Bible prophecy has perplexed millions! Many hundreds of volumes have been written—articles, leaflets, tracts printed—thousands of sermons have been preached—all about Biblical prophecy! And yet—look at all the confusion! One-third of the Bible is prophecy! Why was it written? Why is it so mysterious? Why does almost no one understand it? What does Bible prophecy mean for us today?
What Is Prophecy? The Hebrew word for prophet, "Nabi" means "one who announces or brings a message from God." The word "prophet" in the English language means essentially the same thing—“one who speaks by Divine inspiration as the interpreter or spokesman of God," whether it be a message of duty and warning, or a prediction of future events. Hence, the prefix "pro" (from the Greek language—from which our word "prophet" is derived) which means "for" and "before" so that a prophet is one who speaks for God, or one who tells before -- one who predicts, foretells, prophecies!
Many people falsely assume all prophecies are merely dire foretelling of catastrophic events, of the wrathful vengeance of a harsh God who is about to descend with terrible fury upon His ill fated subjects here below! This is far from the truth! Many of the prophecies foretell a time of peace, of happiness, of restoration, of joy, of great prosperity and physical wealth for those who are serving God. Many prophecies merely foretell, in advance, certain events which are to happen, the rise and fall of nations, the course of world affairs! Prophecy is a chronicle of the great plan God is working out here below! It describes this plan in detail, showing how God knew it would work out, according to human nature, together with other special interventions of God. Prophecy is history written in advance!
Who Were the Prophets? The prophets were not a special hierarchy, a guild, or a certain "class" of supermen! Many of them were chosen from several of the tribes, and, unlike those of the tribe of Levi, were not born into their office (2 Peter 1:20-21). Daniel was of the tribe of Judah, one of the princes of the nation, with whom God began to deal—revealing the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, and causing Daniel to write many prophecies which he, himself did not understand (Dan. 12:8-9). Jeremiah was "of the priests" (Jer. 1:1), who argued he was too young to become a prophet of God! Hosea was apparently of Zebulun. Jonah ran from the call of God. Isaiah claimed he was a man of unclean lips, and didn't want to prophesy. Zephaniah was one of the princes of Judah, possibly of the descendants of Hezekiah.
As the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to write, God called His prophets—sent them with a message as divinely commissioned messengers. On many occasions, they had to be made willing to carry the message of God. These men were not seeking or desiring the office of a "prophet," they were chosen of God (Amos 1:1; 7:14-15)! They were "Holy men of old"! And, on these men together with the New Testament apostles, is based the very Church of God (Eph. 2:19-20)! Why was prophecy written?
God selected Jonah as a prophet and commissioned him to go to the great city of Nineveh. Jonah finally went. Jonah prophesied, lifting up his voice in loud warning as he traversed the great, sprawling city of Nineveh (Jonah 3:6-10)! Notice it! Jonah fulfilled his commission! Jonah's job of orally shouting the warning was over! Jonah carried the message to Nineveh, and Nineveh had actually repented! Then—if the prophecy had served its purpose, if the warning had been heeded, if Jonah's commission was over, why the need of writing the prophecy? Jonah wrote the whole thing and it forms a part of our Bible today!
Do a study on Jeremiah 36:1-26. After the writing of this dire warning toward Israel and Judah, notice what happened! Stop and think for a moment. God had revealed a message to Jeremiah. Jeremiah had caused the message to be written. The message had then reached all the people, the princes and finally, it reached the king! On this occasion, unlike Nineveh, neither the king, the princes, nor the people repented! So was the purpose of the prophecy fulfilled? If there is not a dual application then why did God cause every word to be written a second time (Jer. 36:27-28)?
God wanted these words preserved! God wanted them to come right on down to our time—now! The very purpose for writing one single word of prophecy is to preserve the prophecies for future generations! God saw to it, even by intervening in a Divine miracle, that His sacred words were to be preserved for all generations. Why? Part of the reason is given in 1 Cor. 10:6, 11. God caused the prophecies to be written to show His servants how world conditions would work out (Rev. 1:1). So His servants in this modern age can come to understand the prophecies; preaching and publishing them to the modern nations for whom they were intended!
God makes an ironclad promise that He will not cause any major world condition to occur, that He will not intervene in world affairs, unless His servants—those who are members of the very body of Jesus Christ—know about it first (Amos 3:7)! One full third of the Bible is prophecy—and about 90% of all that prophecy still pertains to our day—right now!
What does Bible Prophecy Mean to us today? Jesus Christ commissioned His Church to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to all the world as a witness (Matt. 28:18-20; Matt. 24:14). The gospel is prophetic! It has to do with present-day world news, and the future of this whole earth! The whole meaning of the gospel is prophetic as Jesus Christ said: "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which shall come to pass [that are prophesied—that are to happen in the future] and to stand before the Son of Man!" (Luke 21:36). Only by understanding the prophecies of the Bible can we intelligently watch—and Jesus meant watch world news. When we know, in advance, what is going to happen—then we can be real watchmen of Almighty God! That's why God caused the prophecies to be recorded—to warn the world now!
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