Why Study Bible Prophecy?
Most of us would like to believe that Jesus is coming in our lifetime. Even I believe that Jesus will return soon.
Yet even as we anticipate the Lord’s return, we need to be aware that eschatological excitement and prophetic panic tend to go hand in hand. Every time a war heats up in the Middle East, there are a number of “prophetic panhandlers”
who assure us that this is “the Big One.”
Despite the church’s
20-century-long struggle to understand biblical prophecy, these modern-day "prophets”
claim to have the last days and Christ’s return all figured out -- some to the very day! The problem is that Christians have had the mindset for centuries and have often attempted to read prophecy through the eyes of their own experiences. The results have been a host of miscalculated guesses based on faulty presuppositions.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with evangelical Christians taking seriously the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ. Scripture says that He will literally return to the earth one day to vindicate the church and judge the world. We may differ among ourselves on when and how he will return, but we remain convinced He will return as promised.
However, we must exercise discernment when we deal with the imminence of Christ’s return.
Most of us believe that He could come at any moment. While this hope gives the church great comfort and expectation, it often leads to excessive speculation. Think of all the “candidates” for Antichrist that have been proposed in the 20th Century alone --
Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Saddam Hussein, Juan Carlos, Prince Charles, Bill Clinton, and many others.
Perhaps the church’s greatest problem with interpreting biblical prophecy is the desire to view it through personal experience. Which does not work as we want. The German theologians call this a zeitgeist
(I think this is the correct spelling and interpation,) a current mood or response to existing conditions. Unfortunately, as we have seen in this brief history of eschatological speculation,
this has happened more often than not. The great temptation in prophetic interpretation is to move from the facts to our own assumptions and speculations. The real tragedy is that instead of rejecting prophetic speculation for what it is, we are often duped by it. People guessing dates and selecting candidates for the Antichrist are claiming to know more than the writers of Scripture.
I believe the Bible clearly predicts the rise of a personal Antichrist at the end of human history,
but I doubt we will ever know who he is until it is too late. The apostle Paul said of him, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness (“man of sin” KJV) is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”
II Thessalonians 2:3. Paul reminds us that the “power of lawlessness”
II Thessalonians 2:7 is already at work, but it will eventually culminate when the lawless one is revealed
II Thessalonians 2:8.
In the meantime, we are admonished to “stand firm” and hold to the doctrine of the apostles of our Lord
II Thessalonians 2:15 that we might be strengthened “in ever good deed and word”
II Thessalonians 2:17. Thus, Paul’s advice to us is the same as that of the Lord Jesus, who told us to watch, stay ready, and keep serving until He comes
Matthew 24:42-46.
One of the most difficult tasks in interpreting God’s Word has been that of discerning the prophecies of the end times. First, we must remember that the people of Jesus’ day missed many of the predictions of His first coming. Therefore, we must not presume that we have figured out all the details of His second coming. Second, we must guard against the temptation to read prophecy through the eyes of the present. This has been a problem throughout church history. As early as the second century A.D., believers have speculated about the time and place of the Lord’s return.
In many cases they have no basis in prophetic fact at all. For example, the Bible says the number of the Antichrist is "666"
Revelation 13:18. We must try to assume what this means. It is an assumption that it is a literal number that will appear on things in the last days. When one prominent evangelist saw the number 666 prefixed on automobile license plates in Israel a few years ago, he speculated the "mark of the Beast" had already arrived in the Holy Land.
The greatest danger of all in trying to interpret biblical prophecy is to assume that our speculations are true and preach them as facts. This has often caused great embarrassment and confusion. For example, when Benito Mussolini rose to power in Rome in the 1920's, many Christians assumed he might be the Antichrist, who would rule the world from the city of seven hills in the last days.
The time has come when serious students of biblical prophecy must be clear about what is fact, what is assumption, and what is speculation. For example, just because a war breaks out in the Middle East does not mean that war will necessarily lead to Armageddon. Just because modern geopolitical Iraq includes the ruins of ancient Babylon does not necessarily meant that Iraq will be the Babylon of the last days.
The issue at stake is that we must carefully distinguish between the facts of prophecy and our own assumptions and speculations. This is why we are launching the Tim LaHaye School of Prophecy at Liberty University. We want to help our students study, understand, and teach Bible prophecy properly and effectively -- based on the facts.
The greatest fact of all is that we who are in Christ have the hope of eternal life. The apostle Peter said, "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hopeinto an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you -- ready to be revealed in the last time."
1 Peter 1:3-5.
The reason for posting this is from some responces I have read in other threads. No I am not a Prophet, mearly a man who believes in Jesus Christ return soon. When I don't know but, I pray it is soon.
II Peter 3:9-10 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT.
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