Bible prophecy is not only a wonderful thing; it is also a beautiful and most amazing gift from God our Heavenly Father, delivered to us through His Son Jesus, as well as through the Holy Spirit-inspired Apostles, Disciples, and both Old and New Testament Prophets throughout the centuries. Prophets who were chosen and anointed personally by God Himself.
What would we as Christians do if prophecy were not a major part of God’s Word? Most, if not all, true Bible scholars agree that prophecy makes up 30 to 33% of biblical teaching.
That would mean we as Christians would be without one-third of all Bible teaching if prophecy were not included.
We would not have anywhere close to the insight into God’s plan that we do have, due to the study of prophecy.
But prophecy IS included in the Holy Bible.
Prophecy indeed plays a major role in learning about who God is and the wonderful things He can do.
Prophecy lets the world know in advance important future events that will take place here on planet Earth.
Most importantly, it proves that He who declares the end from the beginning is exactly who He says He is, and has supernatural power on a level far beyond what humans can imagine (Isaiah 46:10).
How do we know if a prophet is chosen by God to forecast the future? According to Deuteronomy 18:22, the test of a true prophet is that they are accurate 100% of the time. If they say “thus says the Lord” and fail to be spot-on even one time, then they reveal themselves to be false prophets.
This test of a true prophet is to assure us that all of the prophecies that God truly inspires His chosen prophets to speak on His behalf come true 100% percent of the time.
God is pure Holiness, and He cannot lie. He cannot and will not utter a falsehood. Not ever.
Not even one time.
God is perfect and never makes mistakes.
Satan lies and makes mistakes, and humans lie and make mistakes, but Holy God Almighty never tells a lie and never makes mistakes.
God wants all the world to know He is telling the truth 100% of the time, and that includes every single prophecy that He inspires His chosen prophets to reveal.
The world in general mostly does not believe in the God of Israel, who inspired the Holy Bible to be written and all of the prophecies contained on the pages therein.
The ungodly Christ-rejecting world places little to no value in biblical prophecy, and even many professing Christians either ignore it, reject it, or are admittedly terrified of it.
But God didn’t give us prophecy to cause fear. He gave it to us to make things clear.
He didn’t give us prophecy to terrify, but rather to verify.
If unbelievers and even timid or lazy Christians would take some time to look at all of the prophecies that have been fulfilled with 100% accuracy, it should at the very least spark their interest in learning more about the Word of God, and at best convince the unbelievers to make the wise choice and become a believer in Jesus Christ the Redeemer and Savior of all mankind.
Jesus fulfilled some 300 or so Old Testament prophecies regarding His first advent upon this world.
We as Christians can take great comfort in knowing this fact.
It proves that He isn’t just some guy, some stranger on the bus claiming to be the Messiah and the Savior of mankind.
The fulfillment of those 300 or so prophecies made by Old Testament Prophets over many centuries of time is proof that His appearance on Earth was and is divinely orchestrated by the God of Israel.
When Jesus reveals truths such as “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” His fulfillment of those 300 OT prophecies is very helpful in assuring us that these are no idle words He speaks in John 14:6.
And, there are a great deal more than 300 OT and NT prophecies concerning the second coming of Jesus.
Who is the God of Israel as He has revealed Himself to be?
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament times, before Jesus revealed Himself to be the second person of the Holy Trinity, God referred to Himself to Moses as the “Great I Am,” and Jesus alluded to this in John 8:58 when He spoke the words “Before Abraham was, I Am” to the Pharisees.
The Hebrew people knew the God of Israel by several other names as well, including Yahweh, Adonai, and El Shaddai.
Prophetic fulfillment inspires faith.
Faith in Jesus becomes much deeper and stronger when a person becomes aware of the numerous prophecies that have come to pass, rather than when someone asks you to just believe what they are claiming without anything to back it up.
The devil and humans may say “just trust me,” but God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit would more likely want us to trust Him because of dozens and dozens of fulfilled prophecies that are proof that He never lies.
Add to that the nearly countless miracles of all kinds throughout the Old and New Testaments, and we see that our trust in Him has been earned in every possible way so as to leave no doubt whatsoever.
In addition to all that, we can trust Him because of His scriptural teachings that reveal a wisdom that could not be made up even by the greatest fiction writers of all time, and He lived it. He walked the walk and set the perfect example.
Jesus revealed to the world what God looks like and acts like when willingly living inside the confines of a human body.
Fulfilled prophecy is meant not only to increase our faith because of what has already happened as predicted, but also to increase our faith due to future prophecies that have been revealed and have not yet taken place.
If all of God’s prophecies have come true so far, and they have, then it is safe to believe that all future prophecies that have yet to occur will come to pass also, and exactly as God has said these things will happen.
Faith in things as yet unseen.
Biblical prophecy has revealed history right up to the present and also deep into the future.
Fulfilled prophecy has revealed history to be— His Story.
He, the Great I Am,” the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has revealed to the whole world, to all who will listen and believe, how His story begins, the whole middle part, and how it will end, and even how it will begin again, minus any evil whatsoever (Revelation 21:1-4; Isaiah 65:17).
Fulfilled prophecy proves to anyone with ears to hear and eyes to see that God the Father is precisely who He says He is. And that Jesus, the Son of God the Father, is exactly who He says He is.
And that the Holy Spirit (the Comforter, the Restrainer, and He who leads believers to discern the truth in all things) is precisely, and exactly who Jesus said He is.
Yes, there is not the slightest doubt, Bible Prophecy is a Most Amazing Gift from God.
If you have read this article and never given your life to Him who created you and loves you, longs to save you, and desires for you to be a part of His forever family, may this be the day you do so.
In Romans 10:9-10, Paul the Apostle of Jesus explains how. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Your forever friend in Jesus,
Rick Segoine
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All are invited to visit ricksegoine.net, where my book From God to Eternity is available along with original gospel and story songs. Also, all of the articles and a few podcasts with my son Gabriel are there for anyone who might be interested to check out.
The post Bible Prophecy is an Amazing Gift from God :: By Rick Segoine appeared first on Rapture Ready.
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