[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]
Three Keys That Unlock Bible Prophecy
Many people study their Bibles faithfully, but there is a large part of the Bible that eludes many: Bible Prophecy. Its symbols and ancient references can seem confusing and bewildering.
Yet, if there were ever a day when Bible prophecy was of life-or-death importance, it’s today! The news around us is packed with prophetic significance, and God has long foretold events that we are seeing unfold around us right now!
The good news is that you don’t have to be in the dark. You can understand Bible prophecy for yourself, if you learn some fundamental keys that unlock their meaning. On today’s program, we’ll explain three of those fundamental keys that unlock Bible prophecy—you won’t want to miss it!
Between One-Fourth to One-Third of Your Bible Contains Prophecy!
Greetings, and welcome to another Tomorrow’s World—the program that makes sense of today’s world using the pages of your own Bible.
Today, we’re going to give you three tools you need to understand Bible prophecy for yourself. We’re also going to make available one of our most popular resources—a free DVD titled “The Power of Prophecy.” Keep an eye on your screen during the program for the information you’ll need to get your own free copy.
Now as we get started, we should acknowledge that some students of the Bible out there believe that prophecy isn’t important. Perhaps, even, that it’s a distraction from what God would want you to understand from His word.
And I do want to be clear: If you’re focusing on understanding what prophecy has to say about the future while your family is being neglected and you’re mired in a lifestyle of sin and disregard of the laws of God, then your priorities are upside down! In fact, given that God’s help is a vital necessity for anyone seeking to understand prophecy, then your efforts are self-defeating. As we’re told plainly by King David in Psalm 111 and verse 10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.”You won’t come to understand what God has to tell you in His word unless you are willing to truly obey what you read, and to respond to His guidance and commands.
But as for prophecy being unimportant, that claim should be utterly dismissed as a devilish lie.
Jesus Christ tells us plainly in Matthew 4 and verse 4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.”
Do you believe Jesus when He says, “every word”? If so, then you have to accept that prophecy is important! Estimates vary, but between one-fourth to one-third of your Bible contains prophecy! And ignoring prophecy is like ignoring one out of every four, or even one out of every three words God inspired.
Consider the book of Revelation. Many say that they ignore the book of Revelation because it’s confusing and hard to understand. It speaks of beasts with multiple heads and horns, riders on horses bringing war and famine, angels and plagues and mountains being thrown into the sea—the symbols can seem a confusing and meaningless collection to many. Yet read the very first verse of how the Savior describes the PURPOSE for the entire book of Revelation: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.”
Notice that Jesus did not inspire the book of Revelation to hide from us what is to come, but to reveal what is to come!
If we simply allow ourselves to dismiss prophecy or ignore it because we find it uncomfortable, or too mysterious—perhaps because we don’t see it is playing an important role in our spiritual lives—then we are telling Jesus Christ that He doesn’t understand what is important to Christians!
Will YOU tell Jesus that He doesn’t understand what’s really important in God’s word? Can any of us tell God that a quarter or more of His inspired word is, somehow, just “not for us”?
In fact, the Apostle Paul admonishes all of us today, just as he did those of ancient Thessalonica—writing in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 20, “Do not despise prophecies.”
That said, we must also be careful with prophecy. The Apostle Peter warns us plainly in 2 Peter 1, beginning in verse 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.”
While prophecy is often filled with symbols and sayings that must be interpreted, those interpretations are not up to us to decide. God inspired the prophecies of the Bible, and God must provide the keys to understanding them!
And He does provide just such keys.
In the remainder of our program, today, we are going to discuss THREE KEYS that will help you begin to UNLOCK the meaning of the prophecies in your Bible.
But before we continue, I want to encourage you to request one of our most popular free DVDs, “The Power of Prophecy.”
This power-packed free DVD contains four Tomorrow’s World programs that will take you into areas of prophecy that we only have time to barely begin discussing today. “The Power of Prophecy” answers some of the most-asked questions about Bible prophecy and what lies ahead. Including:
- What is the mysterious Beast of Revelation?
- What are the Five Keys to understanding prophecy?
- What are the Six Greatest Perils facing the United States?
- What dramatic role will Europe play before Jesus Christ returns?
The answers to these questions will affect you personally and directly. Don’t wait until it’s too late: Request your own free copy today. There’s no cost, no obligation, and we do not give your information to others—we make this information available as a public service. Just click the link in the description or call the number below to order your free DVD, “The Power of Prophecy,” right now. And remember to click the “like” button if you don’t want to miss another Tomorrow’s Worldvideo. Be sure to subscribe to our channel, and click the notification bell.
How Can You Understand Prophecy When It Is Often Filled With Symbols and Mysterious Images
We noted in our previous segment that around 25 to 30 percent of your Bible is prophecy, and to ignore prophecy is to ignore Jesus’ teaching that we should live by EVERY word of God. Prophecy was a vital part of Jesus’ ministry, and it continues to be a vital part of His work on earth, today. In fact, the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God could be called a prophetic message, itself, concerning itself with the return of Jesus Christ and what He will do upon the earth, both before and after that return! It’s no wonder that we’re told in Revelation 19 and verse 10, “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”
Yes, Jesus Christ cares very much about prophecy—and so should anyone who claims to follow Him and bear the name “Christian.”
But how can we understand prophecy? It’s often filled with so many symbols and mysterious images—plus, it was written so long ago!
Truly, many do make mistakes in their attempts to interpret prophecy.
I was told once at a local diner by a gentleman I was eating with that the iron claws and iron teeth of the Beast in Daniel 7 indicated that the animal referred to the nation of Russia, since it was at the heart of the Soviet Union, which brought down upon the whole world the “Iron Curtain.”
My dining partner was mistaken, though his interpretation seemed to make sense to him! He made the mistake of trying to read current events into prophecy. That’s the reverse of what God expects us to do! We need to understand Bible prophecy first, then we’ll have a better understanding of world events!
Others look to the moon and the stars and mistakenly seek to match up astronomical events, such as the so-called “blood moons,” to the timing of prophesied biblical events. Such individuals forget the Bible’s admonition, recorded in Jeremiah 10:2 (KJV), “…Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.”
God may use heavenly signs to display His power and majesty during prophesied calamities—and, in fact, the Bible says He will. But to seek the stars, the sun, and moon in an effort to divine the timing of the things to come is also not the approach God tells us to take.
How can we unlock Bible prophecies to our understanding, so we can know the times ahead of us? If Jesus wants to reveal such things to us, how can we understand what He wants us to know?
Let’s examine how you can avoid the mistakes of prophetic “wannabes” and, instead, understand what God truly has to say about the future ahead of you. You can learn to unlock Bible prophecy, and I’ll give you three keys to help get you started!
The first key to unlocking Bible prophecy is to TRUST SCRIPTURE TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE.
A great deal of Bible prophecy is communicated through symbols, and I have heard many people give detailed and complicated interpretations of Bible prophecy that were rooted in nothing more than their own EDUCATED GUESSES as to what those symbols mean.
But if we trust the Bible to interpret its own symbols, we find that much of the mystery is dissolved by God’s own word!
For instance, consider the prophecy of Revelation 13 and verse 11, where we read of the coming False Prophet. The Apostle John writes, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.”
Some have interpreted this to be a prophecy of America, since the American Bison has two horns and might look, to some, similar to a giant lamb. But such interpretations are not backed by the Bible! When we trust Scripture to interpret Scripture, the meaning communicated by this symbolism is made plain!
In the vision, the beast looks like a lamb. In the book of Revelation ALONE, a lamb is used to symbolize Jesus Christ in 26 different verses! The same apostle, writing in the gospel of John, notes John the Baptist’s words in chapter 1 and verse 29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” The book of Acts and both the Apostles Peter and Paul all attest to the identity of CHRIST as the Lamb of God! So, if this beast of Revelation 13:11 looks like a lamb, then it is someone who will appear to be Christ-like!
Yet, the prophecy said this person will also speak like a dragon. Again, if we trust Scripture to interpret Scripture, then this meaning is clear! Revelation 12 and verse 9 identifies the meaning of the dragon: “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
So this individual, the coming Antichrist and False Prophet is someone who looks Christ-like (like the lamb), but who speaks the subtle lies of Satan the Devil (the dragon).
In instance after instance, you will find that if you use this key, trusting Scripture to interpret Scripture, then the meaning of the Bible’s prophecies will begin to be unlocked for you!
We’ll look at two more keys in a moment, but first I want to remind you again to request our free DVD, “The Power of Prophecy.” If you have ever felt that Bible prophecy was somehow “beyond” you or inaccessible, this free DVD will show you that you CAN understand it—both what it says about the days in which we are now living, AND what it says about the days just ahead of us. “The Power of Prophecy” gives you specific answers to prophetic questions, and also contains the vital message, “Five Keys to Understanding Prophecy”—including two crucial keys we don’t have time for on today’s program.
Don’t let one-fourth to one-third of your Bible stay a mystery to you. Unlock Bible prophecy with this free DVD, “The Power of Prophecy.” It really is absolutely free. Either click the link in the description or call the number on the screen to order your own copy, right now.
Using God's Prophectic Framework to Understand Bible Prophecy
So far, we revealed one of the three keys we’ll discuss today that will help you unlock Bible prophecy. That key was TRUST SCRIPTURE TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE.
The second key we’ll discuss today is this: FIND MODERN NATIONS IN SCRIPTURE.
I’ve read more than one supposed teacher of prophecy declare publicly that the Bible does not mention modern nations such as America, England, Germany, etc.
But those individuals are wrong! They make that mistake for a number of reasons, but among them is the fact that the names of peoples and nations have changed over time.
For some nations, their names have remained remarkably consistent. For example, if you crack open your Bible, you will find the names “Egypt,” “Libya,” and “Ethiopia.” All three of those nations exist today, and they bear the same names they did then.
However, what few realize is that many other modern nations can be identified in the pages of Bible prophecy, as well. Those nations include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. You can also find Russia, Iran, China, Germany, Spain, France, and so many more! And, lest we forget, the modern nation of Israel is in there, too.
This news may seem odd, given that some countries didn’t exist as nations in bible times. For instance, the United States came into existence in 1776, centuries after the last word of the Bible was written. However, the resources we have available at TomorrowsWorld.org prove that the peoples of these nations are, indeed, identifiable in the pages of Scripture.
And when you understand how to read prophecy and identify today’s modern nations, you will see prophetic understanding unlocked right before your eyes as today’s headlines come to life in the pages of God’s word.
The second of today’s keys to unlocking Bible prophecy was to FIND MODERN NATIONS IN SCRIPTURE.
The third of the keys that we’ll cover today is this: USE GOD’S PROPHETIC FRAMEWORK.
Bible prophecy is not just a random collection of “predictions”—each telling what is going to happen in the future in a way that’s unrelated to the others.
Rather, God is working out a plan here on earth! Look at Isaiah 46, beginning in verse 9. There God says, “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…’”
God has declared the end of things from the beginning, and He is working out an organized PLAN here on earth. When you understand the prophetic framework of events within that plan, it gives you a structure in which to place additional details.
For instance, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 2, the ancient prophet explains a dream that God gave to ancient King Nebuchadnezzar: a dream of a tall statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron, ending in feet that were a mixture of iron and clay. In the dream, the feet of iron and clay were struck by a divine stone that crushed the entire image completely and ground it to dust before growing to fill the whole earth.
God inspires Daniel to understand the meaning of the dream, which was meant to show Nebuchadnezzar—and all of us—the sequence of world empires that would reign from his time (the head of gold) all the way until Christ’s second coming and the establishment of the Kingdom of God (that is, the stone that crushed the statue and filled the earth).
This vision provides one of the Bible’s great prophetic frameworks, since all of the events of history between the Babylonian Empire and the second coming of Jesus Christ fit somewhere within that time frame. Knowing this, we’re able to connect other biblical prophecies, as we examine where they fit within this framework.
Another great framework is given in the book of Revelation, which explains prophecies that discuss the last portion of human history, from the time of the first century Church, all the way to the return of Jesus Christ and beyond, into eternity.
And while that scope is grand, Revelation also includes details at a very small level, as well. This book of prophecy outlines in detail the last three-and-a-half years of human history leading up to Christ’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom, including two-and-one-half years of the Great Tribulation, followed by miraculous heavenly signs, and then the one-year period of the Day of the Lord.
With this clear prophetic framework of the end times in place, other prophecies relating to that time—such as those in the books of Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel—can be understood more clearly.
The third key to unlocking prophecy that we’ve covered today is to USE GOD’S PROPHETIC FRAMEWORK.
Before we conclude our program, let me give you one more opportunity to request today’s free DVD, “The Power of Prophecy.” The four Tomorrow’s World programs on this DVD will answer some of the most-asked questions about Bible prophecy and what lies ahead. Including:
- What does the Bible say about the future of Russia, China, Iran, and other nations?
- What will ultimately come out of the current strife in the Middle East?
- How can I personally prepare for what is to come and protect my family?
- How can I escape the Great Tribulation?
This DVD will NOT ONLY lay out for you multiple prophetic truths about what is happening in the world RIGHT NOW from the pages of your own Bible, it will also take the time to explain HOW YOU CAN PERSONALLY UNDERSTAND BIBLE PROPHECY IN THE FIRST PLACE. For those who have ever been confused by prophecy—be prepared to understand more clearly than you ever have before. And if you’ve ever told anyone that you just don’t know what’s going on in the world—after watching this free DVD, you’ll never be able to say that again. Don’t miss out—get your free copy of “The Power of Prophecy,” today.
Prophecy Shows Us Exactly What God Has in Store for the World
Beginning in the book of Genesis and running all the way through the book of Revelation, from cover to cover the Bible is filled with prophecy. It makes up fully one-fourth to one-third of your Bible—and for many, it’s locked away, beyond their understanding! But God WANTS you to understand it. And you can!
Today, we’ve covered three keys that can help you unlock Bible prophecy:
- TRUST SCRIPTURE TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE
- FIND MODERN NATIONS IN SCRIPTURE (and)
- USE GOD’S PROPHETIC FRAMEWORK
These keys are only the beginning. The free DVD that we are sending to those request it provides two more vital keys to understanding prophecy—and it dives deeply and directly into those prophecies, unlocking their meaning and showing you exactly what God has in store for the world—and for you.
While many would dismiss prophecy as unimportant to your salvation, the Bible paints a very different picture! Bible prophecy stirs us to action, as we see the times ahead more clearly. It empowers God’s divine warning to the world—providing witness of the judgment to come and explaining how to avoid the days of wrath ahead! And prophecies fill us with hope, as we see the Kingdom of God drawing nearer and nearer, with every prophetic milestone that is passed.
In fact, Jesus Christ pointed to this benefit of prophecy when He encouraged His disciples, as recorded in the book of Luke. After prophesying of coming distress between nations and cataclysmic events in the heavens and on the earth, Jesus sounded a note of hope for those who have prophetic understanding concerning events that will take place. For they will be able to obey His admonition in Luke 21 and verse 28: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Please don’t forget to get your own copy of today’s free DVD, and make room in your life for the power of prophecy to bring you the hope, encouragement, and guidance you need for the times that lie just ahead.
And if you haven’t already, click the like button and subscribe to our channel, so you don’t miss another Tomorrow’s World program!
Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, and I, as well as our guest presenter Rod McNair and everyone here on the Tomorrow’s World crew will be here, ready to teach you more about the prophecies of your Bible, the good news of Jesus Christ’s coming reign in the Kingdom of God, and the way to enter that Kingdom. Until then, take care!
