A Third Element of Prophecy

A Third Element of Prophecy

Beside the two aspects of prophecy mentioned in the last post, there is at least one other important element of prophecy -- foretelling the future. The book of Daniel as well as all of the various references to the city of Babylon and its antithesis, the city of Zion or Jerusalem, illustrate the prophetic foretelling of both the kingdom of man and the kingdom of G-d. Of course, the most important aspect of the prophetic message is the foretelling of the messiah and eternal king, who we know as Jesus. Jesus already fulfilled his prophetic role as messiah and will soon arrive to fulfill his prophetic role as king of kings, in order to rule over a new and eternally created order.

As I read the message of scripture, I find no alternative view as far as these points are concerned and it's not just me, they are summarized in the key elements of the Apostle's Creed, an essential schematic of the christian faith and doctrine. Sorry, there's no way around it, and if you reject any of the elements of the Apostle's Creed, your faith is not of the christian variety. Here it is:

I believe in G-d, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell. [See Calvin]

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of G-d the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed.html

Explicit or implied, the prophetic element is contained in this document. The third element is where I'd like to draw attention today -- the foretelling of future events. We await the arrival of king Jesus, and the world stage is set for his appearance. We have an explicit description of events leading up to the climax or deadend, as the case may be, of the age of man. In my view, the reason we are given these prophecies is the same as the reason for the many prophecies related to the first appearance of Jesus as the savior of the world, the Lamb of G-d who takes away the sins of the world. It was so those who were looking for him would know how to recognize him when he arrived. Just the same, those who are looking for his return will know what to look for just prior to his future visit. If you read the book of Daniel and the book of the Revelation, you can see that in Daniel's time as in our own time, events are being carefully choreographed by the One who wrote the script. He draws our attention to the more important, if not the most dramatic events. There are and have always been any number of distractions moving across the stage of history that tend to draw our attention to events that seem to be significant, until after the fact, when they take on the color of genuine non-events, just a past preoccupation. We can see any number of media circus side shows at any given moment in time, many if not all of which, turn out to be totally insignificant in the larger scheme of things. Does anyone even remember who Anna Nicole Smith was? Or do you recall who was with JFK Jr. when his aircraft went down? See what I mean? Yet, as Daniel writes about the end of time, we have been given a prophetic message of ultimate, absolute significance. The foretelling of future events is the single unique ability of the Creator, and by his good grace he invites us to heed the words of prophetic scripture.

Just the same as he wanted Daniel to know the future of Babylon and Daniel's own future, he invites us to see that he, the Almighty, is in complete control of the past, present and future. There is no need to be surprised, worried or the least bit doubtful about our future. The future is secure, because it is under the control of our creator and redeemer. Granted, it looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride down toward the end of the trail, but the destination of the Jesus Bus is certain. In the days ahead, we'll be able to take a closer look at what lies in the immediate future.

First, though, we need to wrap up the symbolism of the city of Babylon.