From Today to Eternity: A Study of Biblical Prophecy and End Times Volume 1

By Walter R. Scarborough

What picture does the Bible paint about the future?

Many Christians are scared, worried and anxious about the future. They are in a spiritual fog about what will happen, or, will not happen. They are baffled, confused, and overwhelmed by the mountains

• Language: English
• Publisher: Prime Seven Media
• Release date: Feb 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9781963050790

Book preview

PREFACE

It seems as if every book, past and present, written about prophecy and end times begins with a characterization of just how difficult, perilous, uncertain, hostile, chaotic, violent, dangerous, horrible, unrighteous, immoral, and evil the times are in which we live. We do live in unprecedented times -- times in which the world seems to be degenerating into chaos. The authors of the earlier books are trying to paint a picture of all the things that are wrong about the world, the nation, society, the church, believers, and non-believers. The picture is usually disturbing, dismal, depressing, and discouraging. This book will be no different because the times in which we live are worse than when the earlier books were written. As predicted in the earlier books, our world continues in a downward spiral. Many people believe that humankind is heading for a devastating disaster.

The purpose of a picture such as those painted in words is to remind the reader of just how far away from God’s righteousness our world has drifted. For most of the last century, our nation slipped away from the godly principles on which our nation was founded, our laws, our society, and our values. Now, immorality runs rampant, yes means no and no means yes, violence continues unabated, and everything seems to be turned upside down. It seems every day we must face yet another situation that stands defiantly in opposition to God.

Consider the following observations by John F. Walvoord in several of his books:

•By every standard of measurement, the twentieth century will go down in history as the incredible century. The century began with limited use of electricity and without radio, television, planes, missiles, computers, modern weapons, and atomic bombs. Technology has moved man into a modern era that now witnesses more rapid change in the course of a year than formally took place in a century.¹

•In our modern world the human race is desperately trying to forget that God exists. The media constantly report scientific findings that seem to show that the human race has existed for millions of years, even though alleged proof for it is highly questionable.²

Some churches seem to be forming a doctrinal theology that includes everything under the moral, cultural and social sun, with the astounding exclusion of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear reports and read that churches all over the world are either empty or have become apostate. Consider the following observations:

•The spiritual fog that so clouded the minds of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day still hangs over our theological landscape today.³

•… [C]hurches are not offering prophetic teaching, since they perceive that people do not want it (and they have geared their programs to offer what people want, not what they need).⁴

•Tragically, many pastors today know little or nothing about Bible prophecy because it wasn’t taught in their seminary; consequently, they do not teach about prophecy from the pulpit. This leaves many Christians ignorant of the exciting plans God has for the future.⁵

•Not only do theologians tend to avoid eschatology, but also courses of instruction in theological seminaries often include little instruction on eschatology.⁶

Most pictures painted by these book authors seem to be based on conditions in the United States, but in reality they exist all over the world. The United States does not have a corner on the market for bad things. Churches in Britain and Europe are largely empty; Christians are punished, imprisoned, and killed for their beliefs in many nations. Nations that do not consider the United States as an ally have nuclear weapons they threaten to use, some countries are run by tyrants, and life carries little value.

There are many problems today, and people are scared. They are scared because they do not understand why some things are the way they are and why bad things happen. They are scared because of the senseless violence that seems to be close, and sometimes they feel angry because some things, once thought as sacred, are now swallowed up in apostate events, beliefs, and people. Evil seems to have an oppressive, and ever growing, grip on the vast majority of humanity; things we thought were unbelievable just a few years ago, are now accepted today.

Many are desperately searching for answers. A number of individuals suspect there is a spiritual aspect to many things that are happening and many of them believe that the answers are buried in Biblical prophecy. However, most Christians do not have a general understanding of Biblical prophecy, nor do they have the interpretative skills to adequately find the answers in the Bible. Most believers do not have the time and opportunity to study the Word at the same level as theological authors and scholars, so we have to depend on books such as this one to gain our understanding of prophecy and end times.

That’s where this book and many of other books about Biblical prophecy come in. The intent of this book is to assist in making prophecy and end times more understandable to the serious student.

The subject of prophecy and end times cannot be studied casually. As can be seen from the Table of Contents and the size of this book, prophecy and end times consists of numerous events which occur in a specific order, and with characters having specific roles to fulfill. Because of its extensiveness, the study of prophecy and end times requires commitment, time and a strong desire to understand a multifaceted portion of one-quarter of the content of the Bible. The student should not be discouraged with the time commitment required because this time is time spent with the Lord, and the subject is worth understanding.

SEARCHING FOR A THEME

One of the things that serious students that mine the depths of the Bible, are searching for is something that unifies the revelation - someway of understanding the picture that the Bible paints. As we are commanded, we read and study the Bible to bring ourselves closer to the God of the universe, a closeness that sustains us throughout our lives. But many students of Scripture are looking for that theme that brings the Bible into a unified whole. I believe that books like this book go a long way to tell the story that unifies the Bible. Of course, there are other pieces that are necessary, but books like this book can establish the framework that might be necessary for some believers to understand the big picture of His Story.

Pentecost, in the Preface of one of his books, Thy Kingdom Comes, says this about how the kingdom of God that unified the Bible for him: It became possible to trace the development of that kingdom through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and that theme provided a unifying structure that bound all the Bible together into a unit, and by which all the history recorded there could be understood and related.⁷ The theme for me is prophecy and end times, and unbelievably it has opened the entire Bible up for me to see How God works through Israel, the Church, and the world.

1

INTRODUCTION TO

PROPHECY AND END TIMES

"Prophecy is the doctrine of Scripture dealing with predictions of events that will occur in the future. Theologians call this doctrine eschatology, a word derived from the Greek … meaning last or last things. It refers to the events that will climax human history. Included in biblical eschatology are all the predictions that were future at the time they were written, whether they have been fulfilled now or are still unfulfilled."¹

A serious study of prophecy and end times is a spiritually rewarding endeavor. An investment in such a study will increase your faith in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. A detailed study reveals God’s workings in history and provides insight into the God’s sovereign Plan for the Ages. Today, we find ourselves at a unique time in God’s history because we have a history book that details God’s story that has happened thus far and what will happen in the future. We are fortunate to live between the history as told in the Bible and the future as also described in the Bible. We can see where the human race has been and where it is going.

Consider the thoughts of the following theologians and scholars who have spent many decades studying prophecy and end times:

•Lewis Sperry Chafer / John F. Walvoord: Because prophecy is an integral part of scriptural revelation from Genesis to Revelation, a neglect of this important theme leaves one with an incomplete theology as well as an incomplete philosophy of life. Christianity by its nature is eschatological in its anticipation of the glorious future. Without a future climax to history, Christianity is left without a reasonable explanation of life.²

•J. Dwight Pentecost: There is no greater test or proof of the inspiration, validity, authority, and trustworthiness of the Bible than the proof of fulfilled prophecy.³

•Mark Hitchcock: Understanding God’s plan for the future gives a person the best framework possible for understanding the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.⁴

•Randall Price: To be a student of the prophetic scriptures is to be a student of the Scriptures in their entirety. In order to comprehend prophetic passages, we must have a good grasp of the Old Testament and its relationship to the New Testament.⁵

•John F. Walvoord: In many respects prophecy is the pinnacle of God’s divine revelation, for prophecy reveals many of the attributes of God, including His power, wisdom, and absolute sovereignty. A study of prophecy should bring about the willing worship of human hearts and minds, submission to God’s will, and an understanding of the system of values inherent in God’s prophetic program for the world.⁶

•Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice: Prophecy provides Christians with an outline of God’s program of the future. And because hundreds of specific prophecies have already been literally fulfilled – most of them in relation to the first coming of Christ – we know that all prophecies about the future will be fulfilled literally in the end times, and Christ’s return will be fulfilled literally as well. A faithful believer is to be found watching and waiting for our Lord’s coming.⁷

•John F. Walvoord: It is evident that God intended to draw aside the veil of the future and to give some indication of what His plans and purposes were for the human race and for the universe as a whole.⁸

It should be noted that the student of prophecy and end times faces an exhilarating challenge developing an understanding of God’s Plan for the Ages. The challenge is not insurmountable; it will just take effort, perspiration and prayer to work through the many details. The challenge is that the full-depth of understanding of the events and the characters of prophecy and end times will require information from multiple sources of all 66 books of the Bible. Since the Bible was not written in chronological order God’s Plan requires many verses to be pieced together, verse by verse, to establish a timeline of events.

Most Christians would be very surprised to know the amount of prophecy and end time Scripture that are in the Bible. Walvoord says that fully one fourth⁹ of the Scriptural passages in the Bible are predictive prophecy in some way, and he has identified about one thousand specific instances of prophecy throughout human history. He goes on to further indicate that about one half¹⁰ of the one thousand prophecies have been literally fulfilled¹¹ in history. This fact alone is solid proof that the Bible is divinely inspired and that it can be trusted.

As an example of the magnitude of prophecy in the Bible, Pentecost says the Old Testament includes, … some of the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. Hundreds of years before He was born, the Old Testament told us the time of His birth in Daniel 9; the details of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7; the place of His birth in Micah 5; the intimate details of His life and death in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53; the fact of His resurrection in Psalm 16. One mathematician has figured out, considering only the prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, that there is only one chance in 87 plus 93 zeros that the Bible could be right on the basis of guess only.¹²

While the number of prophecies are a little different than Walvoord, Payne has made the following observations about the Bible and the magnitude of verses containing prophecy¹³:

•Whole Bible: 31,124 verses.

•Old Testament:

+1,239 predictions.

+6,641 out of 23,210 verses containing predictions.

+28.5 percent that is prophecy.

•New Testament:

+578 predictions.

+1,711 out of 7,914 verses containing predictions.

+21.5 percent that is prophecy.

•Percent of Whole Bible that is Prophecy: 27 percent.

It is of vital importance for Christians to have a good understanding of prophecy and end times, especially in today’s environment. With each passing day we get closer to the next event to happen, the Rapture. However, far too many Christians do not understand even the idea of rapture. In spite of the fact that there is not a lot of preaching and teaching about prophecy and end times, Christians should still take the initiative to study this topic. Christians should have their spiritual hope focused on the future, not just to satisfy the fascination with the future but to know what the future has in store for humankind.

Given it’s magnitude in the Bible, prophecy and end times are a major part of God’s sovereign and comprehensive plan for humanity and the world, a plan that has been unfolding for thousands of years and is about to change, maybe very soon, in the most radical way imaginable. However, many Christians unfortunately do not want to try to understand prophecy and end times because they think it is too difficult to understand or is not relevant. Walvoord states, …. most people who attend church regularly are quite uninformed on what the Bible teaches about the future.¹⁴

WHAT SAY THEOLOGIANS AND SCHOLARS?

Rather than developing yet another list of statements that describes the importance of prophecy and end times, let’s see what theologians and scholars have to say:

John F. Walvoord¹⁵

•Prophecy provides important evidence that the Scriptures are accurate.

•Prophecy serves as a guideline for establishing the value of human conduct and the things that pertain to this life.

•Prophecy expresses the righteousness of God.

•Prophecy supports the assertion that the Christian faith has an integral relationship to morality.

•Prophecy provides a guide to the meaning of history.

•Prophecy serves to bring light and understanding to many aspects of our present life as well as our future hope.

J. Dwight Pentecost¹⁶

•Prophecy proves the authority of the entire Word of God.

•Prophecy reveals the power and wisdom of God.

•Prophecy reveals the purposes of God.

•Prophecy brings peace and assurance to the child of God.

•Prophecy produces holy living in the child of God.

Tim LeHaye and Thomas Ice¹⁷

•Prophecy acquaints us with the most important subject of the ages, God’s Plan for Man.

•Studying Bible prophecy convinces us that there really is a God.

•The literal fulfillment of prophecy teaches us that prophecy should be interpreted literally.

•The study of prophecy prepares the Christian to avoid the deceptions of the many false prophets that are arising in our day.

•The study of prophecy promotes an evangelistic church.

•The study of prophecy tends to purify the believer.

•Prophecy offers confident hope in a hopeless age.

Charles H. Dyer¹⁸

•Prophecy Produces Praise … Prophecy not only points us toward the future, it also points us toward the majesty of God who controls the future.

•Prophecy Produces Encouragement … Knowing that God has already secured our eternal destiny can give us encouragement to face out present trials.

•Prophecy Produces Stability … God has provided us with a basic road map of future events … enough to keep our lives from spinning out of control.

•Prophecy Produces Holiness … Knowing what God is going to do should motivate us to live holy lives because someday we will stand before Him to give account.

Randall Price¹⁹

•Prophecy is a proof of the truthfulness of Scripture.

•Prophecy presents a proper view of our age.

•Prophecy provides comfort in sorrow.

•Prophecy proves God is in control.

•Prophecy produces spiritual stability.

•Prophecy promotes evangelism.

•Prophecy promises spiritual purity.

•Prophecy procures social responsibility.

•Prophecy presents a prepared student of Scripture.

•Prophecy provokes a sincere love for Christ.

Mark Hitchcock²⁰

•Prophecy is a major part of divine revelation.

•Special blessing is promised on those who study prophecy and pay attention to what it says.

•Jesus is the subject of prophecy.

•Prophecy gives us a proper perspective in life.

•Prophecy helps us understand the whole Bible.

•Prophecy is a tool for evangelism.

•Prophecy helps protect people from heresy.

•Prophecy motivates us to live godly lives in light of eternity.

•Prophecy reveals the sovereignty of God over time and history.

•Prophecy proves the truth of God’s Word.

Paul N. Benware²¹

•Bible prophecy reminds us that God is Sovereign.

•Bible prophecy reminds us that God is good.

•Bible prophecy motivates us to holy living.

•Bible prophecy helps us establish proper priorities.

•Bible prophecy gives us hope.

There is a hidden danger for Christians who study the Bible in an in-depth or academic manner, and it is especially dangerous for those who examine the Word concerning prophecy and end times. That danger is spiritual pride in one’s ability to understand the details of the Bible or prophetic truths for the benefit of personal gain. If not held in check, spiritual pride can lead to arrogance or cause some Christians to believe they are spiritually superior over those that do not understand prophecy and end times as well. As we know, pride is the weapon of choice for Satan.

The Bible teaches at length that harmony in Christian fellowship is important to God and believers. When we are in fellowship with others, there should not be things that cause divisions within the Church, strife within the study group or separation between Christian brothers and sisters. If we study so that it produces pride as a result of our studies, then it has become an instrument in the hand of Satan rather than an instrument in the hand of the Spirit of God …²²

Another danger is when the understandings of prophecy and end times develop a false basis for our fellowship with other Christians. This is especially true if there is a difference in interpretation among Christians. Because there are differences of opinion among Christians does not mean the differences should drive us apart. Remember, the only Biblical truth that matters is the fact that in order to be eternally saved, we are to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for our sins.

Yet another danger occurs when we study prophecy and end times so intensely that we miss seeing the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word. We should always remain focused on Jesus Christ because He is the center of prophecy, and we should never forget that. Prophecy was not included in the Bible just to satisfy our curiosity about future events.

Anyone who has studied the Bible, especially prophecy and end times, has discovered that even in casual conversations not all Christians agree with each other’s interpretations, conclusions, positions, and views. As discussed above, interpretations will always be from certain perspectives, and viewpoints and they may be different even among committed believers, even those in the same church. Dyer²³ proposes there are three specific reasons for these disagreements:

•First, people disagree about end time events because no one individual has a grasp of all God’s truth … Disagreement are often the result of our lack of understanding.²⁴

•Second, people disagree about end time events because of our inability to accept at face value predictions that don’t match what we see in the world today … The problem with predictive prophecy is never God’s Word.²⁵

•Third, people disagree about end time events because God predicted that His Word would not always become clear until the events themselves were very near … World events will finally line up more precisely with events predicted in the Bible.²⁶

In reality, disagreements should force us to mine the depths of the Bible to resolve the differences and to share with each other what has been discovered. All Christians are at different places in their respective understandings of the Bible and we may not know as much as another person, in which case we learn. Or it may be the opposite, where we find that we understand more and have a more refined understanding, in which case we should lead or teach.

Hebrews 9:27 tells us that all humans will eventually face judgment after death. God holds each person accountable for what they believed and did, or did not do, while living on earth, so it is natural that people do not want to think about the consequences for what they did or did not do while alive. Many just do not want to face the idea that they are not free to do whatever they want, but instead they have to give an account to their Creator for their actions.

The last two thousand years has seen the study of prophecy and end times, for the most part, largely ignored. There has been little attempt to study and understand the prophetic truths written in the Bible. Even when told what is about to happen to the human race and the world, many people will simply continue to resist acknowledging the existence of God and His control over the course of history. Many people just do not want to be bothered with the notion that there is a God and that there is a coming radical change to life. So the main cause of unbelief in prophecy is fear of the unknown and the judgements to come at some point in the future. Quite simply, those who believe the Bible prophetically describes the world and the events of human history are the exception, not the rule. Those who believe that prophecy is of importance are in the minority, and they are sometimes considered as outside the mainstream of religious thought.

What is even more disturbing is the tendency of the leaders of churches to not want prophecy and end times taught at their church, and pastors who do not believe it should be preached. Some pastors go so far as to say they do not even believe in prophecy. There are many reasons for this attitude, but probably the most common reason is that preaching and teaching about prophecy and end times will be disruptive to the congregation and cause them to lose interest in listening to the pastors’ messages. Can you imagine a church in which one-fourth of the Bible is specifically ignored and considered irrelevant?

One of the reasons that some Christians do not study prophecy and end times is that they are intimidated by the all the big words, the multitude of viewpoints and the large volume of information about the topic. One of the intentions of this book is to present the several viewpoints and their various options as clearly as possible and the reader will be able to make informed decisions.

When prophecy and end times is studied at the depth that this book is written, it is inevitable that for each of the following viewpoints there will be the need to select from several available options and make a commitment to a viewpoint. Based on the discussions in Chapter 5, this book was written from the following viewpoints:

As we will see in the following chapters, there are a considerable number of prophecies and end time events that have to be arranged in sequence and chronological order in order to gain a more complete understanding. The timeline shown in the illustration that follows is the premise on which the beliefs in this book are founded. Notice the following about the timeline:

•The prophecies are futuristic, they will happen in our future and did not occur in the past.

•The Rapture is before the Tribulation (Daniel’s 70th Week), making the event pretribulational.

•Christ’s Second Advent is before the Millennium, making the event premillennial.

The prophetic events shown are some of the major events yet to happen. The purpose of this timeline is to paint the big picture of the future. There are many other events described in the Bible and this book that are not shown the timeline.

2

INTERPRETING THE BIBLE

The Bible can be interpreted, understood, and it can be of significant benefit to those that are struggling to live in the tumultuous world of today. Effective study of the Bible will yield an inexhaustible supply of spiritual insight into the who, what, when, where, and why regarding the Christian life. The answers to the big questions of life can be found in the Bible, if one is disciplined enough to seek them. As has been pointed out previously, the Bible is God’s revelation to humankind of all times – He is telling us what He wants us to know.

The Holy Bible is without doubt the most important and significant book ever written in the entire span of human history. It has had a greater impact on the course of world history in the last two thousand years than any other publication, work of literature, or manifesto ever created. It has influenced the course of nations throughout the centuries, so much so that the structure of our own nation is founded on the bedrock of its holy purpose and its divine message:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The millions and millions of copies of the Bible that have been printed have found their way into the hands of millions and millions of people and have transformed their personal lives and forever altered the course of their careers and their destinies. While history has recorded many misguided theological causes and disastrous religious events in the name of the Bible, it nevertheless has also been the cause of an immeasurable amount of goodness that has been fostered by one onto others.

The teachings of the Bible has been the source of unbelievable episodes of courage and fortitude in the face of unspeakable human and natural horrors, it has brought encouragement to people in the face of danger and tragedy, it has brought comfort to people in times of calamity and catastrophe, and, it has brought confidence to people in the dark of night when their own everyday lives seems insecure and uncertain. Its effect is not limited to the rich or the poor, the skilled or the unskilled, the educated or the uneducated, the free or the oppressed. Its reach is not restricted by time, skin color, ethnic origin, nationality, language, philosophy, prejudice, or ideology. One of the most important attributes of the Bible is that it has withstood, without blemish or wound, the test of time, intellectual challenge, persecution, and criticism; in fact, many books have been written extolling the veracity of the Bible.

…. the Bible must be recognized as the supreme and incomparable Book that surpasses all other sources of information as an absolute authority, as a revelation of God, as a supreme piece of literature, and as a Book that continues to claim the attention of millions of readers. The reason the Bible has this supreme place is that it discloses the truth concerning the infinite God, His infinite holiness, the infinite character of human sin, and God’s plan of infinite redemption.¹

It is of the greatest comfort to know that the Bible is not some complex, mysterious ancient manuscript written in a code that is unknowable and requires superior intelligence. It was written by normal human beings in a normal manner about things, both normal and supernaturally unusual, in words that are normal and understandable. Think about it, why would God have the many authors of the Bible write books that cannot be understood by normal people? The answer is, He would not. He left us with collection of books that can be read and understood by anyone. Granted, some things cannot be understood with a single reading without in-depth study; yet with honest and diligent study any and all aspects of the Bible can be understood if a person is willing to invest the time and effort.

See Appendix B for a concise set of Bible Study Guidelines.

The Bible is actually a gift from God that was given to humankind so that we would be able to understand God and His creations. This can be seen from the following passages:

•Romans 15:4: For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

•2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

•2 Peter 1:20-21: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

One way to describe the uniqueness of the Bible would be to describe how one person found his way in life because of the Bible. While in college, Josh McDowell was irritated by Christians trying to tell him of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In reaction, he set out, in a spirit of intense determination, to refute and disprove the Bible. After a long amount of study, he proved to himself that the Bible was what it said it was – the inspired Word of God. McDowell went on to become one of the most prominent contemporary witnesses for Jesus Christ on the college campus’ of the 1970s and 1980s as part of the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry.

McDowell² made the following observations about the uniqueness of the Bible:

•The 66 books of the Bible were written over a span of 1600 years, or 60 generations, by more than 40 different authors from every walk of life, including, political leaders, kings (including Solomon), peasants, philosophers, poets, statesmen, scholars, a fisherman (Peter), a herdsman (Amos), a military general (Joshua), a cupbearer (Nehemiah), a prime minister (Daniel), a Gentile doctor (Luke), a tax collector (Matthew), and a Jewish Rabbi (Paul).

•It was written in times of war and peace, and from times of despair to the heights of joy. It was written on three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe; and in such places as the wilderness (Moses), a dungeon (Jeremiah), in a palace (Daniel), inside prison walls (Paul), while traveling (Luke), on the isle of Patmos (John), and during military campaigns.

•It was written in Hebrew, which was the language of the Old Testament, in Aramaic, a small amount of the book of Daniel, and in Greek, which was the international language at the time of Christ and the times when the New Testament books were written.

•Its subject matter includes hundreds of topics, some of which were controversial at the time the respective book was written, that are in harmony and agreement.

•Its central message is God’s redemption of humankind.

•In quoting from The Books and the Parchments by F. F. Bruce: The writings themselves belong to a great variety of literary types. They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, sanitary), religious poetry, didactic treatises, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, personal memoirs and diaries, in addition to the distinctively Biblical types of prophecy and apocalyptic.

•More Bibles have been printed and put into circulation than any other book in human history; and, it has been translated into most of the world’s languages.

There are many passages that reveal what the Bible has to say about itself, and, there are numerous testimonies by the Biblical authors that confirm that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The following are just a few passages:

•Exodus 20:1: Moses records the words spoken by God.

•Numbers:

+12:6-8: Moses records the direct words spoken by God to Israel.

+33:2: Moses records the journey from Egypt as commanded by God.

•2 Samuel 23:2: That the Spirit of the Lord spoke to David was recorded.

•Isaiah 1:10: Isaiah commands the nation to hear the word of the Lord.

•Ezekiel 1:3: The word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel.

•2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is inspired by God, or literally, God-breathed.

•Hebrews 1:1: God spoke to the fathers and prophets in many parts and in many ways.

•2 Peter 3:15-16: Peter equates Paul’s epistles with the Old Testament books as the word of God.

There are also many passages where Jesus Christ gives testimony and validates the writings of the Old Testament:

•Matthew:

+5:18: Jesus indicates every aspect of the Old Testament Law has to be fulfilled.

+19:4: Jesus attests to the creation.

+22:23-32: Jesus’ response to the Sadducees referred to reading the Scriptures.

+24:15: Jesus confirms that Daniel the prophet spoke of the Abomination of Desolation.

•Mark:

+7:9-10: Jesus connects the commandments of God with what Moses said.

+12:26: Jesus confirms the book of Moses was based on God speaking to him.

•Luke:

+16:29-31: Jesus tells Lazarus (in Hades), that his brothers have Moses and the prophets as their witness.

+24:25-27, 44-45: Jesus indicates that His crucifixion, death and resurrection were predicted by Moses and the prophets.

•John:

+5:46: Jesus indicated that Moses wrote of Him.

+17:17: In His Priestly Prayer, Jesus says that God’s word is truth.

We have seen that the Bible is a unique book of supernatural origin that is one of the means by which the Creator God communicates with His creation. We also understand that the Bible is the only written revelation of God, as God inspired men to write what He wanted written. So, we know that the Bible is not like any other book ever written. But, what is it all about?

In spite of the appearance of complexity, the Bible is relatively simple in its scope. It is God speaking to humankind about Himself and the fact that He created all that is known as human reality and the human condition. He is telling us that our original father and mother, Adam and Eve, through force of their rebellious personal will, disobeyed Him, and because He cannot tolerate sinfulness, they were separated from His presence. Human history then ensues and the Bible becomes the chronicle of humankind’s existence between its creation and the eternity that begins after God finally resolves the separation and restores those that turn to Him to His presence. The Bible is God’s journal of His dealings with His creation, through the divine control of the events of history, and how He makes every possible effort, according to His own purposes, to redeem people to Himself and completely restoring a lost relationship. God even sends His only Son to earth as part of His efforts of redemption, who then becomes the very focus of importance for humankind.

There are certain well-established principles that guide the student that studies Scripture.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN

God is sovereignly directing the course of human history toward an intelligent end, therefore, the fulfillment of prophecy is the realization of God’s sovereign purposes. God providentially directs all human events in keeping with His sovereign will. God gave humans a will which allows choice between alternatives within His guidance of humankind. This includes the choice between serving God or not serving God, and whether or not there is belief in Christ. Natural law is an integral part of the human experience. God also supernaturally intervenes in our salvation, answers to prayers, and in the opening us to the knowledge of Scriptures.

•John 7:14-17: During the Festival of Tabernacles, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach and the crowd marveled at Jesus’ learning. He said His teaching was not His own, but the One that sent him. Jesus … claimed that the key to validating His claim that His teaching came from God, was a person’s determination (willingness) to do God’s will. However, Jesus taught that the key factor was moral rather than intellectual. If anyone was willing" to do God’s will, not just to know God’s truth, God would enable that one believe that Jesus’ teaching came from above (cf. 6:44)."³

•Philippians 2:13: God divinely influences humankind for His good pleasure and purpose by working in us to will and to act.

GOD IS OMNISCIENT

God knows all things - everything and all the possibilities of every event. Foreknowledge means that God knows what will actually happen. Still, prophecy does not reveal everything about the future, nor does it fully reveal all of God’s intentions.⁴

•Isaiah 46:10: God’s attributes clearly includes the ability to make known the end from the beginning, and from ancient times will foretell what is still to come. He further says that Israel’s future is set and that He will do as He pleases.

•Acts 15:18: The things the Lord does now have been known to Him in the distant past.

•Hebrews 4:13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight, all is uncovered and laid bare.

BIBLICAL REVELATION IS ACCURATE

God supernaturally inspired the Bible so revelation of prophecy is divinely accurate. Inspiration means that God gave fallible men the responsibility to write within the context of normative human experience, but He supernaturally guided their work to eliminate mistakes. Inspiration does not mean He dictated everything.

•2 Peter 1:20-21: Because there were false teachers denying the inspiration of Scripture, Peter tells his friends that Scriptural prophecy does not have its origin in the human will, but God worked through human writers as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

•Revelation 22:18-19: Warning about the failure to recognize the accuracy of prophecy.

PROPHECY IS UNDERSTANDABLE

A fundamental principle in the study of prophecy and end times is that prophecy can be understood. While many details may not be understandable to some, prophecy can be understood, if only in its broad realm and purposes. With effort and persistence, prophecy and end times can be broken down into its many parts and individual examined and reassembled into a more complete understanding.

Zuck⁵ proposes that there are several qualifications, or prerequisites, that are necessary in order to effectively study the Bible in a personal manner, and to subsequently comprehend its meaning:

•Only those that are spiritually saved will accept the things of God, the unsaved (spiritually blind or dead) will not.

+1 Corinthians 2:14: Paul message was not preached with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that the hearers will hear God’s power so that their faith will not rest on human wisdom.

+2 Corinthians 4:4: The gospel displays the one that is the image of God and the glory of Christ but unbelievers cannot see the light because they are blinded by the god of this age.

+Ephesians 2:1-2: Paul says we were dead when we lived in our transgressions and sins and followed the ways of this world and the kingdom of the air.

•Must have a reverend personal spirit toward studying the Bible.

•Must have a prayerful and humble attitude in order to wrestle with passages, concepts, ideas, and doctrines that believers have struggled with for centuries.

•Must be willing to obey and put into practice the things learned.

•Must yield to being led by the Holy Spirit to provide insight and reveal understanding. With this comes several corollaries:

+As we know, the Bible is inerrant and infallible, however, interpretation by a believer (which is still a fallible human) will not always be accurate – the Bible is infallible, humans are not.

+The Holy Spirit does not give to some, and not to others, a hidden or mystical meaning to a particular passage that is divergent from a literal interpretation that can be consistently achieved by many believers.

+If our mind and hearts are not in harmony with God (if we are living in sin), the interpretation of a passage is more susceptible to being inaccurate.

+The Holy Spirit guides the believer to truth.

+The Holy Spirit reveals some passages immediately, while other passages may be revealed more slowly. The fact that some are revealed slowly does not suggest a mystery, it only means that personal understanding has not been accomplished; in time and with spiritual maturity, difficult passages become understandable.

•Must approach the study with a willingness to expend the time necessary to accomplish personal understanding.

•Must exercise sound judgment and reasoning, be objective in the approach to study, and be without bias, prejudice or preconception.

Finally, and perhaps one of the most important qualifications for studying the Bible, is that one has to accept the fact that the Bible has been given to humankind in order to be read, studied and ultimately understood. The teachings of the Bible are not inaccessible to the average person, as some have suggested. Nor is the Bible written as a puzzle or a book of secrets and riddles given in jumbled incommunicable form. … … the Bible is accessible and understandable by all Christians.⁶

Many of the conservative theological scholars that are used as resource for this book have proposed interpretive principles that should be followed when studying Biblical prophecy. Most, if not all, of the following principles have been incorporated into the Bible Study Guidelines in Appendix B.

ROY B. ZUCK

Zuck⁷ offers his set of guidelines for the interpretation of prophecy. He develops his views from … two axioms – the Bible is a book, and the Bible is a divine book – give a framework for principles to follow in interpreting prophecy. The first three principles build on the axiom that the Bible is a book, and the next five principles build on the axiom that the Bible is a divine book.⁸

•Follow the normal principles of historical, grammatical, literary interpretation.

•Take words in their normal, grammatical sense, unless a figure of speech or symbolic language is used; all prophecy cannot be figurative or symbolic.

•Consider the literary element, which recognizes a place of figures of speech and symbolic language.

•Prophecy should be viewed from the perspective that it focus’ on the Messiah and the span of history leading to the establishment of His reign.

•Recognize that some prophecies were foreshortened, what the prophets saw as a single event, was in actually two different, yet similar events separated by a span of time – fulfillment of the first event looks forward to the final fulfillment that will occur in the second event.

•Interpretation of some prophecies can be found in what God has already built into the Bible in another place.

•Compare parallel passages, contradictions will not be found.

•Look for prophecies that have been fulfilled, and those that are yet to be fulfilled.

J. DWIGHT PENTECOST

Pentecost⁹ offers his set of rules for the interpretation of prophecy:

•General Observations Concerning Prophecy:

+The Characteristic of Prophecy: Pentecost quotes from two other scholars:

oOehloer¹⁰:

–Revelation of the future was given to prophets concerning events that appeared to be immediately present, complete, or all events in progress at the same time.

–A prophecy may appear as one event but in fact may be about several events.

–Prophecies may appear to have contradicting aspects when in fact they should be separated and applied to differing events.

–While speaking of their own society and experience, prophets sometimes spoke of a future society or situation.

oOrelli¹¹:

–Prophecy may have been fulfilled shortly after being given, or at a future date.

–Fulfillment of some prophecies may be conditioned on the behavior of the participants, or it may be even recalled.

–Prophecy may be fulfilled successively.

–Sometimes a prophecy may be a kernel that has to be extracted from within a greater context.

–Prophecies fulfilled to date have been literally fulfilled.

–The form and character of some prophecies are conditioned by the age and location of the writer.

–Some prophecies have to be combined with other prophecies.

–Some prophets saw things that appeared together, but were actually separated be large amounts of time.

oThe Time Element in Prophecy: Time holds a small place in prophecy; many times it is not relevant. Sometimes prophets spoke of the future as in the present, as in the past, or as current. Prophets saw things as grouped in space rather than distributed through time.

oThe Law of Double Reference: Two events, widely separated as to the time of their fulfillment, may be brought together into the scope of one prophecy. This was done because the prophet had a message for his own day as well as for a future time. By bringing two widely separated events into the scope of the prophecy both purposes could be fulfilled. … It was the purpose of God to give the near and far view so that the fulfillment of the one should be the assurance of the fulfillment of the other.¹²

•Methods of Prophetic Revelations: In addition to prophetic utterances recorded in the Bible, prophecies are revealed in a variety of other ways:

+Prophetic Revelation Through Types: Taken from Terry, In the science of theology it properly signifies the preordained representative relation which certain persons, events and institutions of the Old Testament bear to corresponding persons, events and institutions in the New.¹³

+Revelation Through Symbols: Symbols are sometimes used for persons, institutions, offices, events, actions or things to denote something of prophetic importance. … Scripture interprets its own symbols.¹⁴

+Revelation Through Parables: A parable is a narrative specifically formed to convey an important truth about something.

+Revelation Though Dreams and Ecstasies: In the earlier periods of prophetic revelation, dreams and night visions (a lower form of revealing prophecies) were more prominent, while prophetic ecstasy (a higher form) was used when the seer would become temporarily possessed by the Spirit of God, who would then reveal something of prophetic importance.

•Rules for the Interpretation of Prophecy: The interpretation of prophecy requires attention to the same considerations in regard to words, context, grammar, and historical situations that are the accepted principles in respect to any field of interpretation.¹⁵

+Interpret Literally: Walvoord records approximately one thousand prophecies in the Bible in which about one-half have been literally fulfilled. There is every expectation that the remainder will be fulfilled literally as well.

+Interpret According to the Harmony of Prophecy: Each individual prophecy has to be interpreted in such a manner so that it will be in harmony with God’s entire prophetic program. All verses of the Bible have to fit together, selecting some while ignoring others will not properly reveal truth.

+Observe the Perspective of Prophecy: Recognizing the near and far aspects of some prophecies, it sometimes is necessary to dissect prophecies and rearrange the specifics to be in harmony with the entire program in order to establish a more comprehensive image.

+Observe the Time Relationships: As indicated above, the time relationship needs to be established for prophecies in order to determine where it fits into the overall program.

+Interpret Prophecy Christologically: The central focus and grand theme of all prophecy is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

+Interpret Historically: The historical background of prophecies is essential to understanding anything related to prophecy.

+Interpret Grammatically: This point has been sufficiently made above.

+Interpret According to the Law of Double Reference: The concept of a near and far aspect of prophecy has been fully established above.

+Interpret Consistently: Consistent and … sound rules of prophetic interpretation will lead one into a correct interpretation of Scripture.¹⁶

JOHN F. WALVOORD

Walvoord¹⁷ offers his set of guidelines for the interpretation of prophecy:

•General Rules:

+Study the Words: Determine the meanings, the historical contexts, and distinguish between the general and specific usages.

+Grammatical Context: Examine the full context in which words are used.

+Passage Addressee: Establish to whom a passage is addressed.

+Context: Avoid isolation of a passage; relate it to its immediate context, the general context, and to the entire Biblical context.

+Literary Character: Understand the scriptural style used, and that figures of speech are common.

+Reliability: The individual books of the Bible were inspired without error; therefore the parts comprise a whole.

+The Most Important Rule: Let the Holy Spirit guide in the revelation of Biblical truth.

•Guidelines for Interpreting Prophecy: One of the most important guidelines of interpreting prophecy is the fact that so many have been literally fulfilled.

+Words: Again, examine the words and establish the connection between words and their usage.

+Time Element: Establish if a prophecy deals with the past, present, or the future.

+Conditional or Unconditional Prophecies: Determine to which group a prophecy belongs – conditional prophecies may or may not be fulfilled depending on the actions of humankind, while unconditional prophecies will be fulfilled by God regardless of the actions of humankind.

+Law of Double Reference: As stated above, it is not unusual for a prophecy to be partially fulfilled early then fully fulfilled at some point in the future.

+Literal and Figurative Interpretation: Among conservative interpreters of the Bible, the issue of literal versus figurative or allegorical interpretation is a major issue because on it hangs the question as to whether the Bible teaches a future millennial kingdom following the Second Advent, or whether it does not. Because the church is divided on this issue, full attention should be given to the interpretation of prophecy as this unfolds in the Bible to see what the Scriptures themselves indicate concerning literal versus nonliteral interpretation.¹⁸

ARNOLD G. FRUCHTENBAUM

Fruchtenbaum¹⁹ offers a set of rules for the interpretation of prophecy which are attributed to David L. Cooper:

•Golden Rule of Interpretation: When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every work at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning, unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.

•The Law of Double Reference: This law observes the fact that often a passage or a block of Scripture is speaking of two different persons or two different events that are separated by a long period of time.

•The Law of Recurrence: This law describes the fact that is some passages of Scripture there exists the recording of an event followed by a second recording of the same event giving more details to the first.

•The fourth Law: A text apart from its context is a pretext. A verse can only mean what it means in its context and must not be pulled out of its context. When it is pulled out of its context, it is often presented as meaning something that it cannot mean within the context.

PAUL LEE TAN

Tan indicates to interpret literally means to explain the original sense of the speaker or writer according to the normal, customary, and proper usages of words and languages. Literal interpretation of the Bible simply means to explain the original sense of the Bible according to the normal and customary usages of its language. … In order to determine the normal and customary usages of Bible language, it is necessary to consider the accepted rules of grammar and rhetoric, as well as the factual historical and cultural data of Bible times. Therefore, the literal method of interpretation is also called the Grammatico-Historical Method."²⁰

Tan²¹ proposes that since God inspired humans to write the books of the Bible, He chose regular human language in which to communicate with His creation. After all, He gave His created beings the ability to use words as the mechanism to communicate with each other in spoken and written words. He goes on to provide eight regular principles of hermeneutics (interpretation):

•Follow Customary Usage of Language

•Commit No Historical-Cultural Blunder

•Make Christ Central in All Interpretations

•Be Conscious of Context

•Interpret by the Analogy of Faith

•Recognize the Progress of Revelation

•Grant One Interpretation to Each Passage

•Choose the Simplest Alternative

3

THE BIBLICAL

CONCEPT OF PROPHECY

Only God knows the future. We can speculate, postulate, guess, and predict, but we cannot see past the moment in which we live. God has blessed us with a written record that is over two thousand years old that tells us, through revelation, what He has in store for the earth and all that live on it in the future. This record was written by a small group of mostly men that had the responsibility to write what God told them to write. The things they wrote about were relevant to their respective times as well as to the times thousands of years in their future.

In order to fully appreciate the nature of prophecy, we need to examine the Biblical concept of prophecy – by who was the prophecy provided, what it is (and is not), and why is it significant to God’s Plan. Prophecy is not just mysterious sayings by someone that lived over two thousand years ago; it is much more than that. Prophecy carries the weight of being the primary element that binds the many books of the Bible together so that an understandable image of God’s comprehensive and divine Plan can be seen.

A large amount of prophecy was delivered by human prophets, however, they were not the sole source; prophecy can be seen as having been delivered by many others. No prophecy was given except by the will of God the Father. God is the author of a divine Plan that this book is examining, and, He is the author of the words spoken or written regarding the people, places, and events that constitute that Plan working out in human history. In fact, He says as much in the following passage:

•Isaiah 46:9-10: Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me; I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.

As He has done throughout the Bible and human history, God works through people to accomplish His will, and prophecy is no different. God inspired humans to pen the words of the Bible, and He also directed that when the time was right and something needed to be revealed, it was done prophetically many times. The prerogative of God alone to forecast and fulfill prophecy is recorded by other writers.¹

We need to look at who the prophets were, the role they played in God’s program, their unique nature, and their profound importance. Holy men of God, moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit, were the media and messengers of God’s prophetic purpose. Who were these prophets who gave witness to the divine will in general and to Christ in particular? Although the whole of the Old Testament is of immense value, the presence and preaching of the prophets constitute its greatest glory, as well as the glory of the Jewish people.²

.... God used very different people from varied backgrounds to proclaim His words in many different contexts. This diversity was needed in order to allow God’s word to affect all aspects of Israelite society.³

The Hebrew words used for prophets means one who announces, calls or heralds; the Greek words used mean to speak forth or forth-tell. Thus prophets were those that announced and spoke forth about the divine will of God.

Hitchcock⁴ offers the following as distinguishing marks of a true prophet:

•The true prophet never used divination, sorcery, or astrology.

•The true prophet never tailored the message to cater to the desires of the people.

•The true prophet maintained personal integrity and character.

•The true prophet was willing to suffer for the sake of the message.

•The true prophet announced a message that was consistent with the Law and the messages of other true prophets.

•The true prophets, when predicting future events, had a 100 percent success rate.

•The true prophet sometimes had the message authenticated by a miracle.

Lockyer⁵ describes prophets as having some or all of the following characteristics:

•A preacher, a messenger with God’s message.

•A predictor, one that God has inspired to declare something will take place at some time in the future. This would be someone that could see the future from their place in the present.

•A seer, someone who, because of supernatural insight or foresight, saw divine visions or the truths that God wanted him to see.

•A patriot, or someone with the drive to see their own nation or people return away from sinfulness to God because they could see the future consequences for the current national rebellion – religion and nationalism were inseparable.

The relationship that prophets had with God was uniquely close as they are described to have entered the counsel, secret, plan, ways, or thoughts of God. They were men of God, servants of God, messengers of God, and watchmen of God. The central idea contained in them all, however, was that the prophet was a mediator by speech between man and God. With minds and mouths controlled by the Holy Spirit, they spoke as He gave them utterance.⁶

Chafer⁷ defines prophets in several ways:

•They were spokespersons for communicating the truth from God.

•Their messages were not always about the future, they sometimes were delivered for an immediate or contemporary situation.

•They freely attributed the source of their message as from God.

•They were often a patriot, reformer, or revivalist in the midst of God’s people (more so for Old Testament prophets than New Testament prophets).

•Their messages were sometimes given at spiritual lows for encouragement as well as a challenge to change the direction that society and culture was moving.

Baker’s Dictionary of Theology⁹ adds the following to the descriptions of prophets:

•They were not magicians, nor did they force God.

•They were under divine constraint from God who invited, summoned and impelled them to do,