Does it Deserve the Contempt it Receives?

Let’s face it — prophecy is held in contempt by most people. Non-Christians scoff at the very idea of supernatural knowledge about the future. The ironic thing is that in doing so they fulfill a prophecy of Peter: “In the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?'” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

The Apostates
The real tragedy concerning God’s Prophetic Word is that so many Christians share this same scoffing attitude. Apostate Christian seminaries have pretty well rejected the whole concept of prophecy. Most now teach that prophecy is really history written after the fact but written like prophecy to make it more interesting.This rejection of prophecy on the part of apostate Christians is a natural outgrowth of their worship at the man-made altar of what theologians call “historical criticism.”

This despicable methodology rejects the Bible as God’s revelation to Man, arguing instead that it represents Man’s faltering search for God. Its proponents have concluded that the Bible is full of myth, superstition, and legend.

Since they have rejected the supernatural, these people cannot accept the idea of prophecy as revealed pre-knowledge of history. This is the reason the book of Daniel has been a focus of their scorn and ridicule. It is not at all unusual to hear one of their scholars say, “The book of Daniel is just too accurate. It had to be written after the events it claims to prophesy.” This is nothing but blatant unbelief which calls into question our Lord’s own acceptance of Daniel as authentic (Matthew 24:15).

This attitude is also a fulfillment of prophecy, for Jesus said that in the end times there will be a great apostasy within the professing Church (Matthew 24:10-12). As Paul put it, the end times will be marked by men “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:5).

The Spiritualizers
Prophecy has also suffered abuse at the hands of those who have specialized in spiritualizing it. Liberals and conservatives both have been guilty of this practice.

When I speak of “spiritualizing,” I am referring to the methodology which holds that prophecy does not mean what it says. In practice this always leads to a symbolic interpretation of prophecy. The plain sense meaning of prophecy is denied, and prophetic books like Revelation are treated like they were adult Alice in Wonderland books with a vague, general message but no specific meaning.

This spiritualization of prophecy on the part of liberals is easy to understand. It is a natural extension of their tendency to spiritualize all of Scripture. They have spiritualized the miracles of God in the Old Testament and the miracles of Jesus in the New Testament, so why should they accept the plain sense meaning of prophecy, especially when it teaches a supernatural consummation of history?

It’s the conservative spiritualizers who are such a perplexing mystery to me. They accept the Bible as the Word of God. They agree that the Bible contains supernatural revelations about the future. They interpret virtually all non-prophetic passages literally. They even interpret the First Coming prophecies literally. But for some strange inexplicable reason, they insist upon spiritualizing all the Bible’s prophecies concerning the Second Coming.

Thus, they deny the coming reality of the Tribulation, the Millennial Reign, and the New Earth. They take a passage like Zechariah 14, which says Jesus will return to the Mt. of Olives and reign on the earth, and they spiritualize it to mean that when you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, He comes into your heart (the Mt. of Olives) and begins to reign in your life (the reign on earth). Such people should be granted Ph.D’s in imagination!

If the prophecies concerning the First Coming of Jesus were all fulfilled in some literal way in their plain sense meaning, then why shouldn’t the Second Coming prophecies be fulfilled the same way?

The Apathetic
Then there are those Christians who are simply apathetic about prophecy. They couldn’t care less.

Many of these Christians think prophecy has no practical relevance to their daily lives, so they ignore it. They have never read the Major Prophets. They couldn’t even find the Minor Prophets. And they certainly aren’t going to waste their time with that “Chinese puzzle” called the Book of Revelation.

My own church heritage fits this description. Our apathetic attitude was motivated by the peculiar belief that all Old Testament prophecy had been fulfilled and therefore the study of prophecy was a waste of time.

Other Christians have become apathetic about prophecy because it has been so badly abused by fanatical sensationalists, especially date setters. These Christians are weary of weird interpretations that have brought reproach to the Body of Christ.

Even as I write this paragraph, the newspapers are trumpeting stories about two groups, one in Korea and one in America, which have gained international headlines by predicting the Lord would come back in the past few days. The dates they set have passed. We’re still here. And the world laughs.

Another cause of apathy is that many people have been turned off by the specialized vocabulary of prophecy. When they hear technical terms like “premillennial,” “postmillennial,” and “amillennial,” their eyes usually roll back in their heads and they space out, concluding that prophecy is a field of study for experts only.

The Fanatics
Finally, there are the fanatics. These are the people who apply their fertile imaginations to prophecy and then speculate and theorize all sorts of fanciful future events.

They usually are obsessed with date setting or speculating about whether or not a person like Henry Kissinger is the Antichrist.

They are often rumor mongers who spread wild stories about vultures gathering in Israel, Belgian computers taking over the world, the Jews collecting building blocks for the Temple, the Social Security Administration stamping numbers on people’s hands, and Jane Fonda’s name having the numerical equivalent of 666!

A Satanic Conspiracy
I believe that Satan himself has inspired all this abuse of God’s Prophetic Word. Satan does not want anyone studying prophecy, because prophecy contains the revelation of Satan’s ultimate and total defeat.

Satan used to defeat me all the time by constantly reminding me of my past sins. But my study of Bible prophecy has given me a new weapon to fight Satan with. Now, every time he reminds me of my past, I remind him of his future! He responds by sulking away in defeat.

The book of Revelation begins with the words, “The revelationof Jesus Christ.” The book of Revelation, like the rest of prophecy, is meant to reveal the future. It is meant to be understood. God wants to build our hope in the midst of a dark and troubled world by revealing to us the great victories that lie ahead in His master plan.

I exhort you to stand firm against Satan in his attempt to convince you that God’s Prophetic Word is not to be taken seriously.

A Playground for Fanatics or Green Pastures for Disciples?

Although prophecy constitutes almost one-third of the Bible, its importance is constantly downplayed by those who dismiss it as having no practical significance or by those who object to it on the grounds that it is a “fad” that takes people’s eyes off Jesus.

Revelation 19:10 says that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Thus, if prophecy is properly taught, there is no reason for it to divert anyone’s attention away from Jesus. In fact, it should serve toemphasize the centrality of Jesus.

Is prophecy practical? Consider that all the New Testament writers testify to the fact that the study of prophecy will motivate holy living. What could be more practical than that?

Prophecy does not have to be either faddish, other-worldly, or impractical if taught properly. Nor does it have to be a playground for fanatics. It can and should be green pastures for disciples.

Reasons for Study
1) Validator of Scripture — Fulfilled prophecy is one of the best evidences I know of that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible contains hundreds of fulfilled secular prophecies pertaining to cities, nations, empires, and individuals. Jeremiah predicted the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11-12). Isaiah stated that the children of Israel would be sent home from Babylon by a man named Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28; Ezra 1:1). Daniel predicated the precise order of four great Gentile empires (Daniel 2 and 7). The destruction of Babylon was foretold by a number of the Hebrew prophets (Isaiah 13). In the New Testament, Jesus predicted the complete destruction of Jerusalem 40 years before it actually occurred (Luke 21:6).

2) Validator of Jesus — The Bible contains more than 300 prophecies about the first coming of Jesus, all of which were literally fulfilled (see Appendix 1). Every aspect of the life of Jesus was prophesied — the place of His birth, the nature of His birth, the quality of His ministry, the purpose of His life, and the agony of His death. Consider, for example, the prophecy in Psalm 22:16 that the Messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced. That prophecy was written by David about a thousand years before the birth of Jesus. It was written 700 years before the invention of crucifixion as a form of execution. The literal fulfillment of so many prophecies in the life of one individual transcends any mere coincidence and serves to validate that Jesus was who He said He was — the divine Son of God.

3) Revealer of the Future — Prophecy serves to tell us some things that God wants us to know about the future (Deuteronomy 29:29; Amos 3:7). God does not want us to know everything about the future, but there are some things we must know if we are to have a dynamic hope. Thus, prophecy assures us that Jesus is coming back, that He will resurrect us, and that He will take us to live forever with Him and God the Father. In this regard, Peter likens prophecy to “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). Paul makes the same point in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He begins by observing that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has the mind of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him. But in the next verse Paul says those things have been revealed to us by God through His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

4) Tool of Evangelism — Prophecy can be used as a very effective tool of evangelism, as illustrated in the story of Philip and the Eunuch (Acts 8:26ff). Philip used Isaiah’s great suffering lamb passage (Isaiah 53) to teach that Jesus is the lamb who was slain for the sins of the world. Matthew and Peter both used fulfilled prophecy in the life of Jesus as one of their basic evangelistic tools. In fact, Peter referred to prophecy constantly in his first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-39). He preached that Jesus had been crucified and resurrected in fulfillment of Hebrew prophecies. Later, Peter referred to fulfilled prophecy as one of the greatest evidences that Jesus was truly the Son of God (2 Peter 1:16-19).

5) Tool of Moral Teaching — People often overlook the fact that the Hebrew prophets were forthtellers as well as foretellers. In fact, the prophets spent most of their time using God’s Word to spotlight societal problems. They called their listeners to repentance, true worship, social justice, and personal holiness. One of the great recurring themes of the prophets is that “obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22 and Hosea 6:6). That statement means that in God’s eyes, obedience to His commands is more important than outward religious practices such as offering sacrifices. Prophecy is thus a great repository of moral teaching, and those moral principles are still relevant today. (See Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:8; Isaiah 58:3-9.)

6) Generator of Spiritual Growth — Prophetic knowledge encourages patient waiting (James 5:7- 8); provokes earnest watching (Matthew 24:36,42); inspires dedicated work (2 Timothy 4:7-8); and enhances our hope (Titus 2:11-14). The result is holy living. Paul exhorts us to “behave properly as in the day,” because the time is at hand when the Lord will return (Romans 13:12-13). Likewise, Peter calls us to gird up our minds and be sober and holy as we look forward to the revelation of Jesus (1 Peter 1:13-15).

Advice & Counsel
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Paul writes that all of God’s Word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” That includes God’s Prophetic Word. In 1 Thessalonians 5:20 the apostle Paul pleads with us to treat prophecy with respect.

Peter warns us in his second epistle, that one of the signs of the end times will be the appearance of “scoffers” who will cast scorn and ridicule on the promise of our Lord’s return (2 Peter 3:3ff). The great tragedy of our day is that many of the loudest scoffers are religious leaders who profess to follow Christ. Such leaders crucified Jesus the first time He came. They now scoff at His promise to return.

A good example of what I’m talking about is the “Jesus Seminar” that has been operating for the past few years. It is composed of forty New Testament “scholars” from a great variety of Christian seminaries in America. The seminar has been meeting every six months to vote on the sayings of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels. They hope to produce a new version of the gospels in which the sayings of Jesus will be color coded: red, if He said it; pink, if He may have said it; grey, if He probably did not say it; and black, if He definitely did not say it.

When they voted on the sayings of Jesus regarding His Second Coming, they voted that all the sayings were spurious and had probably been “made up” by His disciples. What apostasy!

Spiritual Food
God’s Prophetic Word is food for our spiritual growth. We need to take it off the shelf. We need to open it up and feast upon it, and we need to do so with believing hearts.

The book of Revelation promises blessings to those who read it (or hear it read) and who obey it (Revelation 1:3). It is the only book of the Bible to promise such a specific blessing, but all God’s Word is designed to bless us spiritually (Psalm 119), and that includes the Prophetic Word.

Key Scriptures about Prophecy
Let’s conclude with a reminder of what the Word of God itself says about the value of prophecy. In this way we can be assured that the effort we expend in looking at the prophetic Scriptures will be time extremely well spent.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our sons forever.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7)

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done. . . I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.” (Isaiah 46:9-11)

“[Jesus said] ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.'” (Matthew 5:17)

“[Jesus] said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.'” (Luke 24:44)

“Of Him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 10:43)

“The prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-11)

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10)