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It's fairly obvious that the world is in its death throes. I get right to the point, don't I? People who don't know the bible understand that the times are wild and things are happening that aren't consistent with an orderly progression of years and decades of human advancement and civilization. For bible believers, we understand that the birth pangs are gearing up to the moment when the birth begins, when the water breaks and the violent, bloody tumult of labor ends with a renewed world and sin addressed. Why do we watch the times and look up because our redemption draws nigh?
1. So we are prepared.
2. So we can tell others.
The entire word of God is inspired and good for us to study so we can hear what He has to say to us. I don't mean just read, I mean study. Think deeply about what the scriptures are saying about you have just read. Do not give a cursory reading, shut the book and then go make a sandwich. Study. Ask questions. Learn the cross references. Mull and ponder the words and the meanings of what the verse is saying. The book is active, living. It breathes. (Hebrews 4:12). It is sharper than a two edged sword, and you don't read this book, it reads you.
It will educate you by the power of the Holy Spirit when you pray for wisdom and understanding. But first, we need to diligently seek that understanding by applying all of our critical faculties to what it says.
The prophetic scriptures are often overlooked as being allegorical only (they're not), as being irrelevant (it isn't) as being fulfilled (not all of them) as being tinged with a stigma as not as important as the 'real' verses (nope, just as important). I've noticed that though the bible says we should be excited about the soon appearing of our Lord, encouraged by the imminence, (1 Thess 4:18; 1 Thess 5:11) in awe of the Lord's deeds (Ex 15:11; Ps 66:5; Zeph 2:11...), the closer we get to rapture the more that rapture watchers say "I've changed my mind- I think it could be decades."
Yet God, in His infinite wisdom, put prophecy in His Word because He knows it is good for us to understand. The Lord has put prophetical truth into His Word because He wants us to know! Prophecy reveals His sovereignty more than any other scripture, in my opinion. He tells us thousands of years prior and then it comes true exactly the way He said. I never get over seeing that and reading it and knowing it.
"Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is none like Me,Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’Calling a bird of prey from the east,The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.Indeed I have spoken it;I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it;I will also do it." (Isaiah 46:9-11)
Prophecy reveals His sovereignty also because it shows that His purposes cannot be set aside, diverted nor thwarted. He is over all, and He will bring it about as He has said.
Prophecy leads us to Christ. For who above anyone else can do these things. Who is like Him? None!
"Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come--yes, let him foretell what will come." (Isaiah 44:7).
There is no God like our God, and He chose to reveal details of His plan and purpose from the ancient of times to now. Learn it! Study it! Be humbled by it! You will be in awe of Him, AND you will be comforted. He will bring about our redemption just as He brings about these other things. He will bring about our renewal from creatures of sin to creations of His glory. It is a comfort to remain in His truth, His word is a security blanket that comforts as much as it convicts.
"Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:11-12)
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1. So we are prepared.
2. So we can tell others.
The entire word of God is inspired and good for us to study so we can hear what He has to say to us. I don't mean just read, I mean study. Think deeply about what the scriptures are saying about you have just read. Do not give a cursory reading, shut the book and then go make a sandwich. Study. Ask questions. Learn the cross references. Mull and ponder the words and the meanings of what the verse is saying. The book is active, living. It breathes. (Hebrews 4:12). It is sharper than a two edged sword, and you don't read this book, it reads you.
It will educate you by the power of the Holy Spirit when you pray for wisdom and understanding. But first, we need to diligently seek that understanding by applying all of our critical faculties to what it says.
The prophetic scriptures are often overlooked as being allegorical only (they're not), as being irrelevant (it isn't) as being fulfilled (not all of them) as being tinged with a stigma as not as important as the 'real' verses (nope, just as important). I've noticed that though the bible says we should be excited about the soon appearing of our Lord, encouraged by the imminence, (1 Thess 4:18; 1 Thess 5:11) in awe of the Lord's deeds (Ex 15:11; Ps 66:5; Zeph 2:11...), the closer we get to rapture the more that rapture watchers say "I've changed my mind- I think it could be decades."
Yet God, in His infinite wisdom, put prophecy in His Word because He knows it is good for us to understand. The Lord has put prophetical truth into His Word because He wants us to know! Prophecy reveals His sovereignty more than any other scripture, in my opinion. He tells us thousands of years prior and then it comes true exactly the way He said. I never get over seeing that and reading it and knowing it.
"Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is none like Me,Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’Calling a bird of prey from the east,The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.Indeed I have spoken it;I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it;I will also do it." (Isaiah 46:9-11)
Prophecy reveals His sovereignty also because it shows that His purposes cannot be set aside, diverted nor thwarted. He is over all, and He will bring it about as He has said.
Prophecy leads us to Christ. For who above anyone else can do these things. Who is like Him? None!
"Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come--yes, let him foretell what will come." (Isaiah 44:7).
There is no God like our God, and He chose to reveal details of His plan and purpose from the ancient of times to now. Learn it! Study it! Be humbled by it! You will be in awe of Him, AND you will be comforted. He will bring about our redemption just as He brings about these other things. He will bring about our renewal from creatures of sin to creations of His glory. It is a comfort to remain in His truth, His word is a security blanket that comforts as much as it convicts.
"Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:11-12)
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