She Was Standing Right There

We have handled the two hardest verses. We have looked at Deborah and Huldah — women to whom God gave civil, military, and prophetic authority with no apology. Now we step back and look at the big promise: the one God made about women and His Spirit. Because this is not a story about a few exceptions. This is a story about what God said He would do.

Exodus 15:20 — Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her. She is called a prophet — the feminine form of the Hebrew nabi — right there, in the text, without qualification. And what does a prophet do? A prophet speaks for God. She led the worship after the Red Sea crossing — the first recorded song of praise after deliverance — and God Himself says through Micah, in His own voice: "I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." He calls her sent.

This is not a small thing. God lists her name next to Moses — the lawgiver — and says He sent her. She had a public, visible, named prophetic ministry at the founding moment of the nation. Whatever else Miriam did wrong — and she did things wrong, and she was judged for them — her prophetic calling is never retracted. God does not say "I sent Moses and Aaron, and Miriam was there too." He says He sent her.

Fast-forward to Luke 2. Anna is eighty-four years old. She has been a widow for decades. She never left the temple — she worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer. And the text calls her a prophet. When Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the temple, Anna recognizes Him. She gives thanks to God — and then she speaks of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Think about who is in the temple that day. Simeon is there — and he speaks. But Anna is there too, and she speaks publicly, to crowds, about the Messiah. The first people to publicly proclaim the arrival of the Christ in the temple courts were a man named Simeon and a woman named Anna. The gospel writer records both. Neither one is a footnote.

Acts 21:8-9 — Philip the evangelist had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. That is the entire description. Luke does not feel the need to explain it, qualify it, apologize for it, or bracket it. He just records it: four women, prophesying, in the church. The text does not tell us they only prophesied in private. It does not tell us they only spoke to other women. It simply records their gift as a fact.

And Paul stayed at Philip's house. The apostle who wrote the two verses we spent the first two sessions examining lived in a house with four prophesying women — and he wrote nothing against it. He did not tell them to stop. He did not correct Philip. He stayed there. The man who wrote "I do not permit a woman to teach" stayed under the roof of a man whose four daughters had public prophetic gifts, and he raised no objection.

Acts 2:17-18 — Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and quotes Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."

Peter did not add a footnote. He did not say "your sons will prophesy, and your daughters — well, let's circle back to that in a few verses." The Spirit was poured out. Both men and women received it. Both men and women spoke. And Peter declared it was exactly what God had promised.

That is the program. From the beginning, the age of the Spirit was supposed to include women speaking for God. It was promised in Joel. It was fulfilled at Pentecost. It was practiced in the early church. And it is recorded in Scripture without apology.