Welcome to another edition on Bible prophecy. We have taken the last few weeks to review Bible prophecy from the beginning.
Allow me to do a quick review of what we have covered so far.
We looked at the characteristics of Bible prophecy.
- Given by God
- Centered on Christ
- Inspired by the Holy Spirit
- Not of our own interpretation
- Always relevant
- Must not be changed by man
Then we looked at Bible prophecy from a true and false position. If they were true prophecies, they were based on inspiration and foreknowledge. If they were false prophecies, and there were many of those, they were unfilled, full of lies, not from God, and often peaceful. God used prophets to warn people. But, unfortunately, warnings are usually not peaceful in nature.
There are fulfilled prophecies and unfilled prophecies. In addition, the Bible contains dated prophecies as well as nonliteral and unrecognizable prophecies.
The Bible contains prophets(men) and prophetess (women).
The last time we were together, we looked at the prophet Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet. We looked at the book of Jeremiah and shared what he heard from God, and got a good look into his life over the years. But, as Jeremiah found out, being a prophet didn’t garner him a lot of support or endless friends.
The Bible contains at least 40 recorded prophets, and most all of them, I think we can say with some certainty, were ignored. Many of the prophets were killed. Jesus himself says in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.”
We find another reference in 1 Kings 18:13, “Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?”
Sadly, many ignored the prophets of old.
I was driving home today from getting a haircut, and on the radio, a pastor was preaching on prophecy. He said that God sent many prophets to his people to warn them, to instruct them to turn from their evil ways and back to him. Unfortunately, many ignored the warnings, and as a result, God removed his protection and allowed foreign enemies to invade. Through the prophets, God was asking the people to turn back to him or pay the consequences.
I believe it saddens God when we choose to ignore him, and especially his warning. A loving God is reaching out to us for our own good, and we choose to ignore him. As a result, we suffer. The Israelites suffered many times because they chose to ignore the Lord.
The prophets
And let’s not forget the people God uses to deliver his messages. True prophets are faithful to the Lord. Theirs is not a popular position and can be very lonely and dangerous. It’s not very popular to tell people they are headed in the wrong direction and sinning against God. Some like Jeremiah served the Lord for many years.
Now that we have covered almost all the characteristics of Bible prophecy, it’s time to move to the next phase – fulfilled prophecies. We start with what I consider to be the most important fulfilled prophecies – those surrounding Jesus Christ.
Join me next time as we look at what can be considered the first prophecy Jesus fulfilled. I can’t wait. I hope you will join me.
Blessings to you and your family!
The Teaching Lady
Monday Musings – Holy Laughter
The Weeping Prophet – Jeremiah
Women Prophets – Really? Prophetess
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