Wednesday

Prophecy, A Record Of God's Future

Revelation 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The bible has many unfulfilled prophetic promises. These promises are important to us, so we tend to see ourselves as the focus of this future. But this is not our future, it is God's future. The cliche “just along for the ride” is our prophetic reality. In the Bible God has opened the inscrutable door of His future, and let us stand at the threshold and gaze hazily into the beyond.

These prophecies are sure, because they are part of the transcendent Creator's revelation about Himself. We sometimes forget that God will be in tomorrow as much as He is in today. In fact, today God is the only one in tomorrow.

The pillars of Christian doctrine stand on the foundation of God's prophetic promises. Without prophecy there is no Christianity. The death and resurrection of Jesus solidly link gospel believers to the future when we shall rise from the dead as He rose from the dead! The second coming, the new earth, the rapture, all are yet in God's future.

This is not crystal ball fortune-telling. The reality of this future is based on the power of God to do what He said He would do each day leading up to the fulfillment of the promises. Think with me for a moment: Even if God didn't know the future (an impossibility), couldn't the all-powerful God work each day to accomplish the future He has promised? Who will keep Him from accomplishing His designs? Isaiah 46:5-11 Our future is God’s future. He has promised--He will now do it! I can't wait...

2 comments:

  1. Larry, I noticed in your doctrinal statement that you believe the church replaced Israel. Does this mean you hold to what is commonly called Replacement Theology? If so have you abandoned historic pre-millenialism? Not being troublesome just curious.

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  2. Thanks for the question Charles,
    Replacement Theology is such a huge conglomerate of varying ideas and doctrines concerning the church and Israel that it would be impossible to answer properly here, and to even touch it briefly I must use more technical language. (My apology to my readers)
    I am a Baptist in ecclesiology (more landmark than reformed), which separates me from the protestant & catholic notions of supersessionism. I see some (note "some") value in both punitive and economic supersessionism, but only in the context of historic Baptist ecclesiology and the future restoration of Israel in some grace based, messianic centered, governmental form. I have nothing in common with anti-Semitic supersessionism, and its associated postmillennialism.
    I believe the church form of government replaced the existing modified mosaic form of government during Jesus' earthly ministry. I do not believe messianic Israel, under the Abrahamic Covenant, was, or will ever be, replaced as a people in their special relationship with God. I remain solidly in historic pre-millennialism. Hope this helps. I also lightly addressed this subject in my post: Has God Cast Away Israel? Oh... and now that you've pointed this out I see some weaknesses in our statement that will probably be modified in the near future. This is a glitch in our attempt to be less technical in our confession. Thanks again.

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