The
Purpose and Process Of
Bible Prophecy
Lesson 2
Introduction
Bible prophecy is a very
broad and comprehensive subject. Those who
study prophetic things study the deep things of
God. Many people regard the Bible as
the Good Book because the Bible
promotes nobility, generosity and righteousness
all those good qualities that bring
happiness and joy. But the Bible is much
more that a Good Book.
The Bible exists for the
ultimate purpose of revealing what God is
like! The Bible not only tells us what out
Creator wants of us, it tells us what His plans
are and why! If we know what He is like,
and we know what He wants, then we can make an
informed decision whether or not we want to love
Him.
God gives prophecy to us
so that we might trust Him. He says,
I am God, and there is no other; I am
God, and there is none like me. I make
known the end from the beginning, from ancient
times, what is still to come
What I have
said, that will I bring about; what I have
planned, that will I do. Isaiah
46:9-11
Prophecy is a very
important component in the plan of
salvation. The Bible teaches that salvation
comes by faith in Jesus but how can we
have faith in someone we havent seen?
How can we love someone we dont know?
God does not ask us to place our faith in Him
without reasonable evidence. Prophecy is a
prediction of what God said He would do and
history is a confirmation of what He has
done. Thus prophecy is a light that shines
into the dark uncertainly of tomorrow. When
rightly understood, prophecy demonstrates and
explains the character of God. Peter said,
And we have the word of the prophets made
more certain, and you will do well to pay
attention to it, as a light shining in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning star
rises in your hearts.
Above all, you must
understand that no prophecy of Scripture came
about by the prophets own
interpretation. For prophecy never has its
origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit. II Peter 1: 19-21
Prophecy also serves an
important secondary purpose. It serves as a
road map to the Christian. By understanding
what God is about to do, Christians know when and
how to prepare! They know what to look
for. For example, God told Noah to build an
ark because He was going to destroy the world
with a flood. Noah built an ark and saved
his family.
Truth decay
Spirituality has decayed
in America for the same reason it decayed in
ancient Israel. We have forgotten God just
as Israel did. See if you can find any
parallels with Hoseas day.
Hosea said,
Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
because the Lord has a charge to bring against
you who live in the land. There is no
faithfulness, no love, and no acknowledgement of
God in the land. There is only cursing,
lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they
break all bounds, and bloodshed follows
bloodshed
. My people are destroyed
from lack of knowledge
but they do not
realize that I remember all their evil
deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are
always before me.
The days of punishment
are coming; the days of reckoning are at
hand. Let Israel know this. Because
your sins are so many and the hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired
man a maniac
(My people make promises, take
false oaths and make agreements; therefore
lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a
plowed field. Selections from Hosea
chapters 4-10.
When people lose sight of
God, the quality of life deteriorates quickly;
the evidence is all about us.
If I were called upon to identify the
principle trait of the entire 20th
century, I would be unable to find anything more
precise than to reflect once again on how we have
lost touch with our Creator. Men have
forgotten God. Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn, Readers Digest, September 1986.
What does the Bible say
some of the signs will be that indicates the end
of the world?
First of all, you
must understand that in the last days scoffers
will come, scoffing and following their own evil
desires. They will say, Where is this
coming he promised?
Ever since our fathers
died, everything goes on as it has since the
beginning of creation.
II Peter 3:3,4
Jesus answered:
Watch out that no one deceives you. For
many will come in my name, claiming, I am
the Christ. And will deceive many.
You hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to
it that you are not alarmed. Such things
must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. There will be famines and
earthquakes in various places. All these
are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew
24:4-8
Apostle Paul
speaks
Paul told Timothy,
But mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be
lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful,
proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not
lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
having a form of godliness but denying its
power. Have nothing to do with
them. II Timothy 3:1-5 Paul
encouraged Timothy by concluding;
everyone who wants to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted.
II Timothy 3:12
Jesus told His disciples,
They will put you out of the synagogue; in
fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you
will think he is offering a service to God.
John 16:2
But Jesus said,
Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of me. Rejoice and be
glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for
in the same way they persecuted the prophets who
were before you. Matthew 5:11,12
Paul describes the
wickedness of people in the last days, They
have become filled with every kind of wickedness,
evil, greed and depravity. They are full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters,
insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways
of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they
are senseless, faithless, heartless, and
ruthless. Although they know Gods
righteous decree that those who do such things
deserve death, they not only continue to do these
very things but also approve of those who
practice them. Romans 1:29-32
Having ears that
hear
There is more to
understanding prophecy than meets the eye.
To the casual or uninformed reader, the Bible can
be made to appear inconsistent and
contradictory. However, those who
diligently search the scriptures with an open
mind will find great beauty and harmony as the
Bible speaks for and interprets itself. The
biggest problem we face with Bible study is that
some things have to be believed before they can
be understood, and other things have to be
understood before they can be believed.
Jesus said to the
Pharisees, He who belongs to God
hears what God says. The reasons you do not
hear is that you do not belong to God. John
8:47 In chapters 2 and 3 of
Revelation, Jesus uses a very interesting phrase
seven times! He says, He that has an
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches. This phrase means that
those who listen for the voice of God will hear
and understand what the Holy Spirit says!
Some people dont
want to hear the Word of God. Jesus said,
Everyone who does evil hates to come into
the light, and will not come into the light for
fear that his deeds will be exposed. But
whosoever lives by the truth comes into the
light, so that it may be seen plainly that what
he has done through God. John 3:20,21
The Apostle Paul said,
The man without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand
them, because they are spiritually
discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
Even more, Daniel says of
the last days, Many will be purified,
made spotless and refined, but the wicked will
continue to be wicked. None of the wicked
will understand, but those who are wise will
understand. Daniel 12:10
The gift of
prophecy
The ability to prophesy
is a spiritual gift that comes from the Holy
Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:28.)
Prophetic understanding is also a gift we should
eagerly desire. Paul wrote to the Church in
Corinth, Follow the way of love and eagerly
desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of
prophecy. Why should we desire the
gift of prophecy? Everyone who
prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening,
encouragement and comfort. Corinthians
14:1,3
False prophets
The Bible indicates that
every prophet is not a true
prophet. Dear friends, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether
they are from God, because many false prophets
have gone out into the world. 1 John
4:1 Jesus warned, For false
Christs and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and miracles to deceive even
the elect, if that were possible.
Matthew 24:24
Test the prophets
How do we test the
prophets to determine if they are true or
false? Moses told the children of Israel,
If a prophet or one who foretells by
dreams, appears among you and announces to you a
miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or
wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he
says Let us follow other gods and let us
worship them, you must not listen to the
words of that prophet or dreamer
The Lord
your God is testing you to find out whether you
love him with all your heart and with all your
soul. It is the Lord your God that you must
follow, and him you must revere. Keep his
commands and obey him. That prophet or
dreamer must be put to death, because he preached
rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought
you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land
of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way
the Lord your God commanded you to
follow. Deuteronomy 13:1-5
How should Bible
prophecy be interpreted?
This is a very
encompassing and important question. Before
discussing various methods of
interpretation, study the following
prophecy given by Malachi, how it was interpreted
by Israel and the results.
Malachi predicts
See, I will send
you the prophet Elijah before the great and
dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will
turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers;
or else I will come and strike the land with a
curse.
Malachi 4:5,6
Malachis prophecy
was given about 350 years before Jesus was
born. The Jews interpreted this prophecy to
mean that Elijah would physically come down from
heaven and introduce the Messiah when He
arrived! (Elijah was taken to heaven in a
whirlwind some 500 years before Malachi wrote
these words. II Kings 2:11.) This
prophecy demonstrates two interesting points:
Point
1
According to Luke 3:15
the Jews were anticipating the arrival of Messiah
during the 15th year of Tiberius
Caesar. The Jews were not alone! Evan
the Samaritans anticipated the coming of
Messiah! (See John 4:25) Israel
expected Messiah to appear that very year because
Daniel had prophesied it! (This prophecy of
Daniel will be studied later.)
In the 15th
year of Tiberius Caesar, John the Baptist was
preaching and baptizing by the Jordan
River. People went out to hear him for he
spoke with a special power. His message cut
through the façade of religiosity and people
were pricked in the hearts because of
their sins. There was something different
about John the Baptist, and as his popularity
grew, so did the jealousy of the religious
leaders in Jerusalem.
One day the Pharisees of
Jerusalem sent out a delegation of priests to the
Jordan River to inspect this man that
was causing such interest. Their first
question was, Are you the
Messiah? John answered,
No. Then they asked if he was
Elijah. Again John answered,
No. Then they asked if he was
that prophet (a reference to the prophet that
Moses predicted in Deut. 18:15). John again
said No. Then in
desperation, they said, Who are
you? John answered saying, I am
the voice of one calling in the desert,
Make straight the way for the
Lord. John 1:23
Satisfied that John the
Baptist was neither the Messiah, Elijah nor the
prophet predicted by Moses, the priests returned
to Jerusalem with their report.
One of the
scriptural reasons the Jews refused
the Messiah is that Elijah did not descend from
heaven to announce the arrival of Messiah as
foretold by Malachi. Would you have doubted
that Jesus was the Messiah?
Point
2
The second point is that
accurate prophetic conclusions can only be
reached through the combined harmony of the
scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
After Peter, James and
John saw Jesus visit with Elijah and Moses on the
Mount of Transfiguration, they came to Jesus and
said, Why then do the teachers of the law
say that Elijah must come first?
Matthew 17:10
Jesus responded,
To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore
all things. But I tell you, Elijah has
already come, and they did not recognize him, but
have done to him everything they wished. In
the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at
their hands. Then the disciples
understood that he was talking about John the
Baptist. Matthew 17:11-13
Was John the Baptist the
promised Elijah? Yes or No.
No, John the Baptist was
not the physical person of the prophet Elijah for
John was born of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Yes, John the Baptist was
a type of Elijah. Notice what
the angel said to Johns father, Zechariah,
before John was born. And he will go
before the Lord, in the spirit and power of
Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
their children and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the righteous to make ready a people
prepared for the Lord. Luke 1:17
Jesus applies the
prophecy
Jesus recognized the
importance of Johns work. He
said, Among those born of women there
has not risen anyone greater than John the
Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he
And if you are
willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to
come. He who has ears let him
hear. Matthew 11:11,14
Theres that
prophetic phrase again, He who has ears,
let him hear. This prophecy by
Malachi has a meaning that can be applied more
than once. (The different types of prophecy will
be studied in a later lesson.) From the
Bible, it is clear that Jesus applied this
prophecy to His first advent for those who were
willing to receive it, but looking at the
prophecy, we see that it primarily applies to
another point in time: the great and
dreadful day of the Lord.
Notice that Jesus said,
If you are willing to accept it, he (John
the Baptist) is the Elijah who was to
come. In other words, if you are
willing to see a parallel, John the Baptist is a
representative of those who will prepare
the way of the Lord when the great and
dreadful day of the Lord arrives. They will
go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah just
like John the Baptist to announce the coming
Messiah.
The Prophets
speak
When does Malachi speak
of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord? Notice what a number a number
of Bible writers say about that great and awesome
day:
Amos says,
Woe to you who long for the day of the
Lord! Why do you long for the day of the
Lord? That day will be darkness, not
light. It will be as though a man fled from
a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered
his house and rested his hand on the wall only to
have a snake bite him? Amos 5:18-19
Isaiah says,
See, the day of the Lord is coming a
cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger to
make the land desolate and destroy the sinners
within it. The stars of heaven and their
constellations will not show their light.
Many prophets in the
Bible were shown scenes of The great day of
the Lord that takes place at the end of the
world. Consequently, they concluded the end
of the world would soon occur and wrote
accordingly.
The rising sun will be
darkened and the moon will not give its
light. I will punish the world for its
evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put
an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will
humble the pride of the ruthless.
Isaiah 13:9-11
Ezekiel says,
For the day is near, the day of the Lord is
near a day of clouds, a time of doom for
the nations. Ezekiel 30:3
Joel says, Alas for
that day! For the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the
Almighty. The Lord thunders at the head of
his army; his forces are beyond number, and
mighty are those who obey his command. The day of
the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can
endure it? The sun will be turned to blood before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord. Joel 1:15, 2:11,31
Obadiah says, The
day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you
have done, it will be done to you; your deeds
will return upon your own head.
Obadiah 1:15
Zephaniah says, The
great day of the Lord is near near and
coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day
of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the
warrior there. Zephaniah 1:14
Peter says,
But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief. The heavens will disappear with a
roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and
the earth and everything in it will be laid
bare. 2 peter 3:10
A number of scriptures
clearly point to the second coming of Jesus as
the predicted great and dreadful day of the
Lord! Notice Johns description of the
great and dreadful day of the Lords
wrath. I watched as he opened the
sixth seal. There was a great
earthquake. The sun turned black like
sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon
turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell
to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when
shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded
like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and
island was removed from its place. Then the
kings of earth, the princes, the generals, the
rich, the mighty and every slave and every free
man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the
mountains. They called to the mountains and
the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the
face of him who sits on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of
there wrath has come, and who can
stand? Revelation 6:12-17
Apocalyptic
structure
Apocalyptic prophecy is
defined in this series as prophecy that deals
with a predicted sequence of events that takes
place. This means that apocalyptic prophecy
predicts a certain sequence or order in which
things come to pass. By comparing history
with fulfilled prophecies, we can find our
chronological position in the sequence.
Even more, by carefully following consistent
rules of interpretation, we can determine certain
processes or events that will take place in the
future. The rules of interpretation will be
applied in later studies. For now, you need
to become aware of three important rules.
The
books of Daniel and Revelation (unlike the other
books of the Bible) contain apocalyptic
prophecy. These books are unique in that
they alone lay out a sequence of events that mark
that passage of time so that we can tell where we
are in Gods timetable. Apocalyptic
prophecy always has a beginning point and ending
point in time. By knowing the beginning and
ending points of a sequence, we can discover our
place and time in the sequence. Because
apocalyptic prophecies have a beginning and
ending point in time, they cannot have multiple
fulfillments. An apocalyptic sequence can
only occur once.
All
prophecies of the Bible are subordinate to
apocalyptic structure. This means that
apocalyptic prophecy holds greater weight in
terms of chronology than non-apocalyptic
prophecies. For example, we read earlier
that Amos, Ezekiel, Joel, Obadiah and New
Testament prophets believed the great day of the
Lord was near. Theres no
question that they saw in vision led them to
conclude that the Day of the Lord was
near. In Revelation, John too, indicates
the fulfillment of the things he saw were also
near or soon. The problem is
that the prophets did not understand how their
visions fit into the overall chronology of
apocalyptic structure. No one prophet was
shown everything that God intends to bring
about. Paul sums up the process of
prophetic revelations saying, In the past
God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets
at many times and in various ways.
Hebrews 1:1. Each time God speaks to a prophet
about the end of time, more detail is
provided. By first understanding
apocalyptic structure, the details from various
prophets can then be put in place! A
prophecy is not fulfilled until all the
specifications and the chronology of the prophecy
are both met.
The
language problem found in some of the apocalyptic
prophecies clears up when the prophecy becomes
applicable. In other words, when the
prophecy becomes applicable, the language of the
prophecy becomes applicable. For example,
John begins Revelation by saying, The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to
show his servants what must soon take
place
Revelation 1:1. The words
must soon take place cannot be
represented to mean 2,000 years from Johns
day. If we identify an item as symbolic, we
must produce applicable scripture to explain the
meaning of the symbol. Students cannot
makeup their own interpretations of
symbols. The Bible must interpret itself.
The significance and
importance of these rules will be seen as we
apply them in our series.
The promise of Elijah
remains
In closing, the point
must be clearly made that the world will yet see
a fulfillment of Malachis prophecy since it
involves the great day of the
Lord. What form will Elijah be
in? Will it be the actual person of Elijah
as the Jews anticipated or will it be a number of
people around the world filled with the spirit
and power of Elijah? Revelation explains
the mystery and the mystery you will soon
understand!
Quiz
- In
this section we learned that prophecy has
two major functions:
A.
B.
- Truth
decay was predicted as a sign of the last
days. Give three examples:
A.
B.
C.
- How
can we identify a false prophet?
- What
does the expression, Let
those who have ears to hear mean?
- T
or F Jesus said if we were willing to
accept it, Elijah did appear as
prophesied.
- Give
three adjectives of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord:
A.
B.
C.
Memory Verse
- Isaiah 46: 9-11
I am God, and there
is no other; I am God, and there is none like
me. I make known the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, what is still to
come
What I have said, that will I bring
about; what I have planned, that will I
do.
Notes:
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