Solving the Puzzle of Biblical Prophecy: Understanding What The Bible Says About The End Times

By Ray Duhon

In refreshingly easy to understand language, using sound biblical reasoning and applying the proper rules of interpreting the Bible; with book, chapter and verse references, Ray offers the Bible's viewpoint of what will happen at the end of time, how and when it will happen and what to look for in word pictures that God intended for us to unders

• Language: English
• Publisher: Go To Publish
• Release date: Apr 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647492298

Ray Duhon

Ray Duhon is a graduate of Ozark Christian College with a Bachelor degree in Theology, having served 28 years in the ministry as a pastor and he is the eldest son of a pastor and missionary. Ray traveled with his family to 15 different countries, and learned five different languages. He was instrumental in helping to establish over a dozen new churches in those countries which thrive today training ministers and sending out missionaries of their own.

Book preview

Acknowledgment

I want to thank Michael and Miram Fauth for their invaluable assistance in the Jewish culture from which they came to help me learn how to think like a Jew. I want to thank my mom who helped me keep things simple and to my son Joshua who came up with the title for the book.

Preface

Many books have presented countless theories about prophecy offering dozens of explanations for symbols either real or imagined, yet they still leave us in the dark about prophecy. I’ve read dozens trying to find someone who would answer my questions: Where do they get that explanation? What is the source for that definition? How do they get the explanation to this or that symbol? How can I know whether it is an accurate interpretation if the given responses to my questions just beat circles around my questions without any honest answers? I have been greeted with such answers that would defy the imagination and my questions would remain unanswered. For the past twenty-five years, I found myself asking the same questions of each author or prophecy seminar expert and found myself still seeking an answer after they gave one (if I got one at all). Why couldn’t they just say, I don’t know and leave it at that? It has always been my opinion that anyone, who is afraid to say I don’t know, but I’ll find out and will dodge the question instead, will not tell you the truth about what really matters. I lose respect for them in a hurry.

It wasn’t until I threw out all preconceived interpretations that I had, all of the erroneous doctrines and millennial positions (pre- post- and a-millennial) that these authors taught and just started over using the Bible as the final authority that I began to find answers, real answers to the questions I had about prophecy. Therefore, I submit to you that if you want a biblical understanding that is honest and accurate, you must do the same. Discard your preconceived concepts of prophecy, start with a blank page, go back to the Bible and build your prophecy picture from there. In the end, you may discover something you never dreamed possible before and something that I am sure that I may have missed as well. After all, I am not an expert, just a student of the Word searching for the truth.

When I sat down and started putting notes together to help me understand Biblical Prophecy, I did not do so with the intent to write a book. But as my notes grew larger and my understanding grew clearer of the subject, I felt compelled to attempt to put these thoughts in a logical progression which would help those behind me come to understand the scriptures in this area as well, thus this project was born. There have been times I was forced to change my position on prophetic statements for two reasons: 1) I was in error because those prior positions were in error, thus I started in error with preconceived ideas born of those millennial viewpoints; and 2) because the scriptures revealed something refreshingly different. To me, what the Bible says is the supreme authority and I simply want to be accurate with the Scriptures so it was easier for me to correct my position than it was to remain in error at the top of my voice like many of the experts in the field of eschatology. My goal has always been to know the truth and preach it unashamed, uncompromised and with as little error as possible. Anyone who knows me will tell you that my position on what the Bible says will only change when I am given book, chapter and verse, and then I will proclaim it with the boldest confidence because then I stand on the truth. Opinions will come and go, but the Scriptures will last forever.

Having studied Greek, I discovered that the New American Standard Bible (NASB) is the most accurate modern day translation to the Greek. Therefore all quotations from the Scriptures will be from the NASB unless otherwise noted with that specific quote.

This book is for the beginner – the one who wants a simple explanation to prophecy in a simplistic logical format. It is not my intention to go into great detail on all the minutia of prophecy although we will cover all the important facts, but I will share with you what I discovered and in fact, still discovering. I do not pretend to know all of the answers, but I have found that prophecy does not have to be as difficult to understand as we make it to be. If I speculate in an area, I will label that as a speculation and show you how I reach that conclusion from a logical chain of evidence that will only be refuted by book, chapter and verse. I realize that there will be some that will disagree with my findings and that is expected, however, my conclusions have been fire-tested by these experts and even had some of my conclusions dismissed by experts who try to cling to their pre-conceived positions, but never disproven – again because no book, chapter and verse were given to disprove the conclusions I reached.

My ambition in writing this book is to discover what the Bible says about itself and thus discover what God said all along and not just validate someone’s opinion. There are fewer surprises that way. Join me as we piece together this maze of puzzle pieces and discover the Big Picture that God said would bless us when we read and hear the words of this prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3). With a little common sense, and scriptural answers to prophetic questions, we can put those pieces together to Solve the Puzzle of Biblical Prophecy.

Chapter 1

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Principles of Understanding Prophecy

For literally thousands of years, man has wondered how the world would end. Although we are in the first 20 years of a new millennium, we have seen the fear run rampant about whether this was the time when the world would come to an end or not. Starting this millennium saw devastating attacks on 9/11/2001, ongoing wars in the Middle East, natural disasters like hurricane Katrina, tsunamis crossing the pacific, famine in third world countries like Haiti, worldwide pestilence with Covid-19, and even the politicized cry of doomsayers like the ice age/global warming/ climate change that’s been around for the past 50 years. There have been as many end of the world theories as there have been guesses as to the date of the Return of Christ. Some of these theories even have dramatic opening lines like There are no prophecies left to be fulfilled before the rapture takes place!

I don’t propose to hazard a guess as to when the end will come, that is not my purpose in writing this book. According to Jesus in Acts 1:7 no one knows and any guesses would be wrong anyway. It is my purpose, however, to set forth common sense principles to help everyone to understand prophecy, and thus give a simple understanding to the current events of today in the light of scripture in regard to prophecy and as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:18 comfort one another with these words knowing Christ will be taking us home.

Let me begin by establishing three premises upon which I will base my chain of logic to understanding prophecy. All three of these premises are essential to understanding prophecy. Though on the surface, these premises may seem irrelevant to prophecy, since most scholars dismiss each one of these premises when digging into prophecy. I believe all three are essential to understanding prophecy.

The first premise I believe essential to understanding prophecy is this: God is omnipotent, or all-powerful. The NIV addresses God as The Almighty 345 times. I believe one of the qualifications to being God is that He can do anything He chooses to do, at anytime He chooses to do so. That means He can create the heavens and the earth and all that is in them at a single command. That means that He is capable of superseding the laws of nature as He pleases, because He is not governed by the laws of physics, or nature since He is the creator of those laws. That also means that He is more than capable of communicating to such an inferior creation to Himself as is man. I also believe that in communicating, God can do so in such a way that the message is quite simple and yet so complex that man will never plumb the entire depths of that simple message.

I also believe that God is also capable of making that same message reveal different and more engaging facets of truth at different levels of spiritual maturity, as a person is willing to reach. To summarize this premise, I believe God decided to reveal what would happen at the end of the world to His people in order to give them hope that all was not lost, that God was still on His throne and in control of every situation, even if we don’t understand everything at this point in time and everything seems chaotic and hopeless. I also believe that God made prophecy possible to understand without having to have a degree at some seminary, or to obtain all of the wisdom of man (which God counts to be foolishness anyway – 1 Corinthians 1:20). In essence, I believe that God made prophecy understandable to the common man, not something that will remain a mystery to him while only the scholars in the field of eschatology can properly interpret, which amazingly they haven’t.

The second premise is this: The scriptures say: "ALL Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB¹ – emphasis mine) is absolutely, irrevocably, foundationally true. If God truly inspired the writing of ALL Scripture, then there are no errors in the Scriptures. This omnipotent God who can create the heavens and the earth, which can communicate to man, doesn’t make mistakes.

When viewing the facts of the writing of the scripture it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than the Scriptures are God’s handiwork as well. The Scriptures were written in three different languages, on three different continents, over a time span of 1,500 years. The Scriptures were written using 40 different people from such diverse backgrounds as shepherds, kings, tent-makers, scholars, physicians, fishermen, and even tax collectors, yet creating a library of 66 books without one error or contradiction. This would be impossible for any two people to do while collaborating who had the same background, education, language, and living at the same time, but not with God because He did it. That attests to His being the omnipotent God and also being the author of them all – including prophecy.

This also means that if all the scriptures are inspired of God, then all of the scriptures must be understood in the light of all of the books of the Bible. It all hangs together. There is no error, no contradiction nor inaccuracies, because God wrote it through human secretaries. Each passage can be used to help us see the bigger picture than what one verse might expose. If each passage can shed light on what the more difficult passages are saying, then we can come to a more complete and accurate understanding of the whole glorious revelation of God, who He is and we will be the wiser for it. This alone will bring hope in the storms of doubt, knowing God is still in control, He still cares, and in the end, He wins and He brings us home.

Premise number three: There are some simple rules for understanding prophecy. It starts with the basics. If all scripture is inspired by God as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, then the first thing we must do is determine in our own minds that each piece of the prophecy puzzle is important and must not be discarded from the rest of scripture. Our Almighty God has protected it for over 2,000 years. With critics saying it can’t be accurate because we only have copies, nothing original remains, God continues to protect His revealed Word over these many centuries. There are in existence today over 25,000 copies of ancient manuscripts dating as early as 100 years after the originals were written. The most copies of any other work is the work of Homer with only 600 copies and the earliest manuscripts dates 1,300 years after the original. Which work shows the most promise of accuracy and authenticity? God’s or man’s? Although great opposition was mounted to destroy God’s Word, it continues to be the all-time best seller today. Even if we don’t understand a piece of prophecy, the best rule of thumb is to set it aside until you find out how and where it fits – just like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

If you cannot agree with any of these three premises, then you need read no further, because this book is based upon these three premises. Regardless of what a person believes doctrinally, if these three premises are not foundation blocks of that person’s understanding of Scripture, they will never come to understand God, His plan of salvation, nor His revealed will for mankind and as I will expound later – prophecy.

Understanding prophecy is like building a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. I found that when building a jigsaw puzzle, it is always easier if I put similar pieces in small piles of what looks like it fits with each other and all of the puzzle edges in another pile. I start looking for pieces that obviously go together and put them in areas of the puzzle that look like the picture on the box. As sections take shape, you begin to discover that some pieces really belong in a different section of the puzzle, thus put in a different pile. That is because the image begins to emerge and that piece really doesn’t fit where you thought it did, so you simply move it to another section. This will happen several times as you study prophecy so don’t think that you can’t understand it and quit, because with perseverance you will eventually see the whole picture emerge from a pile of unconnected puzzle parts. You may even change millennial positions like I did several times because your understanding will begin to grow as the picture begins to emerge. Don’t be afraid to change. It is better to be in tune with God than to let your stubbornness make you look foolish. Have I put all the pieces together yet? Not all of them, there are still some that God withholds for a later time, but the picture is getting clearer the more I study.

As the gigantic jigsaw puzzle is put together, you may have pieces that you do not see where they fit yet. You don’t throw away these pieces and say I give up, because you don’t see where they go, you simply set them aside until you see where they do fit. The same is true for prophecy, as more prophecy puzzle pieces fit together to give you the big picture, the clearer prophecy becomes.

The first pieces I look for when building a puzzle are the edges. This plan of attack helps me to establish the perimeter of the puzzle. The perimeter establishes the dimensions of the puzzle, and once it is put together, you actually feel a sense of accomplishment.

So let’s do the same with prophecy. Let’s take a look at the basic principles that will give us the perimeters of the prophecy puzzle. These basic principles are nothing more than common sense rules of interpretation. Using the three premises that we already discussed as the puzzle pattern to follow, all we have to do is discover the obvious pieces that give us the edges of the puzzle. We will call these common sense rules of interpretation the edges of the puzzle.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 1: Always let the author explain himself.

First common sense rule of interpretation is to let the author explain himself. Who knows best what someone is trying to say than that person? This is why all preconceived ideas must be removed. These preconceived ideas only clutter up the picture, create false images, and quite often lead people astray from the truth. God is the author of prophecy. Since we already established that because God is omnipotent, He is quite capable of communicating with man in a simple understandable method. It would not only be rude but extremely presumptuous on our part to put words into God’s mouth that He never said. It would be just as rude to say that He means something different when He quite clearly gave His own definitions. God doesn’t leave anything to chance. All through scripture, God is giving His own definitions as to what He means.

All through prophecy, God is giving definitions to His own terms. The symbols that He uses, He gives definitions to those terms. Let’s not make something out of them that God never intended. Remember that the rule is to keep our interpretations simple. Life started out with one language – simple. It was because of the arrogance and sin of man when man wanted to overthrow God at the tower of Babel that God confounded the languages. From that time forward, languages have not evolved into something greater, but have actually lost potency in communication. English for example is one of the most difficult languages to learn because it is always changing. Terms we used 10 years ago changed so radically that they no longer mean the same thing. We have complicated our language and diluted our terms with so many synonyms, and actually changed the definitions every opportunity we could. It was never so with God. When He said something, He meant just what He said. So let us not put interpretations in God’s Word He never intended.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 2: Don’t Take Scriptures Out of Context.

Another common sense rule violated by just about everyone is proof-texting. It is very difficult to get on the same wavelength as the author when you only take favorite scriptures out of their context. By doing this, you can assign any interpretation to them when you want to create your own theology. That is why there are so many denominations, and even cults. To be honest, nobody really wants to understand God. We say we do, but if we were truly honest with ourselves, we would recognize that we have too many pet ideas of what a Christian should be, how he should act, what God is like, and how we should worship that it is almost impossible to give them up for what God has determined is acceptable to Him. Case in point: look at the hundreds of denominations belonging to Christianity and the thousands of other religions. Each group has their own set of rules on how to conform to that group’s image of an ideal citizen in its midst. We can’t even agree on what type of songs to sing in worship, or what type of hierarchical structure to operate the church – all because of our own interpretations.

Why do we proof-text? True Christianity or living like Christ is too demanding. It is so much easier to put God in a box and take Him out when you need Him. When we say things like a loving God would never send anyone to hell we just demonstrate our ignorance of a sovereign God who said I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Exodus 33:19); and our stubbornness to hold onto things that the scripture never teach. Again, we must cast aside our preconceived ideas of what scripture says and go to it with an open mind, a blank slate (if you will) and a determination to discover what God wants to impart to us. This only comes by reading the scripture in its context. It is so easy to take a verse out of context and create a whole new doctrine which the scriptures never intended. For example, 2 Corinthians 12:2 says:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a man was caught up to the third heaven.

The Mormons have created in their theology three different heavens by taking this scripture out of context and violating the proper rules of interpretation. When in fact, if they would have only used the proper rules of interpretation, they would have discovered the proper use of the term Paul was calling third heaven. This is also a good example of violating Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 3: "All scripture must be understood in the light of all other scriptures" as well (which we will discuss next).

Had they taken the time to see what the Scriptures said about heaven instead of taking it out of context, they would have discovered that heaven had three different locations and applications: Atmosphere (Genesis 1:7-8), Space where the stars are (Genesis 22:17), and finally where the Throne of God is (Revelation 4:2). When we take things out of context, we superimpose more interpretation than what the author intended and miss the message completely to preach our own message with all of the proof-texts that we need to get the job done. This is a dangerous practice to get into and we miss the true picture the Scriptures are painting for us. This would be like a child throwing red paint on a Rembrandt and saying, this is what the artist is really trying to describe.

This is especially true of prophecy. It is imperative that we maintain the context to get the complete picture.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 3: All scripture must be understood in the light of all other scriptures.

Understanding the author is our goal. Reading all of that author’s works will help you to understand that author. If you read just one verse, you would not get the complete picture on the entire topic – regardless the topic. The Bible is a resource book with references throughout its entire library of 66 books. For example if you wanted to see what God had to say about the Holy Spirit, you could start in Genesis 1:2 and discover that the Holy Spirit was instrumental in creation. Then you discover that He comes into and departs out of people throughout the Old Testament. Then you may discover that He came and lives in people today as God’s down-payment (or earnest money) of salvation and is the seal that marks us as belonging to Him (Ephesians 1:13-14). If you only read one verse, your perspective of the Holy Spirit would be extremely narrow.

To understand prophecy, we must honor this rule. Just one verse or even one passage will not give you a complete picture of prophecy. There is such a tight harmony throughout the entire Bible, which allows that sweet yet mysterious theme of prophecy to waltz through passage after passage constantly luring the reader who is seeking what is yet to happen. The harmony is so alluring because it is pure truth. It is like listening to the intricate melody and counter-melodies in Mozart’s music. Prophecy is the counter-melody to the melody of Salvation. For example: where man has sinned and all creation looks forward to the cross for salvation, prophecy looks forward to when salvation is made complete at the Second Coming of Christ. Where salvation plants a seed of resurrection at the empty tomb, prophecy reaps a harvest of resurrections of the saints when Christ returns. Where salvation put an end to the power of Satan in a Christian’s life, prophecy demonstrates the end of Satan and his power in the rest of creation. Where salvation crushed the vicious nature of sin at the cross, prophecy crushes the hideous creature that created sin and all of his followers and restores paradise. This is why it is essential to see scripture in the light of all other scriptures.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 4: All words are to be understood in their literal sense, unless the evident meaning of the context forbids it.

Here is where most prophecy scholars deviate from the common sense rules of interpretation. To these individuals, figurative language presents a golden opportunity for them to create their own interpretation. Here is where definitions (regardless of how absurd) get created which has little or no basis except their own subjective imagination. As D. R. Dungan in his book Hermeneutics describes it: Figures are the exception, literal language the rule.² Figurative language is in reality word pictures that help us understand an underlying principle. For example: When Jesus said that He was the door to His sheep in John 10, He wasn’t inferring that He had hinges and a doorknob. Rather, since the hearers of this analogy in His day understood that at night the sheep were put in a walled pen for their protection. The shepherd would then lie down literally in the doorway once all the sheep were accounted for and safely in the pen and sleep there. With him lying in the door way he would become the door of that pen and he would know instantly of anything that came in or out of the pen by having to cross over his prostrate body, thus the saying arises …only over my dead body.

Don’t make more out of figurative language than what the author intended. The danger here is to go too far. If we stay within the boundaries of our common sense rules of interpretation, this should not happen.

When encountering figurative language, it would be helpful to look for definitions of that figurative language within the context where it is found. Quite often (though not always), the author will give a side note within the scriptures to help the reader understand what is being conveyed. This brings us back to rule number one: Let the author explain himself. The author’s explanation is the best definition for any figurative language. He will always give the right slant on the concept presented.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 5: Beware of special revelations from God outside of Scripture.

When someone says, God told me… I just cringe. God is not in the habit of making special revelations in today’s culture. His entire revealed will is recorded in the Scriptures and He has not had a need to add to it since the first century AD. The problem with these God told me statements is that there is no way to verify that God actually did speak to them. It is also outside of God’s character NOT to endorse His messenger with verifiable proof that the message and the messenger are from God. For example, Jesus proved He was a messenger from God by the miracles He did. So, challenge these individuals for the evidence that it was actually God who spoke to them instead of something else trying to impersonate Him. As we will see in the text in Revelation, many will be deceived by the Anti-Christ and by the False Prophet. This would also prove to be a good test-tube for those experts who assign definitions for symbols that are not there. Ask them how they reached the conclusion about their definition of terms. If they do not respond with book, chapter and verse references from the Scriptures, then their conclusions can only be suspect at best.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 6: All obscure passages of prophecy must be understood from the light of the clear passages of prophecy.

There are certain passages of Scripture that are extremely clear to understand. The many times Jesus begins His parables with the words: The Kingdom of Heaven is like…, His whole intent was to give a word picture to make it extremely clear what He was trying to convey. The same is true of prophecy. There are certain passages like 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5; 2 Thessalonians 2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; Matthew 24 and 25 where there has been and will be no question about the prophecy and its proper interpretation because the meaning is clear – straight from the author’s mouth concerning what he meant. These Scriptures would be considered clear text with little ambiguity. It is there we should start with our understanding of prophecy and use those Prophecy Puzzle Edges of clear text to help determine the more difficult passages found in Daniel and Revelation. Remember, Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 3 (All scripture must be understood in the light of all other scripture) still applies in this case as well.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 7: Apparent contradictions in Scriptures are just that – APPARENT!

One of the dilemmas scholars face is determining which position they want to stand behind when there appears to be two opposing views of Scriptural events, especially when there are strong Scriptural evidence to support both sides. Scripture always has, and will continue to have many brilliant facets to it. Like a diamond, we can turn the Scriptures around from many different vantage points and view the beauty, the clarity and a bigger picture than what we saw before when viewing just one facet. Just because there are two or more facts does not mean there is more than one truth. Consequently, we might discover how narrow our thinking is when we stick to one fact and hold to it over another fact of equal or even greater value and say, This is the only way to think. All other opinions are flawed and cannot merit the standard of truth that I uphold with this one fact. Yet, this happens quite often. In fact, most debates result from refusing to see any other vantage point that may question theirs. Instead of seeing the bigger picture, these individuals are content to see just their little facet of that great diamond of truth – God’s Word.

For example, in Matthew 13, Jesus gave the parable of the good grain and the tares (weeds) and defined the good grain as the righteous in His Kingdom and the weeds as the wicked planted within the church by Satan. To remove them now while His Kingdom, the Church is still green would destroy some of the weaker Christians. Therefore, He will wait until the end of the world to gather up the wicked ones first and cast them into the fire THEN the righteous will shine like the sun. The apparent contradiction comes to play when we try to superimpose 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 where it says that the dead in Christ will rise FIRST and then the rapture takes place leaving behind those that are not saved.

So which is correct? Do the saved go first or the wicked go first? Both are correct when you look at the bigger picture. We are actually looking at two separate events on the Prophecy time line – the Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) and the Great White Throne Judgment (which is after the end of the world – Revelation 20:11-15). To compound this, many people never even realize that there is actually a third group of people involved in the Great White Throne Judgment instead of just the saved and the wicked. Add this fact to the two separate events and anyone can get confused, but when all the facts are revealed and examined in their proper light, it will make perfect sense. These events will be properly explained later in the book – especially the third group of people.

Before we jump to conclusions when there are apparent contradictions remember this Prophecy Puzzle Edge – Always look for the bigger picture because both pieces of the puzzle must fit and not necessarily in the same spot, or even next to each other!

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 8: The Mountain View Effect.

Great distances of time can exist between two events that are foretold in prophecy. Sometimes those two events can be predicted within the same verse, same sentence, with great gaps of time between the two. For example: when it was Jesus’ turn to read the scripture in the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth, the assigned passage that was given to Him to read was from the prophet Isaiah 61:1-2:

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; 2 to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn.

Before He completes the second verse, He stops after reading the passage "to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. Jesus then closes the scroll and astonishes His audience by saying in Luke 4:21 Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears. Since the portion, the day of vengeance of our God" was not completed in their ears He simple did not read it. Why? Because that portion of scripture, although it was the same verse, would be fulfilled centuries later at the Second Coming. Jesus’ purpose during His first visit to Earth was to proclaim the good news to the afflicted, to bind up the broken hearted, to heal the sick and make peace between God and man with His atoning sacrifice on the cross. It would only be when man has rejected every opportunity to restore his relationship with God through the cross of Christ that God would have His vengeance on the world.

This is a good example of the Mountain View Effect on prophecy. Great gaps of time can exist between sections of prophecy that the original recipient would not be able to see. In this case, Isaiah would only see the entire passage as one event. Like a mountain range off in the distance, he could only see the peaks closer up merging into one larger mountain further away. He could not see the valleys of time between those peaks.

Caution is advised when viewing Prophecy that we do not jump to erroneous conclusions because of this effect. This is why it is critical to view the passage from different angles (see prophecy puzzle edge # 3) or from the light of all other Scriptures to understand the whole picture as it really is. This leads us up to the next Prophecy Puzzle Edge.

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 9: Ask the questions that make a great journalist.

By asking the six following questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? And How? we are more inclined to gather all of the facts that will help put the pieces of the puzzle together. These six little questions will do more to help you solve any puzzle. Every good journalist or sleuth makes these questions the cornerstone of their occupations. These little questions are the tools you must use when you study prophecy, or for that matter, any other form of literature.

Finally the most difficult puzzle piece for the modern day Gentile to discover is this last one:

Prophecy Puzzle Edge # 10: Think Like a Jew.

This puzzle piece is probably the most important and neglected piece to solving the puzzle of Biblical Prophecy. End Time prophecies were first explained to Daniel who was a Jew. It was given to him as a response to the questions he had in his prayer (Daniel 9:1-20) about what was going to happen to the Jews. Were they going to remain in captivity or were they going to go home and when? God then tells him far more than he asked in response to the dreams that were given to Nebuchadnezzar, Darius the Mede and even to himself.

When we try to understand Jewish prophecy from our western mindset with our culture of a reformed Roman legal system, inaccurate Roman calendar (Christ was born approximately 3-6 B.C. or three to six years Before Christ on this calendar – how can anyone be born 3 years before himself?), and then add our American mindset which differs from the rest of the world to the mix. It is no wonder we have hundreds of prophecy systems trying to explain what God had to say, because it wasn’t directed to us in the twenty-first century, it was written to the Jew. Even Romans 11 points out that after the Gentiles have been grafted into the True Olive Tree that God will regraft the Jews in. We need to grasp the fact that the book of Revelation is written to show the fulfillment of the Jewish prophetic timeline given in Daniel 9, but we will examine this fact in much greater depth later on.

Isn’t it strange that we as Christians who have a Jewish heritage haven’t figured out that we need this very important puzzle piece to see the bigger picture? Without this piece of the puzzle, we will flounder like a person in a dark room without knowing where all the furniture is. Therefore, in the next chapter we will examine some areas of the Jewish culture that are essential to grasp the concepts of prophecy that elude most of us today.

As you will see, the rest of the book is based on these ten proper rules of interpretation we will call puzzle edges because they will give us the framework to understand the parameters of the puzzle of Biblical Prophecy. By using these common sense rules of interpretation, you can get a grip on any concept presented in the scriptures and help you to simplify and understand such difficult concepts as prophecy or any other topic for that matter. It might even help us understand our Jewish heritage which came through Christ, who incidentally, was also a Jew.

Summary of the Principles for properly

understanding Prophecy.

Let’s recap the method we can properly understand what God has to say.

First, there are three principles for understanding prophecy:

» God is omnipotent, or all-powerful.

» ALL Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17); and 2 Peter 1:20-21 says: 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.

» There are some simple rules for understanding prophecy. Understanding prophecy is like building a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Start with the edges first.

Second, these Prophecy Puzzle Edges (as we will call them) are the rules for properly understanding prophecy:

Always let the author explain himself.

Don’t Take Scriptures Out of Context.

All Scripture Must be Understood in the Light of All Other Scriptures.

All words are to be understood in their literal sense, unless the evident meaning of the context forbids it.

Beware of special revelations from God outside of Scripture.

All obscure passages of prophecy must be understood from the light of the clear passages of prophecy.

Apparent contradictions in Scriptures are just that – APPARENT!

Be cautious about the Mountain View Effect.

Ask the questions that make a great journalist: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Think Like a Jew – it was written to the Jews and explained to them in their cultural setting and therefore uses their measurement systems, calendar system, their time system, and even their culture as pictures of future realities.

Chapter 2

Prophecy From

The Jewish Perspective

(Putting the Puzzle Edges Together)

When we look at the Second Coming, questions start flying so fast that we are left in a daze of confusion. Some scholars provide some light, but seldom help us to put the puzzle pieces together. One of the key ingredients to understanding the principles of prophecy is to change our perspective. Once we see things in the light of the environment where the statements originated, we begin to see things more clearly. So let’s go back to the Scriptures with an open mindset and see them from the perspective of the original recipients – the Jews. Once we do this, the puzzle edges will begin to fit together.

However, we must continually remind ourselves, to think like the Jews as we saw in the previous chapter. Too often we allow our preconceived ideas and western thought process with our timeframe of the 365¼ day Roman annual solar calendar to shape our thinking. This will continue to get in the way of understanding the Jewish mindset and how God answered the Jews’ questions about the end times. God did everything for the Jews in pictures that the Jews would recognize and could relate to, so we must adapt our thinking to those images in order to properly understand the whole picture that God is trying to convey. Therefore, we must take these concepts and pictures presented to the Jews and let them form the framework for the whole picture of prophecy. Once we do this, then we shall see how all the rest of the pieces of the puzzle fit properly within that framework of understanding.

The Repeating Pattern of the Number Seven.

God established many things in patterns. People learn better by repeating patterns or habits and one of the greatest tools God uses is the pattern of repetitions. One of those patterns is the use of the number seven. The Jewish mindset was centered on the number seven. Every part of their life focused on the number seven. For example, the simplest and most obvious fact that we can grasp is the that there are seven days in the week established in Genesis 1 with the creation of the world. That is as far as we usually go. However, for the Jew this was only the beginning. Each of these sevens in the Jewish calendar is marked by a festival of some sort. The seventh day, the seventh week, the seventh month, the seventh year, and finally the seventh heptad (or unit of seven years) which was concluded with a year of Jubilee (year 50).

The first seven was the Sabbath. The Sabbath or the seventh day is taught in many places, including Exodus 16:22-30; 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:12-16; 34:21; 35:2-3; Leviticus 23:3; 26:2; Numbers 15:32-36; 28:9-10; Deuteronomy 5:12-15. The Hebrew word for Sabbath means to cease or abstain. Thus on every Sabbath or the seventh day, they were to take a day off. No work was permitted and they were to renew their spirit with the coming together to worship God. The Israelites were instructed to include the family, the hired servants, the stranger, and even their domestic animals in observance of this holy day. All were commanded to cease from normal labor. God wanted them to focus on their relationship with Him and so He set apart the Sabbath as a holy day.

Probably the only picture of a seventh week in the Jewish calendar of events is in the time period of the giving of