The Types of Prophecy

Prophecy is divided into prophecy of foreknowledge which tells what is certainly to come, and prophecy of denunciation which tells what will come if the present situation does not change. The first type is prophecy of information; the second type is prophecy of warning. When the prophet Jonas told the people of sinful Ninive that in three days their city would be destroyed, he uttered a prophecy ofdenunciation. He did not tell the people that their being destroyed or being spared would depend on how they received and acted upon what he prophesied; indeed, he did not know that escape from disaster was possible for them. Yet his prophecy was actually, asit turned out, conditioned upon the way the Ninivites behaved; they and their king fasted, and did penance, and called on God; in consequence, they were spared, and the dire prophecy of destruction was not fulfilled. Now, the point to remember is this: Jonas made a true prophecy. The causes that would destroy Ninive were in action and were to produce their effect unless God should intervene to stop them. When Jonas told the people that destruction was coming, it was coming. Jonas was givenforeknowledge of destruction to come in a certain situation, butnot foreknowledge of what was to come if the situation should change; and the situation did change. Therefore, in distinguishing these two types of prophecy (that is, of full knowledge, and ofdenunciation) we may say: prophecy of full foreknowledge must be fulfilled; prophecy of denunciation must be fulfilled if the conditions in which it is uttered remain the same. And the prophet may or may not know which type of prophecy he is uttering.

The most excellent of prophecies comes from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost without sensible signs, words,dreams, or visions of material things.

Prophecy may be typed or classified according to the fact that it is imparted by pure inspiration or by material indications. And the indications themselves are various, and can be used for further classification. And so we can speak of propheticknowledge imparted to the prophet when he is awake, when he is asleep, by signs of truth, by words of truth, by the word of an angel, by the word of our Lord in apparition, and so on.

Of all the prophets Moses was the greatest. Scripture tells us that the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face,” andthe prophecies of Moses were authenticated by very great miracles. In Deuteronomy (34:10, 11) we read: “There arose nomore in Israel a prophet like unto Moses.” Of course, when we call Moses the greatest of prophets, we are speaking of merely human prophets, divinely enlightened to speak prophecies; we do not include our Lord (who made the most wonderful of all propheciesconcerning man’s redemption, and the Resurrection, and the Holy Eucharist, and the Church), for our Lord is God himself as well asman, and he has no need of enlightenment about the future, for as God he knows it perfectly.

Prophecy has no place among the blessed in heaven. They who dwell in light itself have no need of enlightenment. Prophecy is a gratuitous grace imparted by God to help, guide, and warn man the wayfarer, that is, man living here on earth. Prophecy is meant to help get man safe home to heaven; those who are at home need no help and guide to get there.

Prophecies and prophets are not more and more excellent as time goes on, so that the predictions are better or greater as they near fulfillment. Moses was the greatest of the prophets, buthe preceded most of the others. Indeed, it seems that the most essential and therefore the most excellent of doctrinal prophecies came earliest.