Prophecy Revealed & Blessed

I mentioned in my initial blog post that prophecy comprises a significant portion of the Bible.  God’s servants, the prophets, wrote up to one-third of Bible text that involves future events described from a prophetic perspective.  Just from that alone, it should be evident that prophecy is important to God.

However, God doesn’t stop there, He makes it clear by stating in His Word that prophecy is one means for Him to communicate with His people.

Amos 3:7 says: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

Here we see that God wants to inform us of the future.  We are to know what’s next.  God’s heart is that we discern and understand the times.

The Book of Revelation is often avoided by Christians.  They say it’s too scary or confusing; as a result, it must not be for them.  I beg to differ.  Revelation is one of the 66 books of the Bible that comprise the entire Word of God.  He didn’t allow it be part of Scripture and then tell us it’s all right to ignore it.

In fact, here is Revelation 1:3, which informs us: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

There is actually a special blessing to those who read Revelation and other words of prophecy.  But there’s also a caveat.  We’re to keep those things written here, in other words, to know them and make them a part of our lives.

But this little verse gives us even more.  It says, “the time is near.”  What time?  The time chronicled in this book.  Now, you may say, “This was written 2000 years ago.  Surely that time has passed or it’s simply not going to come.”  God’s Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11).  His Word will come to pass.  Remember a day to the Lord is like a thousand years to us (2 Peter 3:8).  We get impatient, but God has His own timeline.

Jesus gives us this encouragement in Revelation 22:7, where He says: “Behold, I am coming quickly!  Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

God’s revelation in Revelation is one we need to heed.  These things to come will be upon us more quickly than we think.  As a result, God warns us and tells us to prepare.  If you look at the world through a Biblical, prophetic lens everything that is happening around us will be much clearer, because that is exactly what God desires for us.

One final thing.  For those of us who study and heed Biblical prophecy, God has a promise for us.  In 2 Timothy 4:8 the Apostle Paul writes: “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

What could be better than that?  Through prophecy, we gain clarity as to what’s coming in this world and in the next, with Jesus in heaven.  He even gives us a crown of righteousness for being faithful to His Word, those of us who love Him enough to anticipate His soon return!

We are wise to heed God’s Word relating to the prophetic.  Jesus is all about prophecy as Revelation 19:10 informs us: “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

If you love Jesus, you should likewise love His prophetic Word.  In doing so, you’ll be blessed and receive great joy.

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