READING TIME: 2-3 MINUTES
December 10, 2019
Part 2, Practical Benefits to Studying Future Prophecy
Knowledge of Bible Prophecy Presents a Proper View of Our Age
By studying prophecy, we can discern where we are now and where God plans to take His world and us in the future. It is impossible to relate our current activities to His ultimate realities unless we understand His overall plan. Compare 1 Corinthians 7:31; Ephesians 5:16; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 1 John 2:18.
Knowledge of Bible Prophecy Can Remind Us That God is Good
The goodness of God means God is the final standard of good, and all God is and does is worthy of approval.
Life can be very painful.
But it is very encouraging to realize that God has written the final chapter of our history and the ending of this story is good for the children of God.
Taking us home is the ultimate good.
Knowledge of Bible Prophecy Can Motivate Us To Holy Living and Can Help Us To Establish Biblical Priorities
1 John 2:28 — Jesus’s sudden return for His children will result in either joy to some believers or shame to others.
The reality of future things sheds significant light on the great issues of life and helps us see what is most important.
2 Peter 3:10-13 – the coming judgments give ample reason for godly living. This type of piety will manifest itself by continual anticipation of a desire for Jesus’s second coming and the new heavens and new earth.
Living our life with conscious thought and a continual awareness about future realities.
This thought should change what we do with our time, money and resources.
The knowledge of future events can greatly help us in making better choices/decisions in the present as it reminds us of things that have eternal value.
Knowledge of Bible Prophecy Can Give Us Hope and Comfort in Our Sorrow
In this world, it is very difficult amid injustice, crimes unpunished, and sin running rampant. God’s prophetic promise of victory can comfort our sorrows and gives us incredible and lasting hope.
How encouraging to know that someday our troubles will end and we will be reunited with those believing loved ones who have died.
If there is anyone who ought to live with positive confidence in this world, it is the child of God. See Titus 2:13.
If there is anyone who ought not to live constantly under a blanket of defeat, fear, and depression, it is the child of God.
God will accomplish everything that He has promised!
God wants us to change the way we think, behave, and the way we view Him as a result of what we know will happen in the future.
See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Peter 1:7-9.
Knowledge of Prophecy Promotes Evangelism and Can Be a Stimulus to Service
This kind of knowledge can be a great stimulus to service – see Matthew 24:45-51; Luke 19:13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10f.
In the early days of the church, thousands came to salvation in Christ as they listened to the first two sermons that were mainly prophetic – see Acts 2:16-36 and 3:18-26.
Bible Prophecy Is Important in Biblical Revelation
25% of the Bible was prophecy when written; 20% of Paul’s writings are prophecy.
In his classic study, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, J. Barton Payne identifies some 1239 predictions in the OT involving some 6,641 verses or 28.5% of the OT text. In the NT he finds 578 predictions in 1,711 verses or 21.5% of the text. So, for the entire Bible’s 31,124 verses, 8,352 contain predictive material or 27% of the whole Bible.