Prophecy fulfilled
is history, and understanding it is a matter of study. Prophecy future is expectation, and
understanding it is a matter of judgment.
Prophecy unfolding is a matter of discernment. And that, is the prophetic challenge, and its
likeness to history in general.
We can discuss what
has happened, and no one can say we are wrong because it has happened. We can discuss what may happen, and no one can prove
us wrong because it has not yet
happened.
The challenge comes
when we try to specify with certainty that prophecy is happening in the present
- now, around us, in front of us, and to us.
It is a challenge to prove or disprove with absolute certainty.
And yet, prophecy
to be fulfilled must happen, and happen in real time. Sometimes it happens in a moment, sometimes
longer, and sometimes over vast stretches of time, but it does happen, and
happens in real time. The challenge is
to see it, understand it, and deal with it.
The Incarnation of
the Messiah was prophesied centuries before it happened, but when it happened
it came in a moment. The life and times
of the Messiah were prophesied centuries before, but when they happened, they
unfolded in three and a half years. The Messiah
prophesied His second coming two-thousand years ago. When He comes, it will happen in a moment of
real time.
The prophetic challenge
with the present is that when it is happening it may be only vaguely recognized
or ignored, and those who raise the prospect of it actually happening are too
often scorned, rejected or worse.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it" (Luke 13:34).
Something intrinsically
wicked is happening to the history of the United States of America, and just
like the prophetic challenge with the present, too many are only vaguely
recognizing it, others are ignoring it, and those who are raising the prospect
of what is actually happening are being scorned, rejected and worse.
If greater detail
is needed, then you probably are either only vaguely aware of what is happening
or have chosen to ignore it. If you feel
a rise of rejection over my inference, then you probably will prefer to reject
the implications, and stop reading.
On the other hand,
if you know what I am referring to, then you are as "the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with
knowledge of what Israel should do" (I Chronicles 12:32).
So what should WE
do?
"He has told you, O man, what is good; And
what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to
walk humbly with your God"
(Micah 6:8).
"And do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the
will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).
That is what we
should do NOW!
We may still
struggle with the challenge of the present, but we will be guarded "so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for
we are not ignorant of his schemes" (II Corinthians 2:11).
