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, until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19.
The Bible is largely prophetic. There are literally hundreds of
prophecies in the Bible; the Apostle Peter admonishes us in the above verse to
heed the prophecies in the Bible. Many Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled,
and there are still many more that will be fulfilled in the future.
Jesus Christ
coming on the scene fulfilled over three hundred of these prophecies. In
actuality by fulfilling just twenty of these specific prophecies relating to Him
would have been a mathematical impossibility.
Why doesn’t
everyone believe the truth about Jesus Christ? The whole idea of the rejection
of Christ is also prophetic. “He is despised and rejected of men; a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces
from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not,”
Isaiah 53:3. “Jesus saith unto them,
Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected,
the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes?” Matthew 21:42.
“And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be
rejected of the elders, and [of] the chief priests, and scribes, and be
killed, and after three days rise again.” Mark 8:31.
As we read the
Bible and discern its meanings we ultimately come to the realization that it is
the only book in the history of mankind that actually proclaims its accuracy by
its fulfilled prophecies. No other religious book ever written has withstood the
vigorous attempts by unbelieving man to dispel the truths of the scriptures. As
a matter of fact no other religions books are even questioned by natural man.
Why do you suppose that is? I’ll tell you why, because the Bible is the only
Holy book that claims its authorship is God Himself. Nothing can stand against
God’s word. Nothing contrived by man, absolutely nothing of this world will ever
prevail against it. “…and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18.
God created
Heaven and the Earth. Having done so, and since God has the technology to create
us, He certainly has the means to get a message to us; but how does He validate
His message so that we know that it is really from Him, and not a contrivance or
a fraud? He relies on an attribute that is unique to Him. You see God is outside
of our time dimension and so He sees the beginning and He sees the end and it’s
all in the present for Him. He knows what will happen tomorrow, the next day,
and what will happen on the worlds last day.
When God
through His Holy Spirit directed and dictated the scriptures to the forty plus
writers of The Old and New Testaments, He designated two thirds of that
manuscript to be what we see as prophecy, He shows us, with this unique
attribute of His, what will come to pass in the future. He did this to
authenticate His Holy Scriptures. He did it so we would believe His word. Why?
Because He knows what stiff necked people we are. Of course He also knew that by
hearing or reading His word comparatively few would be convinced of His
existence, so through His creation He also proclaims His existence. “For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so
that they are without excuse:” Romans 1:20. Sadly, many will never
accept the unmistakable evidence of His existence. Because of their unbelief
they won’t accept His Son, Jesus, as their Lord and Savior; because of this
rejection they are already condemned. “He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18.
What do we do
with His Holy Scriptures when we come to the understanding that He is the
Author? When we are really sure that God is talking to us through His word, we
must obey His teachings, and we can in no way dismiss any portion of His word as
irrelevant. This means all prophecy, whether fulfilled or not, is relevant to
our future.
In Genesis, the
first book of the Bible, God starts out by explaining how He created everything
we see, and when He had completed His work He proclaimed it very good. Then He
moves on to how man’s rebellion resulted in the curse of all of His creation
(death is man’s punishment for his rebellion). He then kills an animal to cover
Adam and Eve, teaching them that only by the shedding of innocent blood may they
receive salvation. This first sacrifice is representative of our need for a
perfectly innocent savior, and only by the sacrifice of God’s Son could this be
accomplished. God tells us how He, before the creation of the world intended to
offer His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, “Who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you,” 1Peter 1:20.
Aside from all the prophecies that Christ fulfilled with His life,
many prophecies were also fulfilled in His death.
Prophetically
speaking in the book of Genesis, God gives us a glimpse into the future that
from the seed of the woman would our savior come. “And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15. This is a
hint to the virgin birth. Think about it, the seed isn’t in the women it’s in
the man.
To see a
type of Christ and His sacrifice for us we can go to the 22nd
chapter of Genesis. Here God is speaking to Abraham, “And he said, Take now
thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which
I will tell thee of,” Genesis 22:2. We are told that Abraham followed
through with the sacrifice of Isaac as God had instructed, right up to the point
of stabbing Isaac. Before Abraham could bring his knife down to kill his son,
God stopped him. While Abraham and Isaac were readying the altar for the
sacrifice, Isaac had asked his father “where is the sacrifice we are to use for
the burnt offering?” And Abraham answered Isaac, “My son, God will provide
Himself a lamb for a burnt offering:” Genesis 22:8. This is
another of God’s prophecies. God’s telling us that He would enter into His
creation and become a sacrifice for all mankind. Oh, by the way did you notice
the reference God made to Isaac being Abraham’s only son. That pretty much
closes the book on Ishmael who is considered the father of the Arabs and the
false claims of the Muslim religion.
All through The
Old Testament we find prophecies that are pointing to the savior of
mankind. Jesus Christ is all through the Bible prophetically until, of course,
when He came in the flesh, and as I’ve mentioned above, how Jesus, through His
birth, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, fulfilled hundreds of
prophecies. One of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled was when He rode into
Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. This prophecy we find in the book of
Zachariah “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and having
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal
of an ass,” Zachariah 9:9. Also in the book of Daniel we find
that the angel Gabriel told Daniel the exact date of when the Messiah would
enter into
Jerusalem , and this was hundreds of years before the fact.
In effect, Gabriel told Daniel that the interval between the
commandment to rebuild
Jerusalem until the presentation of the Messiah as King. Jesus Exactly on
the day prophesied, Jesus rode into
Jerusalem on the foal of an ass. God’s unique attribute of knowing what
will happen in the future is God’s alone. The prophets saw visions and heard His
voice recorded the prophecies and established as truth the proof of who God is,
all in accordance to His will.
Since God is
real, and through His word we see His divine presence in our midst, shouldn’t we
hold fast to His word? Many Christians believe that the end times is all an
allegory. They say all Biblical prophecy was fulfilled by AD 70. This is a huge
misinterpretation and misrepresentation of God’s truth.
We are in the
last of the last days whether those individuals want to believe it or not. The
time is very short; Jesus stands at the door and is knocking, and seeking
whoever will repent and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. I can’t emphasize
this truth enough.
If you’re
reading this and you aren’t saved, or if you have wandered away from your walk
with Him, I would suggest to you, before it’s too late, that you take the
necessary steps to begin your relationship with the Lord or get back into
fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There will come a time when it will be
too late.
Lastly, if it
is your belief that all roads lead to God, i.e. all religions, you should know
you are absolutely correct. All religions of Earth lead to God, sadly, not in
the way you might be expecting. All those religions that reject the truth of the
scriptures, the truth of the doctrine of Jesus Christ will be judged by none
other than Jesus Christ Himself, and then those who have refused God’s free gift
of salvation will be sent directly to Hell. Those of us who are His followers,
who are of the one true way to God, will enjoy a different welcome.
Eternal
security or Eternal damnation either way it’s everlasting, never-ending,
perpetual, and will never cease. Amen
God bless you
all,
