“Survey of Bible Prophecy” – ‘Part #3’

Last time we said the meaning of  ‘Bible Prophecy’ was two fold; Proclamation, forth-telling and Prediction, fore-telling (to speak by inspiration in prediction (nabee). Also the purpose in our study is not to satisfy our curiosity but to sincerely know all God has to tell us about the future, especially as we seem to be living in the ‘Last Days.’ So, we can be better equipped to serve Him in the present! Yeshua/Jesus told His followers in Luke 19:13, “Occupy till I come.” The Greek word for occupy there is (pragma) and it’s where we get the word practical or pragmatic from. It’s one who gets the job done.  A “Pragmatic vs an Idealist” or “We did it vs We ought to do it!”

We looked at four things we want to seek in our study together: Information about God’s nature and will through current events; Inspiration to be devoted to Him, His word and His plan; Realization of the Divine unity and reliability of the Scriptures; Determination that the hour is late and our time is just about up, so don’t buy any green bananas. Several things you can do to benefit from this study; Remember God has not revealed all the details yet; Read the Scriptures and keep a ‘Prophecy Notebook;’ Concentrate on the crucial passages we will discuss; Get a clear picture in your mind of God’s prophetic time line; Pray for the Holy Spirit to use this time productively; Apply your convictions and this study to conduct that will glorify God. Also there are two areas of ‘Biblical Prophecy’ that we will concentrate on, “Fulfilled & Unfulfilled” in both Testaments or Covenants. However, our primary focus and concentration will be on ‘Unfulfilled Prophecy’ but we will deal with some ‘Fulfilled Prophecy’ as well.

First we will look at the area of  ‘Older Testament’ prophecies fulfilled and unfulfilled. The Bible is not a systematic treatise on Theology, History, Morals and Science but when it deals with those subjects it is infallible. It is a revelation of God about the fall of man, the way of salvation and God’s plan for the ages. It was written over a period of 1,600 years by 40 different authors; kings, priests, shepherds, statesmen, fishermen and fig pickers. It consists of 66 books, 39 in the Older Testament and 27 in the Newer Testament. They are not separate or distinct books, they are two parts of the whole. As someone once said, “The New is enfolded in the Old and the Old is unfolded in the New, or the New is concealed in the Old and the Old is revealed in the New.” Try that with any other book, even a medical journal written by medical doctors over 1,600 years and administer medicine to patients today and you would be locked up. Yet the Book that was written 6,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago or 2,000 years ago is as relevant and real today as it was the day it was written.

Many early prophecies were fulfilled before the Bible was completed and those add credibility to it and guarantee the future ones will also be fulfilled! Like Jer. 25:11, “And this whole land (Judah – the southern kingdom) shall be a desolation, and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” A few years later Nebuchadnezzer king of Babylon did exactly that. Read, II Kings 25:1-21 for a blow by blow account of this event. This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter just like Jeremiah said. Latter Daniel read this passage or Jer. 29:10 and knew the time of judgement was just about up. Dan. 9:2, “In the first year of his reign (Darius) I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of years, concerning which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

In Daniel chapter five, Belshazzar threw a feast for 1,000 of his lords and they were drinking from the gold and silver goblets his father or grandfather Nebuchadnezzer had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem when the fingers of a Man’s hand wrote on the wall over the candlestick, (probably the golden candle stick from the Temple) “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.” Basically telling him that his kingdom would be taken away and given to the, “Medes & Persians.” In Dan. 5:30-31, Belshazzar is slain and Darius the Mede takes possession of his kingdom that very night! Fulfilled to the very letter. There are many more like ancient Tyre in Ezekiel 26 destroyed by Nebuchadnezzer in 587 BC and completed by Alexander The Great in 332 BC which we will discuss later.

You also have Older Testament prophecies fulfilled in the Newer Testament like Isa. 7:14, “Behold, the virgin (ha almah) shall conceive (Heb. and still remain a virgin) and bear a son and call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel is not a name, it is a characteristic and is really three Hebrew words, “Im-Mannu-El” meaning ‘With Us God’ or ‘God With Us.’ There is much debate today over the Hebrew words (Bethulah and Almah) of course the LXX or Septuagint had no problem in 250 BC because the Hebrew scholars that did that translation used (parthenos) the Greek word for absolutely a virgin, no question about it! In Gen. 24 you have Eliezer going to get a bride for Isaac, and you have all five Hebrew words for woman used in that chapter, many used for the first time in the Bible. In v.5 you have (ish-shaw) woman; in v.14 you have (na-arah) damsel, or young woman; in v.16 you have (bethulah) young, virgin woman; but when Eliezer explained to Laban what happened at the well with Rebekah in vv.15-33 he used a different word for virgin in v.43 (almah) why? Rebekah took the ‘nose ring’ (nezem) and bracelets in v.22 and accepted the marriage contract and from that moment was betrothed to be married to Isaac, so she was no longer just a (bethulah) a young Jewish virgin, she was an (almah) a young Jewish virgin, contracted in marriage! The ‘Law of First Mention’ or the ‘Science of Etymology’ kicks in here. (Very Interesting)

This is proven to us in I Sam. 17:56 when David kills Goliath and King Saul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, “Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.” The word stripling is the Hebrew word (elem) the masculine form of (alma) #5958 in Strong’s Concordance. What King Saul said was, “Whose little virgin boy contracted in marriage is this?” How could he say this? Well in v. 25, he said whoever kills the giant he would give his daughter in marriage to him and make his father’s house free in Israel. So the moment David killed Goliath, he was contracted in marriage and was an (elem) the masculine form of (almah).

Now did this ever happen in the Newer Testament? Matt. 1:22-23 says, “Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Then v.24-25 goes on to tell us Joseph took Mary as his wife and ‘knew her not’ until after she had brought forth her first born son, in other words he never touched her sexually, she remained a virgin till she bore Jesus just like it says in the Hebrew Bible. The ‘Virgin Birth’ of Israel’s Messiah was predicted by Isaiah the prophet 800 years before it became a reality. The ‘Virgin Birth’ is not Greek mythology, it is ‘Hebrew Theology.’ In fact Jer. 22:20-30 declares it to be so, stating that one half of the Messiah’s lineage would be cut-off making the ‘Virgin Birth’ absolutely mandatory. The Messiah was going to be without a mother or a father due to the curse on Jeconiah and you had to have a womb to be born. The name ‘Jeconiah’ means, “Jehovah does or will establish” or “Preparation of the LORD” but his name was changed to ‘Coniah’ and the “JE” was chopped off. What a powerful prophecy to link with the ‘Virgin Birth’ and there is a lot more that could be said about this prophecy including Christ’s lineage in Matthew through Joseph because of Jeconiah and His lineage in Luke through Mary. Because of the sin nature that is inherited from Adam through the male seed/semen, which puts the blood into the egg at conception. Jesus couldn’t have a physical father or He would have been born a sinner like you and I and He would have needed a Savior. There is not a drop of your mother’s blood in your veins, not a drop! This is one of the most beautiful prophecies in the Bible and it starts in Gen. 3:15 and women don’t have seeds, men do women have eggs, but we don’t have room to develop this. Get a copy of, M.R DeHann’s book, “Chemistry of The Blood” and read it, he was a surgeon who became a pastor, it’s just a paperback, you’ll love it. Oh my, I guess we have to stop, well till next time, I will see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“Survey of Bible Prophecy” – Part #3 – 2/24/13  

(Sorry we’ve had internet problems for two weeks 😦

“Survey of Bible Prophecy” – ‘Part #2’

What is the purpose of studying ‘Biblical Prophecy’ anyway? First let me say what it is not! It is not to just simply to satisfy your curiosity, at least I hope it’s not. To a degree that will happen but that should not be your main purpose. Your purpose should be, to sincerely and honestly learn all that the Spirit of God, the Rauch ha Kodesh, has to tell you about the future so that you can be better equipped to live and serve Him today, in the present. No one can really be informed about the things of God and His will unless he knows about the Past – I Cor. 15:3; The Present – I Cor. 6:19-20; (and) The Future – I Pet. 1:19-21. The purposes and plans of God are steadily being precisely fulfilled and ultimately every prophetic word in the Scriptures will be accurately fulfilled.

Our purpose will be to seek four things in our study of ‘Biblical Prophecy’ together: Information – about the nature of God, the will of God, and the meaning of current events; Studying prophecy will give us a wealth of valuable information. Inspiration – when we realize that God’s perfect will is being performed and we are part of His plan it should motivate us to greater devotion for Him, His word and His will. Realization – that fulfilled prophecy is a tremendous proof of the supernatural origin of the Bible. A study of ‘Bible Prophecy’ will give us a real sense of the Divine unity and reliability of the Scriptures. Determination – the clock is winding down, time is running out, human history is sounding its final strokes, and the little hand is on the 12 and the big hand left the 11 some time ago and our time is up! Yet billions have not heard the gospel yet, why? What part of ‘GO’ don’t we understand? America is the fourth largest unevangelized country in the world according to the ‘Center For World Missions.’ (Let that statistic sink in for a moment!)

So what should we seek as we study ‘Biblical Prophecy?’ Information about the nature and will of God; Inspiration to serve with greater devotion; Realization of the inerrant, infallible, inspired word of God; and Determination to reach a lost, hell bound, dying world before the ‘BIG’ hand strikes 12 and we are in the last seconds! As we study ‘Biblical Prophecy’ we need to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge us as never before with the lateness and the urgency of the hour! That is our purpose, if you are reading this for ‘blog’ any other reason I hope the Holy Spirit will change your mind and attitude before we are done and give you a burden for His lost sheep. There are some things you are going to have to do to make this time profitable for yourself, seven to be exact: Remember God has not revealed all the details of His will to us. In other words, He hasn’t chosen to tell us everything. (Deut. 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” So we need to approach this study in the spirit of humility) Second, read the Scriptures!!! Read through your Bibles!! From Genesis to Revelation, D.L. Moody said, “This Book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this Book!” This is God’s love letter to you! Too many people have a misconception of ‘Bible Prophecy’ because they do not read their Bibles. Keep a personal notebook on the information you will glean. You will get far more from your personal study than from my personal study; Third, concentrate on the Prophetic passages I will be giving you like Psalms 2 & 22; Isaiah 7 & 9; Daniel 2 & 9; Micah 5; Zech. 14; Matt. 24 & 25; Rom. 11; I Thess. 4; II Thess. 1 & 2; I Cor. 15; Rev. 19-22; Fourth, get a clear conception of the prophetic order of the events and especially our present status in God’s eternal plan. (Which we will look at next time); Fifth, pray for the Holy Spirit to use the time you spend studying this ‘blog’ to help you to understand the Messiah’s coming and to help you love and expect it as never before! After all, what is the ‘Blessed hope of every believer?’ (Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.”); Sixth, apply your convictions concerning the Messiah’s coming into conduct that glorifies Him. A head-knowledge won’t cut it. What you need is a heart experience, you need open heart surgery, by the ‘Great Physician!’ Then transfer that new commitment to witness in His name. Seventh, read the Scriptures you will be given, all of them and meditate on them. Don’t leave all the digging up to me, lower your buckets, get out your shovels, and dive in for some pearls. You will get a lot more out of this study if you get involved in it.

We will be taking the literal, historical, grammatical approach to interpretation of the Scriptures. A 1,000 years equals 1,000 years; 7 years equals 7 years; 42 lunar months or 1,260 days equals, 42 lunar years of 1,260 days. If it says 7 years of ‘Tribulation’ we will take it to mean 7 years of ‘Tribulation.’ There is the ‘Literal Method’ of interpretation in the Scriptures and there is the ‘Allegorical Method’ where the basic authority ceases to be the Scriptures but the mind of the interpreter. (And that can become scary) The ‘Allegorical Method’ originated with Origen an early church father around 185-254 AD. It was also adopted by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and John Chrysostom and others. The ‘Allegorical Method’ of interpretation leads to a more hidden spiritual meaning which we saw earlier in, “Is The Church Spiritual Israel” which leads to ‘Replacement Theology’ and ‘Anti-Semitism or Anti-Judaism’ and ultimately to Auschwitz. In other words they say, “You can not take God literally when He spoke about Israel and of His promises to them.” He really didn’t mean it, He was only kidding. However, if there is one thing prophecy teaches us it is that, Israel is and always will be God’s chosen people; His peculiar treasure; The apple of His eye; His covenant nation; Why? Because He loves them, that’s why! It’s as simple as that (Deut. 7:6-8 says, “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God; the LORD thy God has chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all the people who are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were fewest of all people. But because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers…”)

Any other method of Biblical interpretation other than the ‘Literal Method’ leads to spiritualizing the Scriptures. We must distinguish between, what is spiritual and what is spititualized. I am not one for ‘Sensationalism’ either, three rocks, two frogs, four sticks and a partridge in a pear tree doesn’t prove anything. However, a literalist does not deny the existence of figurative language like, “The Lamb of God.” We just deny that those passages should not be interpreted so as to destroy the literal truth intended by their writing. Literal truth can be learned through symbols too. So, if the literal sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.

In J. Dwight Pentecost’s book, “Things To Come” in his first section, ‘The Interpretation of Prophecy’ and ‘Methods of Interpretation’ his summary on pages 32 & 33 read as follows: “As this history of interpretation is summarized, it is to be noted that all interpretation began with the literal interpretation of Ezra. This literal method became the basic method of Rabbinism. It was the accepted method used by the New Testament in the interpretation of the Old and was so employed by the Lord and His apostles. This literal method was the method of the Church Fathers until the time of Origen when the allegorical method, which had been devised to harmonize Platonic philosophy and Scripture, was adopted. Austine’s influence brought this allegorizing method into the established church (R.C.) and brought an end to all true exegesis. This system continued until the Reformation. At the Reformation the literal method of interpretation was solidly established and, in spite of the attempts of the church to bring all interpretation into conformity to an adopted creed, literal interpretation continued and became the basis on which all true exegesis rests. It would be concluded, then, from the study of the history of interpretation that the original and accepted method of interpretation was the literal method, which was used by the Lord, the greatest interpreter, and any other method was introduced to promote heterodoxy. Therefore, the literal method must be accepted as the basic method for right interpretation in any field of doctrine today.” Especially, ‘Biblical Prophecy.’

Fulfilled, predictive, precise prophecy is amazing if not miraculous! There are over 31,000 verses in the Bible and about 8,000 prophecies. So, one out of every four verses is a prophecy or about 25% of the Bible. Some have calculated that there are 3,118 promises in the Bible and God has never failed one time to meet every one of them, the same is true of His prophecies. Ten leading seers or prophets made ’61’ major prophecies a few years ago and ‘zero’ were fulfilled! Can we trust them? A Biblical study of ‘Biblical Prophecy’ should lead us to live Biblical lives sanctified and consecrated to our personal Creator. There is only one purpose, and one reason for studying prophecy, “HOLINESS!” If while studying ‘Biblical Prophecy’ you don’t cry out like Isaiah in 6:5, “Woe is me, for I am undone and I am a man of unclean lips!” Or Peter in Luke 5:8, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Then fall on your knees and stay there until you do, and you see the Lord high and lifted up, and you hear His voice and feel His breathe on the back of your neck saying, “Rise up!” Till next time we’ll see you, “…Between The Lines…”

“Survey of Bible Prophecy” – ‘Part #2’ –  2/9/13