How Can We Know That Prophecies Are Real?

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

• Bible Accuracy
• Prophecy

Q.  How do I show somebody with a limited knowledge of the Bible that the prophecies it contains are real and are an important part of scripture (I understand it to comprise between 28-30% of scripture depending on who you ask), and that the whole point of God speaking through His prophets was to give us insight into events to come and not just confuse us?

A. The best way to validate prophecy is to look at God’s track record. We’ve got nearly 6000 years to work with here but let’s just take the life of Jesus as an example. Even people with limited knowledge of the Bible know several things about the birth of Jesus from their childhood that you can use for this.

There are about 300 prophecies that were given between 500 and 1000 years prior to His birth, but the most popular ones are the one about Him being born in Bethlehem, (Micah 5:2),  being born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14),  riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zech 9:9), or being betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver with the money going to a potter to buy a field (Zech 11:12-13).  There’s also His crucifixion and the fact that the soldiers would divide up his clothes (Psalm 22:16-18), and that He’d come back from the grave (Isaiah 53:11).

Look these up with your friend to show that all the prophecies of the 1st Coming were fulfilled just like God said they would be so we would know that the ones concerning His 2nd Coming will be fulfilled literally too.

Israel’s Coming Battles and The Rapture

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

• End Times
• Ezekiel 38
• isaiah 17
• Israel
• Prophecy
• Psalm 83
• Rapture

Q. I used to believe that the Rapture would need to happen before either Psalm 83 or Ezekiel 38 could occur.  My reasoning was that as long as America was both a super-power and Israel’s ally, no one would dare attack Israel (although it never stopped the Arabs in the past, I was thinking more along the lines of Russia and Iran). With our economy on precipice and the world no longer fearing us (watch the news), I’ve begun to think that the Rapture would not be necessary to weaken America sufficiently to encourage Israel’s enemies to attack.  And having just read your article about the Restrainer, the sad thought that the Rapture might not occur until after the battles of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 entered my mind.

Since Paul stated that the Restrainer (Holy Spirit) will be removed at the “proper time” to reveal the anti-Christ, wouldn’t that suggest that the Restrainer would be removed just before the opening of the first seal rather than at an earlier point in time (e.g. before either Psalm 83 or Ezekiel 38)?

A.  I have always said the rapture does not have to precede the fulfillment of prophecies in Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83, only that it could.  But I do believe the rapture has to precede the Battle of Ezekiel 38 because that’s when God will turn His attention toward Israel again, permitting the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week. To me Ezekiel 39:22, Acts 15:13-18 and Romans 11:25 all support this view.

I also believe Rev. 4-5 contain John’s view of the rapture of the Church and show that it will precede Rev. 6 which describes the beginning of Daniel’s 70th Week.