This Book: How to Read Prophecy ( Ezekiel 10 v3-5, v18-19, 11 v22-25)

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Prophecy: receiving and declaring a word from the Lord through a direct prompting of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives me a message and I tell you.  

Those kinds of messages are scattered all throughout the Bible, from Genesis chapter 3, to Revelation. 

People called prophets include Miriam, Balaam, Jonah, Deborah, Huldah, Elijah, Elisha, Moses, David, Samuel, and more. 

Contained in their messages, we find what we call ‘forthtelling,’ and 'foretelling.’  

Forthtelling means saying it like it is. Just standing up and saying something that is true: very often, to people who don’t want to hear it. For example, the prophet Nathan. 

When king David was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies, the king summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!” Nathan replied to the king, “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.” 2 Samuel 7:1-3 

'Yeah, David, great idea. God is with you. Do what you want to do.'  

But that same night the LORD said to Nathan... 2 Samuel 7:4

Nathan received a message, and the next day, delivered it. 

‘Hey, David, you know that thing I said to you yesterday about building a temple? I spoke too soon. I was wrong. God says no, and here's why...’ 

That is an example of forthtelling. Speaking truth. 

The other word we use is foretelling, and maybe that's more what you think of when you hear the word ‘prophecy.’ Foretelling is the telling of what will be—what God will do—usually with a condition attached: “if” we do something, or “if” we do not.  

Moses' final message to Israel contained some foretelling. The people had arrived at the Jordan River. They were about to cross into the promised land. Moses knew he was not going with them, so he gave them his final message from God.  

Part of that message was this: 

The LORD will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship Gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the LORD sends you.  Deuteronomy 28:36-37 

And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘why has the LORD done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’ And the answer will be, ‘this happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 29:24-25 

If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.  Deuteronomy 30:2-3 

Moses foretold the journey of Israel. 

Prophecy, all throughout the Old Testament, is part of God's ongoing conversation with his people.  

There are also there are specific books of prophecy named for the specific prophets who served at different times in later parts of the story. And every single one of them is basically saying the same thing that Moses had already told them.  

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The study of prophecy is not about figuring out what will happen when. It is a study of hope.  

Through books and messages of prophecy, God points us towards hope. Both for those people so long ago in the Old Testament, and for us today.  

Prophecy, at its core, says God has not given up on humanity. Prophecy says we have a future and we have agency in choosing it.  

• That message of hope tells us that there is a life on earth to be lived—a life joyous and concrete. Of serving each other in a community of faithful believers, of loving brothers and sisters.  

For those people so long ago, those promises echoed in words like Isaiah's prophecy: 

In those days people will live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of their own vineyards... Their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children, too, will be blessed. Isaiah’s 65:21-23 

For us today, that hope echoes in Jesus' words: 

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matt 6:10 

 

Prophecy, at its core, says that we have the opportunity to see that kingdom. 

• That message of hope tells us that there is a life beyond to be lived – in a delight-filled world beyond, a world restored and healed, a world of eternal life.  

For those people so long ago, the promise resonated within Isaiah's words again: 

I am creating a new heaven and a new earth. No one will even think about the old ones anymore, so be glad and rejoice forever in my creation. The sound of weeping and crying will be never heard again. Isaiah’s 65:17-18 

For us today, that hope echoes in Jesus words: 

Whoever believes in me will not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 

• That message of hope tells us that there is a Messiah: a king who brings freedom and life.  

For those people so long ago, the promise slowly takes shape as a silhouette filling in over the course of years. 

He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. And the passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's armies will make this happen. Isaiah 9:6-7 

For us today, that message of Messiah resonates in Christ's words, ‘I have come:’ 

I have come to give life in all its fullness. John 10:10 

Prophecy is, at its root, our hope, our confidence that God has not given up on us yet.  

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How do we read prophecy? How do we get a handle on what these texts have for us today? How do we really get our hands on these beautiful works of art full of clapping trees and cherubim doing wheelies in the Temple?  

First, you read them. Actually open the text and read these amazing pieces of writing. Some of them are poetic. Some of are events in the lives of the prophets. Get in there and find out what happened, and what they said about it.  

Second, read them with your heart open. Do your best to empathize with people like Ezekiel. Try to understand what their world was like. The things they were suffering, the things they hoped for—like just living in the house that they built.  

Third, read with your mind open to truth. Do some work, wrestling with the imagery and symbolism, some of which nobody entirely understands. Some of which we're still debating. Like, what is a cherubim with wheels? Read with your mind open to truth, and be prepared to not understand all of it. Because that's okay.  

Fourth, read it with your feet on the ground. Recognize that we live in an in-between world, between the days when these texts were written and the days when they will ultimately be fulfilled. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak truths to you as you share the experience of these ancient people.  

Fifth, read with your eyes open: looking beyond the frame, looking beyond the walls, watching in the text for that future ‘day of the Lord’ when Christ returns. Looking for how we faithfully live our covenant in this ‘day of the Lord’ with Christ present and working among us.  

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For the exiles, so long ago, the ‘day of the Lord’ was the day when God showed up and brought them back across the river to their home.  

For us, today, the ‘day of the Lord’ is the day when God will show up and take us across the river to our home.  

For them, so long ago, the words of the prophets meant that however things looked or felt, however hungry they were, or scared, whatever happened, God was not going to give up on them.  

For us, today, the words of the prophets mean that no matter what things look like, no matter how we feel, no matter what is happening, God is not going to give up on us.  

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Are we in the end times?  

Dear children, this is the last hour. You have heard that the antiChrist is coming and even now many antiChrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 1 John 2:18 

Those words were written by the apostle John, around 90 AD. He was convinced that we are in the last days. We have been in the last days since Christ died and rose again. This is the time of the end, when he is working out his plan to bring us to the ‘day of the Lord.’ When we will be brought to that new life beyond.  

John's message to the church, if you continue to read through that letter, is essentially this: yes, we are in the last days. Yes, we expect Christ to return at any moment.  

So here's what we do. We study the Scriptures (all of them, not just the book of Revelation). We listen to the Spirit. We do what Christ taught us. We stand confident and unashamed of the good news about Jesus. We love each other, we love everyone else, whether we necessarily want to or not. We lay down our lives for each other. We keep Christ’s commandments. We overcome evil with good.  

In other words, John’s voice echoes from the distant past, 'no matter what time it is, the mission has not changed.’  

The mission will not change. We are in the end times, and one day Christ will return. Until he does, carry on doing what we have been given to do.