How to Treat Bible Prophecies Correctly? Avoid the Pharisees’ Failure

Devotional Topic|How to Treat Bible Prophecies Correctly? Avoid the Pharisees’ Failure

Posted on 11/10/2018 by Our Daily Devotionals

By Wang Wei

Prophecies are abstract and difficult for us to understand.

So, though we humans have devoted a lot of energy to trying to figure them out, still we fail to precisely get their true meaning. In regard to this aspect, even many spiritual giants can do nothing but guess and judge, and therefore there is a wide chasm between their understanding and the true meaning of prophecies. So, how should we treat the prophecies in the Bible in line with God’s intentions?

The Bible says: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20-21). “As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). “For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). These verses tell us that we cannot interpret prophecies literally, because they are from God, and it is only through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit but absolutely not through the imaginations in our heads that we can understand them. However, before prophecies are fulfilled, we easily make the mistake of relying on our own notions to interpret them literally. This makes it easy to misinterpret prophecies. And if we tell others our absurd understanding, this will mislead and deceive them, thereby causing them to lose God’s salvation. For example, when it came to the prophecies of the arrival of the Messiah, the Pharisees relied on their own ideas. Before the Lord Jesus was born, they, based on the literal meaning of the prophecies in Isaiah 7:14, 9:6 and Micah 5:2, had employed their imaginations toward the Messiah’s arrival: The Messiah would be born of a virgin and in Bethlehem and be named Emmanuel; He would grow up in a palace and govern Israel sitting upon a throne. However, when the prophecies were fulfilled, the way they had imagined Him ended up being at odds with the facts. And actually what they saw was: The Lord was born of the married Mary and into a carpenter’s family, and was called Jesus; He came from Nazareth and in the end was nailed to the cross. This is very different from the literal meaning of the prophecies. Hence, even though they saw that the Lord Jesus’ work and preaching had authority and power, the Pharisees did not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah. Instead, they even blasphemed the Lord Jesus, saying He depended on the prince of the devils to cast out demons. Thus, they committed the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and would never gain the Lord’s forgiveness. From this example, we can see that in awaiting the fulfillment of the prophecies, the reason why the Pharisees failed is that they held on to their minds’ imagination and the literal meaning of the prophecies.

How to Treat Bible Prophecies Correctly

With two thousand years having passed, now is the key time for greeting the coming of the Lord. However, we still commit the same mistake as the Pharisees—having various imaginings toward the Lord’s return. In the Bible, there are many different prophecies of the Lord’s coming and we often explain them in a literal way, so we have many imaginations. For instance: When we see some verses in the Bible about the Lord’s arrival mention “at midnight” and “as a thief” (See Revelation 16:15; Matthew 25:6), we are certain from the literal meaning that the Lord will come at midnight and that nobody knows the exact time. As a result, at night some Christians sleep in their coats and trousers, expecting to be raptured fully dressed. However, when we see the Bible says, “He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7), we determine according to the literal meaning that the Lord will return with clouds in the day to appear to humankind, and everyone will see Him. Consequently, some people always look up to the skies, longing for the day that the Lord will suddenly descend among us on a cloud. In short, there are so many imaginations. As for how on earth the Lord will return, there are mysteries in this. So, how should we treat these prophecies? God’s words say: “All that man understands is according to their literal meaning, and also according to his imagination; they are out of line with the principles of the work of the Holy Spirit, and do not conform to the intentions of God. … don’t you know that no man can fathom the mysteries of God? Don’t you know that no man can explain the words of God? Are you certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you were enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit? Surely it was not that the Holy Spirit showed you in such a direct manner? Was it the Holy Spirit who instructed, or did your own conceptions lead you to think so?” These words remind us that we should no longer imagine the scenes of the Lord’s arrival, because we do not know at all how the prophecies will come true before God Himself comes to fulfill them. We are all God’s creations and so do not know how God will accomplish His work. Even though some prophets spoke some prophecies after receiving God’s revelation, they did not know their true meaning or how they would be fulfilled.

Therefore, respecting the prophecies in the Bible, we must not rely on our minds to arbitrarily explain them and decide, but rather we should pray more, have a God-fearing heart and an attitude of humble seeking. Only thus can we receive the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and welcome the Lord’s return. Like the original disciples of the Lord Jesus such as Peter, John, and Nathanael, they heard the truth He expressed, saw that His work was full of authority and power and could not be done by anyone. For this reason, they determined that He was the coming Messiah and thus resolutely followed Him. They did not cling to the literal meaning of the prophecies or compare this with what God did, nor established rules about how God should come, but instead they focused on listening to God’s words and utterances, thus welcoming the Lord Jesus and receiving God’s salvation in the end. This is the correct path by which they welcomed the Messiah. Therefore, we should be people who open-mindedly seek the truth. When someone bears witness to the Lord’ return, we must not blindly refuse them simply because what they say is different from the literal meaning of the prophecies, but instead we ourselves should seek and investigate. Only with such a God-revering heart can we have the chance to welcome the Lord’s second coming and will we unconsciously come to understand how the prophecies come true.

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