I know that many dismiss the idea of prophecy altogether, and some others are altogether too consumed with it. However, neither of these wrong responses to prophecy determine whether or how we, as believers, should handle prophecy. Unfortunately, I think we get caught up in the back and forth between these two wrong extremes and either pick a side to fight for and defend or simply stay away from prophecy completely because it is seen as either too mystical or too divisive.
I will confess to you that I have occasionally been interested in it in the past, but I have largely stayed away from it because it seemed to cause more grief and rarely seemed to be a source of help in actually living the life of a follower of Christ. Well…… I was wrong.
That is what this post is about. The purpose of prophecy.
I’m going to start this discussion in a strange place. There is an undeniable cultural swerve in the last thirty years that has sent mainstream movies and books to regularly explore the idea of an "end of the world", "apocalyptic", or "post-apocalyptic" theme. Mad Max movies, the Hunger Games movies, the Terminator movies, and all those wonderful zombie movies and tv shows are just a handful of examples of the relative fascination of the world at large with THE END!
I will come back to THE END! in a moment or two, but the main reason I bring it up now is to point out the primary focus of these movies, books, and tv shows. They are cautionary about our current character flaws as a society and, most of all, they are almost exclusively man centered.
Prophecy in the Bible has one central purpose…. TO TURN US BACK TO REVOLVING OUR LIVES AROUND GOD. I don’t just mean it cries out, "straighten up and fly right!" I mean it reminds us, OR is supposed to remind us, that He knew the hugely important plot twist in this movie we call life was going to happen before it happened. He is in control. Always. We can choose to rest in Him. God chose to mention King Josiah by name and specifics he would carry out in a prophecy to King Jeroboam ….300 years before he was even born. God mentions the ruler Cyrus of Persia by name (Isaiah 44 & 45) and the fact that he would free the people of Judah from captivity 200 years before he did it. Jewish tradition holds that Daniel greeted Cyrus with a scroll that contained these words in Isaiah. Daniel is given specific info regarding Alexander the Great that is incredibly detailed 200 years before Alexander lived. Are we seeing a pattern here? Did God give this info to these people so that people living in the times of these prophesied rulers could figure out some cosmic jigsaw puzzle and get a gold star from God when they reached heaven? NO, no, no! One more example, and then I’ll wrap this puppy up.
Jesus tells his disciples again(Matthew 16:21), and again(Matthew 17:22), and again(Matthew 20:17-19), and AGAIN(Matthew 26:1) that he would be crucified. My favorite retelling of one of these times Jesus tried so hard to get them to hear him comes just after the transfiguration and the casting out of a demon. In Luke 9:44, Jesus actually uses these words, "Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men." WHY? Why would he tell them of such a horrible thing that was coming? It wasn’t to scare them. He was trying to help them so that WHEN it did come they could see that He KNEW this was going to happen, and He was not caught off guard by it. This could have also allowed them to have confidence that the other stuff He said would also come true… like that little thing we call the resurrection, but because they didn’t take the first one to heart, they were unable to be comforted and look forward to the miraculous plot twist God had engineered for the whole world.
Finally, back to THE END!
We are often freaked out by the thought of all these horrific things that are promised to be coming our way, especially when we see developments that seem to point to a possible fulfillment of "end times" in our lifetime. These prophecies are primarily there to help us to see past THE END! Because…….
IF………….
IF.......
IF...
(emphasis on if)
we are born again, the other stuff is true too, and THE END! Is not the end. To be precise, there is no end!
Are you born again?
1 comment:
A lot of people try to move the date that Daniel was written b/c, if it was written when it was written, then the bible is true, since it accurately prophesied many things. However, even if you take the later date that secular people want to place on the book, you're still left with fulfilled prophesy. Daniel prophesied about the year Jesus would come, for example.
As for one of your main points, I agree. God told Israel through prophesy what would happen to them (i.e. their captivity, and things about it). This no doubt gave someone like Daniel and others hope once it happened. Looking at it from a natural perspective, it was bleak. But from a God perspective, their captivity increased their faith and hope. If it isn't God-centered then it is hopeless.
Danny
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