Music as Prophecy

By Anthony Hayden Fri, 10/08/2010 - 11:22am
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Anthony Hayden
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I am preparing a sermon on 1 Corinthians 14 and ultimately focusing on the big idea that everything we do in church should be edifying to other believers.
The question I have and the reason this in the Church Music Forum is:

What is the correlation between music and the gift of prophecy?

Not to rehash the Bob Kauflin debates on prophetic / spontaneous song; or to go off the deep end with some of the fringe prophecy groupies you find on the internet.

Taking into account OT narratives such as:

  • Saul and the group of prophets in 1 Samuel 10
  • Elisha and the minstrel in 2 Kings 3
And also considering OT prescriptive texts:
  • 1 Chronicles 25:1

Paul S. Jones alludes to this concept in his writings, and I have heard other reputable sources draw a connection between the gift of prophecy and music, but I have never seen a clear delineation of the logic or Scriptural exposition that supports the claim.

Any links or thoughts would be welcome

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Prized and loved by God alone.
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Wed, 05/11/2011 - 1:27pm
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Anthony Hayden
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Maybe a Theological Question

I moved this over to the Theology forum, because I thought it might get more traffic from those who may have an answer from a theological perspective.
I have already preached the sermon, but the question is still on my mind.
Any links, books, or thoughts would be helpful.

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Keep us little and unknown,
Prized and loved by God alone.
~Charles Wesley

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Fri, 07/15/2011 - 4:52pm
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James S. Lowery
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Music as Prophecy

Anthony: I just read your original post, but since the sermon has already been preached, I don't suppose there is a time limit on responses.

I would not connect the "gift of prophecy" (GOP- no political reference intended! Smile ) with music. As I understand the first century "GOP," it was used to complete the canon; thus it is diffferent- in some respects - than today's public proclamation of the completed Word of God done by those 'pastors (and) teachers" in Eph. 4:11.

That music DOES fulfil a prophetic function (in that latter sense of proclaming God's Word) is clearly taught in the I Chron. 25:1-3 reference you noted. (With the repetition of terms, is God being too subtle for us?? Sadly, listening to some preachers, yes!) One could attribute that function only to the OT Levitical musicians if it weren't for the very obvious connection between Paul's mission statement in Col. 1:28, and the Music Director's mission statement in Col. 3:16. Again, is God being too subtle for us? How many times does He have to say it: The Minister of Music and the Teaching Elder have the same role and goal. The only difference is that the musician has the harder and "takes-longer" job because he has to use music rather than "just" words.

I'd also caution us on assuming that the use of music in a non-"liturgical" -or even secular setting (Saul and the prophets. . . Elisha's call for a minstrel; not to add David's calming of Saul) is -or ought to be- the same as in a "liturgical" setting, when The Great Congregation is gathered (usually) on Sunday morning/evening. (I AM trying to cover a number of bases here without being verbose!) A simple read-through of Leviticus will show that some things that were allowed "in the camp" were specifically forbidden "in the tabernacle."

Recognizing the prophetic function of music, and understanding the similarities between it and "preaching," will certainly go a long way toward setting objective guidelines in place for its proper use.

May The Master Musician help us to be faith-full- by His grace and for His glory.

Jim Lowery
Richmond, VA

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