It may
appear that it does not matter how we interpret prophecy,
for how can prophetic events affect our way of life
and our salvation? If we look carefully into the Bible,
however, we find examples indicating that it does
matter how we view Bible prophecy.
One clear example is found in Matthew 24 where Jesus warned
the Jews about the coming invasion of the Romans into Jerusalem.
Jesus said:
"So when you see the
desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;
let him who is on the housetop not go down to take
what is in his house; and let him who is in the
field not turn back to take his mantle." (Matthew
24:15-18 RSV)
To the Jews that were living
at that time, this was a very important prophecy because
the Roman army later surrounded Jerusalem and the Jews
who understood the words of Jesus fled from the city
and were saved. Those who did not correctly understand
this prophecy stayed in the city to be trapped by the
Roman army and die in the seige that followed.
Another clear example is found in the Jews' rejection of Jesus.
If the Jewish people had correctly understood the Old Testament
prophecies which indicated that their Messiah would have to
suffer and even die before he could reign as king, then they
would not have rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Tragically,
most of the Jews did not understand Bible prophecy correctly,
since they expected the Messiah to overthrow the Romans in
their day and then establish the kingdom in Israel. Their
wrong understanding of prophecy caused them to reject Jesus
Christ!
Certainly from these two examples we can see how necessary
it is for us to have a correct understanding of Bible prophecies.
We also live in an age when we are looking for the Messiah
to come and establish his kingdom. No one desires to be in
the position where he or she might reject Jesus when he comes
because of an incorrect understanding of the prophetic events
related to his second coming. Yet the framework has already
been laid throughout Christianity for most Christians to do
exactly that. A sudden and rapid change has recently occurred
within most Christian churches that has completely altered
their prior understanding of the events at Jesus' second coming.
Many of these churches and their leaders have abandoned the
original teachings of their founders on this subject and have
replaced them with the belief that a satanic man (the future
Antichrist) will control the world for 7 years just prior
to the return of Jesus. This false teaching is preparing millions
of Christians throughout the earth to reject Jesus at his
return because they will be convinced, by the things he will
do, that he is "the Antichrist" and will oppose
him.
WHAT DOES
THE BIBLE TEACH?
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