[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Divine Healing vs. Faith Healers

There’s great emotion in the air. The organist is playing a sentimental hymn, people are looking upward, waving their arms with tears streaming down their cheeks. A blind man is escorted onto the stage by an attendant.

The popular evangelist asks him how long he has been blind, and does he believe Jesus will heal him? He answers, “From birth and yes, I believe!”

The evangelist then hits the poor man on the forehead while loudly commanding, “Be Healed!” The man falls backward in some kind of trance into the arms of an attendant, and when he awakes, he blinks a few times and shouts “Thank you Jesus—I can see.” And the crowd erupts in cries of “Praise the Lord.”

Thinking people wonder: Was this real? Or was it a show contrived by well-rehearsed actors?

This is an important question as there is reason to believe these supposed healings are, more often than not, deceptions played out on ignorant people.

However, the Bible proclaims that God does supernaturally heal, and we read of Jesus healing all manner of sickness and infirmities. Were these real, or was Jesus the first to exploit gullible people seeking relief from desperate physical circumstances?

I’ll address the subject of divine healing.

• Is it for real? Can you experience it?
• Are there requirements to obtain it and if so, what are they?
• And what does it mean if I go to God and I’m NOT divinely healed?

There are good reasons for asking these questions. Frankly, dear friends, so-called faith healers, have a checkered reputation and many have been exposed as frauds.

I first heard of this subject at an early age from a Sunday School teacher who spoke of one of the most famous faith healers of the last century. He reportedly healed the blind, the deaf, the crippled. There were even reports of raising the dead.

And as a young teenager, this was comforting. If some terrible sickness came upon me, I would go to one of his tent meetings and all would be okay. But at some point, he forsook his charismatic past to go more mainstream, and he claimed that God spoke to him to build a research center to find a cure for cancer.

I remember wondering at the time, if he could heal by simply laying hands on people, why would he turn to painful radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery? But by that time, I was older, and wiser, and knew the answer.

The 20th century saw more than its share of traveling faith healers. They would come into town, set up a tent, hand out flyers and post on billboards. Desperate people would flock to hear the preacher and get in line to be made whole. But somehow, the truly needy locals never made it to the front of the line.

Now does this mean that there is no God and that He does not intervene for those who know Him and sincerely trust in Him?

Dear friends, God does exist and you can prove it for yourself. Scientists have learned over the last 75 years that laws govern the universe and also just how complex life truly is. Biologists know that it is mathematically impossible for life to spontaneously occur but many refuse to accept God as the cause for life. The Apostle Paul called out skeptics, such as these, who should know better.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:18–20).

Long before Paul, an ancient king proclaimed:

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1).

That has never been truer than it is today for anyone who honestly looks into the marvels of life. Therefore, if God created life, does He not have the power to fix what is broken?

God’s Power and Authority Given to His True Servants

And if the Bible is the word of God, and Jesus is our Savior—as many of us believe—then we must accept that God does intervene in the lives of people and heals them supernaturally. For, as we read (in Matthew 4:23):

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

But did divine healing end with Jesus’ ministry? You may be thinking, “That was then and that was Jesus. What about today and what about me?”

Part of Jesus’ ministry was that of healing the sick—but it did not stop with our Savior. He sent out twelve disciples on their own with authority to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Notice it in Luke 9.

Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases…. So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere (Luke 9:1, 6).

Many are aware of this, but do you realize that Jesus gave this power and authority to seventy others? We read of that in Luke 10:1.

After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go…. And [to] heal the sick there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:1, 9).

So what about now? What about you? Does Christ give that authority to His servants today? Can you therefore be healed?

Here’s the great commission given by Christ to all who genuinely believe in His name.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:15, 17–18).

A clarification is needed on this passage as some think it means something entirely different from what was meant. Jesus was not promoting the misguided practice of snake handling or drinking poison. We read in 2 Kings 4:38–41:

[Now Elisha] said to his servant, “Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.” So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were…. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it. So he said, “Then bring some flour.” And he put it into the pot, and said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

We also read of the Apostle Paul shipwrecked on the Island of Malta. The natives of the island started a large fire to warm their wet and weary visitors. Paul helped gather some fuel for the fire and was bitten by a poisonous snake. Notice Acts 28:3–5.

But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

Any objective reader realizes that in both cases, these were not examples of showing off one’s faith in a religious service, but accidents for which God intervened.

Jesus’ command in Mark 16, to heal the sick, was obviously for His servants down through the ages, so the question remains: “If God heals today, will He heal me?”

Bible Reference on Healing: What to Do When You’re Sick

Do you realize that the Bible gives clear instructions of what to do when you are sick? Write down this passage and look it up for yourself in your own Bible: James 5:14–15.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Follow the Instructions in James 5:14–15

So our first key to understand God’s healing is to:

1. Obey the instructions given in James 5:14–15.

Now this is not the whole story. It is important to know where God is working, as He is not working in everyone who claims to be one of His servants. This is a large subject in itself, but I encourage you to read and meditate on 2 Corinthians 11. There is much contained in the instructions given by James in the fifth chapter, and this is why we hope you will avail yourself of our free resource, Does God Heal Today? But for now, key number one is obey the instructions given in James 5:14–15.

Healing Requires Faith | Hebrews 11:6

Two blind men came to Jesus requesting to receive their sight and Jesus put this straightforward question before them (Matthew 9:28–30).

And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened.

Therefore, key number 2 is:

2. The importance of faith.

It may come as a surprise, but even Jesus was limited in what He could do where there was no faith. We learn this when He visited His hometown of Nazareth.

Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching (Mark 6:5-6).

The author of Hebrews, whom we believe based on the evidence, was Paul, had this to say about the importance of faith. You can read it in chapter 11, verse 6.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Healing and Obedience to God | Acts 5:32

And this brings me to our third key:

3. The importance of obedience.

It is difficult for us to imagine but not everyone was happy when people were healed. God worked remarkable miracles through the early apostles, as we read in Acts 5, beginning in verse 16.

Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison (Acts 5:16–18).

This was not the end of the story. God sent an angel to supernaturally release them and commanded them to go right back to the temple complex in the morning and teach the words of life. This landed them once again in the hot seat before the council. And when the high priest strongly rebuked them for preaching in the name of Jesus, the apostles boldly responded.

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men…. And we are His witnesses to these things [the healing of a crippled man], and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him (Acts 5:29, 32).

All of us experience injury and sickness, causing discomfort, pain, and suffering. A trip to a doctor often involves jabbing, cutting, and administering chemicals that add more pain. This Tomorrow’s World program is about divine healing, and the question on many minds is, “Does God heal today, and if so, can I be healed?”

Forgiveness of Sins and God’s Healing | Isaiah 53:5

Now nothing that I say on this program should be taken as advice NOT to go to a doctor. Most doctors are well-meaning and knowledgeable about the human body. And they can certainly be helpful, but they mostly deal with the effects rather than the causes of our afflictions.

And that brings me to another key regarding God’s healing:

4. Divine healing involves forgiveness of sin.

Jesus kept the Passover with His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed, and in doing so He instituted symbols of a New Covenant. Those symbols—unleavened bread and wine—were part of the traditional Passover, but He gave them new meaning.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26–28).

The wine symbolized His shed blood. We’ve all sinned and the penalty for breaking God’s law—which is the definition of sin—is death. The life is in the blood, and Jesus’ blood was shed to pay for our lives. But what is the purpose of the broken bread?

The prophet Isaiah reveals this significant truth.

Surely He has borne our griefs (Isaiah 53:4).

Now the original in Hebrew is literally “sicknesses.”

And carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4).

And again, the literal is “pains.”

Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4–5).

The pain and suffering Jesus went through was for our healing, both spiritually and physically. He paid the consequences of our sins—not only the death penalty, but sin’s physical penalty, which is pain and suffering.

The Connection Between Sin and Sickness

There is a direct connection between sin and disease. Why is this not understood? Sexual promiscuity brings many afflictions: HPV, syphilis, gonorrhea, HIV and AIDS, just to name a few. Gluttony and overindulgence in food and drink take a toll on our bodies. Smoking, vaping, and the use of recreational drugs lead to many known afflictions. Envy, uncontrolled anger, and other harmful thought patterns negatively affect the mind and the body. This is why James added this comment when calling for an elder to pray for our healing.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (James 5:15-16).

Jesus upset the scribes of His day when He connected healing of a paralyzed man with His authority to forgive sin. Let’s notice Matthew 9, beginning in verse 2 and what it says there.

Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” And at once some of the scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes!” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?” (Matthew 9:2–5).

The connection between sin and sickness was so strong that the Pharisees assumed that any sick person or his parents must have sinned, but Jesus showed that this was not the case. Notice John 9:3.

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

However, most afflictions are caused by our sins or that of others. The drunk driver that plows into you is guilty, not you.

Repentance and Healing

But more often than not, we are the cause of our afflictions. And this brings me to my fifth key:

5. The need for repentance.

Why would God heal you if you continue to do the things that brought painful penalties upon you in the first place?

Forgiveness doesn’t require perfection, but it does require an attitude of repentance—a sincere desire to change.

We may not always know specifically what we have done, or what has been done to us to cause sickness, but we need to repent of our sins, and true repentance begins with understanding what sin really is.

The world has many opinions, but the key is knowing what the Bible says, believing what Jesus Christ taught, and being willing to follow those instructions.

To understand the real meaning of sin—and why it matters so much to your life and to your future—we need to go to the true source of authority on sin and repentance, and that’s the word of God.

So watch this next video defining sin straight from the pages of the Bible.

For blessed are those who hear the word of God—and keep it (Luke 11:28).

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Finding God’s Protection as the World Prepares for War

We live in times of startling upheaval. The Middle East continues to be a source of global chaos and instability. Alliances are breaking and reshaping at blinding speed. The systems and institutions on which our modern civilization depends—economic, governmental, medical, scientific, educational—all continue to prove themselves unworthy of our trust, yet with no alternatives to replace them. News programs seem to carry a litany of tales of suffering—not only on a global scale, but also the intimate and personal.

There has never been a time in human history when the entire world needed to pay more attention to Bible prophecy, yet many don’t.

God has given us Bible prophecy for a reason, and the times in which you and I are living, right now, make understanding those reasons more important than ever.

Today, we want to make those reasons plain, and to equip you to do more than wonder about prophecy—we want you to understand it.

Now, if you have watched Tomorrow’s World for any length of time at all, you already know that we don’t shy away from prophecy. In fact, we spend quite a bit of time with it, because it helps to make sense of the world around us, even as that world appears to be descending into chaos.

With the previous power structures of the Middle East detonating before our eyes, with national economies continuing to teeter on the brink of crumbling, with ethnic and racial tensions on the rise in multiple states and nations, world leaders are growing ever more worried about what lies ahead.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told his colleagues in June 2025:

“To preserve peace, we must prepare for war. Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy” (“NATO Secretary General invokes spirit of Churchill to spur on NATO defence spending.” Euro-sd.com, June 10, 2025).

And preparing for war is exactly what nations across the globe are doing, as munitions factories fire into production, engineers pour their passions into new forms of warfare, and governments scramble to find the billions they need to survive the conflicts they see on the horizon.

But unless they understand Bible prophecy, today’s leaders won’t be able to understand how events are being moved into place into their final end-game positions.

Anyone not paying attention to Bible prophecy is simply not getting it. And they are failing to truly understand the news at the very time when understanding it is increasingly becoming a matter of life and death.

In fact, in early 2026, a popular online “prediction market”—essentially a gambling site focused on different events—was taking bets on the just when a nuclear Armageddon would finally begin (“Betting on nuclear war: what are prediction markets and could they come to the UK?” TheGuardian.com, March 6, 2026).

If ever there were a time when Bible prophecy could help us understand what’s going on in the world, now is that time. And yet, so many professing Christians—and so many professing Christian churches—don’t spend any time on prophecy at all.

When they do, it’s often seen as a mere curiosity or distraction—something that’s not really part of the “important stuff” in the Bible—not related to your salvation in any way. Or it might be considered somewhat important, but it seems too confusing to spend time on, with all of its symbols and imagery—seven-headed beasts, and strange creatures and statues. Some worry that they just can’t make sense of it, and that there just isn’t any spiritual profit to them personally if they spend any time in it.

“Man shall not live by bread alone” | Matthew 4:4

Yet, when you go through the Bible verse by verse, you find that, by some counts, at least one-fourth of the entire Bible is prophecy. How big is that?

Well, from the beginning of the Bible, ignoring a fourth of the Bible would be like ignoring Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and 1 Samuel—maybe parts of 2 Samuel, too. Or from the other end, cutting out the last fourth of the Bible would be like removing most of the New Testament. Could God possibly want us to ignore that much of His word?

We don’t have to guess at the answer to that question. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who inspired the word of God, is the same one who admonishes us very directly in Matthew 4:4.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

And my friends, every word means every word—including the words of prophecy.

Today, all of us here at Tomorrow’s World want to encourage you to understand Bible prophecy—not to hold it out at arm’s length, but to begin studying it, to learn from it, to gain from it all the things God intends for you in His prophetic word. And He intends a lot.

In particular, we want to explain to you what the purpose of prophecy is. When you begin to see its purpose, you begin to appreciate why God gives prophecy, what He is trying to accomplish with it, and what its impact in your own life can be. Plus, prophecy provides context for events we see in the world today.

The Middle East has been shaken by Iranian leaders who look to their Muslim faith as justification for war and atrocity. On the other side of that conflict, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke of the American military, saying:

“The providence of our almighty God is there protecting those troops” (“Pete Hegseth wanted an ‘American Crusade.’ Now he’s leading a war in the Middle East.” CNN.com, March 13, 2026).

Of course, leaders have claimed God to be on their side throughout history, even when the conflict was between so-called Christian nations.

What has been missing has been an understanding of His mind, His desires, and His plan for coming world events. And prophecy is vital in gaining that understanding.

So, in our next segment, we’ll begin to focus on four vital purposes of prophecy. In doing so, we hope to encourage you to begin making a growing understanding of prophecy part of your own, personal Bible study. And we want to help you do it right.

Four Purposes of Bible Prophecy

Though the symbols of prophecy can seem strange and unfamiliar, there is a proper way to understand them. God does not allow us to simply interpret them however we want, and He makes that clear in 2 Peter 1:20.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation [or origin], for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Prophecy reveals God’s thoughts, and we want to handle them rightly.

Prophecy is clearly important to God. But why? Why is it so important to Him? Why does Almighty God put such a priority on prophecy in His word—so much that at least one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy?

Understanding the answer to that question is at the very foundation of understanding prophecy. So let’s dive in and answer it together.

Bible Prophecy: Warning from God to Repent

When you look at the big picture, you find there are four fundamental reasons God inspires prophecy. The first purpose of prophecy is this:

1. Bible prophecy warns people and nations to repent so they can avoid punishment.

Like a good parent, God does not desire to punish people—He desires to bless. And He provides a warning to us as individuals and to entire nations when punishment is on its way, so that we can repent and change our course before it is too late.

Punishment is coming on the world for sin. Eventually, it will culminate in the greatest time of trial and suffering that the world has ever known—a time called the Great Tribulation.

Picture the footage we’ve all seen from the horrors of wars past, such as the Holocaust of World War II, the killing fields of Pol Pot, or the genocide in Rwanda. Today, our social media feeds bring us images of dead and mutilated Russian and Ukrainian soldiers at war, newly ravaged regions of the Middle East, and the devastation of civil wars around the globe, from Myanmar to Mali, from Afghanistan to Yemen, and elsewhere.

Jesus Christ prophesies in Matthew 24 that the time to come will be far worse than any of those times ever were. Read His thoughts for yourself, beginning in verse 21.

“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. 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).

A time of suffering never experienced before by mankind that will threaten to extinguish all life on earth if God were not to cut it short.

The Bible makes plain the fact that these days are coming, but they’re coming for a reason—because of this world’s sins. In particular, those days will begin with the punishment on the United States and the British-descended nations before engulfing the entire world, as we have explained from Scripture many times on this program.

But God takes no pleasure in any of this, and He tells us ahead of time so that we will change, so that we can avoid punishment. That is His desire.

Consider His loving warning in the prophetic book of Ezekiel, in chapter 18 and beginning in verse 30.

“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live” (Ezekiel 18:30–32).

And for you, viewing today’s program. Your nation may not turn to God, and it may continue in national sin. But you do not have to. You personally can turn to God—cease from breaking His laws, cease from ignoring His commands, and seek to follow the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, in love and obedience. As the Apostle Peter warned his listeners (in Acts 2:40):

“Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them (Acts 2:40–41).

Though Jerusalem and its people paid a terrible price in 70AD, some heeded Peter’s words and were saved from the slaughter that followed in their day.

Jesus Christ died for you, so that you, too, can escape the snare of sin, turn, and be free. But you must choose to repent. May God give you the strength to follow Him and to commit your life to Him.

Part of the purpose of Bible prophecy is to warn people and nations to turn, so that they can avoid punishment.

Even Under God’s Punishment, You Can Repent

But not everyone will repent. Not everyone responds. We know that many of you, our viewers today, will choose not to respond to God’s desire that you repent and avoid what is to come. But prophecy has a purpose even then.

Purpose number two today is:

2. Bible prophecy encourages those in captivity to repent.

God had this purpose in mind when He made this proclamation to ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 4:27–31.

And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

God intended that those who have been punished for their sins and in captivity would remember the words and the warning they had heard, and they will begin to seek God in a way they did not before their punishment.

My friends, the Bible highlights in Malachi 3:6 that God does not change, just as Paul says in Hebrews [13:8] that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” For the reasons discussed in today’s free resource, these same, ancient promises apply to modern nations, today.

Concerning the coming Great Tribulation, the book of Revelation prophecies that many will learn from their suffering and will turn to God during that time—Revelation 7:9 calls them a “great multitude” or an “innumerable multitude.” In the despair of that time, they will begin to seek God as they never have before, and they will find Him and the comfort only He can provide.

For those of our viewers today who watch our program or receive our materials, but who never act on what they read and who, perhaps, will find themselves under the punishment of the Great Tribulation, it is our prayer that you will remember these things and remember to seek God with all your heart, with all your mind, and all your strength. He WILL hear you.

Bible Prophecy Points to the Kingdom of God

A third purpose for Bible prophecy is to:

3. Announce the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

If you’re a regular viewer of the Tomorrow’s World program, you know that this is our primary focus—just as it was the primary focus of Jesus Christ and His disciples. In fact, vast amounts of Bible prophecy—in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament—are devoted to describing the coming of God’s Kingdom, what that Kingdom will be like, and the role of Jesus Christ as the King of that Kingdom.

Time would fail us to read them all, but look for yourself.

• Read of the miraculous change in the animal kingdom in a newly peaceful world in Isaiah 11.
• Read of people of all nations and languages coming to Jerusalem to worship God at the Feast of Tabernacles in Zechariah 14.
• Read of the removal of Satan the Devil and of resurrected Christians ruling beside Jesus Christ as kings and priests in Revelation 20.
• Read in Zechariah 8 of a world where children and elderly—the weak of society—are safe and able to congregate and play in the streets.
• Read of a world physically transformed, with deserts blossoming into life, and the lame and sick healedand whole in passages such as Isaiah 35.
• And of the world being spiritually transformed, described in Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

In Acts 3:21, the Apostle Peter calls these prophesied times “the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

Regardless of how mainstream Christian churches ignore it, the prophetic message of the coming Kingdom of God is the main message of the Bible and the primary thrust of Jesus Christ’s message to the world. The message of that Kingdom was the Gospel—the good news that He brought to humanity. And His true ministers will continue to preach that prophetic witness to the world until its arrival with the returning King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Bible Prophecy Shows God Is in Control

So far, we’ve reviewed three of four purposes of Bible prophecy. It warns people and nations so they can repent before being punished, it encourages those in captivity to repent, and it announces the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

The fourth purpose is simple, but inspiring:

4. Bible prophecy demonstrates God’s total sovereignty and power.

In the book of Isaiah, God comments on this aspect of prophecy’s purpose—in chapter 46 beginning in verse 9.

Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,” calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it (Isaiah 46:9–11).

Our predecessor in this work, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, said many decades ago that there is one most important fact in all the universe, and it can be stated in three simple words:

God reigns supreme.

My friend and colleague on this program, the late Richard Ames—who is the author of today’s free booklet offer—frequently reminded others of this inspiring truth, and I have benefitted from the passion, clarity, and focus it gave him in his life.

Prophecy teaches us that God reigns supreme. It is meant to remind us that all of history—both history past and the rest of human history that is yet to unfold—is all under the care and providential guidance of a loving and All-Powerful Creator.

What does this mean?

It means that His purposes will be fulfilled.

• His plan of salvation, climaxing in the Kingdom of God and the transformation of His people into glorious children in that Kingdom will come to pass.
• The removal of Satan the Devil for all eternity will come to pass.
• The complete purification and utter transformation of this world will come to pass. God has declared it.

And He is not only the God who announces prophecy, but He is the God who has the power to make His prophecies come to pass.

A God of prophecy who has the power to declare the end from the beginning is also a God in whom we can place our trust. He’s a God with whom we can share our hopes, our dreams, and our concerns. He’s a God who knows our purpose and has it in sight, even when we don’t. He’s a God we can obey and place ourselves 100% in His hands, even under threat of persecution or harm, because we know that in His hands is the best possible place we can be.

Indeed, Bible prophecy does declare God’s sovereignty and power. And it reminds us that the one who lovingly demands our loyalty and obedience is truly worthy of that loyalty and obedience, for He is GOD, and He reigns supreme.

I pray that God blesses you abundantly as you grow in your understanding of Bible prophecy.