We Need A Miracle

Why Do We Not Study Prophecy, If It Is So Important? 

How Long? (4:34) is a song expressing what every child vocalizes to their parent about the future, but isn’t that the essence of Bible prophecy? 

Didn’t see it coming, and when the calamity of the invasion of Judah happened, no prophet was at hand giving words of understanding, comfort, and deliverance, at least, as far as this Psalmist could see. “We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?” (Psalm 74:9-10 KJV). Of course, we live in different times, but you can see how knowing what has happened, is happening, and is going to happen, practically benefits the people of God. It is intrinsic to human nature to ask, “How long?” Children want to know on a trip, “Are we their yet?” More than a dozen times in the Book of Psalms alone, the Psalmist raises the question, “How long?” In the wisdom of God, He has provided prophecy to answer this question; again, why are we not studying prophecy? 

But, you say, “Anybody can make a wild prediction about the Terminal Generation, when Jesus is supposed to rapture His Church and come back. What happens, when nothing happens? Doesn’t it do more harm than good for the cause of Christ? Shouldn’t we be more encouraging people how to live for Christ than giving them confusing instructions that might not take place? Wasn’t all prophecy practically fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, anyway? Besides, didn’t Jesus say no one knows when He will return? Shouldn’t we just emphasize there will one day be a New Heaven and New Earth and let it happen whenever it happens, no matter how long it takes?” 

[Scan ahead. This is a longer entry, but not too long.]

First, Predictive Prophecy (prophecies that predict a specific outcome) are found in 8,352 verses of the Bible (27% of Scripture), according to J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy. 256 verses (63%) of the Book of Revelation, written by the Apostle John about 96 AD (long after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD), were predictions. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come” (John 16:13). 

Second, God is indisputably the source of all true prophecy. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). Prophecy proves the veracity of God and His Scripture. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2Peter 1:21).

Third, prophecy, like all the other Scripture, testifies of Christ. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). The purpose of prophecy is to bear testimony to Jesus, which then is the “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), so then the “testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (19:10).

Fourth, prophecy must have a purifying effect upon the Church of Christ, or it is being studied for the wrong reasons. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). 

Fifth, prophecy must be proven to each disciple by the Holy Spirit from personal examination of the Word of God. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1Thessalonians 5:21). Never take anyone’s word about Scripture without proving it to your own satisfaction. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). 

Sixth, if the Devil knows Jehovah’s predictions for the future, won’t he oppose God’s plans and work to keep us ignorant of what God is trying to accomplish in human history? Yes, our adversary does not want us to know God’s prophecies, because he doesn’t want us opposing his diabolical plans. If Satan knows the physical seed of Eve would produce Christ, then he will oppose the physical lineage that produced Jesus Christ, and will work to establish his own physical seed, potentially in the Antichrist. A prophecy concerning Christ and the Antichrist: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The devil would not have crucified Jesus, if he understood God’s plan. “Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1Corinthians 2:8). 

For example, how would the Wise Men of the Christmas Story even know of a Promised Messiah, if Daniel, the chief of “all the wise men of Babylon” had not told them (Daniel 2:48; 5:11)? And, how could Daniel know about the physical birth of a Messiah had not Micah earlier predicted it (Micah 5:2)? And, why would Micah be prophesying of the physical birth of a coming deliverer, if he did not think there was truth to Yahweh’s pronouncement of a future physical seed and lineage from Eve (Genesis 3:15; Psalm 132:11)? Why were Simeon and Anna even looking for the birth of a Hebrew male child unless they believed the Predictive Prophecy of Daniel (Luke 2:25-38)? And, if it took the understanding of Predictive Prophecy to appreciate, cooperate, and coordinate with the Messiah’s First Advent for the purpose of our salvation (“but not for Himself” Daniel 9:25-26), how can we not study prophecy to pray (Ezekiel 36:37), prepare, cooperate, and coordinate (Matthew 6:10) with Yahweh for the Second Advent of the Conquering Messiah to set up His earthly Millennial Kingdom (Daniel 7:14)?

Seventh, no one is allowed to set dates, when Christ is supposed to return, i.e., “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power” (Acts 1:7). Even if we think we know anything about the time of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot absolutely know it, for even the Son has divinely covenanted with the Father not to know. “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). 

Eighth, it is fruitless not to study prophecy because misunderstandings, contentions, false prophets, and the False Prophet will come anyway. “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come” (Luke 17:1). 

Ninth, without a proper understanding of prophecy, the Church will not have a clear understanding of how to set the battle in array for the End Times. Who is on the LORD’s side, and who is the enemy? “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad” (Matthew 12:30).

Tenth, without the ability to distinguish between ‘taking God at His word’ as opposed to ‘taking God literally, as opposed to figuratively,’ the Church will build prejudices and obstacles to understanding Prophetic Predictions. “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).

Eleventh, but still, without the ability to appreciate figurative or poetic language, the Church will lose the ability to make Spirit-filled applications of God’s Prophecies, which results in legalism and loveless service of God. “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4). 

Twelfth, but doesn’t Jesus’ Olivet Discourse plainly indicate Christ’s prophecies were referring to the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans, i.e., “when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies” (Luke 21:20), thus bringing to a practical conclusion all the prophecies? True, Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount may lend itself to that interpretation, but Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount gives us the additional understanding “when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place” (Matthew 24:15), indicating a double fulfillment and future time, yet to come. 

Father, You are the God of all prophecy, and You know we want to know how long, so we can cooperate with the return of Your Son. May our prayer, Thy kingdom come, be accompanied by our heartfelt, Thy will be done, that there would be great gain for Your kingdom. Help us to block off all means of the enemy taking advantage of us and using us against You. We need Your Spirit’s intervention. Through You, we shall do valiantly! Lord Jesus, return quickly. Amen and amen. 

For a more developed discussion of Christ’s Olivet Discourse, the difference between the Preterist view that prophecy was fulfilled essentially by the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the Futurist view of a yet to be prophetic fulfillment of the Seventieth Week of Daniel, see our article, Two Olivet Discourses?

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