If you have read a number of books by the same author, or a number of books in the same genre, you have developed a feel for how the plot is developing. When Inspector Poirot begins to suspect the maid early in the book, you know it?s going to turn out to be a false trail. When Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy start off hating each other, those who have read romance novels know that they are going to end up married. Already in the middle of the story, an experienced reader senses the possible directions the story can go, and is forming suspicions about which direction it will be. Stories have a shape, and a skilled reader learns to recognize the shape as he reads; a story is a journey, and a reader who has walked through many stories is able to anticipate the next bend in the path.

As we will see this morning in the sermon, there are a number of aspects to prophetic ministry in the Bible. But one way to capture the meaning of ?prophet?Eis to say that the prophet is someone with a highly developed sense of ?plot.?E Our lives have a narrative shape to them, and a prophet is someone who knows where he is in the plotline of his life, and can discern where others are in their own life-stories. The history of the church also has a narrative shape to it, and a prophet is someone who, by the illumination of the Spirit, has a feel for whether the church is at the beginning, middle, or end of an episode.

This developed sense of plot is rooted in a deep knowledge of Scripture. Prophets of the Old Testament frequently warned of imminent judgments and called Israel to repentance because they knew and believed that the Lord would carry out the threats of the covenant that are outlined in the law. The logic was fairly simple: Yahweh said He would scatter Israel to the four winds if they rejected Him; Israel rejected Yahweh; therefore, the prophet predicts, Israel is going to be scattered to the four winds.

Plot patterns from Scripture are repeated in the church. Someone who has absorbed the story of Abraham will know that when God finally fulfills His promises in miraculous ways, He might well call us to surrender what He has given, just as Abraham was called to sacrifice the son he had waited decades to have. The story of the exodus shows that after a great act of deliverance the people of God are often plagued by grumbling and internal dissensions. When we have learned the story of the exile, we will know that every exile is followed by restoration.

The developed sense of plot also grows out of experience in life. Going through the first big crises of life, we might wonder whether the crisis will ever be over: Will night ever turn to day? A young man gets into trouble at school and is expelled, and it feels as if life is over before it has begun. A young woman experiences tensions and problems early in her marriage, and wonders if she is facing fifty years of hell. A young man loses his first real job, and wonders if he will ever be employed again. But through experience of tribulations, we grow in hope, and we grow in prophetic insight. We see again and again that God brings us through trials and accomplishes wonders in the midst of tribulations, and we gain a deeper sense of how the story will turn out the next time.

Of course, this doesn?t happen automatically. For many, tribulations only confirm their despair and do nothing to increase hope. We can develop prophetic insight only through the work of the Spirit, who was poured out so that sons and daughters might prophesy, so that old men would see visions and young men would dream dreams. The Spirit directs the story; and only the Spirit can make a prophet.