I was dismayed to see a reader’s feedback to one of my articles, but it was not because he disagreed with my position or disliked the things I had to say. In fact, he was complimentary about how I’d arrived at my conclusions and how I’d expressed my views. What troubled me were his comments on the study of Bible prophecy itself.

He stated that he “….also used to be passionate about prophetic issues,” but he has since “wised up and realized the distraction it had become” to him. His conclusion was “….we need to focus on the issues of greater importance like reaching the unsaved, and teaching them the essential doctrines that are most vital to their faith.” He had a couple of creative ways to tell me I was majoring on the minors – and for good measure he tossed in his academic credentials to assure me he knew what he was talking about.

It’s not the first time I’ve received this sort of feedback. Usually, the rebukes are more direct and coarse. While it’s probably not a viable statistical assessment, I’ve noted that many of those who discount the importance of Bible prophecy also discount the importance of tact in explaining their views.

But – maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the one who’s misled here!

Maybe I have come down with a case of the “prophecy bug” and I’m just resisting proper treatment. Maybe the apocalyptic themes of Bible prophecy have so captured my affection for superficiality that they are keeping me from the issues I really should be emphasizing. Maybe my keen interest in the future is keeping me from being effective in the present.

Maybe if I matured more in my faith I’d see that God is focused on the church, and any support I have for Israel is misguided. Maybe every part of God’s Word really is “all about the Gospel.” Maybe – just maybe, I should focus on Jesus’ first coming and forget about His second coming. Maybe I’m exactly where Satan wants to keep me.

Or maybe not.

I’ve heard all this and much more like this many times. There is a constant stream of self-appointed advisors and experts who are happy to wax unendingly about all the things I’m doing incorrectly.

While I’m no authority on Biblical prophecy – I regularly follow those who deserve to be called that – I do confess to doing my part to evaluate prophetic issues constantly and carefully. I take seriously the command to “Study to show (myself) approved unto God….” (2 Tim. 2:15). As I do that, I share what I’m learning to the best of my abilities, and I leave the results of that to God.

I don’t seek detours around the truth that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). As I responsibly place the prophetic Scriptures on an equal plane with other parts of God’s Word, I see the mockers and doubters of Biblical prophecy for being the last days’ indicators that the Bible declares them to be (2 Peter 3:4).

But let’s get back to the primary issue here and ask ourselves, “Does the Bible have anything to say about the benefit of studying prophecy?” You bet it does! Let’s go through some of those things:

IT URGES US TO LIVE GODLY

It’s popular in many western churches to sing deliriously about near revivals. A sizeable portion of the modern church believes its calling is to usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ by continually growing its ministry. They see things getting better and better on their watch.

The assumptions behind such positions are often incompatible with Biblical truth. The prophetic Scriptures teach that societies and cultures will deteriorate as the end times get closer, and Jesus Himself said it would become more and more “….like the days of Noah” (Matt. 24:37-39). According to Jesus, “….the love of many will grow cold” leading up to the time of His return (Matt. 24:12), and He even wondered if He would “….find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:8). Call it all what you will, but none of that is a positive trend, and it seems to me much of the church is out of touch with the truth.

That’s why the study of prophecy urges us to Godly living. It helps us to see the present and pending times accurately, and it exhorts us to see ourselves as “aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11) to this world and its ideas.  As we eagerly look for the Lord’s return, and as we regard the moral decay around us, we should be motivated to walk faithfully with our Lord and Savior (1 Peter 4:7; Romans 13:12-14).

IT GIVES US COMFORT AND HOPE

In the movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, says, “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” It made for a great movie line at a pregnant moment of the script, but Red is wrong.

Make no mistake – this world is a very sick place. I’ve felt physically ill by some elements of the news and the expressions of sin. The spiritual darkness in America alone is palpable, and merchants of depravity are “locked and loaded.” They want a great deal more evil to be unleashed.

Hope, therefore, is a good thing – and the hope of leaving this planet and being with Jesus Christ keeps me going as it does for many people like me. For many of us, that real hope is centered on a wonderful theme of the prophetic Scriptures: our imminent rapture (Titus 2:13). Until such time, there is also real hope in properly understanding our true status in this life and the one to come (Philippians 1:21).

IT PROVIDES A BLESSING

Revelation 1:3 is straightforward: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

 This is the first of the “seven blessings of Revelation,” but the emphasis here is on the proper study and application of the prophetic Word of God. You cannot get much clearer than this. God places a direct link between a right response to Biblical prophecy and receiving a spiritual blessing.

God grants a special favor on those who hear and also “take to heart” what is read. You can read the prophetic Scriptures to your cat, but your cat cannot take those things “to heart.” But we can! And if we do, and if we properly value them and permit them to have their divinely-intended effect in our lives, then we will be recipients of God’s blessing.

IT GIVES US STABILITY

We are instructed to be Christians which are not “tossed to and fro” by false teachers and deceptive schemes (Eph. 4:14).  While this is an important instruction concerning the entirety of God’s Word, it seems especially applicable to prophetic themes.

One can take nearly any issue pertaining to the end times and find all sorts of interpretations and wild imaginations about it online. I’ve come to the conclusion that many people would rather embrace fiction than fact. I think it appeases something within their carnality that the accountability of truth does not.

 

It is terribly important to acquire the stability that comes from a responsible and reverent study of Bible prophecy. When loons proclaim the next date and time of the rapture, it is the sound study of God’s Word that tells us we cannot know this information. When blustery preachers pound the pulpit and proclaim that God has no more plan for the Jews, it is the calm assurance of God’s covenant relationship with His chosen people that keeps our hearts firm in the faith.

Many examples of what it means to have stability in the midst of “the cunning of men” could be stated, but one point rises as self-evident here. The disciplined study of God’s prophetic Scriptures provides a sure foundation to withstand the floods of deception that run rampant within the church today.

In the next installment of this article, I will explain some more benefits to the study of Biblical prophecy.  Till then, keep your attitude humble, your eyes lifted up, and your mind and heart secure in Christ.

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Once Upon Elam 

Two years ago, the adult Sunday school class I teach voted to start a new study in the book of Daniel. I was wrapping up a year-long study in Jude, and several options were under discussion for where we might go next.

As I recall, it was the Daniel option I was most anxious about. It is a pivotal book of the Bible insofar as prophetic issues are concerned. I knew it contained information that had elicited much debate among reputable scholars, and I knew it would be no easy task to wade into this book’s imposing content. A healthy part of me was quietly rooting for the class to pick an easier study.

No such luck.

Yesterday, I taught Lesson #100 in our study of “The Book of Daniel.” We’ve just started chapter eight. At this pace, we’ll finish this study roughly midway through President Trump’s second term.

What a blessing this study in Daniel has been to me and to so many others! Though I’ve been teaching this class at my church for about ten years, this is the first study we’ve recorded and posted online.  Those lesson audios are available at www.thewordwithsteve.com

The first half of the book of Daniel is a truly inspiring character study. Daniel was chosen by God at a young age to be tested by profound trials, and to live a life of humility in a foreign and pagan land. I’m convinced we can all learn a great deal about character from the example that Daniel provides us.

It’s the second half of Daniel that forms the bedrock of much of Biblical prophecy, and it presents the topics of Gentile empires, the antichrist, the Tribulation, Armageddon, the end of the world, and the Millennial Kingdom. Those are the more evident themes. Some not-so-evident prophetic themes may also be present, including matters pertinent to the Nephilim, and possibly some references to UFOs.

For my part, I try not to be agenda-driven. While I have my own opinions based upon my years of reading and research, my goal with each lesson in this in-depth study of Daniel is to forthrightly present what I believe the book of Daniel is telling us.

To do this, I must consider the totality of the Scriptures. It’s easy to find one verse or phrase and camp on that to the exclusion of other passages that speak to the same subject. My intent in this study is to gather in the greater context of God’s Word and present the collective view via the lens of the book of Daniel.

And so it was when I came to the little-understood province of Elam in the opening verses of Daniel chapter eight. This obscure bit of geography is located along and above the northeastern edge of the Persian Gulf, and nearly all of Biblical Elam lies within modern-day Iran. In Daniel’s time, Elam was part of the Babylonian empire’s territory.

In chapter eight, Daniel is transported in a vision to Elam. Physically, he is probably in Babylon as Daniel 8:27 suggests, but God supernaturally overcomes his senses and comprehensions and relocates them to the palace of Susa in Elam. Daniel’s perception was his reality. He perceived himself to be in a place roughly 250 miles east of Babylon.

So what’s the big deal with Elam? Well – plenty, in my personal opinion. God’s sovereign plan concerning the Jews finds Elam taking center stage at several key points in the Scriptures. Starting with Daniel’s second vision in chapter eight, a chronological outline of Elam’s role with God’s chosen people unfolds, which can be stated as something like this:

God provides prophecies of persecution

Daniel’s second vision in Elam focuses on the empires of Persia and Greece as they relate to Israel. It was under Persian authority that the Jews returned to Israel and rebuilt their land and their city, Jerusalem.

But it’s within the details of the breakup of the Grecian empire that future persecution of the Jews is announced to Daniel. The Seleucid kingdom was a territory comprised of northern Syria and most of Persia. It emerged after the death of Alexander the Great and his empire’s demise.

Daniel 8:9 indicates a future ruler would emerge from this specific region north of Israel to bring great trauma and persecution to the Jews. The surrounding text says this despot would desolate the temple and violate the sacrificial protocols. Most scholars are divided here – is this a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth ruler of the Seleucid dynasty (175 BC – 164 BC), or is it an indication of issues still future to you and I? Is it a reference to the final antichrist?

For various reasons, I am of the opinion that this text is referring to the antichrist. I’ll be unpacking my rationale in the next couple of lessons I teach, but that’s not the point of this article. It was in Elam that God provides prophecies of persecution to Daniel.

God provides protection from predicament

Elam gains the spotlight again roughly 85 years after Daniel’s second vision. Now, Xerxes, the Persian king, has his main palace in Susa. His queen is Esther – the Jewish Esther!

Here at the palace in Susa – in Elam – the riveting events of the book of Esther took place. Here is where human ambition and pride blended with hatred and fraud to incite a historic pogrom against God’s chosen people. Here is where a dilemma arose that exceeded man’s abilities to resolve. And here is where God masterfully moved the chess pieces and called “checkmate” on Satan’s plan to destroy the Jews.

It is in Elam that God provides protection from predicament. The gravity of the threat was so great, and the deliverance from that threat was so profound, that the Jews remember the events of the book of Esther to this day. Every time the Jews celebrate the Feast of Purim, they remember the deliverance from their enemies – in Elam.

God provides permission after prayer

About 100 years after Daniel’s second vision – or roughly 20 years after the events of the book of Esther – the scene in Elam had changed a bit. The Persian empire was still in power, but there was a new king on the throne in Susa. Artaxerxes was his name, and Nehemiah, a Jew, was his cupbearer.

Nehemiah was a loyal advisor and trusted servant to the king; but like other Jews, Nehemiah’s heart was aligned with his homeland and his beloved city, Jerusalem. When he heard that the exiles in Judah “….are in great trouble and disgrace (and) the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates burned with fire,” the news overwhelmed him (Neh.1:3-4).

Nehemiah did what all of us should do when we are moved deeply in our spirit – he prayed for many days on end. Four months later, he found himself before the king, and the king perceived he was sad. He asked Nehemiah what was wrong. The situation was a dangerous moment for someone with Nehemiah’s responsibilities.

But Nehemiah came clean with the king. He told Artaxerxes the reason for his sorrow. He also told the king what he really wanted: to turn in his resignation as cupbearer, to go to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the walls of the city.

Amazingly, the king endorsed Nehemiah’s plan, and he gave Nehemiah his full support. This signature moment marked the beginning of Daniel’s “seventy weeks” (Dan. 9:25).

The book of Nehemiah builds further on the truth that God provides permission after prayer. The Jewish people, under Nehemiah’s leadership, were able to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and restore the remnant which had returned from exile in Babylon. The timetable for the end times had begun – and it had started in Elam!

God provides plans of pursuit

Before Daniel’s ministry, there was Jeremiah’s. Daniel recognized the divine intentions of God within Jeremiah’s prophetic words (Dan. 9:2).

We can regard Jeremiah’s words today the same way Daniel did then. Some passages in Jeremiah speak to events that are future to us. These prophecies concern a little-known part of the Middle East once called – you got it – Elam!  It’s the same spot where God gave Daniel his second vision, where God used an unlikely queen to thwart a madman, and where God used a penitent cupbearer to start the clock ticking to the second coming of Christ.

The eyes of the world are on Elam these days, though most people simply refer to this area as “Iran.”  But it’s in the territory of Elam where Iran has one of its most strategic nuclear assets – the Bushehr nuclear plant. It’s about Elam that world leaders now debate and deceive each other.

For those who support facts over fiction, it’s no secret that Iran is building nuclear weapons, and it’s no surprise that Israel’s recent spy mission showed the world Iran has lied. As globalist rhetoric drowns out common sense, Israel is being threatened with annihilation and will soon be forced to act in self-defense.

Jeremiah 49:34-38 specifies a disaster in Elam, which suggests radiation fallout and which could be as little as days or weeks away. The entire passage suggests a humanitarian crisis is looming.

But God has “fierce anger” on the leaders of Iran for their posture against His people, and buried within these few verses is God’s commitment to “….pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them.”   

God’s sovereign plan has always been to act in the most important needs of His chosen people. It was true in Daniel’s time, and in Esther’s and Nehemiah’s too. Events in Elam now still reinforce this constant truth. We should not be unaware of what is happening in the bigger picture since God provides plans of pursuit in Jeremiah 49:34-38, which are there for us to read and understand.

God provides promises of prosperity

A time is coming when the fascinating and traumatic events of Elam will all be a distant memory. At that time – likely when the Lord sets up His Millennial reign – the Bible promises that those who had called Elam their home will return to it and receive great blessing.

At the tail end of the aforementioned verses of Jeremiah 49:34-38 is one more verse that closes out that chapter. It is God speaking, and in verse 39 He says, “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come….” It’s an assurance of great prosperity and spiritual blessing.

Elam will yet be a recipient of God’s concern and compassion as God provides promises of prosperity for this little-understood part of the world. Because Elam, from antiquity, has been a pivot point for God’s dealings with Israel, it fits directly into God’s prophetic plan yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Meantime, as the world careens towards The Day of the Lord, current developments in Elam portend disaster and prophetic fulfillment. As Christians, we are reminded that we serve the One True God who “….declares the end from the beginning according to Isaiah 46:10. 

These are indeed exciting times we live in.  Even so – Maranatha!

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