Now, the next supernatural gift of the Spirit we need to know is the word of knowledge. In I Cor. 12:8, we are given the power to know supernaturally. It is not just natural know-how, but a fragment of deity from God's great storehouse that has been dropped into our hearts from God's omniscience. God gives a part of Himself in a word of knowledge. The word of knowledge is a spoken perception of something factual. I Cor. 2:10-12 would be a good scripture for that. It is given to us at a time when natural knowledge is not sufficient. Moses wrote the story of creation by the word of knowledge. He didn't rely upon Egyptian science! They thought the world was flat! Moses declared that it was round and circular, not flat like the Egyptians declared. The Genesis story shows the earth as a circle.
Someone may say, "What is the difference between the word of knowledge and prophecy?" Prophecy quite often deals with the future, while the word of knowledge is often a present revelation of facts. It Is possible that these two gifts could dovetail and work together. Let us look at a few examples from the Word. It is obvious that some of these gifts were in operation in the Old Testament. For instance, how did Elisha know where the army of the king of Syria would mobilize his forces? (See II Kings 6:8-12.) Elisha warned the king of Israel not to go near this spot!
The King of Syria said to his men, "Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel about my plans? It's not us, sir, one of the officers replied, Elisha, the prophet, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom." (TLB)
It was God who gave a revelation to Elisha to tell the King of Israel not to pass by that place where the Syrian army was trying to ambush them.
Another story is told about Elisha in II Kings 5:1-26. Naaman, a captain of the Syrian army became leprous and was desperate to be healed of that dreadful killer. The little Israeli girl, who was his wife's maid, said, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy."
So Naaman went, but he went to the wrong source--he went to the king of Israel. Like many people today, he went to the wrong place. The natural man cannot heal, nor does he have the word of knowledge.
The king rent his clothes and said, "Am I God?"
When Elisha heard about it, he said, "Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
No doubt he was full of compassion for the captain. So Naaman came with his horses and chariot to the door of Elisha's house. Then Elisha sent a message to Naaman saying, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean."
Naaman was disgusted and became angry. He said "Don't I have clean rivers back home? Why should I wash in this filthy Jordan?"
He expected the man of God to make a big hullabaloo over him, but Naaman's servant said to him, "If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, wouldn't you do It? Why not simply go and do the thing?"
So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the water seven times--and the word of knowledge worked! Naaman humbled himself, dipped seven times, and was completely healed!
Now, I said all this to bring us to Gehazi's sin. He thought to himself, Isn't this a good time to make some money on the side? (like many would do today, I suppose). Anyone who covets gifts had better be right with God and give Him all the glory. We must have pure motives if we expect the word of God and gifts to operate. So Gehazi went to Naaman and returned with money and jewels, but the word of knowledge worked against him. Elisha knew the heart of Gehazi and said to him when he came back, "Went not my heart with thee...the leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed forever." You see, the gifts are a purifying factor in the Church.
Let me ask you a few questions:
How did Daniel interpret the handwriting on the wall which so troubled Belshazzar? He received the knowledge through the word of God, so he interpreted it: (Daniel 5:26-28)
Mene--God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.
Tekel--Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Peres (Upharsin)--Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians--which actually happened. Thus his kingdom fell.
We know that Jesus had this gift. Just before Jesus' crucifixion, when Peter was so sure he had strength, Jesus said to him, "Peter, this night before the cock crows thou shalt deny me thrice." (Matt. 26:34) How did Jesus know that? The word of knowledge.
Again, how did Jesus know that the woman at the well had had five husbands? (John 4:18)
How did Peter know that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Ghost about their possessions? By a word from the Holy Spirit.
Peter was sorrowful as he said, "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them that have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out."(Acts 5:9) Peter knew by the word of knowledge.
How did John know to say when Jesus passed by (since to my knowledge he had never seen him before), "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."? (John 1:29) He was given to know it immediately by the Holy Spirit.
There are many more instances. God desires to give his people this tremendous gift of the word of knowledge to work the works of God.
In John 14:12, we are told, "...I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."
In I John 4:17 it says, "...because as he is, so are we in this world."
If a gift is really operating, it is a fragment of Jesus' deity. It is God's knowledge operating, usually in an impossible situation, as far as man is concerned. May I share a phenomenon that happened in one of our meetings in Greensboro, North Carolina? This story was carried in the daily newspaper. I shall give you a brief overview of what happened.
I was invited to come to Greensboro for the second time--partly because in a previous meeting God met us in such a supernatural way, with signs, wonders and miracles! So I was invited back to Greensboro. But alas, the meetings were as flat and dry as could be! Practically nothing happened! The crowds were good, but there was no real move of the Spirit. There was some evidence of irreverence on the part of a group of young people sitting on one side of the church. I personally deplore such irreverence, but I sensed that God was going to do something exceptional so I kept quiet. I Just had the feeling that God was about to do something spectacular that they would never forget.
We started the second group of meetings on a Wednesday night. By Sunday, I was ready to pack up my briefcase and go home, but I stuck with it. The reason is obvious: a preacher does not carry a revival in his briefcase. We need to remember that revival comes from God and the preacher is only the channel. We do not carry the revival and the gifts of the Spirit in our briefcase. It's more serious than that. People so often place their faith in a person. We need to place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So on this Sunday night I was still feeling defeated when suddenly I got up to my feet and the Holy Spirit spoke a word of knowledge through me!
He said: "During the next three days there shall be a strange phenomenon each day."
I want to tell you, after I said that I felt like a fool! If something didn't happen by then, I'd better leave town! Night followed night and nothing happened. I was really getting nervous!
On Wednesday night, just before I got up to preach, the pastor went to the pulpit with a newspaper in his hand.
He showed us the headline which read, Tremors in a Row Puzzle Scientists.
He began to read: "What makes the ground in the Wilmington area shake like a nervous hula dancer? The mystery of the earth tremors, even today, when the third in as many days has been felt through Wilmington and Brunswick counties. They happen for about ten seconds every day, and it has been observed that each tremor has come at almost the same time. The University of North Carolina geologists suggest that the mathematical odds against three such tremors on three days, coming almost at the same time each day, are very high.
"Dr. G. R. McCarthy, who is in charge of the University of North Carolina seismograph admitted, 'I'm at a loss to explain. The trembling has got me worried, too,' he said."
"The first tremor came Monday at 9:00 a.m.; the second kicked in yesterday, Tuesday, at 9:25 a.m.; today's shake came right on time at 9:25 a.m. Each tremor was felt in both counties and in each county lasted about 10 seconds, rattling windows, some plaster falling from ceilings, but otherwise there was no damage. Officials at Wilmington believe they have ruled out the possibility of jet-caused sonic booms or dynamite explosions or any other explosions caused by military instailations in the area. Each agency was contacted in the area and professed to know nothing about any of this cause.
"'Quakes sometimes come one after the other,' Dr. McCarthy said, 'but it's the wildest sort of coincidence that these come as the ones in Wilmington. You can almost set your watch by the shocks,' he said."
When the pastor finished reading this excerpt from the Greensboro paper, there came a holy hush over the congregation. The silence was total. No one stirred. Many were there who had heard what I said on Sunday, and they remembered that I had prophesied that word. Now the pastor had read it from the newspaper!
That night, before arriving at the church, I had felt led to preach on hell. This is something I don't generally do, but tonight it seemed as though the Lord would have me preach on this subject. Into this silence, I got up to preach, and was surprised by the power of the anointing upon me! I didn't know when I had felt such a conviction. It seemed that we could almost smell the sulfur of hell!
When I finished, two girls (about 10 or 11 years old) Jumped up and prophesied that the congregation must repent to escape the Judgment of God and hell! Then, all of a sudden, a young man at the back of the church, by the name of Danny, Jumped up into the air and ran down the center of the aisle straight towards the pulpit!
I said to myself, I hope he's not coming at me with a switchblade! About six feet away from the pulpit, he slid and hit the board at the altar. I was worried that he might have cracked his kneecaps. Up went his arms to God and he cried out, "God save me!"
No one had to coach him! He'd come there to seek the Lord! He prayed for about fifteen minutes, and when he had fmished I said, "Danny, why did you run so fast to the altar?"
He said, "As I was sitting there in the back row, I saw flames leaping up behind me! When I looked to see where they came from I saw a deep abyss or pit down below! I just wanted to make sure I didn't go into that pit of fire."
He looked straight at me, then said, "When I looked up at the pulpit, I saw Jesus standing beside you. I knew that after I came to Jesus, He would save me."
I am told that Danny got so mightily saved that he became a devout Christian and married the pastor's daughter.
I relate this story, not to exalt anyone, but to show what a powerful gift the word of knowledge can be when the gifts of the Spirit operate in the body of Christ. When something like this happens in the Bible--for instance, to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles--the man was healed who had never walked. It is the story of God healing a man through Peter. Then, when the people looked at Peter as though he were some great personality, he quickly admitted, "It is not my power but it was in the name of Jesus and through faith in his name..."
This came to pass because of the gift of faith. The gift of healing could have been in operation also. The Pharisees spoke out and called it a "notable miracle, or the outworking of the gift of miracles." It could have been all three gifts of the Spirit in operation at the same time. It is the result of the gifts and what the gifts can do that really counts.
Usually when people behold the operation of a real gift, it results in people coming to the Lord and being saved! And that's the best part of it all! They can see the power of God in operation! These are the things that move the heathen. In many lands that I have been in, when they see somebody healed it catches their attention and many get saved. What would happen to Moslems today and others caught up in Godless religions--such as the Buddhists, Shintos, or New Age--if they saw such miracles? They cannot produce them. The minds of those captured by these false religions can be penetrated by the working of God's Holy Spirit.