The Purpose of Prophecy

Thank you, Lizzie, and Sabrina, and Glenn. Beautiful. It seems like we have a theme going for the day a little bit here with God's love, beautiful words. Fantastic and really inspiring. Thank you so much for bringing a special music today. Much appreciated. Perhaps you've heard the story of a young naval student. He was trying to get on to the next level, and an old sea captain was going to put him to the test. And so he threw a question at him. He said, What would you do if a sudden storm came up on the starboard? The young man said, Well, I'd throw out an anchor, sir. The old captain said, Well, what would you do if another storm came up from the aft? Definitely sounds like a pirate. And he said, Well, I'd throw out another anchor, sir. And what about if another storm came from the forward? What would you do? The young man said, I'd throw out another anchor. And the old captain said, Oh, hold on there. Where are you getting all those anchors from? And the young guy said, From the same place you're getting all those storms from, sir. Yeah, it's amazing sometimes. When you think of a ship, could you imagine if you were on board a ship, and as you were enjoying the beautiful view, you kind of leaned over the side and you saw on the side of the ship the letters, Titanic.

How would that make you feel? Could you imagine something like that? If you learned that you were on board a vessel that was doomed to sink, you would probably do everything you possibly could to get off of that boat before it got out of the harbor. Right?

Well, isn't our world a sinking ship? It is. It's interesting when you think about how they get ready to pull these big boats, these giant ships, out of the harbors and all that they go through as they begin that process of leaving port.

Have you ever experienced anything like that? It is interesting if you've ever been around some of these military vessels, especially. They've got bells and whistles and sirens and things that go off as they're preparing to get out of that port. Get ready to signal everyone that, well, basically, those that are not supposed to be on the ship, now's the time to get off.

You better get off this ship because these are your warnings that we're heading out to sea. In fact, you've probably heard the old saying, all the shore that's going ashore, right? Now's the time to get off this ship.

Now, you know, the Bible gives warning signals as well. Prophecy gives warning signals that we better get off this sinking ship.

But have you really considered what is the purpose for prophecy? Why does God give us prophecy? Is there really a value to biblical prophecy, especially today? Well, simple answers. Well, yes, there is.

But there are some challenges involved when it comes to how we view prophecy.

Oftentimes, I think we can get caught up in different perspectives in thinking that, well, prophecy is kind of a puzzle, isn't it?

And if I take this little piece over here and put it together with that piece over here, or maybe it's kind of like a secret code, and if I can figure it all out, then I'll be able to figure out exactly when this should be.

Or if I can figure out exactly when Christ is going to return. Or if I can figure out the identity of the beast.

I can sort that out because I put all those pieces together. Or I can tell you which modern nation, the exact one, that's going to attack this other nation.

Is that true? Is that what prophecy is about?

See, I think if we approach prophecy from that perspective, then we start from a faulty premise.

And I think in many ways we can miss the point of prophecy. We can miss the purpose of prophecy.

Because when you really get down to it, the Bible contradicts that way of thinking.

There's that passage in the book of Acts. Most are familiar with it. You can just write it down in Acts 1, verse 6 and 7.

It's after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, before the day of Pentecost, Christ tells the disciples, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

So God tells us that. It's translated in a lot of different ways and different translations.

And I think one of them says something to the sense of, it's not your business.

It's not your business to know these things. But isn't it funny how sometimes we make it our business?

Oftentimes we'll turn to those very familiar prophecies.

Maybe we turn to the Olivet prophecies, especially Matthew 24. In fact, you want to flip over to Matthew 24.

We can notice something here because it's definitely a famous section of Scripture that gives some of those bells and warning whistles and signs that, hey, this ship, this earth is going down.

But it's interesting where Christ ends up after detailing some of those things that are going to be coming.

And in verse 36 of Matthew 24, He says something similar as to what He said after the crucifixion.

He says here, the day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

And then He says in verse 42, Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

But know this, if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

And He says therefore, be ready. Verse 44, For the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

And so after detailing all these different aspects of future prophecy, He says, be ready. Watch.

He didn't say, well, figure out exactly when He'd return. But He said, be ready because you're not going to be able to tell exactly when this is going to happen.

So how do we do that?

What is the purpose of prophecy and how do we fulfill what Christ said? Watch therefore.

What does He mean when He says to watch? Does that mean I turn on my television and I watch news, and I watch an endless series of news programs so I can figure out what's going on in the world, and I'm watching world events so I can kind of, well, figure out when this might happen.

Is that the kind of watching that He's talking about? Or maybe something else?

Now it is interesting if we keep reading right here in Matthew, right after the Olivet prophecy, it's interesting where Christ goes.

He says, watch, be ready. And then He gives some examples. He gives a few parables to kind of focus us on what it really means to watch.

He starts out with the kingdom is likened to ten virgins. And as He tells this story, He says, some were prepared, others weren't prepared.

And then down in 13, He says again, watch therefore, for you neither know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

So some of these ladies were ready, other ones were not.

In fact, even just before this, He talks about a faithful servant and an unfaithful servant.

Verse 46 of Matthew 24, He says, blessed that servant whom is master when he comes will find so doing.

What's the faithful servant doing?

What was the evil servant doing?

Well, there's a doing that's connected with the watching, isn't there?

In fact, as He goes on after the parable of the ten virgins, He also goes a little bit further and speaks of the parable of the talents.

And those that had received these talents to do something with.

And so it's interesting that as He makes these different connections, He describes the basis for what watching is all about.

You know, is it watching prophecy? Is it watching world events to sort it all out?

Or does it have to do with our actions, the kind of people that we are?

If you skip all the way down to verse 31 of Matthew 25, He says, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, all the holy angels with Him, and He will sit on the throne of His glory.

He says the nations will be gathered before Him. He'll separate one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And what's the difference between them? I think we could say those that were watching and those that weren't.

Well, what does the watching entail? Well, He starts to describe them. Verse 35, There's a little lamb, there's a sheep doing its watching. He says, I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me in. And so He describes watching is how we live.

Watching is how we live. And He continues to describe that. He talks about those that weren't watching. Well, what's the difference between a sheep and a goat? Well, if you're not watching, I was hungry and you didn't give me anything. I was thirsty, you didn't make any note of that. And so He points to the fact that we watch by living a different kind of life than a normal, everyday human being would.

That it's just going along life, affected by the world around them, by human nature, by just a normal perspective. He says, you know, someone that is in Christ lives differently and it shows in their behavior. It shows in what they do.

And so He talks about that kind of life, a life of love, a life of service. And we show we're watchful in how we live our life.

And so as we look at that, He says, these are priorities. These are priorities when it comes to being a watchful individual. Well, what are we doing to watch? Is it a prophetic fulfillment that we know? Look at this beast with seven heads and ten horns. I've got to figure that out. Or the priorities of these seals that are in the book of Revelation, or the dragon, or the wounds that was healed, or the four horsemen. I mean, those are amazing prophecies. And I can tell you it is really intriguing to look into those things. We can be mesmerized by those prophecies. Yeah, I'm guilty of that. Because it is so interesting. And sometimes I think one of the challenges is it's almost like binging on television at times. Right? What becomes really interesting? Well, sometimes it's a sensational thing. It's like, whoa, look at that. Can you believe that that happened? And we watch these different programs that are just sensationalizing whatever their plot is all about. And it grabs our attention. But sometimes you get down to it, and there's really not much to the story. Other than, wow, that was a cool car crash, or that was an amazing circumstance. Or could you believe that they did that? And we get taken in by those kinds of things. And sometimes I think prophecy, dealing with the end of the world, dealing with the beasts and the powers and the witnesses, and all those things can get us sidetracked with the sensational, rather than dealing with our everyday life. Isn't it amazing? Sometimes we can get taken off track. And as we're striving to live the kind of life that God would have us live, we can sometimes allow even the Bible prophecy to kind of take us off track a little bit. But I think Christ puts it in perspective here.

I mean, He gave those prophecies in Matthew 24. It wasn't that they weren't important, but He focuses on what the priority should be. What kind of people are we? And so as we think about that connection to prophecy, I think we can begin to put it in a proper perspective as we realize the importance of living a life where it is Christ living in us and through us. And through the love of God, we can submit to Him and we can submit to His way because we can put prophecy in the right perspective. And rather than just trying to sort it all out, we can recognize some vital things about God and His nature and who He is when we put it in the perspective. I think that Christ presents it here. It says it's important and then points towards the priority. And one of the things I think that He recognizes here and that He wants to get across to us is we recognize God's in control. You know, prophecy definitely tells us God's in charge as much as it might seem. I mean, imagine back in the Roman world here. Who was in charge? Well, Pontius Pilate is in charge, right? Oh, no, Herod's in charge. Caesar is in charge. He's a Roman God. But above all of that, God calls out pretty loudly saying, wait a second, don't get taken in by that. I'm in charge. God is in charge. Prophecy is such an amazing reminder that God is the one who is in charge. He's in control of things. I mean, somehow He can work through events. He allows people to make decisions. They have free moral agency. And yet, He can still determine the outcome without forcing people to do things. The book of Daniel talks about that. If you want to flip back to Daniel. Daniel 2 and verse 20, I think, zeroes in on the fact that prophetically we're reminded, who's in charge? Who's in charge? Which should be something that we can take to heart. Because when we see this world spiraling out of control, we see our own lives and the challenges that we face and the trials that we have to deal with. Maybe it's with our jobs because the economy or my company is not doing well and they're cutting back and I have to face these issues. Or just really personal issues, personal health issues, problems with dealing with situations.

It helps us to recognize, wait a second, God's in charge. And when we look at Daniel 2, verse 20, I mean, think of Daniel for a minute. Here was this very capable young man who was carted off to evil Babylon, subjected under the control of Nebuchadnezzar. Now, how was God in control in that situation? It seems like things are totally out of control. But he says something interesting here in chapter 2, verse 20. He says, Well, even though circumstances are pretty tough, God's still in charge. He says He changes the times, the seasons. He removes kings. He raises up kings. Well, does that mean He's forcing them to do something? No. But He can work through events and time and people to bring about His prophetic things because He's in charge. And it's going to go according to the plan because He is sovereign. He is supreme. He is God Almighty. It says He gives wisdom to the wise, knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things. He knows what's in the darkness and light dwells in Him. In fact, it's kind of interesting if you read through the book of Daniel and you read about the different things that were prophesied about Nebuchadnezzar. This one phrase keeps coming up over and over again. You know, that God rules in the kingdoms of men. That God is in charge. No matter what the world may look like, no matter what our situation may be, we can take heart. God's in charge. And what does He think about us? Is He going to keep those promises that He made? I mean, He's promised us. As we heard in the sermon, He'll never leave us or forsake us. We can count on His love. We can count that we are in His hand. He's promised us eternal life. Well, can He work through even... Well, He worked through Daniel, but wow, that was a big important event. Can He work through those things in my life as well? Wow, He can work through amazing circumstances. I was thinking earlier this morning of a section of the book of Numbers. I was going to leave it out, but now I'm putting it in. Over in Numbers 23, it tells the story of the prophet Balaam. Now, he wasn't a prophet of Israel or anything like that. But here's God using someone that isn't of His people, and He has Him prophesy to the king of the Moabites. And the king of the Moabites, He hates Israel. He hates God's people. So what does He want? He wants a curse put on those people. Well, how easy would that be to do? Okay, I'll find somebody that agrees with me. He'll do what I say. I might pay him off, but he'll do what I say. So you curse these Israelites. Well, He couldn't do it. God wasn't going to allow it. So when you look down to Numbers 23, 19, He says, God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent. You see, God's not like that. Has He said, and will He not do it? God promised it. It's a done deal. It will happen. It says, Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless. He says He's blessed, and I can't reverse it.

You see, who's in charge? Who's in control, ultimately? You see, God's in control. God's in control. And so when it comes to our life, I think we can take heart in the fact that God wants to bless us. You know, we know that passage in Jeremiah when He says, I have plans for you. Plans to kick you down, beat you over the head with a 2x4, and straighten you up.

No, He doesn't say that, does He? Plans for good and not evil. Does God send us evil? Does God send us trials because He wants to correct us?

I don't think so. Can we be corrected by... Yes, we certainly can. Can we learn lessons from difficult? Absolutely. But I don't think that's the way God works when James talks about the fact that God doesn't tempt us. He doesn't try us in that way. Interesting series of words there. And here we see, once again, God's in charge, and we can take that to heart. Because God's looking over things. God's ultimately the judge. He's the one that's going to make sure what He promises come to pass. And we can hang on to those promises. We can be encouraged by those promises. Even though sometimes our circumstances look like there's no way out. And you could follow the story of Daniel through. How many times did that happen? Oh, great! He's going to make me eat bad things. I can't do that. How am I going to get out of this? Well, God's in charge. Did God help Daniel through that? Absolutely. What about his buddies in that fiery furnace? You don't bow down. You're going in the fire. Well, was God in control? Was God in charge? Did He lead them through that? Absolutely. So we've got those concrete examples over and over again. And we're no different than a Daniel or a Shadrach or a Meshach. When we put our trust in God, He's in charge of our life. And as dire as circumstances may look, He's in control. In fact, there's a powerful section of a letter that Paul wrote to the young minister, Timothy. If you look back to 2 Timothy 4, we get a pretty good indication here of who's in charge, of who's in control. Even though this world is a sinking ship, God's still in charge. And God's watching out. God's the judge. God's going to determine things. He's going to make sure that His plans come to pass. So here in 2 Timothy, right at the very beginning of chapter 4, He says, "'I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.'" All right. He is the judge. He is in charge. Have you ever been in a courtroom? I mean, at a much lower level in this world, if you've ever been in a courtroom, you know who's in charge. The guy walks in with his robes or the lady, depending on the circumstances. What does everybody do? You better stand up. The bailiff's going to tell you, "'All right, everybody rise.' Here comes the judge, because he or she is in charge." And they're going to determine the outcome of the case. And of course, they're supposed to be for good. They're supposed to be following the law. Sometimes they have some interesting interpretations, especially in our modern world.

I remember one time I was unjustly given a traffic ticket, or I at least felt like I was unjustly given a traffic ticket. So I thought, all right, I'm going to fight this thing. I'd never done that before. So I'm going to go to court. I don't know what court is like for traffic offenses. But I decided I'm going to fight this thing. So I went to traffic court.

Have you ever been to traffic court? Wow, was that an interesting affair. It was at night in an evening, so everybody's piling in. It is amazing to hear some of the funny stories. So I got up, the judge said, all right, what's your deal? And I tried to explain it, and he said, I don't understand that. You go sit down, and I'll talk to you last. I thought, great. Now I'm really in trouble. So as I was sitting there waiting, I got to hear all the other cases going on.

And one guy got up, and he said, the judge asked the bailiff, well, what's he charged with? He said, driving with headphones on. And of course, at that time in that state, it was illegal to drive with headphones on. And the judge said, how do you plead? And the guy said, well, I've got an explanation. He said, oh, brother, tell me your explanation. He said, well, only half of the headset was working.

The judge grabbed, he grabbed the gavel and went, bam, half the fine. True story. I thought, I might have a chance. I might have a chance. I thought, that is pretty amazing. Sometimes there is just judgment. But you know when it comes to God? He's always just. He's always just. In fact, look, where am I here? Down to verse 5. Down to verse 5, he says, You must be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, he tells Timothy, fulfill your ministry.

But you know, that can apply to all of us. We know God is in control. We know Christ will judge. And you know when you judge, you see the good. It's not that you just see everything that's wrong. You know, when you're given an examination, when you correct that paper, you see the ones you got right, too. And that's the way it is. He says, well, be watchful. Be a doer of the Word. And he talks about the fact of how that reflected in his life. Look at verse 7. He says, I fought the good fight.

I finished the race. I've kept the faith. There's laid up for me a beating at the end of the whole story. No, he says, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day. Well, was Paul perfect? You know, if we went right back before that passage of Scripture we read this morning in Romans 8, go back to chapter 6, and Paul talks about the fact, when I want to do good, I do evil.

You know, the one who wills to do good, there's evil right at the door. You know, who's going to save this wretched man that I am? He certainly wasn't perfect. But he strived to do what was right, and by doing that he was willing to put his life into the hands of the righteous judge. And so God is in charge. He is in control. And what kind of judge is he? You know, when we stay close to that judge, you know, I think he's got an amazing way to show us through his word and through the prophetic things that he says that it's not all about punishment.

Yeah, there's judgment there. But really when it comes down to it, how does he judge? I think in the same way that he shows us prophecy, part of the purpose of prophecy is to show us that God loves us. Yes, he's in charge. He is in control. He is the judge. But a second purpose of prophecy is to show the fact that God is love. He's going to tell us this world is a sinking ship and it is going down. And I'm warning you of these things because I don't want you to get caught up in this. I love you so much that I don't want you involved in the way of this world.

I'd like you to get out of that. I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that you're not caught up in that. And so God shows his love. I think he demonstrates his love in that way. And so many times throughout prophecy, we see that. I think we're all familiar with the story of Jonah. Jonah, swallowed by the great big fish, didn't want to follow God's instruction. But what was it that he didn't want to do?

I don't want to go to Nineveh and tell them they're going down. I don't want to have to do that because, God, you know, they'll probably change. They'll probably repent. I don't want to go there. Well, wait a second. What did they do? They actually did repent. You know, they turned from their evil ways. You mean God even loved the Ninevites? He even gave them an opportunity to change and repent.

He was prophesying against it. Part of what Jonah was told to do is tell them what the results of their actions will be. And of course, that is what was going to happen. If they didn't change, if they didn't come to a relationship with God, it was going to be over. And there's some connections there to this world that we live in as well. You know, this world is a thinking ship, and they better listen to the message as well.

They're going to have an opportunity to hear. That's what's so great about God. God loves everyone. You know, God so loved the world. We know John 3 16 says that very thing. It wasn't that God so loved just church members.

Oh, God loves the world. And what's the world like out there? Well, they're like a Nineveh. They don't know any better. They're on this sinking ship that's about to go down, and they don't know any better. And yet, how does God view them? He loves them. He loves them. And He's going to make a way so that they can have an opportunity too. And so can we count on that kind of love? Can we count on that kind of faithfulness in our life? I mean, we know what He inspired Peter to write. You know, that God's not slack when it comes to His promise.

God's not going to forget His promise. God says, I'm not going anywhere. Nothing can overcome the love I have for you. And so He says, I don't want anybody to perish, but I want all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3.9 reminds us of that. He wants all to come to repentance. Why? Because prophetic events remind us that God loves us. They remind us that God is faithful, and He's not going back. He's not a man that He can change His mind. Sorry, I was wrong.

You guys are a bunch of losers, so get out of here. God's not like that. That's not the way He is. He is totally loyal to His promises. And He loves us and cares for us. And prophecy demonstrates that over and over and over again. And so I hope that begins to kind of help us to recognize the fact that, yes, prophecy reminds us God's in control.

He is the judge. He's in charge. Prophecy reminds us God loves us. And when you put those things together, it's also reminded that prophetic things remind us that God is trying to encourage us. He's trying to comfort us. Boy, I read those scary things about the horses and the terrible signs and the seals and all these terrible plagues that are coming. That's supposed to be encouraging? It is. It reminds us God's in charge. He totally is in charge, but He's certainly reminding us to have that kind of perspective that He's like us to have.

And I think there's this passage in Hebrews that certainly reflects that. Hebrews 12. Look at verse 18. Hebrews 12.18. This whole section of Scripture is so encouraging. It is so comforting because you read through chapter 11, the faith chapter, and it goes through all of these faithful men and women. That when you read their stories, you go, well, wait a second. Was Abraham always faithful? Or did he have a couple glitches in his life?

You know, was Sarah always faithful? Or did she have some stumbles along the way? Did Abraham laugh about God's prophecies? Did Sarah think there's no way that that's going to happen to God? No way. That's a good one, right? Yeah, absolutely. You look at all of these individuals, and we see they were real people who had real problems, that God promised things to Jacob. And yet, they were real people that had their own difficulties along the way. And yet, here they are. Here they are in Hebrews, because we know God made promises to Abraham that he was going to fulfill.

And as we look down to chapter 12, then, we begin to see and focus on the comfort that we should have, the encouragement that we should share because of what happened to these individuals. When we know their stories, we can begin to connect our life story in with theirs. And so in verse 18 of Hebrews 12, he tells us, And I think all too often, we kind of get in that frame of mind, don't we?

Well, sure, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Yeah, if we're not obedient, if we're not striving to stay close to God, that is a scary deal. Yeah, that would kind of put you in this thing. But all too often, when we are striving to stay close to God, we are repentant before Him. Sometimes we still feel this way, that, boy, I'm going to get burned. God's got it in for me. I haven't been perfect. Well, who can be? I can be repentant before Him.

And so how does God view us? How does He view prophecy in that regard? Well, He tells us a little bit later here in verse 22, He says, You see, those all detail fulfilled prophecy. The mediator of the new covenant was a prophecy that was fulfilled. How can we be justified?

Well, it comes through the sacrifice of Christ, another prophetic event. We can be declared righteous. We can be right in God's eyes. Because of prophecy. Because of fulfilled prophecy. And so this fulfilled prophecy then doesn't bring us to this mountain that we can't have a relationship with God. It brings us to this beautiful relationship that God can be our Father. We can have a close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and with God the Father. Because of fulfilled prophecy. Should that comfort us? Should that encourage us in the amazing blessings of God's perfect plan?

I think as it does that, it helps us to step back a little bit because, yeah, our lives aren't perfect. There are difficulties. There are challenges. Sin doesn't want to give up on us. And we have to continue to strive against it. But as we recognize these things, I think we can see this comfort and encouragement that there should be hope.

That when you get to the story and you really recognize what God is predicting and prophesying about, doesn't it all in a way come down to the hope that he does have for us? I mean, look at what's the future going to be like.

It is all doom and gloom. Is that what it is? Is that what prophetic events are really pointing to? Or are they actually pointing to something beyond those things? I think it's pointing beyond all the difficulties that we face today. It's pointing beyond the events themselves. It's pointing to the kingdom of God. The other day I was reading a little section about prophecy that was in the Unger's Bible dictionary.

You may have one on your shelf. It said something interesting, so I wrote it down so I could mention it. It said something about prophecy and events in the future. Here's what it said, and I thought this was interesting. It says, The revelation of future events may be needful in times of discouragement. When I read that, I might be discouraged when I read those things, rather than they're supposed to be helpful when I'm discouraged.

And here's where he went on to write. They may be needful when we're discouraged, because it can awaken to a sustained hope, to inspire confidence in the midst of general backsliding. Sometimes, maybe I'm not totally with the program. But he also said to warn of evil threatening of the faithful, that evil is working against us, in other words.

And then he went on to say, the predictions against Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, Nineveh, other kingdoms were delivered to the people of God to comfort them. To comfort them. You see, because if it worked for Nineveh, will it work for us? If God protects us from the enemy, will it work for us?

You know, when Pharaoh set out after the Israelites, what happened to the chariots? What happened to the army? You see, those things point to the fact that we can be comforted. We can have a hope that if God did it in all of those circumstances, he's going to follow through his promises. He's going to do it for us as well. We can take that to heart. And as I thought about that, it reminded me of the resurrection chapter, because there is such an amazing prophetic event that's prophesied there that talks about the resurrection, what's going to happen.

And it turns it into, I think, an amazing reality. And so maybe we could look at that for just a moment. 1 Corinthians 15. We'll go all the way down to verse 51. To verse 51, here Paul is describing to God's people in Corinth some of the details of what the resurrection will be like, kind of clarifying maybe this whole prophetic thing in their minds so that they could have a deeper understanding of what the resurrection was about. And in verse 51, he says, I'm telling you a mystery.

Now this is something that is kind of a secret. Because that word, mystery, it does mean a secret, or it's hidden, but it doesn't mean it's something you can't understand. It's not talking about hocus pocus or anything like that. It's telling us this is something that God has to reveal to you. God's got to show this to you. And so he says, I'm going to explain a little bit about what God's plan is about. And I believe it's connected to that hope. So prophecy here related to hope. He says, we shall not all sleep. Not everybody is going to die, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, when this mortal has put on immortality, He says, then shall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Wow, what more important prophecy could there be for us than that? And you know, we can count on that, because part of that mystery that's hidden from most of the world right now is the fact that Christ was the forerunner. Christ suffered and died, and He was resurrected. His death was swallowed up in victory, and we're going to follow in His footsteps.

And so Paul paints that beautiful picture. Can we have hope? He says, yeah, I think so. I think so. And no matter the circumstances, no matter what's happening around us, I think there are just such powerful examples of how God keeps His promises. He makes His promises, and He keeps them. We know that God is not only a God of love, we're told He is love. And when He tells us that this is what He's going to do, He's got the power to be sure it happens. And so I think that all points to the fact that we're not alone in this. That if God is in charge, if prophecy tells us that He is the righteous judge, if prophecy can help us to recognize that there is hope, that we can be comforted, how should that impact what we do? I think it kind of brings this full circle, in a way, to what Christ talked about right there back in the book of Matthew. You know, that prophecy should help lead us to live the right kind of life. Shouldn't it lead us to live and walk by faith? That we can trust. We have absolute trust. We have no doubt that God is going to do what He said He's going to do. You know, what good is it to know that this ship is sinking and not do anything about it? Well, if you recognize you're on the Titanic and you don't get off, you're doomed. So you've got to do something about it. So hopefully prophecy is going to lead us and motivate us to do what's right to be godly people, to strive to live more fully in Christ. Or, as Paul said, he looked at it like I'm not even living, but Christ lives in me and lives through me. Galatians 2.20 certainly speaks to that.

In fact, maybe one of the passages that jumps out in my mind that lends itself to the faithful living that should be a result of those prophetic things that are predicted, found over in 2 Peter 3.10, talks about one of those scary prophetic instances, but also, I think, includes the aspect of, well, what can I do about it? What am I supposed to do about it? What should my perspective be when it comes to this? Well, Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3.10, The day of the Lord will come as a thief of the night. Kind of connected back to Matthew 24 in some ways here. It says, the heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Wow, you get these fiery images of a horrible catastrophe. And, yeah, it's going to be. It's going to be awful. But what should my perspective be when it comes to that? Well, I think Peter was dealing with that. Verse 11, he says, Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, or maybe saying a little differently, because this sinking ship is going down, what manner of persons ought you to be? What kind of person should you be? What kind of life should you live? That's the question Peter's posing here. What kind of person ought you to be? The answer is to live in holy conduct and godliness. If you read this in the New English Bible, it says, Because these things are happening, that should lead you to devoted and dedicated lives. Wow! Live by faith. Different way of saying that, isn't it? Live by faith. Put your hope, your trust, your absolute confidence in God, because this world isn't going to last. And so that will help us to look forward to that return of Christ and even look beyond the difficulties.

Because beyond those difficulties is an amazing world. An amazing world that Christ is going to usher in. And we have an awesome opportunity to be a part of that, which is just fantastic. In fact, we skip down a little bit farther here.

He kind of continues that thought of prophecy guiding us to live and walk by faith. He says, But you know, that's not possible. It's not possible to be led away by the error of the wicked unless we allow it to happen. Unless we choose that for ourselves. God isn't going to push us that way. He's going to protect us. He's going to lead us. He's going to help us to recognize these things in our lives and fight against us.

It says, He wants all of us to come to repentance. He wants all of us to be in a right relationship with Him. He wants all of us to be encouraged and comforted and have the right hope. Not to be in constant fear. We might mess up. That's not it. He wants us to continue to grow. He says, interesting the context that this passage is in in verse 18 of 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3, 18, You see, we are in God's favor. You see, God doesn't have a negative opinion of us at all. And so it leads us to live and to walk by faith. And we can gain a deeper understanding and have a deeper relationship with God. When we're comforted and encouraged by that, how much easier to walk in faith? You see, it all kind of goes hand in hand. And so we do really come full circle. We come back to the watching part, don't we?

We come back to the living part. How do we live? How do we live a new life in Christ? You know, Paul talked about that in the book of Romans. You see, it helps put prophecy and perspective. It's not all about figuring it all out so that somehow I might be able to jump off the boat just at the right time and save myself. You see, it's not that at all.

It motivates us into a deeper relationship with God. And so we can live a right life. In fact, Paul wrote something like that to the Colossians. Take a look at Colossians, the very first chapter in this letter to God's people in Colossae. As Paul was writing this letter, it's interesting that at the very beginning of this letter, it seems to entail some of those very concepts that Christ talked about in Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, and the impact of prophecy and our perspective and our motivation. Verse 24, Colossians 1, he says, "...I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body which is the church." Not that there was anything lacking in Christ's afflictions, but we all have to suffer.

We all have difficulties. We all have challenges of life. That's the way life is. He says in verse 25, "...I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God." Then he talks about the mystery in verse 26. The mystery that's been hidden from the ages, from generations, has now been revealed. See, it's this secret that was hidden, but now God's opened our minds to His truth. And in verse 27, he says, "...to them..." That's us. That's us. "...God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles as well, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ in you, the hope of glory.

"...Him we preach, warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." You see, that's God's perspective. His perspective is we're led into a deeper relationship with Him, and Christ shines through in us and through us. And prophetic events help us to realize who is in charge, and that our God is not a God that wants to beat us down and punish us, but He is a God of love who encourages us, protects us, comforts us, assures us, gives us assurance that we can count on what's going to happen in the future.

We can count on it, and that should help us and lead us and guide us to submit to His Spirit and lead the godly actions. There's no doubt this world has the writing on the wall, right? It is a sinking ship that is, I don't know what, halfway sunk already? It's going down. And so, as we consider our lives believing God, which is having faith in God and His Word, and ultimately the outcome, the final outcome, we recognize the fact that it should impact our lives, and we need to live accordingly.

That's the real issue, not figuring out every little thing, but recognizing it all impacts the way we live our lives. Because God does tell us the ultimate outcome. We're told what's going to happen. There's a special value for prophecy for each and every one of us, and, yeah, the entire church, for that matter.

Not just knowing things. It is in the doing, isn't it? It's in the doing. And so, let's allow Bible prophecy to always guide us to faithful living. Because, you know, if I just figured out when Christ was going to return, you know, that is not the issue. But knowing that He will, and living accordingly, that's it. That's it. So let's be most concerned about how we watch and how we understand the purpose of prophecy.