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In this volume we will focus our attention on the prophecies in the Bible. One-third of the whole Bible is prophecies. Some of these prophecies have become historic facts, whereas others have not yet been fulfilled. According to their content, prophecies can be categorized as follows: (1) prophecies concerning Christ; (2) prophecies concerning the church; (3) prophecies concerning the believers; (4) prophecies concerning Israel; (5) prophecies concerning the Gentile nations; (6) prophecies concerning Satan, Antichrist, and the false prophet; (7) prophecies concerning the last of the seventy weeks spoken of in Daniel 9; (8) prophecies concerning the millennium; and (9) prophecies concerning the new heaven and new earth in eternity. In this volume we will present the prophecies in the Bible concerning Christ, the church, and the believers. Before entering into the content of each of these prophecies, we need to understand the importance of prophecies and the proper attitude that the believers should have in studying prophecies.
Not many believers consider the prophecies in the Bible to be important. Some think that prophecies are not interesting and are difficult to interpret. Others think that pursuing spiritual gifts, holiness, and the kingdom is crucial and urgently needed but to know and understand prophecies is secondary and optional. There are also those who think that the result of studying prophecies is merely the addition of knowledge and is not profitable for growth in spiritual life. These are all misconceptions.
Prophecies are matters that God requires man to know, and believers should give heed to them. Second Peter 1:19 says, “We have the prophetic word made more firm, to which you do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” Peter’s word indicates that the word of the Old Testament prophets confirms and strengthens his testimony of Jesus Christ (vv. 16-18) and is an inoculation for the believers against heresies and apostasy.
The Lord Jesus also charged us to understand the prophecies (Matt. 24:15). This clearly shows that the believers must pay attention to the prophecies in the Bible. If the church does not pay adequate attention to these prophecies, many believers will inevitably lose faith, be deceived by lies, be “destroyed / Because of a lack of that knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and forget the Lord’s coming by not being watchful.
In his Epistles, Peter encourages the believers to give heed to the prophetic word made more firm, that is, to give heed to the prophecies when studying God’s word.
Peter likens the word of prophecy in the Scriptures to a lamp shining in a dark place. This indicates that this age is a dark place like a dark night (Rom. 13:12), and all the people of this world are moving and acting in darkness. If the believers do not have the prophecies in the Bible, they too will fall into darkness. Therefore, we need the prophetic word of the Scriptures, as a shining lamp, to convey spiritual light that shines in the darkness (not merely knowledge in letters for our mental apprehension), guiding us to enter into a bright day, even to pass through the dark night until the day of the Lord’s appearing dawns. Before the Lord as the sunlight appears, we need this word as light to shine on our footsteps (Psa. 119:105).
Peter tells us to give heed to the prophetic word until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. This word is a metaphor, illustrating a coming time that will be full of light, as a bright day dawning, with the morning star rising, before dawn, in the hearts of the believers who are illuminated and enlightened. If we give heed to the prophecies in the Bible as a shining lamp within us, we will enjoy the morning star rising in our hearts until the spiritual day dawns within us. In the time of apostasy the believers do well to give heed in this matter so that the prophetic word, as a lamp, may shine through the darkness of apostasy until such a day dawns upon them. This will cause and encourage them to earnestly seek the Lord’s presence and be watchful so that they will see the Lord as the morning star when He comes in secret (Matt. 24:27; 2 Thes. 2:8).
Hence, this metaphor alludes to the coming age, the age of the kingdom, as a day that will dawn at the appearing (the coming) of the Lord as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2), whose light will shine and break through the gloom of the dark night of this age. Preceding this, the Lord will appear as the morning star (Rev. 2:28; 22:16) in the darkest hour of the night to those who are watchful and looking for His dear appearing (2 Tim. 4:8). The believers who give heed to the prophecies in the Bible will have Christ rising in their hearts to shine in the darkness of today’s apostasy, before His actual appearing as the morning star.
Second Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation; for no prophecy was ever borne by the will of man, but men spoke from God while being borne by the Holy Spirit.” These two verses prove that the prophetic word is altogether reliable, trustworthy, and firm. No prophecy of Scripture is of the prophet’s or writer’s own concept, idea, or understanding. The will, desire, and wish of man with his thought and exposition are not the source of any prophecy. The source is God. Men were borne and carried along by the Holy Spirit to speak out the will, desire, and wish of God. Therefore, these prophecies are God’s word, God’s speaking. For this reason, we should believe and take heed to all the prophecies in the word of God.
The Bible is a very accurate book; not even one word is wrong, and not a single word should be misread or replaced. If a person is careless, he will miss God’s word. A person reading prophecies must be careful and accurate. If a person is inaccurate, the accuracy of God is sacrificed. For example, at the time of Christ’s first coming, the people of Israel were expecting the coming of their God-promised Messiah (Luke 3:15; John 1:19-25, 45-46) to rescue them out of the hands of the Roman imperialists. Before the Lord Jesus was born, a number of the children of Israel were expecting to meet their Messiah because they came to know, at least partially, the prophecies of the Old Testament, which spoke of God giving His people a Messiah, the anointed One. However, many of them did not know that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. Thinking that Jesus, who was called a Nazarene, came from Galilee, they rejected Him and missed the coming of the Messiah in their time (John 7:40-42; cf. Matt. 2:1-12, 19-23; Luke 2:39; Matt. 3:13). Due to a lack of fineness and accuracy in understanding the Old Testament prophecies, the chief priests and scribes missed the first coming of Christ. Today we also may have only a general understanding of the prophecies and not know them so accurately or finely. This may cause us to miss the second coming of Christ and suffer loss. Thus, we must learn to know the prophecies accurately and not be careless.
In trying to be accurate, we must not become curious. God’s Word is accurate, but we must never search it with a curious mind. If we search God’s Word with a curious mind, we will altogether miss its spiritual worth. The Bible is a spiritual book. If the purpose of achieving accuracy is the satisfaction of our curiosity, rather than the satisfaction of our spiritual needs, we are on the wrong track. Studying prophecies is not for the purpose of satisfying a curiosity about the future; studying prophecies is for the sake of waiting for the Lord’s return. If we are a curious person, even spiritual things of value will become non-spiritual and dead when they fall into our hands. This is a very serious matter. When we study the prophecies, we must not be curious; rather, we should touch life, touch the spirit, and touch the Lord.
The prophecies in the entire Bible are consistent, developing from one another and explaining each other. The phrase one’s own interpretation in 2 Peter 1:20 can also be translated “interpreted according to the meaning of it.” This means that any portion of a prophecy cannot be interpreted according to its own limited context. If prophecies were written according to the will of individuals, they could be interpreted by themselves, and there would be no need to care for the other prophecies. However, the prophecies in the Bible were written by different men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even though many men wrote, the thought was one. Only the Holy Spirit is the Author of all the prophecies; hence, all the prophecies can be linked together as one. Thus, the prophecies of the Old Testament and of the New Testament must correspond. All the various prophecies should correspond to each other. Furthermore, the Old Testament prophecies were made firm by Jesus Christ the Lord and by some of the apostles in the prophecies of the New Testament. In other words, the New Testament prophecies confirm the Old Testament prophecies to make the Old Testament prophecies more firm. Thus, in studying prophecies, we must not consider only one portion in isolation; instead, we must compare it with other passages and must interpret the Bible with the Bible. Peter considered this principle to be the “first” (2 Pet. 1:20). If we interpret prophecies out of context, confusion will be inevitable. This is not permissible in biblical interpretation. Any interpretation of prophecies must match the testimony of the whole Bible, and it must be mutually confirmed by the whole Bible in order to have the proper interpretation.
Revelation 22:6-7 says, “These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show to His slaves the things which must quickly take place. And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this scroll.” This indicates that prophecy is not merely for us to ponder and consider. Prophecy can be kept, and he who keeps prophecy is blessed. We should not look down on prophecy. To look down on prophecy is to look down on God’s glory and grace. We should not merely read and hear the prophecies (1:3) but also keep the prophecies so that we can gain the blessing of keeping the prophecies according to the Lord’s promise. To keep the prophecies is to obey and follow the prophecies and even to be governed in our daily walk by the prophecies. When we obey wholeheartedly and even unconditionally, we can live a life preparing for the Lord’s return.
A person who pursues an understanding of prophecies must have an intimate relationship with God. According to the Scriptures, Enoch was the first person to prophesy, that is, to predict. When he was sixty-five years old, he had a son whom he named Methuselah (Gen. 5:21). This name has a prophetic significance; it means “when he is dead, it will be sent.” Hence, this name was a prophecy of the coming judgment by the flood. After Enoch received the prophecy regarding the flood, he rose up and left that ungodly age. Moreover, he was taken by God and did not see death (vv. 22-24). Abraham was a person who foreknew the move of God. Because he was “the friend of God” (James 2:23), God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Gen. 18:17). Daniel saw visions and recorded prophecies, because he was a “man of preciousness” to God (Dan. 10:11, 19; 9:23). The apostle John wrote the visions in the book of Revelation, because he was the disciple whom the Lord loved and he had the experience of reclining on the Lord’s breast (John 21:20). These examples prove that “the intimate counsel of Jehovah is to those who fear Him, / And His covenant will He make known to them” (Psa. 25:14).
One-third of the Bible is prophecies. Believers must give heed to the prophecies as an inoculation against heresies and apostasy. By giving heed to the prophetic word, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, the believers will also receive shining and encouragement and be watchful to seek the Lord’s presence so that they will see the Lord as the morning star when He comes in secret. The word of prophecy spoken by the prophets is altogether reliable, trustworthy, and firm, because the prophecies in the Scripture are not of man’s own interpretation, but men being borne by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. For this reason, we should give heed to, pay attention to, study, and enter into this living word.
Believers should hold the following attitudes when studying prophecies. We should not be careless in studying the prophecies. The Bible is a very accurate book, so as readers of the prophecies, we must be careful and accurate; otherwise, we will suffer loss. We should not be curious in studying the prophecies. The Bible is a spiritual book; therefore, when reading the prophecies, we must not be curious, but rather we should touch life, touch the spirit, and touch the Lord. We must not interpret prophecies out of context. The prophecies in the Bible were written by different men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; therefore, even though many men wrote, the thought is one. When studying the prophecies, we must not consider one portion alone; instead, we must compare it with other places and interpret the Bible with the Bible. Any interpretation of a prophecy must match the testimony of the whole Bible. We should keep the words of prophecy. Prophecies can be kept, and he who keeps them is blessed. To keep the prophecies is to obey and follow the prophecies and to be governed by the prophecies in our daily walk. We also need to have an intimate relationship with God. Some examples of people in the Bible who had an intimate relationship with God are Enoch, who walked with God and received the prophecy regarding the coming judgment by the flood; Abraham, who foreknew God’s move, because he was the friend of God; Daniel, who saw visions and recorded prophecies, because he was a man of preciousness to God; and the apostle John, who received the visions in the book of Revelation, because he was the disciple whom the Lord loved.
