But any person can claim to be a prophet speaking for God. People may do this to get money or power or fame. Some might even do it sincerely, for their own ‘good’ reasons. This was a problem in the past, and it is still a problem today. Many who now claim to speak for God argue against each other. Their messages do not agree. After speaking about God’s true prophets of long ago, the apostle Peter warns,
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you (2 Peter 2:1).
God knew there would be false prophets. He also knew that people might have trouble in knowing which speaker was true and which was false. So God made it clear which prophets were sent by Him.
Look again at the example of Moses when God made him a prophet to carry His message to Egypt. Moses had grown up in Egypt and had not been known as a prophet then. How could the people possibly know that now God had made him a prophet? The people might even think of him as a false prophet. Moses asked God,
“But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you‘” (Exodus 4:1).
In reply, God told Moses to throw his stick on the ground. By God’s power, the stick became a snake. Then He had Moses pick it up. By God’s power, it changed back into a stick.
”…that they may believe that the Lord… has appeared to you” (Exodus 4:5).
God then gave Moses other miracles—just as amazing—also to prove that he was from God. God called these “signs” (Exodus 4:8,30). For they were like signboards for the people, pointing out God’s true prophet.
We must be aware that God’s enemies also had some power. Egypt’s sorcerers and magicians copied a few things done by Moses “… by their secret arts” (Exodus 7:11). But God has all power, so His miracles were always far greater. He showed the kind of power that only the Creator has over His creation. The power in Moses was so great that all could see that Moses was God’s prophet.