One of my pastors recently shared a clearer lens on the role of the Commandments (Exodus 20) and it is fitting to add the role of the Spirit of Prophecy (Testimony of Jesus).

The commands of God act as mirrors, giving clarity to the state of our souls and relationship with God.

That’s all. They show and tell us our condition in sin and how that condition has and is weakening our love and connection with God. But the commandments are not the solution; they are the signal to us that we must go to the One who can clean us up and present us to God as acceptable. The law and the prophets speak to us with the voice of the Holy Spirit and remind us of the God who redeems and of the sacrificial blood of Jesus.

“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” In other words, if you lose love, you’ve lost the whole law. Every commandment, from Sabbath to “Do not covet,” exists to teach us how to love better: how to love God rightly, and how to love each other well. Even prophetic warnings and judgments are, at their core, divine love letters begging us to return to our first love. Romans 13:10 puts it plainly:

“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

And so, to keep God’s commandments isn’t to live under a yoke of bondage; it is to learn the rhythm of Divine Love. To hear the prophets is not to tremble in fear, but to be awakened to hope, called back to covenant, reminded that God is still speaking. This is why we must not settle for understanding the Spirit of Prophecy as a human person or personality, but rather as a conduit of the gift.

Those conduits, God’s press secretaries, are very much alive. This gift dwells in men and women, present across generations, richly diverse, and Spirit-empowered to carry God’s message forward.

Are we listening to hear their voices today?