All Are Not Prophets—The Manifestation of the Spirit According to the Old and New Covenants

The Holy Spirit appears to operate differently in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit is foundational to the new covenant, but often appears to take a back seat when looking at the old covenant. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit actually performs the same role, but in a different capacity. All of the roles of the Holy Spirit during the old covenant, remain in the New Testament, but the Spirit works in a far more general manor. Three ways that the Spirit works is through supernatural ability, by speaking to an individual and by bringing messages to God’s people—prophesy.

There are countless passages where the Spirit of God indwells a man to give him supernatural ability. The interesting thing about the Old Testament is that the Holy Spirit will come and go from men and not all men are so easily able to obtain the Holy Spirit. One such occurrence comes from Judges, where the Spirit “came upon” Othniel in order to deliver a repentant Israel from oppression (Judges 3.10). In the New Testament, all believers have the Holy Spirit as the Spirit is the seal of man’s salvation (Ephesians 1.13).

The Spirit speaks. The Spirit placed in the mind of David the “plans…for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things” and “He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the LORD, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service” (1 Chronicles 28.12,13). This is one of many occurrences of the Spirit of the Lord moving in one person in the Old Testament. Under the new covenant, all Christians have the Holy Spirit and receive guidance from Him in the very same way, however not performing such grand purposes individually.

Prophesy is the proclamation of God’s word. In the New Testament, prophesy is referred to as a spiritual gift or the manifestation of the Spirit; that is, a gift of the Spirit which occurs when the Spirit comes upon a man (1 Corinthians 12). In the Old Testament, God’s word came upon certain men in order to proclaim a specific message—usually repentance—to Israel. Prophesy occurs on a much less formal scale under the new covenant. Prophesy is often personal, or localized, not necessarily a message intended by the Spirit for all believers. And because of this, there are far more ‘prophets’ today than in Old Testament times, although all are not prophets.

It can be seen through these three works of the Spirit in man that the role of the Holy Spirit has not changed, but since the relationship between man and God has been brought nearer through the Spirit, the Spirit tends to work in a much smaller capacity in individuals, but in a far greater capacity throughout the world. In the Old Testament God works through Israel to affect the world. In the New Testament, He works internationally, through far more people to affect the world in far greater ways.