving any explanation as to why, the text states that the LORD accepted Abel’s offering, yet rejected Cain’s.

Biblical commentators down through the centuries have offered a multitude of explanations as to why Abel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s was rejected, and the answer to this question is actually quite simple. Simply put—Abel was operating in the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy), while Cain was operating in the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy). The sacrifices of the two brothers each bear cryptic prophetic messages that are easily discernible to those with eyes to see. Although Abel was not consciously aware of the prophetic significance of his sacrifice, his sacrifice of a lamb was an arrow pointing to the future sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb. 11:4)—who would become the perfect sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1:36). Put another way, by offering a blood sacrifice in the form of a lamb, the spirit of Christ which abode upon him was speaking through him, testifying that: “Jesus Christ shall come in the flesh.” Likewise, although Cain was as equally unaware as Abel as to the prophetic implications of his own sacrifice—by choosing to forego a bloody sacrifice and choosing to substitute it with the work of his own hands, the spirit of Antichrist was speaking through him, saying: “Jesus Christ shall not come in the flesh.” This is why God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s.

The fact that Cain was operating in the spirit of Antichrist is affirmed yet the more by how the text indicates that he responded to the rejection of his sacrifice. In what appears to have been a deliberate premeditated murder, we are told that Cain rose up against Abel and killed him. Although Cain himself was unaware of it, he was in fact moved (inspired) to murder his brother by the spirit of Antichrist that he was operating in. For we must remember that God had previously declared that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent. Thus by moving Cain to murder his brother, the spirit of the Antichrist (Satan) was attempting to prevent that prophecy of God from coming to pass by eliminating Abel (which he thought would make it impossible for Jesus Christ to be born and crush his head). Here yet again, the spirit of Antichrist was speaking through the actions of Cain, declaring loud and clear that: “Jesus Christ will not come in the flesh.

Another biblical example that nicely illustrates the contrast between the spirit of Christ and the spirit of Antichrist can be found in the book of 1 Samuel. After David was anointed king by the prophet Samuel, the spirit of the LORD descended upon him and remained on him from that day forward (1 Sam. 16:13). Meanwhile, it was at this time that the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and “an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (1 Sam. 16:14). Note that the spirit of the LORD that now abode upon David was none other than the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy), while the “evil spirit” which from thenceforth troubled Saul was none other than the spirit of Antichrist (the Spirit of false prophecy). This is proven by the lyrics of David’s psalms, as well as Saul’s repeated attempts to murder David.

Many of the psalms found in the book of Psalms today were written by David while he was on the run from Saul. Unbeknownst to David at the time that he composed the lyrics of these psalms, many of them are saturated with numerous cryptic messianic prophecies in which the spirit of Jesus Christ speaks in great detail of his own crucifixion in the first person. We might ask ourselves, how can this be? How can a man who lived in the eleventh and tenth centuries BC have had knowledge of the crucifixion of Jesus over a thousand years before that crucifixion took place? The answer is that he didn’t. It was not necessary for him to possess knowledge of such events before they occurred in order to prophesy of it beforehand. As we saw with the example of Cain and Abel, the prophetic vessel is more often than not completely unaware of the true prophetic meaning of their own words or actions. In the case of prophetic poetry or song lyrics, the way it works is that the prophetic spirit latches on to the internal thoughts, fears, insecurities, passions, motivations, and life circumstances of the chosen prophetic vessel—and uses all of those things as creative fuel by which it compels the prophetic vessel to say whatever it wants it to say. The end result of this process is that the words of the prophetic vessel have a dual meaning, whereby the prophetic vessel is speaking of one thing (often about some particular circumstance or event going on in his life), while the prophetic spirit that is moving him to write is using those very same words to speak of something entirely different afar off in the future that the prophetic vessel is completely unaware of. So for example, when David wrote: “He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken”, he was consciously speaking of God’s protecting him from the wrath of King Achish when he fled to Gath to get away from Saul. Yet, on a prophetic level, the spirit of Christ which abode upon him was using those same words to speak of the Roman soldiers not breaking his legs when he was crucified over 1,000 years later (John 19:36). The irony of this whole phenomenon is that the meaning that is reflective of the conscious intent or motives of the prophetic vessel is what we might call the “lesser” of the two meanings. Put another way, the prophetic vessel is usually completely oblivious to the “true” meaning of his or her own words (applied to this particular example–David was ironically oblivious to the “true” meaning of his own words). Through the prophetic lyrics of David’s psalms, we can hear the spirit of Christ which abode upon him boldly proclaiming (just as it did through Abel some 3,000 years earlier): “Jesus Christ will come in the flesh.”

Just as the spirit of Christ abiding upon David explains why he was able to prophesy in such detail about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ over a millennium beforehand, so too the spirit of Antichrist upon Saul explains why he went to such irrational lengths to try and kill David. While in his own mind Saul thought that he was trying to kill David because he wanted his own dynasty to continue through his son Jonathan, that isn’t the true reason he was so driven to kill David. Just as the spirit of Christ upon David used the situations in his life and the emotional turmoil they were causing in order to cause him to prophesy of his own crucifixion, so too the spirit of Antichrist which abode upon Saul was merely using the fear of the end of his own dynasty as fuel to ignite the flames of Saul’s rage, in order to control him and use him to carry out his own agenda. Thus although Saul himself was not consciously aware of it, he was in fact being driven by the spirit of Antichrist which abode upon him to kill David in order to try and prevent Jesus Christ from being born. Thus we see yet again that it was all about trying to prevent the word of God from coming to pass—that was the “true” reason he was doing what he was doing. In Saul’s repeated attempts to kill David, we can once again hear the same spirit of Antichrist which spoke so loudly through Cain some two thousand years earlier, boldly proclaiming yet again that: “Jesus Christ will not come in the flesh.

The Spirit of Prophecy VS. The Spirit of False Prophecy after the cross

In the book of Acts, the apostles went out performing many miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. Among many other mighty works performed at their hands—they spoke with new tongues, healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out demons—just as Jesus testified that those who believed in him would (Mark 16:17-18). The common link between all of these various miracles was that they were accomplished through the power of the name of Jesus (Acts 4:7). It was the spirit of Jesus Christ abiding in the apostles which was the true power source enabling them to perform such miracles (John 6:63; 15:5; Acts 1:8). What is more, this infilling of the Spirit which enabled them to perform such works was only made available by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 7:39). Accordingly, through the miracles and mighty works of the Spirit performed by the apostles and early Church, the spirit of Christ which indwelt them was boldly and loudly proclaiming to the whole world that: “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (Acts 4:33).

For an example of how the spirit of Antichrist manifests itself after the cross, we need look no further than the many warnings against the Judaization of the faith, which are found all throughout the New Testament. Given that the vast majority of early Christians were Jewish believers (many of them Pharisees), it should perhaps not be surprising that one of the first heresies that arose within the early Church was the heresy of Jewish legalism. A number of early Jewish believers in Jesus began to argue that one must keep the Old Testament law in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-31). Among other things, the idea was that Christians were obligated to keep the sabbath, abide by the dietary laws, and observe circumcision. What this doctrine was effectively saying was “Yes, you’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ—but now that you’re saved, you’ve got to work this out. You must obey the Law in order to please God.” While this doctrine outwardly appears to be righteous and of God (Col. 2:23), it is anything but—for it is founded upon the premise that the sacrifice of Jesus was not sufficient. And in making the claim that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) was not sufficient, what this doctrine was actually saying is: “Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh.”

Present day examples

Given that we are still in the Church Age dispensation, the two spirits continue to operate today just as they did in these examples from the New Testament. That is to say, the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) always testifies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, while the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) always denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

Living on the other side of the Enlightenment, we have a divine measuring reed that the early Church didn’t have to help us determine whether or not a doctrine or teaching is of God, namely—the completed 66 book biblical canon. As previously stated, the Holy Bible (as specifically exemplified in the Protestant biblical canon) is the testimony of Jesus Christ. Note that the English word “canon” literally means “measuring line.” Indeed, the biblical canon is the measuring line by which we measure any form of teaching or doctrine to see if it “lines up” with the divine standard. In other words, the easiest way to discern whether a particular doctrine is inspired of the spirit of Christ or the spirit of Antichrist, is to measure it against the Bible to see if it lines up with the testimony of Jesus Christ.

As a word of caution—it is important to always remember when measuring any doctrine against the Bible, that the body of Scripture is designed according to the same likeness as the body of Christ. What I mean by that is that (like the body of Christ)—the body of Scripture is one body, with many members (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12; 12:20); and it is precisely because of this canonical unity that if one manages to keep the whole law (the Written Word), yet offends even in one single point—he or she is guilty of breaking the entire thing (Jas. 2:10). For if I take a sledgehammer to someone’s foot, I have sinned against the whole person–not just their foot. The person’s foot is merely a member of his or her body. In the same way, when one transgresses even one commandment in the Word of God, they have transgressed against the entire unified body of Scripture–not just the “individual member” of that particular commandment. Why am I telling you this? Because the exact same logic applies to doctrinal agreement, in that any doctrine or teaching which seems to mostly agree with the Holy Bible, yet disagrees with it only in one minor point—is evident proof that the doctrine is not of God, but is a work of the spirit of Antichrist. For in rejecting that one point of the testimony of Jesus, that doctrine has rejected not merely that one part of the Bible, but the entire testimony of Jesus Christ.

A good post-biblical example of the spirit of Christ operating in history can be seen in the Protestant Reformation. All of the Protestant Reformers were operating under the inspiration of the spirit of prophecy in the sixteenth century when they protested against papal corruption and the false doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. They took a stand for truth and refused to recant even when threatened with death by Papal Rome and the established Church, and many of them courageously affirmed their faith with their blood (Heb. 11:36). Included among these martyrs of the Reformation is the very man responsible for giving us the English Bible—William Tyndale. Men such as Tyndale were true men of God who took a stand for the truth even when they knew that it would cost them their lives. Like the martyrs of the book of Revelation, they “loved not their lives unto the death” (Rev. 12:11). Indeed, only the spirit of Christ is known to make men as bold and fearless as were the Protestant Reformers (Judg. 14:6; 1 Sam. 11:6; 1 Sam. 17:32-51). The spirit of the Protestant Reformation was the spirit of Christ—who is the spirit of prophecy. Some other post-biblical examples of the spirit of Christ operating through men are the American Revolution (2 Cor. 3:17), the Great Awakening, and the Second Great Awakening.

A good post-biblical example of a doctrine inspired by the spirit of Antichrist can be seen in the theory of Darwinian Evolution. This theory rejects that man is biologically descended from the biblical Adam (indeed, it denies that Adam even existed). Accepting this false premise alone has many repercussions with regard to what it does to a person’s belief system, as it inevitably leads one to reject the notion that human beings are inherently sinful by nature, and that the entire creation is fallen. This belief in turn leads one to reject that man is even in need of a savior, which in turn infers that there was no reason for Jesus Christ to come in the flesh. Not only that, but Darwinian Evolution also asserts that human beings evolved over the course of millions of years from more primitive life forms, thereby rejecting the Bible’s chronological timeline which is intimately bound up with the prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, who according to a prophecy in Genesis 1:14-19 (cf. John 8:12; 9:5)–had to be born exactly 4,000 years after Adam was placed into the Garden of Eden. Thus by adding millions upon millions of years to man’s history, Darwinian Evolution attempts to destroy the symmetry of the biblical timeline which is the bedrock upon which all messianic prophecy rests. In so doing, Darwinian Evolution denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, and was therefore assuredly inspired by the spirit of Antichrist.

Summary

The spirit of prophecy is the spirit of Christ (the spirit of Jesus himself), while the spirit of false prophecy is the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of Satan himself). All true prophets of God operate under the inspiration of the spirit of Christ, while all false prophets operate under the inspiration of the spirit of Antichrist. We saw that those operating under the inspiration of either of these two spirits can prophesy either by word or by action. We also saw that because of how prophetic inspiration works, all prophecies have a dual meaning–one reflective of the conscious intentions or motives of the prophetic vessel (the “earthly” meaning), and the other reflective of the intentions and motives of the spirit which is inspiring them (the “heavenly” meaning). Because of this, we noted how both prophets as well as false prophets are ironically usually completely oblivious and unaware to the “true” meaning of their own prophetic words and actions.

We noted how Satan has been opposed to the Word of God from the very beginning, and we used his alteration of the divine warning that God gave to Adam when he tempted Eve to demonstrate the peculiar way in which he does this. We saw that he altered the divine warning by merely adding one word to it, yet in so doing he negated the divine warning and transformed it into its antithesis. We compared the two statements side by side to show how Satan’s altered antithesis looks extremely similar in form and appearance to the divine original, despite being opposed it, and noted that this is why the spirit of Antichrist is so deceptive–as it mimics the spirit of Christ in form while contradicting it only in substance and in practice.

We noted that the identifying marker of the spirit of Christ is that it always testifies of Jesus Christ, while the identifying marker of the spirit of Antichrist is that it always testifies against Jesus Christ. We saw that prior to the coming of Jesus, the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) always testified that Jesus Christ would come in the flesh, while the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) always testified that Jesus Christ would not come in the flesh. As we saw through the examples of Abel and Cain, as well as David and Saul–this was the prophetic orientation of these two spirits all throughout the Old Testament. All true prophets of God in the Old Testament always testified of the future coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, whether by word or by action.

We noted that after the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, there was a slight shift in the prophetic orientation of the two spirits. Ever since the cross, the spirit of Christ (the spirit of prophecy) has always testified that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, while the spirit of Antichrist (the spirit of false prophecy) has always testified that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh. We used the examples of the miracles and works of the Spirit performed by the Apostles and the heresy of Jewish legalism which began to spread in the early Church to demonstrate that this is how we find these two spirits operating in the New Testament.2We also looked at the examples of the Protestant Reformation and the theory of Darwinian Evolution to show how these two spirits have continued to operate according to the New Testament orientation in post-biblical times.

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  1. Unfortunately, proving this by Scripture would force me to wander far beyond the bounds of the present discussion, so you’ll have to just take my word for it.
  2. The works of the spirit performed by the Apostles point back to the work that Jesus accomplished on the cross, while the heresy of Jewish legalism which threatened the early Church denied that Jesus Christ had ever come in the flesh in that it was rooted in the argument that the sacrifice of Jesus was insufficient for salvation.

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