It is not at all uncommon for cessationists to report stories like this (in some cases sheepishly!). For to be clear, what is described here is eXactly what we charismatics call prophecy, and in case you were wondering most of the sound ones would certainly agree that whatever this is it sure doesn’t have the authority of how God spoke to Isaiah.
Now I hope you can see that if our argument hence boils down to what in some way amounts to a semantics question of what to call this kind of stuff, it’s no wonder we can have respectful fellowship. If only MacArthur saw it this way. I may be wrong, indeed I’d love to be wrong but the cessationist who wrote this may now be under suspicion of being a closet charismatic! Don’t worry we would welcome you with open arms as a brother even if you don’t want to call this prophecy!
Ferinstance. A number of years ago a good friend of ours was dying. When she finally passed away, Nancy and I were on the road (in Philadelphia). It was the middle of the night and we both woke up. Are you awake? Yeah, are you awake? How come? Beats me. A few minutes later the phone rang, and it was the news that our friend had gone to be with the Lord. Back home, our grandson Knox had been praying regularly for her, and he was two or thereabouts. But that night while praying for her, he stopped, and said, “She died. She is in Heaven.” They found out later that she had in fact died that night.
Now I have already answered the question whether this kind of thing is revelatory. No, it isn’t. But is it personal? Yes, of course. We therefore need a category for the Spirit’s active interactions with us in the world, one that fully acknowledges His presence while robustly denying that He is inspiring anybody the way He did Isaiah.
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