BIBLE PROPHECY #1
WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?
INTRODUCTION
People all over the world are asking the same question: “What on earth is going on?”
Understanding Bible prophecy can help us to answer that question . . . but there is a WARNING!
WARNING:
We can easily jump to false conclusions based upon one verse of Scripture. EXAMPLE: “ . . . there shall be famines, and pestilences and earthquakes in various places.” Matthew 24:7
False Conclusion: “The Corona Virus is a pestilence so we must be in the Tribulation . . . we have been left behind!” Believe it or not, that is the false conclusion many people are taking because of the world-wide pandemic. People jump to false conclusions about anything that may remind them of a verse from the Bible!
Covid 19 is not the first plague to hit mankind: The Bubonic Plague in the 14th century killed half the population in Europe! (75 to 200 million deaths!)
Current events should NOT be simply ignored!
Jesus warned the people of Israel –
“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2-3
We shouldn’t ignore what is going on in our world . . . and in this study we want to be discerning both of Biblical prophecies and current events but we need to observe current events in the light of ALL the Bible prophecies!
To avoid confusion it is important to get the BIG PICTURE of Biblical prophecy. To get the big picture of Bible prophecy we must begin in the Old Testament where the foundation for all Bible prophecy begins. We often think that BIBLE PROPHECY is just about WHAT and WHEN . . . but Bible prophecy is much more as we shall learn below.
First . . . let’s see how much you have already learned. The quiz is both fun and helpful in remembering what you have already read:
TAKE THE QUIZ:
#1 Why do some people think that the Tribulation has already begun and that we have been "left behind"? (3 answers)
#2 How many people died from the Bubonic Plague that hit Europe in the 14 Century? (2 answers)
#3 What did Jesus warn the people about in Matthew 16:2-3?
1. BIBLE PROPHECY: Just about WHAT and WHEN?
We often think that BIBLE PROPHECY is just about future events . . . WHAT is going to happen and WHEN! But Bible prophecy is much more than that!
2. BIBLE PROPHECY is also a testimony of the ACCURACY and TRUTH of the Scriptures.
EXAMPLE: God’s prophesied judgement upon the ancient city of Tyre.
“Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause MANY NATIONS to come up against thee, as the sea causes its waves to come up.
And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God, and it shall become a spoil to the nations. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon . . . . He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field . . . they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water . . .
And I will make thee like the top of a rock; thou shalt be a place to spread the nets upon, thou shalt be built no more; for I, the LORD, have spoken it, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel 26:3-14
REMARKABLE FULFILLMENT OF EZEKIELS PROPHECY AGAINST TYRE:
King Nebuchadnezzar sent his Babylonian army to besiege the city of Tyre. After thirteen years they finally gave up because the King of Tyre and his army (and riches) escaped to an island off the coast of the ancient city. The defenders of Tyre had placed huge stone columns in the water around the island and this protected them from a naval invasion!
The exact fulfillment of Ezekiels prophecy:
241 years later, Alexander the Great also came against the city of Tyre . . . and he knew that he could not conquer the city by a naval invasion. So he began building a road or causway out to the island.
Just as the prophet Ezekiel had declared:
1. Many nations came against Tyre (Babylon and Greece).
2. The walls of Tyre were totally destroyed.
3. They scraped the dust from Tyre and made it like the top of a rock.
4. The original site of Tyre became a place to spread fisherman’s nets.
5. Alexander’s army threw all the timbers, rocks, walls, and even the dust into the sea.
6. The original site of the city of Tyre has never been built again!
BIBLE PROPHECY is indeed a remarkable testimony of the ACCURACY and TRUTH of all the Scriptures!
3. Studying BIBLE PROPHECY also provides a huge PERSONAL BENEFIT for each of us:
PERSONAL EXAMPLE: I became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ on my 16th birthday. I was playing football in a high school near Grand Rapids, Michigan. One night after practice, the whole team decided to go to a nearby fair. We all jumped in cars and off to the fair we went. Suddenly, the whole team was in a burlesque side show. The guys on the team were having a great time . . . but I was absolutely miserable. Here I was, a brand new Christian and the Spirit of God was convicting me big time! One of the first things I learned after accepting Christ as my Savior, was that Jesus was coming back . . . and the Rapture could happen at any moment. I was standing there in a girlieshow and praying – “Lord . . . please don’t come right now. Get me out of here and I will never do this again!”
Understanding the message of Biblical prophecy can have and should have a positive effect upon how we live our lives! I was a perfect example of that!
“And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” 1 John 3:3
Not only does the knowledge of Jesus’ return purify our lives, but the Lord even promises to bless those who study His prophetic Word and keep those truths in their hearts as we read in the Book of Revelation:
“Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand.” Revelation 1:3
SO WHERE DO WE START IN THE STUDY OF BIBLE PROPHECY?
Is the Book of Revelation a good starting point?
NOTE: New Testament prophecies cannot be understood until we understand Old Testament prophecies. The prophets of the Old Testament laid the foundation for understanding God’s plan for the ages. Without the BIG PICTURE of prophecy, great confusion can result and we can jump to all sorts of wrong conclusions!
We will start our study of the prophetic Scriptures by looking at the prophecies of the prophet DANIEL. Daniel tells us WHAT is going to happen and gives us hints about WHEN these things are going to happen but he also tells us some very practical and life-changing truths as well!
A COUPLE MORE QUIZ QUESTIONS!
#4 Fulfilled prophecy is a testimony about what? (2 answers)
#5 What is the name of the capitol city that God said He would destroy? (Ezekiel chapter 26)
#6 Who were the two kings that besieged the city of Jerusalem? (2)
#7 What were some of the things that happened to Tyre just like the Prophet Ezekiel had prophesied? (4)
the Book of Daniel is both PROPHETIC and very PRACTICAL!
Daniel 1:1-2 . . . “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, came Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah into his hand."
What does this passage have to do with Bible PROPHECY and a PRACTICAL warning for us today?
Jerusalem came under the judgment of God just as the Prophet Jeremiah had prophesied . . . so this speaks passage also speaks of the ACCURACY of the Scriptures.
“Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.” Jeremiah 19:15
"And this whole land shall be a desolation, and a horror; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years.” Jeremiah 25:11
The city of Jerusalem was TOTALLY DESTROYED
The city of Jerusalem was TOTALLY DESTROYED by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC
WHY would the LORD destroy Jerusalem, the city where the Temple was built?
1. The sins of Manasseh
2 Kings 24:3-4 "At the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight, for the sins of Manasseh . . . and also for the INNOCENT BLOOD that he shed . . . for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.”
Wicked King Mannaseh led the people into gross immorality and perversion. He also caused his own newborn son and thousands of innocent babies to be sacrificed at the demonic idols of Baal which he had set up in Jerusalem. The Bible says that “he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.” 2 Kings 21:2
APPLICATION:
"Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man (or nation) sows, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7
Any person or nation that rebels against the ways of God will eventually face the righteous judgment of God. We have every reason to fear for the future of our own nation as we have turned against the Lord and His Word. The attitude of modern society is totally opposite of the teaching of Scripture as we murder the unborn, live in immortality and perversion, and have expelled God from every public institution including our classrooms.
Is there hope for America? There is! But our hope will not come from courrupt political leaders.
2 Chronicles 7:14 . . . "If my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
The hope for America (and all nations) is genuine repentance and returning to the ways of Biblical righteousness.
WHY did God destroy His own city of Jerusalem?
2. The people did not serve God joyfully or out of love!
"Because you do not serve the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in lack of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he has destroyed you.”
Deuteronomy 28:47-48
The people were serving God out of duty and mere religious ritual . . . and God says that He HATES mere religious activity:
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE: "I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.” Amos 5:21-24 (See also Isaiah 1:10-18)
3. The people also owed God seventy years!
The Lord had instructed the people of Israel to let the land rest every seven years but they refused to obey and planted their crops year after year . . . this disobedience went on for 490 years! (See Jeremiah 25:11 Leviticus 25:1-7)
God had told them to let the land rest every seven years . . . but the people disobeyed God all those years! You do the math: 490 / 7 = ____ years
APPLICATION ! God means exactly what He says and says what He means! EVERY WORD THAT GOD DECLARES IS TRUE!
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness . . .” 2 Timothy 3:16
DOCTRINE tells us what is RIGHT . . .
REPROOF tells us what is NOT RIGHT . . .
CORRECTION tells us how to GET RIGHT . . .
INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS tells us how to STAY RIGHT!
FINISH UP THE QUIZ!
#9 What were the "sins of Mannaseh” that caused God to bring judgment against Jerusalem? (3)
#10 What were some of the reasons that God sent His people to Babylon for 70 years of captivity? (2)
#11 According to 2 Chronicles 7:14, what is the only hope for nations today that live in immorality, perversion, and kill their innocent babies? (3)
GOOD JOB!
Were you able to find all of the correct answers?
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