The Prophecies of John Knox
John Knox was born in the early 1500s in Scotland. He’s well known for praying:
“God give me Scotland or I die!”
Knox got into quite a bit of trouble with the Roman Catholic Church, like most of those early Reformers. He was sent to the French Galleys which was a slave ship for prisoners, he had heated confrontations with Mary Queen of Scots, and was almost executed a handful of times.
He also had a good friendship with John Calvin who he met in Geneva when he was exiled from Scotland.
He would eventually be the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Now there are a lot of stories about Knox that I could tell that would show how important he was to the Protestant Reformation but, that is not what I am going to be highlighting today.
What I want to highlight is that Knox actually had a prophetic gift. When I say prophetic, I don’t just mean the boldness to confront sin and heresy, which he definitely had as well, but I mean the ability to foretell future events that had not come to pass.
The Queen’s Testimony
Mary Queen of Scots is known to have been afraid of the prayers of Knox.
“Mr. Knox was an eminent wrestler with God in prayer, and like a prince prevailed; the queen regent herself gave him this testimony, when, upon a particular occasion, she said, She was more afraid of his prayers than of an army of ten thousand men. He was likewise warm and pathetic in his preaching, in which such prophetical expressions as dropt from him, had the most remarkable accomplishment; as an instance of this, when he was confined in the castle of St. Andrews, he foretold both the manner of their surrender, and their deliverance from the French gallies; and when the lords of the congregation were twice discomfited by the French army, he assured them, in the mean time, that the Lord would prosper the work of reformation.”
- John Howie (The Scots Worthies)
At another time, he addressed her husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who apparently threw a book of the Psalms in the fire.
Howie records that Knox responded saying this:
“Have you for the pleasure of that dainty dame cast the psalm book in the fire; the Lord shall strike both head and tail;”
- John Howie (The Scots Worthies)
This prophecy was fulfilled when both the king and queen died violent deaths.
The Lonely Death of Thomas Maitland
In 1570, one of Knox’s good friends, James Stewart, the regent of Scotland, was assassinated.
Following these events, the grieving Knox approached the pulpit to preach and found a note that he silently read to himself.
It ended up being a slanderous note concerning his recently dead friend.
Knox didn’t know who wrote the note but he responded by saying:
“That wicked man, whosoever he be, shall not go unpunished, and shall die where there shall be none to lament him.”
- Thomas M'Crie (The Life of John Knox)
Thomas Maitland was the man who wrote this note and went home and told his sister about Knox’s comment.
In response, M’Crie documents that,
“she understanding that her brother had written the line, reproved him, saying with tears, that none of that man’s denunciations were wont to prove idle.”
- Thomas M'Crie (The Life of John Knox)
This prophecy was fulfilled shortly after when Thomas Maitland died in Italy by himself with no one around to mourn him.
The Death and (Lack of) Legacy of Charles IX
In 1572 Charles IX of France murdered the Admiral of France and then ordered the massacre of 70,000 Protestants throughout France.
“Seventy thousand were murdered in one week. For several days the streets of Paris literally ran with blood. The savage monarch, standing at the windows of the palace, with his courtiers, glutted his eyes with the inhuman spectacle, and amused himself with firing upon the miserable fugitives who sought shelter at his merciless gates.”
- Thomas M'Crie (The Life of John Knox)
This gutted Knox. He was visibly upset at the situation that had left a deep wound in the Reformed Church.
“Being conveyed to the pulpit, and summoning up the remainder of his strength, he thundered the vengeance of Heaven against that cruel murderer and false traitor, the King of France, and desired Le Croc, the French ambassador, to tell his master, that sentence was pronounced against him in Scotland, that the divine vengeance would never depart from him, nor from his house, if repentance was not forthcoming: but his name would remain an execration to posterity, and none proceeding from his loins would enjoy that kingdom in peace.”
- Thomas M’Crie (The Life of John Knox)
This prophecy was fulfilled about 2 years later when Charles IX died at 24 years old and left no heir to the throne.
Knox’s Response to Criticisms
Knox has been criticized for his prophetic gifts.
That he was self-fulfilling his predictions or setting himself up as a prophet.
To this, he responded by saying:
“‘My assurances are not the marvels of Merlin, nor yet the dark sentences of profane prophecies; but the plain truth of God’s Word, the invincible justice of the everlasting God, and the ordinary course of His punishments and plagues from the beginning are my assurance and grounds. God’s Word threatens destruction to all the disobedient; his immutable justice must require the same; the ordinary punishments and plagues show examples. What man then can cease to prophesy?’”
- Thomas M'Crie (The Life of John Knox)
Conclusion
So what are we to make of this?
We have here one of the early reformers who clearly had a prophetic gift.
But we have some Reformed preachers today who claim that all gifts of the Spirit ceased with the canonization of scripture.
Like I have been saying since I started this channel, this is an inaccurate claim.
Not only do we have the early church fathers, after the canonization of scripture, that claimed that they had these gifts, but we also have early Reformers like Knox here.
As a Reformed Christian, do I believe in the cessation of special revelation?
Yes, of course.
The canon is closed.
So if anyone receives “revelation” that goes contrary to scripture, that is not from God. That is demonically inspired.
Does that mean that the gift of prophecy has ceased though?
I would say no.
And John Knox is a great example.
Thomas M’Crie, who wrote one of the biographies of Knox that has been referenced in this video said this regarding the matter.
“The canon of our faith is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament; we must not look to impressions or new revelations as the rule of our duty; but that God may, on particular occasions, forewarn persons of some things which shall happen, to testify His approbation of them, to encourage them to confide in Him in peculiar circumstances, or for other useful purposes, is not, I think, inconsistent with the principles of either natural or revealed religion… Some of the reformers were men of singular piety; they ‘walked with God;’ they were ‘instant in prayer;’ they were exposed to uncommon opposition, and had uncommon services to perform; they were endued with extraordinary gifts, and, I am inclined to believe, were occasionally favoured with extraordinary premonitions, with respect to certain events which concerned themselves, other individuals, or the church in general.”
- Thomas M'Crie (The Life of John Knox)