Do you often wonder why some men seem learned and speak and teach from knowledge of the Word and others speak from what they have saw. Now what they see does not contradict the Word, no it expounds it, yet it is beyond the scribe. Tozer writes this……..

Hearts that are “fit to break” with love for the Godhead
are those who have been in the Presence and have looked with
opened eye upon the majesty of Deity. Men of the breaking
hearts had a quality about them not known to or understood by
common men. They habitually spoke with spiritual authority.
They had been in the Presence of God and they reported what
they saw there. They were prophets, not scribes: for the scribe
tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells us what he has
seen.
The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe
who has read and the prophet who has seen, there is a
difference as wide as the sea. We are today overrun with
orthodox scribes; but the prophets, where are they? The hard
voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the Church
waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the
veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God.
… A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God [1948],
Christian Publications, 1982, p. 40

So the question is, have you penetrated the veil and gazed with inward eye upon the wonder that is God ?. For those who have penetrated the veil , theyhave a three dimensional knowledge of God and those who have not have only a flat two dimensional knowledge of God, that which they have gleaned from learning and self-effort. The man who has penetrated the veil knows both the awe fullness of God and He also knows the majesty of God.

Now, how do we determine the scribe from the Prophet? Are there identifying characteristics that we can look at and discern? Well we know that the Bible tells us that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. We know that Scriptures teach us that all have fallen short of the Glory of God. We know that outside of Christ all is darkness and death. All of this would be common knowledge to both the Scribe and the Prophet, they would both agree that this is man’s state. In fact, we even see in Scripture, a scene from heaven itself as a mighty prophet stands before God, lets see what his reaction is for it will give us a clue.

Isa 6:5 Then I said, Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts.

You see, all at the same time Isaiah sees his own state and then He sees the King of Glory. It is fire from the alter that cleanses the Prophet and enables him to continue and listen to God and then receive his commission. Without the fire from the alter the Prophet would have never gotton past his own lowly state. And anyone who comes into the presence of God immediately knows their own lowly state. That is why men of the OT fell flat on their faces in the presence of God, as do men today. Not slain in the spirit, so called, made popular in many Pentecostal churches, no men fall to their faces trembling to their very core in the awesome presence of an almighty God. So if fire from the alter cleanses the prophet and enables him to continue, what does blood from the alter of Calvary do to those who are covered by it? Was not that the very purpose of Calvary? Reconciliation to God the Father, Jesus made the way behind the veil, he penetrated the enmity between man and God. Now, according to the Scriptures, we can come boldly before the throne of grace.(Heb 4:16)

Yes, we will still know our lowliness, but we will lift up our eyes and see Jesus and know why we are there. The scribe, who is not covered by the blood, can only every know the vile part. He has no coal, he has no blood, he only has knowledge, and that leads him to focus with the intimate knowledge that he does have, the intimate knowledge of his own sin. So he gazes upon his sin and his sin is magnified. And ultimately out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mat 12:34) The scribe is under the Old Covenant and is condemned, the Prophet is under the New Testament and is redeemed. So the Scribe preaches condemnation, the Prophet preaches reconciliation. The Scribe’s words condemn and enslave, the Prophets words are designed for freedom of the captives.

Now the Prophet, as he comes away from the presence of God will have a heightened awareness of his own ungodliness, sin in his own flesh, but this will be overwhelmed by the glory of God. When a man has seen the King, he understands his own state, yet the mercy and grace that he found before the throne enables him to finish the commission that God has given him because his focus is not on his own sin, his focus is on Jesus. He will long to be away from this world, not because he hates the world, for in fact he loves it more as God does , but because of his heightened awareness of sin itself. You see, the greater the revelation of God, the greater the awareness of sin, the greater the desire to go and be with God , just as the Old Covenant of Laws was a revelation of sin, which led to a magnification of sin which led to despair and a knowledge that one needed a Saviour.

The man who has penetrated the veil hates sin. It makes him sick. He longs for the time when sin will be no more. He loses , piece by piece, all desire to even be in this world apart from fulfilling his commission to God. The things of this world are meaningless to the one who has seen the King. Their only desire will be to see God glorified. One of their greatest passions and zeal will be to refute the Hypocrite and Pharisee because to them, mis-representing God is worse than not believing God.(Rev 3:16-18)

The Scribe only every gets to the heart of himself, if even that. Now one must journey to the center of ones heart, this is true. Every spiritual person takes this journey on. They discover, much as Paul does in Romans 7, that at their very core they are wretched, but if that is where the journey ends, then one has decided to take up shop in a pigsty. Think about the prodigal son. Consider his journey in more of a spiritual setting. He takes what is his(we all have free will) and he sets out and discovers just how vile he is and where that leads to. Yet, the greatest part of this story by Jesus is not about the fact that he ends up in a pigsty, its about the fact that he looks around, discovers his true self, his true condition, and then seeks to be reconciled with his Father. He gets up out of that pigsty and goes and presents himself to his Father, and of course, even while he was a long way of, his Father sees him, which means He has been watching and waiting on him, and his Father runs to him. It took brokenness and humiliation for the son to be reconciled with his Father.

So, the Scribe lives in the pigsty and bemoans his state, the Prophet gets up and makes his way to the Father. The Prophet teaches about the way back to God, the Scribe teaches about how dirty the pigsty is. The Prophet rejoices loudly at the grace and mercy to be found if one takes a certain road, the Scribe is stuck in the pigsty because his eyes are set on himself. Today, the prophets and priests of God understand the true state of the world and of the church. One portion of the church is blind to this, another is stuck looking at his own sin. If you only know about your sin, then its time for you to seek the King. The true mark of one who has seen Jesus is the joy that they have. Yes they despair at the state of all things that are without God, and the rise of sin, but their heart is full of gladness. They live in victory. Their eyes are blinded to the things of this world, they only have eyes for Jesus. They have a “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the Knowledge of Him.” (Eph 1:17) Their eyes are opened and enlightened(Eph 1:18) They have a hope and know the riches of His glory and they know that as adopted children of God. That they have an inheritance, guaranteed and sealed by the Holy Spirit(Eph 1:18) And they have experienced the exceeding greatness of God’s power(Eph 1:19 ) They were dead and now they are alive (Eph 2:1) They know that they have been raised with Christ and sit with Him in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6) And they know that they are rich, rich in mercy and grace and rich in Spiritual blessings(Eph 1:3) This is the abiding marks of those who have penetrated the veil.

Thanks Frank for this fine article. It is filled with much to meditate upon. I think that "the Spirit and the Word Agree." I look at Paul the Apostle, as being a man more than a prophet; and as you said, carrying the heart of God welded into the Word of God, with the Scriptures bearing witness to Spirit Power.

He had been behind the veil, as much or more than any other New Testament figure, except possibly John the Apostle. Paul could not speak of his experience as a student in Heaven, given revelation so deep, it was illegal to talk of on Earth. Here, he also established the New Testament Church in Doctrine.

Can we imagine if he failed? Consider the recorded event against Peter...the great Peter, who refused fellowship with gentiles. If this one sin were left to fester, and it was fundamentally a "doctrinal sin", where would the church be today? Totally and absolutely twisted from the Pattern that is, for sure.


He will long to be away from this world, not because he hates the world, for in fact he loves it more as God does , but because of his heightened awareness of sin itself. You see, the greater the revelation of God, the greater the awareness of sin, the greater the desire to go and be with God , just as the Old Covenant of Laws was a revelation of sin, which led to a magnification of sin which led to despair and a knowledge that one needed a Saviour.

He was prophet, and scribe.

I want to add that if a man or a woman has seen behind the veil, why would they reveal it? I think only to edify and minister to others..and some things are better left private, between you and God alone.

Revelation in itself does not make you spiritual, and that is the great misunderstanding about the prophet. They are just common ordinary folks chosen to bear a gift....and I think so, in that the Gift giver can receive the glory he deserves, not the messenger.

"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."

Who can glory that you were given a gift, as through Random?..[ we didn't ask or deserve...] I think of AMOS

The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah...[ a cowboy field worker...]..and so many more no-body's. Just messenger boys, that God chose and loved...but Who can endure?...any of us...without lots of grace. He must do it.

" Just messenger boys." Yes brother, I totaly agree. Why would anyone talk about their experience with Jesus? Perhaps their bones would melt if they did not? :) I would agree that anyone who has encountered the Lord could be a Prophet and a scribe...........bro Frank

Thank you for sharing this timely word. The Lord brought it to my attention during one of the worst Sunday meetings I've been at in awhile. The message was being brought by someone who has all the earmarks of the scribe and doctrinally denounces those who believe the prophet still exists. All that to say the Lord edified me through this word.

On another note, I was struck by Brother Tom's reference to Paul rebuking Peter about not eating with the Gentiles. The reason being that I have had the opportunity to be in countries where the Church meets in one place with people from every nation and background and yet they are not one. It troubles me to this day. I used to think the physical proximity was good but now not so much. There were always rivalries, easy offense being taken, and desire to be at the top. A few were able to cross the boundaries but most were stuck in their own nationality. Words of reproof were nonexistent, let alone those calling for reconciliation and humility. I think there is an issue of culture that is not the fruit of the Spirit that impedes the fellowship of the Saints. Often our cultural preferences interfere with considering our brothers higher than ourselves. The Judgement Seat will be a fearful time for those who have esteemed men higher than God. We esteem the council of man above God when our culture supercedes Scripture. This is evident in issues like head covering, breaking of bread, choosing of elders and how we meet. We give so credence to our forefathers that we neglect the Word as spoken by the Spirit in the Scriptures.