Friday Night Message: Understanding Biblical Prophecy - Part VI

 

Jan. 20, 2023

Good evening brethren,

How can we better understand Prophecy?

We continue for another few weeks with our focus upon one very important aspect of prophecy… specifically how to understand prophetic material in the Bible.

Dan. 12:4 – But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

Is it really possible to comprehend Biblical prophecy?  How can we hope to understand it when sometimes the prophets themselves were “left in the dark”?  Well, there are some basic principles that, when applied, can unlock vast portions of prophecy to our understanding.

1. Symbolism

2. Duality

3. Blessings and Curses

4. National Identity

5. Principles of Time

Fifthly, we need to grasp some concepts about time in order to properly understand certain prophecies.  

Num. 14:34 – According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

When the 10 spies gave a negative report, God stated that he would punish the Israelites a day for a year, 40 years of wilderness wandering as punishment for unbelief.  Here it is explained, but elsewhere in Scripture, this principle is assumed.  In Peter’s second epistle, he gives a different ratio …a day for 1000 years.  

II Pet. 3:8 – But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

We in the COG believe that God’s master plan is based upon the earthly cycle of the week (six days of labor, one day of rest).  The pattern for the 7-day week is to be symbolic of 7 millennia, the first six of which are man’s rule on earth, and the last millennia as the reign of Jesus Christ and the saints during the Millennium.

In Luke’s gospel, in the synagogue, on the Sabbath, Jesus Christ read from the book of Isaiah.

Luke 4:16-17 – So Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book He found the place where it was written:

Isa. 61:1-3 – The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted , to Proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

This is a prophecy concerning Jesus, but He read only about half of the passage (stopping in verse 2 “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”).  Jesus read only the prophecy which pertained to events that will occur at His first coming.  So here is a prophetic time lapse of 2000 years in this one verse.  Jesus didn’t read about the day of vengeance and the other things that are end-time in nature.  He didn’t read the whole passage.  

 

Next week we will consider a sixth principle of understanding prophecy, which is Watching World News.

Have a meaningful Sabbath,

Fred