In my prior installment of this topic, I ruefully noted the not-so-uncommon reaction too many Christians have to studying Biblical prophecy. As I clarified, it’s often an unsupportive response that is one part sarcasm, two parts arrogance, and altogether a disrespect of God’s divine Word.

If such people would study their Bible with the reverence and teachable attitude they most need, they would be arrested by the words of 2 Peter 3:3-4. Peter issues a clear warning that one of the indications of the end times would be the arrival of “scoffers” and “mockers” who would belittle the themes of Biblical prophecy – chiefly those matters which point to and promise the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The average Christian may be inclined to feel that such attacks would come from outside the church. This has not been my experience. I’ve seen instead that the most strident scorners of Biblical prophecy come from within the fellowship of the body of Christ.

The higher up the food chain one goes, it seems the more potent the opposition becomes. We have prominent Christian leaders today who are so biased against the responsible study of Biblical prophecy that they’ve become tools of the secular culture against the fundamentals of our faith.

These so-called “Christian leaders” are made of the same stuff the Pharisees were made of. They have a veneer of virtue and righteousness, but they are a sham (Matt. 23:27). Their agenda is their own, and a proper relationship with Jesus Christ and His divine Word are not part of that. Some of these individuals will miss Jesus the second time just as their New Testament forerunners missed Him the first time.

It all goes to show that there are great benefits to the proper study of Biblical prophecy, and in Part 1 we reviewed four of those:

First, it urges us to live Godly. Seeing ourselves accurately within the present and the future exhorts us to place a priority on the Lord’s return. This enables our responsible decisions in this life, and it equips our faith.

Secondly, it gives us comfort and hope. If all we had to live for were the degenerate conditions of planet Earth, then we qualify for “having no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). But our imminent rapture gives us immeasurable hope that the world cannot comprehend (Titus 2:13).

Thirdly, it provides a blessing.  As Revelation 1:3 underscores, that blessing is the result of a right response to the prophetic Word of God. Those who do not permit the truths of Biblical prophecy to impact their lives are completely missing out.

Lastly, the study of Biblical prophecy gives us stability. There are a lot of wacko people and ideas out there.  It’s important to have the proper grounding in truth so as to recognize and repel the “clever cunning of men” (Eph. 4:14).

Already, we can see that the benefit of studying Biblical prophecy is self-evident. But there is even more to gain by engaging in the effective examination and application of the prophetic Scriptures. Here are four more reasons to do so:

IT IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF SPIRITUAL HEALTH

Popular pulpit themes today emphasize fostering “Christian community,” tithing, loving our neighbor, finding Jesus in our trials, showing care, and so on and so on. These approaches have their place, but churches that constantly sip their doctrines through a straw stay immature and unhealthy.

It wasn’t like this in the early church. When Paul taught his “baby Christians” in Thessalonica, he didn’t feed them the pabulum of socially-acceptable “devotionals.” He fed them real meat. If you compare the content of 2 Thessalonians against the backdrop of 1 Thessalonians, you will find Paul emphasized the doctrines of the end times.

The early church of Thessalonica may have only been weeks or months old, but Paul used his limited time with them to teach them about the antichrist, the Day of the Lord, the Rapture, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  In fact, Paul was direct in reminding them of this. He asked in 2 Thess. 2:5, “Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 

The cowards in our pulpits today could learn much from Paul’s example. Paul considered the prophetic Scriptures to be an essential part of spiritual health, and so he dispensed them up front.

IT AVOIDS IGNORANCE

Paul didn’t want the believers under his care to be “ignorant” and “uninformed” (1 Thess. 4:13), and so he compelled them to study and learn the prophetic Scriptures. Churches which avoid the prophetic themes of the Bible are far more “ignorant” than they think they are.

This matter takes on a critical dimension when we understand that “….the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). I’ll translate. You cannot fully comprehend the person and work of Jesus Christ until you study and understand the prophecies which reveal Him.

This is an ice cold dash of water to the face of anyone who has set aside Biblical prophecy as unimportant or as the “non-essential part of God’s Word.”  The truth is – they are showing their ignorance! They only partly know Jesus because they’ve chosen to partly learn of Him.

IT IS HELPFUL IN COUNTERACTING MATERIALISM

This is one of those “rubber meets the road” reasons. It’s a practical reality check. Do you want that new boat? How about that second kitchen you’re planning to build? Do you really need 55 pairs of shoes?  Why does your family of four have seven mountain bikes?

The truth is that most of us have too much stuff. It clutters our lives, our closets, our garages, our storage spaces, and even our yards. It also clutters our relationships, clouds our values, and claims our heart (Matt. 6:21).

He who dies with the most toys doesn’t win anything, and he may lose something so much more important. A proper understanding of the truth that we won’t take our material possessions with us, that we don’t even own our very lives, and that it’s all going to disappear anyways (2 Peter 3:10, Luke 12:20) keeps our hearts and minds in the place they need to be.

The penitent study of Biblical prophecy reinforces to us over and over that we need to get our priorities right. It motivates us to frame our decisions with an eternal perspective. As the words of the great hymn say, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace.”  So true!

IT HELPS US TO WORSHIP

I need to be blunt here. “Worship” is not throwing up your waving arms, rolling your eyeballs back in your skull, twitching spasmodically, and divesting yourself of any conscious engagement with Biblical truth. The time of “praise and worship” in many churches today is little more than emotional frothing in a sea of peer pressure.

True worship is an issue of the heart, and its expression is seldom defined or measured by prescriptive outward antics. It is the result of encountering God and His divine truth, and subordinating one’s will to His ways. It stems from a permanent relationship rather than a passing ritual.

By its divinely-ordained nature, reverent worship follows the recognition that God has revealed Himself to us. It is only divine truth – and a right response to it (see Rev. 1:3) – which can impact our emotions so that our worship brings proper glory and honor to God.

All of God’s truth, including His absolute sovereignty in our lives, holds infinite value to the humble heart, and it is worthy of our greatest passion. It is why Job – after receiving wave after wave of traumatic news – “fell to the ground and worshipped” (Job 1:20). How many of us would do the same thing in response to similar pain?

I confess I’m not moved much by most praise and worship songs today. But one song hits me at my core nearly every time: “Revelation Song,” originally written by Jennie Lee Riddle. The words are straight out of prophetic Scripture (Revelation 4), and they are a resplendent and awesome picture of our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Really – worship is a right response to encountering God, and the prophetic Scriptures compel us to see God in a way that is vital to our faith. As we take in the magnificence of what is yet coming, our hearts and minds are moved to deep and passionate – and true! – worship.

The themes of this article are ones I could continue expanding on for a long time, but I wish to conclude by returning to the premise that the study of Biblical prophecy has multiple and profound benefits in the life of the faithful believer. Satan knows this fact very well, and so he’s done what he can to marginalize the importance of the prophetic Scriptures. Too many in the church today are heeding his seductions and abandoning the truth they need to embrace.

Sir Isaac Newton stated a long time ago, “About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition.”  We live in a time where his words ring true.

May the Holy Spirit graciously minister to our hearts and minds, and may we be led as faithful servants even more deeply into the wonderful truths and benefits of the prophetic Scriptures.

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I was dismayed to see a reader’s feedback to one of my articles, but it was not because he disagreed with my position or disliked the things I had to say. In fact, he was complimentary about how I’d arrived at my conclusions and how I’d expressed my views. What troubled me were his comments on the study of Bible prophecy itself.

He stated that he “….also used to be passionate about prophetic issues,” but he has since “wised up and realized the distraction it had become” to him. His conclusion was “….we need to focus on the issues of greater importance like reaching the unsaved, and teaching them the essential doctrines that are most vital to their faith.” He had a couple of creative ways to tell me I was majoring on the minors – and for good measure he tossed in his academic credentials to assure me he knew what he was talking about.

It’s not the first time I’ve received this sort of feedback. Usually, the rebukes are more direct and coarse. While it’s probably not a viable statistical assessment, I’ve noted that many of those who discount the importance of Bible prophecy also discount the importance of tact in explaining their views.

But – maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the one who’s misled here!

Maybe I have come down with a case of the “prophecy bug” and I’m just resisting proper treatment. Maybe the apocalyptic themes of Bible prophecy have so captured my affection for superficiality that they are keeping me from the issues I really should be emphasizing. Maybe my keen interest in the future is keeping me from being effective in the present.

Maybe if I matured more in my faith I’d see that God is focused on the church, and any support I have for Israel is misguided. Maybe every part of God’s Word really is “all about the Gospel.” Maybe – just maybe, I should focus on Jesus’ first coming and forget about His second coming. Maybe I’m exactly where Satan wants to keep me.

Or maybe not.

I’ve heard all this and much more like this many times. There is a constant stream of self-appointed advisors and experts who are happy to wax unendingly about all the things I’m doing incorrectly.

While I’m no authority on Biblical prophecy – I regularly follow those who deserve to be called that – I do confess to doing my part to evaluate prophetic issues constantly and carefully. I take seriously the command to “Study to show (myself) approved unto God….” (2 Tim. 2:15). As I do that, I share what I’m learning to the best of my abilities, and I leave the results of that to God.

I don’t seek detours around the truth that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). As I responsibly place the prophetic Scriptures on an equal plane with other parts of God’s Word, I see the mockers and doubters of Biblical prophecy for being the last days’ indicators that the Bible declares them to be (2 Peter 3:4).

But let’s get back to the primary issue here and ask ourselves, “Does the Bible have anything to say about the benefit of studying prophecy?” You bet it does! Let’s go through some of those things:

IT URGES US TO LIVE GODLY

It’s popular in many western churches to sing deliriously about near revivals. A sizeable portion of the modern church believes its calling is to usher in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ by continually growing its ministry. They see things getting better and better on their watch.

The assumptions behind such positions are often incompatible with Biblical truth. The prophetic Scriptures teach that societies and cultures will deteriorate as the end times get closer, and Jesus Himself said it would become more and more “….like the days of Noah” (Matt. 24:37-39). According to Jesus, “….the love of many will grow cold” leading up to the time of His return (Matt. 24:12), and He even wondered if He would “….find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:8). Call it all what you will, but none of that is a positive trend, and it seems to me much of the church is out of touch with the truth.

That’s why the study of prophecy urges us to Godly living. It helps us to see the present and pending times accurately, and it exhorts us to see ourselves as “aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11) to this world and its ideas.  As we eagerly look for the Lord’s return, and as we regard the moral decay around us, we should be motivated to walk faithfully with our Lord and Savior (1 Peter 4:7; Romans 13:12-14).

IT GIVES US COMFORT AND HOPE

In the movie “The Shawshank Redemption,” Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, says, “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” It made for a great movie line at a pregnant moment of the script, but Red is wrong.

Make no mistake – this world is a very sick place. I’ve felt physically ill by some elements of the news and the expressions of sin. The spiritual darkness in America alone is palpable, and merchants of depravity are “locked and loaded.” They want a great deal more evil to be unleashed.

Hope, therefore, is a good thing – and the hope of leaving this planet and being with Jesus Christ keeps me going as it does for many people like me. For many of us, that real hope is centered on a wonderful theme of the prophetic Scriptures: our imminent rapture (Titus 2:13). Until such time, there is also real hope in properly understanding our true status in this life and the one to come (Philippians 1:21).

IT PROVIDES A BLESSING

Revelation 1:3 is straightforward: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

 This is the first of the “seven blessings of Revelation,” but the emphasis here is on the proper study and application of the prophetic Word of God. You cannot get much clearer than this. God places a direct link between a right response to Biblical prophecy and receiving a spiritual blessing.

God grants a special favor on those who hear and also “take to heart” what is read. You can read the prophetic Scriptures to your cat, but your cat cannot take those things “to heart.” But we can! And if we do, and if we properly value them and permit them to have their divinely-intended effect in our lives, then we will be recipients of God’s blessing.

IT GIVES US STABILITY

We are instructed to be Christians which are not “tossed to and fro” by false teachers and deceptive schemes (Eph. 4:14).  While this is an important instruction concerning the entirety of God’s Word, it seems especially applicable to prophetic themes.

One can take nearly any issue pertaining to the end times and find all sorts of interpretations and wild imaginations about it online. I’ve come to the conclusion that many people would rather embrace fiction than fact. I think it appeases something within their carnality that the accountability of truth does not.

 

It is terribly important to acquire the stability that comes from a responsible and reverent study of Bible prophecy. When loons proclaim the next date and time of the rapture, it is the sound study of God’s Word that tells us we cannot know this information. When blustery preachers pound the pulpit and proclaim that God has no more plan for the Jews, it is the calm assurance of God’s covenant relationship with His chosen people that keeps our hearts firm in the faith.

Many examples of what it means to have stability in the midst of “the cunning of men” could be stated, but one point rises as self-evident here. The disciplined study of God’s prophetic Scriptures provides a sure foundation to withstand the floods of deception that run rampant within the church today.

In the next installment of this article, I will explain some more benefits to the study of Biblical prophecy.  Till then, keep your attitude humble, your eyes lifted up, and your mind and heart secure in Christ.

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