An Introduction To Prophecy

Humans like to be sure what to expect so they can plan ahead.   The response to Corona virus has reminded us that things can change dramatically very quickly.  Who would have ever thought on New Years day that three months later most of the businesses in the United States would be shut down and that we would be forbidden to leave our homes?  Not knowing how long the different states will maintain the lockdown, many people are wondering whether they will be able to survive or to keep their homes.  They are looking for somebody who can tell them what to expect, and numerous experts in the fields of medicine, economics and politics are making predictions.

For years, we have had experts trying to predict the weather, and even with the vast amounts of data we collect with modern means of communication and hundreds of years of records to compare it to, we can only make general predictions as to the probability of what the weather will do because there are too many variables we cannot predict that affect it.  Predicting the effects of the Corona virus scare will last has the same problems of being unable to predict how long people will live in fear or which companies will be unable to survive the lockdown. 

Fortunately, God created the world, and knows how each thing that happens affects the rest of the world because he is able to see into the future as well as the past.  He does not have to try to guess what the results will be.  He has not told us all the details, because with our rebellious nature, if we knew those details we would probably try to change them to make it turn out differently than he has planned.  Over the centuries, he has given people the information they needed to at the different times in order to protect those who believed in him, whether warning Noah about the flood, Joseph about the famine in Egypt, or the various prophets warning Israel about judgment to come if they did not change their actions. 

Today, the gift of prophecy has largely disappeared, because God has given us most of the prophecies we need in the scriptures.  When we look back at the ancient prophecies recorded there, we find that while most of them related to the things that were going on at the time, many foretold things far in the future, some of which have not yet happened.  The prophecy in Daniel 2, for example gives an outline of World history from about 605 BC until the return of Christ as king.  While not greatly detailed, it gives us a frame work for understanding how other, more detailed prophecies fit into the overall plan God has.  With that in mind, I would like to start this series with a study of that prophecy. 

Daniel 2:1 tells us when and how the prophecy came about.  “And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.”   Traditionally, historians have dated Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as starting about 605 BC, although there is considerable evidence it may not have started until about forty years later, or about 565 BC.  This is relevant because as Daniel 2:38 tells us, the prophecy starts with Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

One problem we find with understanding prophecies is that charlatans tend to interpret the prophecy in such a way as to benefit themselves.  They try to learn as much about the person they are talking to as possible in order to learn what will be most convincing to him.    Knowing this, when his prophets and wise men insisted they needed more information before they could interpret it, Nebuchadnezzar accused them of trying to make up a story in Daniel 2:9.  “But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof.”

Based on their inability to interpret his dream, Nebuchadnezzar ordered all the wise men executed as frauds.  One of the wise men, Daniel believed God could show the dream, and asked permission to try to learn what it meant before they were killed, as Daniel 2:12-16 describes.  “For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.  And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon: He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.  Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.”

When Daniel and his friends prayed, God revealed the meaning of the dream to them, in Daniel 2:17-19.  “Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.  Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.  Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.  I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter. “

When Daniel was brought before the king, Daniel made a deliberate point that only God could give an accurate interpretation, as Daniel 2:26-28a makes very clear.  “The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?

 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.”

That God is the only one able to truly interpret prophecy is a very important point.  Peter expands on this point in II Peter 1:19-21.  “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 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 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”  We can be sure that God’s prophecies are true, but they cannot be properly interpreted except as compared with other scriptures.  No priest or prophet or religious organization has the right to make up their own interpretation.  When properly interpreted, all of the prophecies by different prophets complement each other.  Contradictions indicate an improper interpretation, since God directed what each prophet was to say.