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Bible prophecy was never given to entertain curiosity, fuel fear, or support endless debates. God gave prophecy for specific, declared purposes.
Isaiah 44:6-7
6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
Prophecy is meant first and foremost to let us know who God is. It lets us know that God is eternal. He is not limited by time, meaning He can know the end from the beginning and declare it with certainty.
There are many people in the world who claim to tell the future. But there is a big difference between their words of prophecy and the word of God. Their word can fail. God’s word cannot.
It’s not hard for some people to pick up on patterns to make predictions. Some predictions are even self-fulfilling. And some can be strikingly close to reality. But only one source has ever been able to tell us with 100% accuracy the future hundreds and even thousands of years in advance.
Some things prophesied in the Bible couldn’t even be possible without God specifically causing them to happen. For example, Jesus was prophesied to be born at a set time, to a set lineage, in a set place, hundreds of years before it happened. God Himself made it happen.
That tells us the One who spoke the promise centuries before was still there centuries later to carry it out. That’s what prophecy does. It reveals an eternal God.
Prophecy Instructs and Prepares Us
Proverbs 22:3
3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
Luke 12:39
39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Another reason God gives us prophecy is to prepare us. He lets us know certain things are going to happen so that we can be ready when they do. Preparation is not panic—it is wisdom.
Think about Joseph in the book of Genesis. He didn’t just tell Pharaoh the meaning of his dreams; he instructed him what to do about it. Through his instruction, many lives were saved, and Egypt became a very wealthy nation.
So if we know about things that are coming, we can know how and when to prepare. But we have to know what we are preparing for and if it is time to prepare for it. You don’t have to rush out of a building in a panic if you know it is scheduled for demolition later.
That’s one of the wonderful things about end-time prophecy. If you know it, then you can live life without fear of some things the world fears. You don’t need to worry about every little thing. And you can take comfort in knowing God gives you the opportunity to prepare.
Those who don’t know prophecy are a different story. They don’t know what is going to happen. They don’t know if they need to prepare. They don’t know that God has given them instructions to survive. Because of that, they suffer with the rest of the world.
Prophecy Comforts Us
Isaiah 44:8
8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
Besides the primary point of prophecy, it is also given not for fear, but for comfort. The Bible speaks of some very scary things when it comes to end-time prophecy. But it isn’t given to us for the purpose of making us afraid. It is actually to calm our fears.
If we know what is coming, we don’t have to wonder what is next. We don’t have to be caught off guard. We can be prepared and confident. Yet this subject is the source of fear and trembling for many. Do you wonder why something meant to calm our fears causes so much of it?
The reason it causes so much fear and trembling isn’t because we know it. The reason it causes this is because we actually don’t know it as we should! We are anxious because we don’t know what exactly is going to happen—when, where, and how.
We have a faint idea, but there has been so much deceptive teaching that it has become one of the most confusing subjects in the Bible.
What we end up seeing is anytime something happens, people begin shouting, “The Bible said this would happen!” even if it isn’t even mentioned in the Bible. Because all we know is that something is coming, we fear every event we see happening as if it could be the end.
Every politician becomes the antichrist. Every war becomes the war to end all wars. Every city becomes Mystery Babylon. Every famine, every new illness, every change in power is seen as if it were part of specific end-time prophecies.
We are confused and scared, not because we know what the Bible says, but because we don’t know it.
Romans 15:4
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
If we knew what was written, then we wouldn’t lose our minds anytime something happens. We wouldn’t be afraid of what we know is around the corner. We would be prepared for it. We would be comforted knowing the outcome, even if we have to be patient through the unpleasantness before it.
Death is a funny thing for Christians. We should look at it without fear. We know what happens once it is over. There is nothing we have to do during the process. The only thing we fear is temporary physical pain—which we may not even feel.
That’s why many Christians can face death with a smile. But too many of us aren’t as confident facing the events the Bible tells us are coming. We can face death with joy, but life is scary. We are such odd people.
But what if we were able to clear all of the confusion up? What if we knew when, where, how, and who was coming? What if God told us what to do to protect ourselves? What if we knew the worst thing that could happen to us is that we could die and meet Jesus?
Prophecy doesn’t tell us to fear the future—it tells us the future belongs to God.
So let’s learn what the Bible really says. It isn’t impossible to know. It’s just behind the fog. That’s what we are going to do as we continue in this unit. If we can face death with hope, we can face the end times with it too.
Continue To Unit 7:2 – When Does The Tribulation Begin OR
Return To Christianity 101 Unit 7 – The Latter Days – A Detailed Look