How Much Can We Trust Modern Day Prophets?
Good Morning Friends,
In today’s scripture, Gabriel, the messenger, comes and offers wisdom and understanding and assurance to Daniel as he also offered Mary. Here we see in the midst of the world’s stark realities images that resonate with the experience of Jesus and his world…Here we see…during Holy Week… the roller coaster journey from elation to desolation and a return of hope. During Holy Week we are to see what Jesus saw… what Daniel saw. Jesus points to the way in Matthew. And as you read this backbone of Bible prophecy I hope you see the seeds of hope in the struggle. Here I hope we wonder what God could do in our lives if we too practiced the level of dedication that Daniel did…that Jesus the man did. For Daniel prayed and God revealed. When Jesus prayed God unsealed. As I was thinking about this a friend of mine reminded me of the desires of my heart I had back in my unexperienced youth. Back then I was filled with anticipation and awe. There was a song I listened to that started out like this: “When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with mars, then peace will guide the planet and love will fill the stars.” And if you know the next line, as my friend pointed out, you are older than dirt. I got it right away. “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” That was close to 50 years ago. It was a time of desegregation in the schools and the Vietnam War. Ouch. Where did all the time go? And the connection of events got me to thinking about prophesy and what it is and is not. And it got me to wondering. How Much Can We Trust Modern Day Prophets?
Scripture: and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Matthew 28:20 (NRSV)
So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
Matthew 24:15 (NRSV)
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
2 Peter 1:19-21 (NRSV)
If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise you omens or portents, and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (whom you have not known) ‘and let us serve them’, you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God—who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery—to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (NRSV)
While I was speaking, and was praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God– while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in a vision, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He came and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved. So consider the word and understand the vision: “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.”
Daniel 9:20-27 (NRSV)
Message: I am not much for astrology and crystal readings or for self-serving prophecies, but who in their right minds would not welcome an age of peace and love with all their hearts. Unfortunately what happened next in the late sixties of the last century was not love and peace sweeping the planet. But still I wonder if there was some truth to the prediction. Things have gotten better. The truth of the matter is that all humans love to peek around the corner to see a preview of what is coming if for nothing else than to eliminate the negative and accentuate the positives. Nobody I know knows the exact date of the beginning of the new age. Things are changing from Space travel to computers and robots. But the truth of the matter is that modern day prophets are pretty miserable at predicting the future. I do not know the actual numbers but I would guess they are right less than 10% of the time. And when it comes to predicting the return of the King. Well, they have all been wrong. We only tend to select in our memory those times they were correct on less important items. We give them a lot of slack, but Biblical prophets were held to a much higher standard. Heck, if they were wrong people put them to death. And if they were right well they did not fare much better if at all. So mothers do not let your children grow up to be prophets. It is a lousy business.
Now, the most important prophecy in the Bible is of course the coming of Christ. So too his coming was foretold in the sky. There, of course, was a time when Christ’s first coming was only a prophetic hope. It is interesting that Jesus did not mention Daniel’s prophecy as justification of his ministry. Instead Jesus described the signs and wonders he performed as fulfillments of Isaiah’s prophecy regarding giving the blind sight, the deaf hearing and the dumb speaking and the lame mobility. Jesus was more concerned about living out the prophecy through deeds rather than justifying it chapter and verse. The more important work was in his freeing act of redemption on the cross. He was then and is now and will always be the Messiah, but the more important reality is that he had victory over death…that our sins were forgiven. So now the evidence of the Lord’s first appearance is regarded as historic fact despite the reality that some rejected him. Even so his second coming has been a prophetic promise and hope for the faithful for centuries. And the key to it and in fact all Bible prophesy is the nation of Israel. There is no replacement for this reality. So get ready this Holy Week. Easter Sunday is coming. It really does not matter if the Age of Aquarius has begun and the age of Pisces has ended. These approximate 2100 year cycles are really of no critical importance. What is important is what we believe. So believe in Jesus and not just in his first coming. We do not know the day or time, but Jesus the King is coming again. On this future you can count.
Pray we not reject Jesus. Pray for the joy, love, peace and contentment that is found on the journey along The Holy and Heavenly Highway of Hope. Pray for His reign. Pray we trust His judgment. Pray we share in the restoration and relief that comes in sharing in the hope of God’s future kingdom and glory. Pray we see some of the beauty of God’s earthly reign even now as we rejoice in the miracle of nature, the restoration of life and the ransomed return to the Promised Land. Pray we take courage. Pray we not fear. Pray that we rejoice for we have repented.
Pray this Holy Week we allow God to complete His work in us and see what fruit our lives can produce. Pray we recognize opportunities for culture making. Pray we recognize the signs. Pray we not be remote from the Gospel. Pray we not so much try to be prophets as disciples. Pray for a surprising prosperity that can be shared through a belief in God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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