PTNews
January 2019
Published 10 times annually All Bible references are from the KJV
(Examining Current Events in the Light of Bible Prophecy)
Why I Love Biblical Prophecy
(Part
One)
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,and keep those things which are written therein…” Revelation 1:3
I am in awe of the prophetic Word of God. To be in awe of God’s Word is to be in reverence of His holy Name, which is the full expression of who He is. In Psalm 138:2 the psalmist declares “thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.” Since I was saved as a child, my soul has experienced a deep longing to know God and to understand the prophetic Scriptures.
I know that my love for Bible prophecy triggers an immediately image in the minds of some people. They think I am strange and that I have gone off on some wild and insignificant tangent. But we must realize that Bible prophecy has received an overall bad reputation because of sensationalist preachers who merely want to attract large crowds and develop a growing contingent of followers. Too many preachers have made stupid and unreasonable predictions that have not come true. Therefore, many people are turned off and turned away from Biblical prophecy. How sad!
Satan has many clever ways to blind, discourage, and distract God’s children from knowing God’s Word. He especially wants to turn us away from the prophetic Word of God. Satan hates Biblical prophecy. He hates it because it illustrates the powerful and awesome character and will of God. It reveals that God is sovereign. It exposes Satan as the great deceiver who is destined to be cast into the lake of fire at the very end. Satan does not want us to know these truths.
I have determined that whatever God loves, I will love. God loves His Word, including Biblical prophecy. Satan hates what God loves. Therefore, those who do not like Biblical prophecy should be very careful. They are standing with the clever and wicked deceiver called Satan, rather than standing with the Savior!
It is very obvious that most pastors have decided to not speak on Biblical prophecy. Some believe that the prophetic Scriptures are not relevant or practical to living the Christian life. Many pastors believe that Biblical prophecy is a diversion from what is really important in our faith. Some church leaders avoid it because there are so many different opinions about the various aspects of prophetic truth. Therefore, they are afraid they will offend one of their parishioners. Some claim that they avoid Biblical prophetic themes because it produces fear rather than peace and love. These are the same reasons why some of these same pastors refuse to preach on sin.
These pastors should seriously consider the following questions: 1. Are you suggesting that Jesus and His apostles failed when so much of their teaching focused upon prophetic themes? 2. Did the Holy Spirit make a mistake by completing the progressive revelation of God with the book of “the Revelation of Jesus Christ?” 3. Do you really believe that early Jewish believers were not concerned about the return of their Messiah and Savior, Jesus Christ? 4. Have you forgotten that the Holy Spirit called upon John to record the final prayer of the Bible: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)?
One of the great flaws of church leaders today is that they have developed a hero mentality. The men who are revered in church circles today are those who have built large churches. We have brought the mentality of the world into the church. God’s principles of success are not measured by the world’s gauge of greatness. Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. For example, God chose Israel because they were weak, small, and despised. This is also why Jesus selected simple fishermen to be His apostles.
Many of the men who have large congregations in America have no use for the prophetic Word of God because the overwhelming majority of the professing Christians in America are self-centered, not Christ centered. Therefore, if you want to draw a crowd, talk about self-esteem, self-improvement, or self-image. The subject themes of prophecy produce fear in the hearts of people. That is good. Prophetic themes like heaven, hell, judgment, and the wrath of God desperately need to be proclaimed from church pulpits on Sunday mornings across America. It is not an accident that the great revivals of the past majored on these prophetic themes.
Let me share with you why I love Biblical prophecy.
1. A great part of the Bible is prophetic.
I love the Bible – all of the Bible. It is estimated that about 30 percent of the Bible when it was written was prophetic. Please remember that the Bible is God’s Word. It is the product of the Holy Spirit. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Please also notice that all Scripture is profitable. That includes Biblical prophecy. Long ago, I very humbly concluded that the Bible is always right. After all, who am I to question God? Without the Holy Spirit, I cannot think like God (Isaiah 55:6-9; 2 Corinthians 2:14).
All those who preach the Bible should desire to follow the example of the Apostle Paul who declared “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). The Bible is not like some spiritual cafeteria where we can select our favorite truth and reject some of God’s truth. All pastors need to heed the command of the Holy Spirit given to us in 2 Timothy 4:1-5. More than ever, we need men of God who fear God not people. We need men of God who want to please God rather than to please people (Galatians 1:10)
The Holy Spirit is the One who has chosen what truth should be included in the Bible. For example, many of Jesus’ works and words were not recorded in the gospels (John 20:30; 21:25). Therefore, we must conclude that everything the Holy Spirit selected to be a part of God’s written revelation must be very important. Obviously, this must include the almost 30 percent of the Bible, which is prophetic.
2. Biblical prophecy is centered on Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the central Person in all of Scripture. Likewise, all of the themes in the prophetic Word of God point to Jesus Christ. Revelation 19:10 declares, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
All true believers who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit will desire to live in the spirit of John the Baptist, when he said about Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30). Our life and all that we live for should be consumed by what pleases Christ. As Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). We are in Christ. We want to be like Christ. We want to be with Christ.
Please be reminded that the title “Christ” comes from the Greek word for “Messiah.” The name “Jesus Christ” could be translated “Jesus the Messiah.” Jesus is not only Israel’s Messiah, but He is our Messiah.
The very core message of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is about the Messianic hope. In the Old Testament, He is coming. In the gospels, He has come. In the New Testament epistles, He is coming again. This is the summary of God’s redemptive revelation. Therefore, one must honestly conclude that Biblical prophecy is a core doctrine of the Bible. It is really the glue that holds all of the other doctrines of the Bible together.
Can you imagine speaking to a Jew and commenting that his expectation of the coming of the Messiah is not really relevant or significant to his faith? He would laugh at you and know that you really do not understand the hope of the Jewish people that is central to their faith. According to the Bible, the Christian faith is rooted in Israel’s faith (Romans 11:16-24). Please remember that during the first few decades of the church that it was predominately Jewish. It was during this period of time when the foundational doctrines of our faith were laid down. The Apostle Paul, being a Jew, wrote to the predominately Gentile church at Ephesus, about four decades after the church began. In this New Testament epistle, he reminded them that before the church began, the Gentiles “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). In the following context, he informed these Gentile converts that the Lord had broken down the spiritual wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentiles and He had formed a new spiritual body of believers called the church. This church and its faith, he wrote, “are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20). All of the apostles and prophets were Jews, including Jesus. Hence, we must remember that the Christian faith is a Jewish faith. Therefore, the doctrine of the coming of the Messiah is at the center of all Biblical doctrine.
To think that the hope of the coming of Christ is not really significant or relevant to the Christian faith is not Biblical thinking. The message of the church must be the same message preached by the apostles or it is not a true gospel. We must not pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-10).
3. Biblical prophecy displays the attributes of God.
The doctrine of eschatology, the Biblical doctrine of “the last things,” is unique and only found in the Biblical revelation. Only God can predict the future with flawless accuracy. Other religions have false prophets. Their prophecies are not accurate because they speak from a source other than the one and only true God. In Deuteronomy 18:15-22, the Lord warned His people that they were not to listen to prophets who gave predictions that did not come to pass. If a true prophet of God speaks as directed by God, what he predicts will always come to pass.
In days of great spiritual apostasy, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to remind Israel that He is the One and only true God. To prove this to them, God said, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
I love Biblical prophecy because it has God’s fingerprints all over it! He is the only One who can utter these prophecies because of who He is. Biblical prophecy illustrates that God is perfectly sovereign over all of His creation. He is actively and continually orchestrating the events on earth toward the climax of His predetermined end. No creature in heaven, hell, or earth can alter or effectively challenge His divine purposes. Read Isaiah 14:24, 26-27; and Daniel 4:34-35.
He is the One who has “made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth …. according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will…” (Ephesians 1:9-11).
I love Biblical prophecy because it constantly reminds me that God is great and eternal. I need to be reminded daily that I and all of humanity are nothing when compared to our great God. Read Isaiah 40:12-31. As Spirit, God dwells in all of His creation eternally, and powerfully. God is not bound by time, space, or matter. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords of all beings, both spiritual and physical. Nothing escapes His knowledge or vision.
God knows all of the stars in all of the galaxies by name. Our most recent feeble attempt to guess at the number of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy leads us to believe that there are at least 100 billion stars in our little corner of the vast creation of God’s heavens. Now, with our powerful telescopes in space, NASA tells us there are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe, some much larger than our Milky Way. God knows each of these billions of stars and calls them by name. Isaiah, who must have loved Biblical prophecy, wrote about God and the stars – He “bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth” (Isaiah 40:26). Just think about this! God created the heavens for His divine purposes (Isaiah 45:18). Each star, and all of the other celestial bodies, have been created for Him and are all controlled by Him. We now know that all of the stars and other celestial bodies have been following a precise predictable pattern in space for thousands of years. Their predictable patterns have allowed man to predict the appearance of certain celestial bodies, like comets, with great accuracy. The Bible tells us that God created the lights in the heavens as precise timing devices (Genesis 1:14). The late John Phillips, who was an author and radio speaker associated with Moody Bible Institute for many years, writes, “Think of the orderliness of the sun, moon, the stars – the way they obey the laws of God as they undertake their journeys through space. Think of the mathematical precision of their movement. If there were no such order, what a chaotic universe it would be. We would never know for sure the length of a day or be assured of the coming of a season. Our lives would be at the caprice of chance and we would live in disorder and confusion” (John Phillips, Exploring the Psalms, Psalms 89-150, pp. 566-567).
Like the stars, the thousands of prophecies in the Bible point to their Author, God, who is orchestrating their fulfillment at the precise time according to His eternal plan. God’s foretelling of the future to finite man in His revelation is not difficult for Him because He dwells in the eternal now. God speaks of Himself as “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isaiah 57:15). God is not bound by time like finite man. God has not only determined what will happen in the future, but when it will take place. God is the master of time, space, and matter. The Bible declares, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).
I love studying the prophetic puzzle given to us in the Holy Scriptures. Each piece is a divine sign that points to just how awesome God is. It demonstrates that He is holy, omniscient (all-knowing), eternal, infinite, sovereign, omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (everywhere present at the same time), just, merciful, and faithful. Biblical prophecy makes me bow in the presence of our awesome God and exclaim, “What a God!”
We live in a world filled with those who never think about God. Many others definitely claim that He does not even exist. These people are in for a sudden rude awakening in the immediate future. Even now, and into the future of these last days, God is demonstrating to the world that He is the Lord God. In the prophetic book of Ezekiel, while writing about the end-time prophetic events, Ezekiel revealed that God would unleash His wrathful judgment and orchestrate His divine plan in such a way that “the heathen shall know that I am the LORD” (36:23). This phrase is repeated by Ezekiel 38 times in his great prophetic book. When the people of this world are reminded of these prophecies and then witness the perfect and powerful timing of the awesome events as God steps into their world, they will be forced to acknowledge that He is the Lord.
I love the Lord and His prophecies so much that many times I feel like I am a cheerleader for God. I want to jump up and shout, “Do you not see what God has just done?” When I see what He has predicted and without any question see His hand moving in my world, I cannot and will not remain silent! This is the calling and passion of my life and ministry!
4. Prophecy displays the will of God.
When a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, Jesus becomes His Lord and Savior. As we are reminded throughout the New Testament, this means we are servants of God. According to the Bible, becoming a disciple of Christ means we surrender our life and everything we have to Him. He becomes most important in our life. Jesus said, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). This means that our love commitment to Christ is greater than our commitment to anyone else, including our own family and our own personal will. This very sobering statement by Jesus should be seriously contemplated by every person who thinks they are a follower of Christ. We live at a time of great spiritual deception. Being a true follower of Jesus is not easy. It is very costly and very unpopular!
Jesus modeled this kind of lifestyle when He came to earth. He repeatedly said that He had come to do the will of His Father in heaven. He was consumed by the will of His Father. In John 6:38, Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”
For the true believer in Christ, we too should follow Jesus’ example and be consumed by the will of God. We need to identify the will of God. We must submit to the will of God. And we need to pray, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Many people are consumed with discovering the will of God for their personal lives. However, what the Lord wants us to focus upon is His will, that it might be done in earth as it is in heaven. God has revealed to us what really matters to Him – it is His prophetic plan recorded in the Bible.
Anyone who studies the Bible should know that God has an eternal plan. While He has not given us all of the details of this plan, He has given us an incredible overview of His divine purposes that make up about 30 percent of the Bible. Biblical prophecy is God simply saying, “This is what is important to me. This is what I have planned to do. This is what I will do in your world for my glory.” How can anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ think or say that the will of God as recorded in the prophetic Scriptures is irrelevant? I fear that those who say that Biblical prophecy is not important to them have the view that God is their servant. It is all about them, not Him. They are selfishly asking God to be involved in their world for what matters to them, rather than following God and being passionate about what really matters to Him. If He is really our Lord, remember that He demands that we must deny ourselves and what we want for Him and what He wants (Matthew 16:24). I fear that too many so-called Christians today are like the religious hypocrites of Jesus’ day. He said to them, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8).
This is one reason why the Lord has promised to bless those who read and hear the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:3). He blesses those who put Him first over their own desires. I am not saying that everyone who loves to study Bible prophecy is really walking with the Lord. Unfortunately, there are those who have selfish motives when they come to Biblical prophecy. We should always attempt to approach the Bible with a heart for God to discover Him and His will. Only then will the Spirit of God open our hearts and minds to God’s revelation.
(This article will be continued in the February newsletter.)
Record-Breaking Number of Global Natural Disasters
Many sources are reporting that last year was a record-breaking year for natural disasters around the globe. The Business Insider made the following three observations: “Thousands of people died this year in wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Climate scientists say these events will become even more severe as global temperatures keep rising. Some of this year’s natural disasters set records based on the number of deaths and other factors like wind speed and amount of rainfall.”
(https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-natural-disasters-records-world-in-2018-2018-11)
According to the prophetic Word of God, these trends should be expected. When God pours out His wrath upon the wicked during the Tribulation, He will unleash the most severe natural disasters in the history of the planet. Global earthquakes will trigger massive global volcanic eruptions that will dramatically cause a dangerous rise in global temperatures. While speaking about the destruction of the wicked during the Tribulation, Malachi 4:1 declares, “For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven.” Revelation 16:9 adds, “Men were scorched with great heat.” This deadly heat of the Tribulation will be so great that it will melt the polar caps (Job 38:22-23) and cause a dramatic rise in ocean levels (Amos 9:5-6).
Amazing New Developments in Egypt
Egypt has been a very influential Muslim country in the world. For centuries, life has been very harsh for believers in Egypt. Christians have been robbed, killed, threatened, raped, and persecuted. Church buildings were destroyed. Egyptian Christians were not allowed to build a new church building or to even make small maintenance improvements to the decaying ancient church structures that were hundreds of years old. I have been to Egypt several times and have seen this with my own eyes.
In light of this, dramatic events unfolded at the end of 2018. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a pious Sunni Muslim Arab, invited many Christians from the Middle East to join him in the dedication of a new church building, the largest in the Middle East, built with Egyptian government funds. The building was given to the Coptic Christians in Egypt as a “Christmas gift” on Christmas Eve in an unparalleled television broadcast that was seen throughout Egypt. A few days later, the Egyptian government also dedicated a massive mosque, also built with government funds, to Egyptian Muslims. At this dedication, some of the same Christian dignitaries who attended the church building dedication were also invited to join the dedication of this new mosque. Joel Rosenberg, a born-again Christian Jew living in Israel was in attendance at both of these dedication services. He writes, “All of it was broadcast live on Egyptian TV. All evening, Egyptians watched Christians and Muslims singing together, walking together, laughing and conversing together, and visiting each other’s holy places. It was beautiful picture of what people here want the ‘New Egypt’ to be” (Joel Rosenberg Blog, January 7, 2019)
Could it be that this is only a small part of the beginning of a massive movement of the Holy Spirit that will take place in Egypt as described by the prophet Isaiah? In Isaiah 19:19-25, the Bible tells us that during the Tribulation the Lord will raise up a person to lead Egypt back to the Lord. Verse 21 says, “And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day…” In a unique way, during the Kingdom of our Lord, He will unite the people of Egypt, Northern Iraq [Assyria], and Israel. In verse 25, God calls the Egyptian believers “my people.” Uniquely, according to verse 23-24, the ancient highway that connected Egypt, traveling through Israel, to Iraq, will be restored for use during the Kingdom Age.
Without question, we are beginning to witness the beginning of a process that is leading to the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
The Solidifying of the Magog Alliance
With the 8-year conflict in Syria coming to an apparent end, it is significant to note that this conflict is solidifying the coalition of Russia and its Muslim allies mentioned in Ezekiel 38-39. The Foreign Policy in Focus comments, “An unusual triple alliance is emerging from the Syrian war — one that could alter the balance of power in the Middle East, unhinge the NATO alliance, and complicate the Trump administration’s designs on Iran. … the “troika alliance” — Turkey, Russia, and Iran — consists of three countries that don’t much like one another, have different goals, and whose policies are driven by a combination of geo-global goals and internal politics.” (https://fpif.org/an-emerging-russia-turkey-iran-alliance-could-reshape-the-middle-east/) While Turkey, Russia, and Iran do not like each other, they all share in the same goal to dominate the world and control the economies of other nations for their own purposes. Also, it is their ambition to use their connection with Syria to attack Israel and retake the Golan Heights. These unlikely partners want to take control of the recently discovered energy resources and agriculturally rich areas of the Golan Heights. They also have set their sights upon taking control of the large deposits of natural gas that Israel discovered off its northern Mediterranean Coast a few years ago.
Russia also continues to develop its economic and military connections in Libya and Sudan (nations also included in the Magog alliance). Like Syria, the Russians want to establish military bases off the coasts of these two countries.
All of these events that have transpired in the last few months continue, with incredible precision, to set the stage for these nations to invade Israel from the north to take an economic spoil. As Ezekiel mentioned, God is putting a hook in the jaw of the leader of Russia and his allies to bring them down to Israel for their destruction.