A Place For Prophecy

We're all having a wonderful Sabbath day, and again, greetings to those joining us over the webcast. Hope you're also having a fine Sabbath day. Well, brethren, the subject of prophecy is fascinating. We all like to kind of peek ahead and look into the future and see what's going to happen. I know I like to know, read, and study about prophecy, and I imagine I'm not alone in that in this room. Prophecy is a part of our spiritual diet, but it's only a part. As in nutrition, we need a balance of foods. If we become imbalanced or unbalanced, bad things tend to happen, so we need to be more balanced. So likewise, prophecy is only a part of our spiritual diet. Today, I want to encourage all of us to keep prophecy in proper perspective. As I mentioned, prophecy is only a part of our spiritual diet. It's one of the things that we do. Most of us here, I would imagine, are interested in this subject in prophecy. We all like to peek into the future, but prophecy is not the most important thing. Just think, there have been many Christians who have gone before us. They have lived and they have died, and they will be in the kingdom of God.

They will have their place in the kingdom just as we will. As it said, at the time of the end, knowledge will be increased, and we do have more knowledge. And it is increased, but that doesn't necessarily make us any better than those who have gone before us. So today, I want to encourage all of us to have a more balanced view about prophecy. Now, it's hard for human nature to be balanced.

For whatever reason, we tend to go from one extreme to another. It's like a pendulum. We swing one way, then we swing the other, and sometimes we swing back again. Maybe we learn a little bit more and we swing, but maybe not quite so much. We tend to be like a pendulum, going back and forth and back and forth. The balance would be right in the middle, so to speak, between what's up on, I'll say, the left and what's up on the right.

I don't want to get into political definitions there, but just right ideas or left ideas, one or the other. So like a pendulum, we tend to swing back and forth. God wants us to have balance. He wants us to become more like Him. He wants us to become more like Jesus Christ. Now, there are some try to determine the timing of certain events. I'll say those over here. They like to really delve into prophecy, go into all sorts of charts and calculations, and they overly emphasize prophecy in their Bible studies. Others, I'll say, not so much. They don't put much stock in prophecy at all. They dismiss or minimize prophecy.

Turn to 2 Peter, the third chapter. 2 Peter, the third chapter, we'll see a scripture that talks about this latter group that I mentioned. Those who tend to minimize prophecy. 2 Peter 3, and I'll start reading in verse 3, where we get some instructions from the Apostle Peter. He says, knowing this first, the scoffers will come in the last days. And again, I don't know how close we are to the last days, but we'll find out. But Peter is warning us about the last days. He's giving us a time stamp.

And again, he says, knowing this first, the scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. And it says, for this they willingly forget that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water. So what Peter is saying here, again, where is the promise of his coming? That's like another way of saying, well, I've been in the church a long time.

Nothing's happened. Nothing's changed. Things just go on and on as normal as they typically do. Well, to illustrate what I'm talking about as far as a balance in prophecy, I'm going to talk about some members that I've met over the years in the church. They've studied diligently about the subject of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, this is not a bad thing to study. You know, there are lessons that we can learn by studying about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

So it's not bad, but what is bad is if that's all you study, if it's the only thing or the main thing that you study. One person in particular was not studying the wedding supper of the Lamb for lessons. He was studying to find out about the marriage supper of the Lamb. The person had it all figured out as to the timing as well as the location. This was the main topic of conversation for this particular person, I could say, and others.

They come to a quote-unquote new understanding or new truth, and of course they're obviously eager to share their studies. One of them made up a very elaborate chart. It's colored in, it's tied to Scriptures, tied to I don't know what all. Anyway, he put in a lot of work. He'd be way over on this side, so to speak, or on this side, whichever side it was, be. It would be on extreme. Turn back to Matthew 22, Matthew 22, and I'll paraphrase the first few verses in this chapter. Matthew 22 talks about a wedding supper, about a wedding feast, about a king who was making a wedding feast for his son, and he sent forth servants to be able to invite those to the wedding.

Well, they didn't quite want to go. They made excuses, well, I'm busy doing this, I'm busy doing that. And so they said, you know, we're not coming. So then the king sent another group of servants to invite, and this time the servants killed those that the king had sent. And I'll start reading in verse 8. Matthew 22 and verse 8, where it says, Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. And that's an interesting theme right there, not worthy.

I'll come back to that. It says, Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together, all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw the man who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, Friend, How did you come here without a wedding garment?

And he was speechless. The king said to the servants, Bind him, ham him at foot, and take him away, cast him into outer darkness, and there will be neat weeping and mashing of teeth. So here we see that there was a group of individuals that were invited to the wedding, and they were not worthy. Now, it's one thing to know about the wedding, to know about that it's going to be on a certain place at a certain time. But it said they decided they weren't going to go, and they were deemed not worthy.

Again, knowing is one thing, going and being there is something else. Also, it talks about, in verse 11, about a man who was not dressed properly for the wedding. Again, he was not prepared, not prepared at all. Revelation talks about those who are going to be invited to the mirrored supper of the Lamb.

That's in Revelation 19. It says, His wife has made herself ready. It also says that the wife is going to be given special garments that represent the righteous acts of the saints. So here, in the parable in Matthew, was someone who was not prepared, did not have on a proper garment. Here in Matthew, he was, again, not prepared. He'd be swinging some out here of being the minimalist, if you will, of trying to minimize what prophecy is all about. He would not be prepared. It's one thing to know, and it's one thing to do.

This person knew about the wedding, but knowledge was not enough. He needed more knowledge. He needed more than knowledge. He needed to be there. He needed to follow through, and he needed to have a proper garment. So how do we prepare for the wedding?

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 13. We'll take a look at this chapter. It's familiar to many of us here. We call it the Love chapter. 1 Corinthians 13, and I'll start reading in verse 1. It's as though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love. I have become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so they knew a lot.

They knew a lot, but it's as if they didn't have love. Although I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. So again, there's a difference just between knowing and, I'll say, doing, of appearing, of being prepared, being worthy, being ready. So, knowledge alone, knowing about the wedding, is not going to save us.

All these people have studied all their efforts. That's not going to save them. Knowledge alone will not save us. Understanding prophecy alone also will not save us. Now, we need to have some prophecy, and we need to have some knowledge, but it of itself will not save us. We need to keep knowledge and prophecy in a proper perspective. Those invited to the wedding supper certainly will enjoy a very fine occasion.

But after that, then it's over. Then what happens? Then what happens? Drop down into verse 8, where it says, Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be done away. So there's going to be a time when all prophecy is fulfilled. All the conversations, or at least most of the conversations, about the prophecy will cease.

It's already done. It's history. It's over. It's happened. So when it's over, again, it becomes history. After prophecy is fulfilled, again, there's not much more to say about it. But love does endure. Godly character endures, and it endures forever. There are many purposes of prophecy, and that's to help us to learn lessons, to understand. When you think about it, the feasts of God, you know, the seven annual Holy Days, they are prophetic. They tell us about what God is doing now and what God is going to be doing in the future.

They teach us about God's plan. So prophecy is important. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it's not important. It definitely is important. But it's not our main meal, so to speak. It's not our main subject that we have to delve into and study about. It is important. We can learn lessons from prophecy, but the lessons help us develop Godly character. It is part of our spiritual feast or our spiritual diet, but again, not our main meal.

Our main purpose is to develop Godly character, to become more like God, to be balanced. Again, in the middle of the pendulum, so to speak, not right or not left. It's our calling is to be more balanced. Then we will not only, as we learn lessons, the amplitude of our swinging becomes less and less, and going back and forth becomes less and less. As we become more balanced, we develop more Godly character.

That's what we're to be doing, to be more balanced, to be more as Jesus Christ is. As we do that, as we become more balanced, we'll not only be prepared for the wedding supper of the Lamb, but we'll also be a part of God's royal family and live with Him forever and ever.