How Can We Know That Prophecies Are Real?
Q. I was having a conversation with my mom over the weekend regarding the Bible. She said that she is having a hard time getting through the prophets because she doesn’t understand what it is all about. This wasn’t a new complaint from her becauase she rarely (if ever) studies out the word much further than just reading the text.
However, when I tried explaining to her what the prophecies were about she claimed that there is no way we could know that these passages were intended to be prophetic (especially in regards to end times prophecies) and that they are open to individual interpretation. I’m familiar with Amos 3:7 and believe that the Spirit continues to allow believers to prophesy and I also believe the most accurate way of identifying a prophecy is a reactive response applying prophecy to events after they’ve happened and identifying how they fullfilled the writing.
My problem is how do I show somebody with a limited knowledge of the Bible that prophecy is an important part of scripture (I understand it to comprise between 28-40% of scripture depending on who you ask) and that the whole point of God revealing it is to give us insight into events to come and not just confuse us?
A. The best way to validate end times prophecy is to look at God’s track record. We’ve got nearly 6000 years to work with here but let’s just take the life of Jesus as an example. Out of the 300 or so prophecies given between 500 and 1000 years prior to His birth, which ones were open to individual interpretation? The one about Him being born in Bethlehem, (Micah 5:2) or being born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)? Or riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech 9:9)? How about being betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver with the money going to a potter to buy a field (Zech 11:12-13), or His crucifixion and the fact that the soldiers would divide up his clothes (Psalm 22:16-18), or that He’d come back from the grave (Isaiah 53:11). The Sadducees thought these were all open to individual interpretation and it caused them to miss the Messiah.
I’ve only used 7 of the 300, but if she doesn’t get the point from these, then you know she doesn’t want to. If that’s the case the only thing you can do is also the best thing. Pray for her.
The prophecies of the 1st Coming were all fulfilled just like God said they would be so that we would know that the ones concerning His 2nd Coming will be fulfilled literally too. Ask God to open her eyes while there’s still time. Thousands who read this will agree with you for her.
