Part 1 Why Prophecy?

Isaiah 46:9b,10 I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have – incomparable, irreplaceable – from the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, all along letting you in on what is going to happen, assuring you, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do,' (TME)

Theme Prophecy is God’s method for revealing His nature, His will for mankind and encouraging believers.

Personal reflections… Didn’t know enough Grew up in an era of uncertainty What I knew was wrong What it was all about was lost to me

1. How Shall We Define “Prophecy”? A. To declare the truth about God or His will. To Proclaim. To Announce. To “Forth-tell”. B. To foretell an event before it occurs. It must be 100% accurate otherwise it is a false prophecy. It is so important that in Israel, a false prophecy was punishable by death. PREDICTION DEFINED. A prediction is an announcement of the future; it is a miracle of knowledge, a declaration or representation of something future, beyond the power of human wisdom and knowledge to discern or to calculate.

2. How Many Prophecies In The Bible? Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, by J. Barton Payne How Many? 1,817 Biblical prophecies, on 737 subjects. – 1,239 Old Testament – 578 are in the New Testament. Involves many forms, many subjects, many peoples The 1,817 prophecies involve 8,352 Bible verses. 31,124 verses in the Bible 27 percent of the verses in the Bible.

3. What Is The Purpose Of Prophecy? 1) It reveals the power and plan of God. 2) It informs as to the direction of history. 3) It comforts humans prone to worry. 4) It stimulates mankind to righteous witness & action. 5) It assures that justice will prevail. 6) It assures that rewards will be granted. 7) Its main purpose is to lead to the holiness of people.

Something To Meditate On Prophecy demonstrates that holiness is made available through its source – Jesus Christ, "the One of whom Moses, in the Law, and the Prophets wrote" (John 1:45). The prophetic movement in Israel predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. (I Pet 1:11) The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10b). The Lord Jesus is mankind's only hope for righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In Jesus alone prophecy finds its proper explanation and its adequate and final result. (I Cor. 1: 30)

4. Why Do People Struggle With Prophecy? Look what people have done with it! 1) The skeptics, doubters and mockers have to explain it away. 2) The false prophets attempt to add to it to give them credibility. 3) The false Christ’s twists the text to get us to think it is about them. 4) The false teachers focus on minutiae distracting us from the main point. 5) The immature throw up their hands in frustration and fail to learn it. They become weak.

5. How Do We Come To Understand Prophecy? 2 Pet 1:21 “No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Know your Bible. Prophecy comes in lots of forms but the rules for understanding a written letter apply. Come to Christ. Get His Spirit. Then you will grasp the content. It’s about God.

Isaiah 46:9-11 Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have – incomparable, irreplaceable – from the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen, Assuring you, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do,' Calling …Cyrus, out of the east, from a far country the man I chose to help me. I've said it, and I'll most certainly do it. I've planned it, so it's as good as done.

Past: “Remember your history, your long & rich history.” Present: “I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have – incomparable, irreplaceable – from the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, all along letting you in on what is going to happen, Future: Assuring you, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do,' Example: Calling that eagle, Cyrus, out of the east, from a far country the man I chose to help me. The Commitment: I've said it, and I'll most certainly do it. I've planned it, so it's as good as done.

The Challenge Let prophecy do what it was intended to do It is God’s method for revealing His nature, His will for mankind and encouraging believers. If you don’t know it, you wont know Him adequately.