The Purpose of Prophecy

post 086

So what about the Bible makes me and our founders such as Chief Justice John Jay (previous post) so convinced that it is worthy of all confidence?
Of all the world’s religions what is it that makes the Bible true?

“It is to be regretted, but so I believe the facts to be, that except the Bible there is not a true history in the world. Whatever may be the virtue, discernment, and industry of the writers, I am persuaded that truth and error (though in different degrees) will imperceptibly become and remain mixed and blended until they shall be separated forever by the great and last refining fire.” John Jay, First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - to Jedidiah Morse, 28 Feb 1797 from the book "John Jay" by Walter Stahr

As my previous post indicated, perspective has a whole lot to do with how we interpret what we are seeing. With all the various interpretations of reality, from all the various perspectives out there, how can we know for sure what is true? In previous post 064 “What Is Truth?” we discovered “Truth is that which conforms to reality” But how do we interpret reality correctly?
This is a question that only a few years ago would suggest the questioner was on drugs but today this question is legitimate and needs a valid answer. We are now a people who have so much variety in deeply ingrained foundational concepts that the reality I see has a different interpretation than what you see yet it is the same event!
If you and I both look at the same event but come up with two, not just different but opposing reactions, how are we to ever find what is actually true? John Jay’s statement above is not discussing intentional deception as much as unintentional misinterpretation, but it is also suggesting that in the end real truth will be found and the consequences distributed justly. Yet if you and I cannot agree on what we have both just witnessed in the present, this might suggest correct interpretation is now impossible. Yet there is something even more sure than personal visual observation of reality!
* * *

“And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place…” II Peter 1:18-19

In this passage Peter was relating a personal experience. Something he and the others saw and heard first hand. First hand witnesses are the substance of how we on this earth relate to reality, expecting it to be as close to truth as is possible. By established law, men are put to death by first hand testimony. Yet history suggests that even such a sure indication of truth can be wrong. We do the best we can but there is always room for human error. Peter recognized this fact, though it was he himself who saw and heard what he was reporting first hand as fact. He knew what he saw was true and he placed weight on his own observation.
But then he made an interesting statement; “We have also a more sure word of prophecy…”. Peter, the guy who saw it first hand, states that although his eyewitness is valid, prophesy is even more sure than his first hand eyewitness and is to be added to that witness just like light shining into a dark place. He is effectively saying that prophesy takes precedence even over an eyewitness if the two are in conflict, and if not in conflict the prophecy clearly explains what might otherwise be shrouded in darkness! How is it possible that prophecy should take such precedence over eyewitness?
* * *

I have long been a bit frustrated with gleaning a prophetic truth of God through reading His Scriptures, yet finding that the limitations and potential error of interpretation diminish the value of the prophesy for us… IF we are to use them before they are fulfilled.
In questioning this it occurred to me that rarely in scripture did the revelation of prophesy change the hearts or events of those to whom the prophesy was given, unless the specific interpretation was also given thereby avoiding misinterpretation *1. So my mind began to ask; “What then is the primary purpose of prophesy and how can it be ‘more sure’ than eyewitness as Peter declared?”
Since prophecy is about an event before it happens, we wrongly jump to the conclusion that it must be so we can act with knowledge and change the event. But historically this does not seem to be the primary result or purpose. So what other purpose might the Creator have for giving prophecy to us? Peter gives us the answer in the above verse; Truth, which is more sure than eye witness.
Stay with me.
Peter was sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah not because of the miracles he saw first hand, nor because Jesus spoke convincingly, and not even because he and his friends heard a voice from heaven! These were surely good indicators but the more sure evidence added to what he saw and experienced was the many prophecies which had to come true for him to be the messiah.
One obscure prophecy can be easily explained by some event in a few hundred years of history; One of Nastradamus’ famous prophesies of “Hister” is used to prove he predicted Hitler with bad spelling. But even this single fulfillment of prophecy has to ignore the fact that Hister was the Latin name of the Danube River in his day, and the prophecy in the original clearly indicates this was his intent *2. But my post is not intended to discredit a seer who was less than 40% right, but to show that true prophecy must be proven to be irrefutable by the honest truth seeking mind, even if skeptical.

There are more than 800 bible prophecies of Jesus the Messiah that all must be 100% true if we are to believe them (note: just because one is yet unfulfilled does not make it wrong). The whole premise of the Christian religion is that God is not a liar and he cannot make mistakes since he is truth itself. This of course should be easily proven wrong, especially because we have scientific and historical verification that the original scriptures have not been changed or altered over time *3. Surely out of 800 there should be a few we can easily debunk, but try as they might it has not yet been done, excluding lies and deception and intentional error as their tools which defeats the whole purpose of the debunking.

The trick to fake prophecy is to make it so obscure that the odds go way up over time that some event will eventually fulfill it: “One day a man will find a blue marble.” Or to make it so obscure it could mean nearly anything: "As on wings, the stone was present in the midst."

But what if there was a prophecy written very nearly 571 years before it was fulfilled and 93 years before the counting of the prophecy was to even begin.... by specific events that were nearly impossible to take place?
And what if this complex prophecy of counting was not so vague as to predict an approximate time frame, not by years nor months nor weeks, but prophecied the EXACT DAY it would be fulfilled 173,880 days after the counting was to begin?! “Are you kidding me?!” Yet this is but one of hundreds of prophesies that came true regarding Jesus the Messiah *4.

Other prophesies regarding Jesus:
His lineage - Geneses 17:19, 18:18, 49:10
His circumstances of conception - Isaiah 7:14
His city of birth - Mica 5:2
His rejection by the Jews - Isaiah 53:3
The specific way he presented himself as king - Zechariah 9:9
His betrayal by a friend - Psalm 41:9
The exact value of that betrayal - Zechariah 11:12-13
His type and purpose of death - Isaiah 53:4-5,12, Psalm 22:16, 34:20, Zechariah 12:10
And on and on and on.

The more complex the prophecy, the easier it should be to debunk it, and never was there a more complex prophesy than those of the Messiah. The proofs of these fulfillments are documented not only in the history recorded in the Bible but also in secular history as well as history exhumed from the buried chambers of antiquity. The odds of all these hundreds of very specific and complex prophecies coming to pass, can only be a successful accident to the mind that actually believes purposeless, designless, creationless evolution is possible. An idea that is purely unscientific foolishness, but a real mindframe none the less. It is no less foolish that believing Rhett Butler came up with his immortal lines without the aid of an author!
If Evolution actually is the way we got here, explain all these prophecies written before the unguided accidental events took place. THIS is the “more sure word of prophesy” which Peter was speaking of. The proof of prophesy fulfilled is so superior to the interpretation of observed reality, that if science and the bible are in conflict, you can be sure that science has misinterpreted something.

Did you know that God through the prophecy of the Bible predicted all the Global Dominate Empires to affect Israel? *5. How many would you expect in 6000+ years of human history? God said there would be 7. He named 5 of them very specifically *6, and gave lots of clues to the identity of the others. In fact the predictions were so specific that Alexander The Great recognized himself in the prophesy and he used it to his advantage and courage to defeat the Persians at the river Granicus in 334 BC *7, before he died in his prime leaving his kingdom “to the strong” (4 of his generals prevailed in battle for 4 parts of Greece) just as prophesied *8.

There are soooo many specific prophecies, not counting the confusing and cryptic. God has been 100% right so far and we are now waiting for kingdom #7.5 *9.
These prophecies are a more sure proof that the creator God foreknows every detail of events in the cosmos. The prophecies are give to us for the purpose of giving us confidence that the bible can be trusted with our very lives.
Our founders grew up being educated in the bible, including studies such as this.
Can you imagine going to school to study deeply world history through prophecy?
I have just finished my second year of retirement dedicated to this study and have in no way exhausted the topic!
What I have learned about prophecy past, is that prophecy future is just as sure.
Only the Bible has the ability to exclude human error in history; although penned by human hand, it was dictated by the Holy Spirit of God. Its complete lack of errors is proof of that.
Scientifically, prophecy is the proof of God.

“…Who hath established all the ends of the earth?” Proverbs 30:4
“For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 6:12

It is with this confidence in scripture that our founders felt a keen awareness and conviction that they will surely one day account to their Creator for all their deeds.
It is with this confidence that the warnings in scripture were taken very seriously.
It is with this confidence that this nation was established in humility before that maker.
You have not been provided the education to have such confidence,
But you are still accountable to the Creator, just as they were.
Unlike our founders, you have been denied such an education, which our founders determined you should have. Your education in this matter is now up to you.
I have provided a reasonable stimulation to inspire you to seek such knowledge.
Will you take the challenge?
* * * * * * *

*1 Prophecy and Interpretation:
Genesis 41:25 “And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaph what he is about to do.”
Daniel 2:28-29 “But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days….and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.”

*2 Latin Hister: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hister)

*3 The Dead Sea scrolls are scripture found after the events prophesied yet translated into Greek and hidden before the events occurred, making the possibility of altering the prophecy after the fact virtually impossible.

*4 The Messiah’s Arrival:
Daniel 9:25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Price shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.” Written approximately 538 years before Jesus fulfilled this perfectly. (In ancient Hebrew the word “weeks” represented groups of 7, in this case years. All ancient calendars used 360 days per year until 701 AD, and don’t forget to subtract for leap years in your calculation!).
Nehemiah 2:1-9 “And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king… I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may build it… Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters.” History shows this date was March 14, 445 BC. This date began the counting.
Mark 11:1-11 “…And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest….” This very song was prophesied of the messiah. Jesus riding into Jerusalem, on the colt, with this song, is the fulfillment of other prophesies of the messiah. But this specific day was the fulfillment of the exact day prophesied approximately 571 years before. Jesus Rode into Jerusalem as king on the exact day prophecied!
There is a whole lot of very complex and detailed parts to this prophesy which are utterly fascinating. If you are curious, you must read; “The Coming Prince” by Sir Robert Anderson, a reprint found at Amazon.com for about $10.00

*5 The Global Dominate Empires: Daniel 2:31-45, Revelation 17:7-18

*6 The identified and interpreted GDEs (Global Dominate Empires):
Daniel 8:37-38 “Thou, O king, (Nebuchadnezzar) art a king of kings: …Thou art this head of Gold” (the 3rd of all 7 Global Dominant Empires).
Daniel 8:20 “The ram which thou sawest (in his dream) having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. (prophesied before they took domination as the 4th GDE) And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: (to arrive even later as the 5th GDE) and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king (of Greece; Alexander the Great)”.

*7 Alexander the Great:
Daniel 8:6 “And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.”
Although pictorial, this prophesy is not vague in that both ram and goat were already identified as Medo-Persia and Greece, and the horn as the first mighty king of Greece (Daniel 8:20-21). - Granicus (http://1stmuse.com/frames/index.html)

*8 The early end of Alexander:
Daniel 8:8 “Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.”

*9 The almost 8th GDE:
See last kingdom of *5 found in Revelation 17:11. The scriptures have very much to say about this kingdom that will take a whole book to cover. We will eventually get to that in this ongoing study.
*