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Five Truths About Bible Prophecy
The prophetic material in the Bible distinguishes it from every other book in the world. Around 30 percent of the Bible contains prophecy, and most of the prophecies relate to the end times.
Sometimes people ask me why the Bible says so much about the end times, or about the final generation of humanity. One of the main reasons for this is because more people are alive right now, on earth, than have ever lived at all times over the history of the world.
In the first century, when the New Testament was being written and around the time of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, there were probably only around 200 million people in the world.
The world didn’t hit a population of 1 billion people until 1804. It took more than a century—until 1927—for that population to double to 2 billion.
According to projections from the United Nations, the global population will reach 8 billion next year.
Maybe the Bible talks so much about this generation because it isn’t just the final generation, but the most populous generation and He wants to instruct and comfort as many of His children as possible.
I also believe there is another significant reason. These are very serious times, and the last days will be the most severe time in human history. Don’t just take my word for it. Pay attention to what Jesus said:
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”—Matthew 24:21-22
For our sake, God has given us end-times prophecy so we can be prepared for what is to come. He wants us to have hope and peace in the midst of all the turmoil.
Here are five other truths about Bible prophecy.
1. The only One who can predict the future with absolute certainty is He who controls it.
If not God Himself, then this truth refers to any direct representative of the One who controls the future. Since God controls the future, then God’s messages about the future are our only reliable source of truth about it.
The prophet Isaiah put it this way:
The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying,
“Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand…”
—Isaiah 14:24
2. God gives us prophecy to warn unbelievers and comfort believers.
How do you respond when you hear the prophecies of the Bible? If they make you fearful, then maybe you aren’t ready for the return of the Lord. Maybe you need to make some changes in your life.
But do they make you hopeful? Through a proper understanding of Bible prophesy, you lose all fear and dread of the end and instead look forward to it. I want you to understand end-times prophecy so you can be comforted and be able to contextualize the events occurring in the world.
The idea of hope is conveyed throughout the Bible, but Jesus gives us what is called “a living hope” in 1 Peter:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.—1 Peter 1:3-5
3. Prophecy gives us assurance that all the Bible is true.
The Bible tells the truth about the future. How do we know? Because many things the Bible tells us will happen have already happened. As God fulfills what the Bible foretells, we have concrete, measurable proof that the Bible and its prophecies are true.
The Old Testament book of Numbers makes this clear:
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
—Numbers 23:19
4. The Bible and the Christian faith have no rival that can help us understand the future.
No other book in the world and no other religion can come close to predicting the future in advance the way the Bible has done. There is only one God, and His version of events is our only sure picture about what will happen in the future.
For instance, Jesus predicted His own future in the Gospels:
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.—Matthew 16:21
He predicted His own betrayal by Judas (Matthew 26:21-22), that His disciples would leave Him afterward (Matthew 26:31-32), and that Peter would disown Him three times (Matthew 26:33-34). In that same passage, Jesus predicted his Resurrection.
He predicted the coming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of his disciples in Acts 1:8. He predicted that His words would “by no means pass away” in Matthew 24:35, and here we are, two thousand years later, still discussing those words.
An enormous number of detailed prophecies in the Bible have come true.
5. Confirmation of the Bible’s truth depends on the truth of its prophetic writings.
If all those remaining prophecies in Scripture don’t come true, then the credibility of the entire Bible is in jeopardy, including its claims about Jesus Christ. But this isn’t something that should worry us. There is no mystery, because the Bible’s truth is easy to measure. We can know the accuracy of the Bible’s prophecies because they are incredibly specific.
The prophecies about Israel are a great example of this. I’ve already written this post detailing five fulfilled prophecies involving Israel. I encourage you to read it, but here’s a partial list of prophecies fulfilled within the past century:
Israel is regathered twice. (Isaiah 11:10-12)
Israel is regathered from the north (Jeremiah 16:14-15)
Israel is born in a single day (Isaiah 66:8)
Jerusalem is retaken by the Jews (Luke 21:20-24)
Israel remains divided (Joel 3:1-2)
All of these things have come to pass.
Over and over again, we have seen God fulfill the promises and predictions He gave us in the Bible. This provides us measurable, concrete proof that the Bible and its prophecies are true.
These are fascinating and exciting days as we see, in our generation, how God is fulfilling what He promised in Scripture.