Prophecy: Who Gets It?
Posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Next Sunday I begin teaching Mark 13 at Church of the Open Door. Mark 13 condenses Jesus’ Olivet Discourse—His answer to two questions every follower of Christ asks when we read about end-time events:
When will these things be?
What will be the sign when these things are fulfilled?
I think it’s important to teach Mark 13 because I think prophecy is important to Christians. But not for the reasons a lot of people think of when you mention biblical prophecy.
It’s an intriguing truth that the general events of prophecy are pretty easy to establish if you believe that every word of the Bible is inspired by God and inspired. The details, however, are extremely difficult to interpret.
Ever wonder why?
Could it be that the Lord doesn’t really want us to worry and argue over the details?
Two dynamics about prophetic interpretation make me think that a focus on these details may be distracting for followers of Christ.
First, it doesn’t seem that prophecy was written so that we could understand God’s plan in advance, but so that we would be able to recognize that history is moving toward God’s ending.
Second, the ones who recognized the prophetic events predicted in the Old Testament concerning Jesus’ first coming weren’t the scholars trying to figure it all out but the simple people yearning for His arrival.
Prophecy isn’t for the ones using it as a scare tactic to solicit money from vulnerable people. Prophecy is for the ones longing for the coming of their Lord—the ones serving and watching, enduring affliction and persecution for lifting up His name in a world set against Him.
“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.” –Jesus Christ speaking of His Second Advent (Mark 13:33)
