“During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.” Acts 11:27-30 NLT
Like the Old Testament Prophets of old, Abagus tells the Church, there is famine coming. GotQuestions.org states, “Claudius Caesar had several unintended effects on Christian history. First, his scattering of the Jews in Rome led directly to Paul’s encounter with Priscilla and Aquila.” And, “God sovereignly used the reign of Claudius Caesar, as He did every other Roman emperor, to continue spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ across the world. Some of Paul’s earliest letters were written under the reign of Claudius Caesar.”
Luke uses this very public tragedy to highlight the prophet office, or the gift of prophecy. A prophet was one who received direct messages from God and communicated them to the people. The gift of prophecy is mainly active as a forth-telling, which is declaring of God’s truth, especially in encouraging one another in the Church. The less common is fore-telling, predicting future events.
Here in Acts 11, Agabus predicted (by the Holy Spirit) that a great famine was coming. Clearly this forecast allowed the Church to prepare ahead of the crisis on behalf of those who would suffer in Jerusalem. This massive mission push was a New Testament theme that not only addressed the speed, agility and ability of believers throughout the entire region. It also highlighted the unity of Christianity in sending money to Jerusalem. This allowed the Pastors to purchase food and get it distributed to those affected. Sending funds and distributing food was a powerful testimony to nonbelievers that the Church didn’t just care about folks spiritual needs but physical needs as well.
This thread of distribution in disasters is still relevant today! During Covid, hundreds of Churches were the distribution centers of food because of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program which began in May of 2020 and ended in May of 2021 having distributed more than 173 million food boxes. And, many people don’t know that ConvoyofHope.org, is oftentimes the first to arrive in national disasters around the country. It is amazing and challenging to know that God has used the Church then and does so still today. One of the marks of Christianity on our culture is how believers give time and money in a crisis – both local and globally. The beauty of this moment recorded in Acts is that God gave warning through the gift of Prophecy that allowed the Church to begin preparing before the famine even hit.
Prayer
Dad,
It would be great if we (the Church) had more prophetically gifted individuals for just such reasons as Agabus had proven faithful. I have really longed for the Church leadership offices to get beyond just the two pastor/teacher flavors. Lacking our apostolic and prophetic seems to keep us wandering in circles, missing the urgency and the push of the Spirit which both these gifts give us. We have given into fears in our churches because these missing gifts were abused in the past and later shuffled off as insignificant. This one prophetic moment gave the early church more than just a head-start it gave it the edge for politicians and business leaders to follow. This kept the church relevant in resources, leading the charge to care and directing people and funds to where both were much needed. Could you give us another chance, a boost of confidence to follow the model of the early church?