LESSON 1: God wants you to study prophecy! 1) God chooses to speak to mankind through prophecy. Look up Amos 3:7 and record what you learn: What does that tell you about prophecy? BTW-the study of prophecy is called eschatology. 2) God proves his "Godness" through prophecy. Look at these verses: Isaiah 46:9-10 Isaiah 42:8-9 Isaiah 44:6 1
What, according to God, proves his supernatural nature? What proves that he is God? How does that prove his Godness? Look at Isaiah 41:21-23. "Present your case," says the LORD. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob's King. "Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. How does this verse confirm your original conclusion (above)? Now look at John 13:18: But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'19"i am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. What does this verse add to your understand about how God uses prophecy to prove himself as God? Have you ever heard the term "the parade of history"? When you watch a parade, you sit and watch the action march past you. History is sometimes called a parade because from a human standpoint, time has paraded by, marching from past to future in one direction, as humans have witnessed events. (Think timeline.) But what if you were in charge of a parade and watching it from a helicopter? You would see the beginning and the end at the same time. You would be above the plane of the action, and "end" and "beginning" would really have no meaning. (God says only he can tell the end from the beginning., Isaiah 46:10) That is one way to envision what it means that "God inhabits eternity." He lives above the plane of action (outside time altogether), and "sees" all events in history at the same time. (Scientists, by the way, know that such a "place" as "eternity" exists--einstein said that when you understand physics, you know that past, present and future are just "stubbornly persistent illusions".) One big mystery, in science, however, is why humans can only move one way in time (which is just a fourth dimension of our physical space). Maybe it's because that is how God has chosen to reveal himself to us. 3) We are clearly held responsible for understanding the times in which we live: Look up the verse and record what it teaches you: Matthew 16:3 2
Luke 12:37 Matthew 24:24 4) It is meant to give us hope! Look up the verse and record what it teaches you: I Thessalonians 4:17,18 Titus 2:11-13 How do you think knowing what the future holds, as a Christian, would give you hope? 5) There are special blessings promised to those who seek to understand what God wants to communicate through prophecy. Look up Revelation 1:3: What does it promise to those who study Revelation? There are no other specific books that carry that promise! How does that motivate you? 3
God repeatedly promised that he will reveal truth to those who really try to understand and obey. Look up the verse and record what it teaches you: Psalm 25:14 James 1:5 Now look at I Timothy 4:7-8: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. " What, specifically, is promised to those who "long for his appearing? " Loving his Appearing: Hall of Fame We see this promise kind of lived out in the lives of two of the giants of the faith, Daniel and the apostle John. What book(s) of the Bible did Daniel write? What book(s) of the Bible did John write? Look at Daniel 10:11 What does that verse record about Daniel? What does John 13:23 record about the apostle John? Of all God's people, great heroes of the faith throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God speaks that kind of praise for only Daniel and John. From what we have just discussed, what other interesting aspect of their ministries do they share? 4
It was to these two men that God revealed the most about the last days. Daniel was entrusted with a broad view of the rest of human history, and to the apostle John was given the entire book of Revelation. Do you think there is a link between understanding prophecy and being a man or woma n woman wholeheartedly devoted to God? Why? Studying prophecy can be interesting, and there are lots of Biblical reasons to give it your attention, but be warned: understanding Biblical prophecy is not necessarily easy. But as someone about to dive into to what is admittedly a challenging course of study, you have a BIG reason to be encouraged. The person who was entrusted with the framework of prophecy (in a passage that allows us to put all the pieces of prophecy in their proper place) was a young man of only 15 named Daniel. Daniel s commitment to God, his desire to serve Him, and especially his desire to understand what Scripture said about prophecy so impressed God that He sent a special angel to Daniel to make sure that he understood exactly what was to happen. So as you begin this course of study remember that God will help you understand it. There is another hero of prophetic faith in the Scriptures, one much less known, and his name was Issachar. He was on the scene when David was fighting for his rightful place as king of Israel. (God had selected David personally to be king; If you don't remember that story, you can read it in I Samuel 16). God also selected David to be the ancestor of the Messiah and promised him prophetically that the Messiah would reign on David's throne forever. But David's enemies (including Satan) had other ideas, and fought David with everything they had. I Chronicles gives a specific list of everyone who came to David's aid at a critical battle at Ziglag. Most of the names are accompanied by the number of men or weapons they brought with them. All except one. The listing of that name says nothing about weapons, but instead gives this group's reason for joining David's side: the men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do I Chronicles 12:32 The young men of Issachar apparently understood, from prophecy, what the battle was about--the future of the Messianic line-- and came alongside the side of Christ in the spiritual battle. That's what we can learn from the men of Issachar. Prophecy gives us the big picture too, so that we can understand the times that we live in and know what God wants us to do. Unfortunately, most people are unaware of the spiritual battle around them, unimpressed by the fact that God chose to let us in on what to expect, and unconcerned that we actually are commanded to have a grasp on understanding the times so we will know what we need to do. 5
Look up Matthew 24:36-39 What coming (and prophesied) judgment was ignore by the people at the time, to their destruction? What other time is prophesied, by Jesus, to be characterized by the same attitudes? This unfortunate certainty is emphasized as well in II Peter 3:3-7. Look up that verse and record what it tells you about the "last days". At the Foot of Jesus: Luke 24:1-27 When is the action in this passage taking place? (What big event has just happened?) What is the first thing that Jesus does with his disciples (verse 27)? Does this surprise you? What does that tell you about Jesus and his view of Bible prophecy? What result does this impromptu Bible study have on those disciples? (Luke 24:32) Two things are identified: 1) 2) How would you explain their reaction? 6
Prophecy doesn't deserve its rap as the fringe element of Christianity. It doesn't deserve to be moved to the shoulder in favor of self-improvement. It is the bride awaiting her beloved groom. It is being given the box seats at the best show ever: watching God keep his promises. It is, by and large, how God chose to reveal his character and his power: up to 2/3 of the Bible was prophecy, when written, and if you don't study prophecy you can't really understand your bible. So you can't ignore it! Portraits of a coming King Prophecy is kind of like your wedding album, lots of pictures of the same thing, with your undying love portrayed in different ways. Most of us probably had the shot of the bride and groom's hands together, proudly displaying their rings-- the symbol, being circle with no end--of that eternal love. Most of us had the sentimental, artistic, kind of shot where the subject was in focus but the background blurred. And most of us had lots of the regular shots meant to straightforwardly record the events. In the same way, prophecy, as we just learned from Luke, is always the same portrait: Jesus, the Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. But the Bible has different ways of painting that portrait. Types of Prophecy: Straightforward Prophecy: A great example of a straightforward prophecy was recorded by the prophet Ezekiel, who predicted a lot of end-time events. This prophecy foretold a future time when Jerusalem would be destroyed and the Jews would be banished from their homeland. (That happened in 70 AD) Over the following centuries (as Ezekiel predicted) they eventually came to inhabit every corner of the world. Ezekiel also predicted: Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.' Ezekiel 11:17 This prophecy was written down about 575 BC, more than 600 years before the time that Jerusalem was destroyed. And it would be almost 2000 years more before the prophecy was fulfilled! Despite the fact that the Jews had been spread all over the world for 2000 years, the nation of Israel was re-established on May 14, 1948. What's more, more than a million Jews were back in their homeland in just the first five years! God fulfilled this prophecy to the letter! It may be hard for you to appreciate just how amazing this is. No other conquered people in all of history has been able to regain their homeland after such a long time-- and the Jews did it with their language, culture and religion intact. Statistically it 7
would be considered an impossible thing --an event that would defy rational explanation. Many other people groups occupied the land during the Jews' exile, most of them much larger and militarily stronger than the Jews ever were. But they are gone, and the Jews have returned. Mark Twain once wrote: "The Greeks and the Romans.. are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out...the Jews saw them all, survived them all...other forces passed, but he remains. " A very unlikely turn of events, but one predicted more than 2500 years before it happened! Leon Lederman, a Nobel prize winning physicist who is an atheist, was asked by another scientist recently if there was anything in human experience that could only have a supernatural explanation. His answer was that he thought that there was "something spooky about the people of Israel coming back to the There are lots of straightforward prophecies like this one in Ezekiel in the Bible, but also a lot of other prophecies are not as straightforward. Symbolism Some prophecy, particulalry in the book of Revelation, is communicated through symbols. Look at Revelation 1: 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. Rev 1:1 How does John say that the "things which must come to pass" will be communicated? Fortunately, John defines what he means by that in his gospel: I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. John 21:18-19 So prophecy is communicated through symbols. Prophecy-by-Analogy (Types) Read this verse: By the hand of the prophets I use similes. Hosea 12:10 According to Hosea, how else does God communicate in prophesy? Do you remember what a simile is (from your English classes?) 8
What this is telling us is that God also communicates through symbols, or analogies. One example of this (that you will no doubt be familiar with) is the story in Genesis about Abraham and Isaac. God asked Abraham, the father, to take his son Isaac to a specific place and to sacrifice him. Abraham was willing to obey, but God intervened at the last minute and provided a ram instead for Abraham to use in Isaac's place. Christians have always recognized this event as a prophecy-by-analogy, a symbol of the sacrifice that was to come when God sacrificed his own son in our place. These prophecy-by-analogy symbols are called "types" and there are lots of them in the Old Testament. They are fun to look for, and we will be seeing lots of them in the weeks to come. Symbols tend to be used consistently throughout the Bible, so if you are confused about the meaning of symbolic prophecies (like in Revelation), it usually helps to see how the symbol is used in other places. An important point to remember here is that God is not a master fortune- teller, looking into a cosmic crystal ball and predicting everything that is going to happen to humankind. God is the Creator, who had a predetermined plan for humankind which he has sworn to accomplish: This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14:26-27 When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he told him to go to the region Moriah, to a specific mountain to be revealed later. Abraham finds the specified mountain, and finally prepares to sacrifice his son at a specific spot that God led him to. (Genesis 22, if you want to check it out yourself.) Would it surprise you to learn that Jesus was sacrificed in the region of Moriah, on Mount Moriah? As a matter of fact, in a specific spot (called Golgotha) which happens to be 777 meters above sea level! (God likes the number 7). God's prophecy by analogy was precise, down to the two events apparently occurring on the exact same geographical spot. (As the rabbis say, coincidence is not a kosher word!) God can carry out his plans because he has the power to do so. Prophecy, like all Scripture, is guaranteed. Look up Deuteronomy 18:20; What was God's standard for prophecy? How does that encourage your study of prophecy? His plans will not be thwarted. Therefore, God is 100% accurate! Mayan prophecies, Nostradamus, the Oracle at Delphi, Edgar Cayce, etc, etc, etc can be ignored. (Sorry, History Channel.) Hundreds and hundreds of Biblical prophecies, like the one that recorded, in advance, the events of May 15, 1948 in exquisite detail, have already been fulfilled. We will look at a few of those next week! 9
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