Did you know that a great percentage of the Bible is prophetic? A lot of it has already been fulfilled and some is still to come. This verse in 1 Thessalonians says that we should not scoff at prophecy. This word scoff means to “count as nothing.” In other words, we should never discount prophecy. Let me clarify something… we should never discount biblical prophecy. The context of this verse says, “Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). There are a lot of “so-called” prophets in the church and more emerging every day. We must be very wary. But we can trust the Bible.
We should believe that what God says about the future He will do because He has a 100% accuracy rate. Every prediction about nations in Daniel has been fulfilled. Every Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus – hundreds of them.
I love learning prophecy. I’m surely not a scholar, but what God has called me to do the Holy Spirit helps me to do. That includes discerning prophetic messages. Of course, it helps that there have been many theologians who have done a lot of the hard work for sure. As I write our study on Daniel, I was blown away by Daniel 9:24-27 – a prophetic word unlike any other prophecy in the Bible. This is God’s timetable on the future of Israel and the holy city, Jerusalem.
There is a theology that has become popular in the church called Replacement Theology. This theology states that God has replaced Israel with the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. Daniel 9 gives us details of God’s future plan for Israel. And Romans 11 describes how Gentiles were grafted into God’s tree (the tree that is rooted in Israel). Paul didn’t say that God replaced the tree, but he said that we have been added.
I think today’s devotional is just to encourage you to not be afraid to study prophecy. You will want to join us this spring as we study Daniel. You will be in awe. I am so excited. Studying prophecy is a powerful way to see God’s plan and purposes throughout eternity, from beginning to end. It gives us a bird’s eye view of the whole scenario… a glorious scenario. Hope this encourages you today.