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Welcome to the Reflections Newsletter from
Reflect His Glory. RHG is a co-ministry with Creation Science Ministries. Feel free to
send this to your relatives and friends.
- How Should We
Define Prophecy?
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What Does the Bible Say About...?
How Should
We Define Prophecy?
As I have said
many times, the Bible consists of 66 books, penned by
40 people, over a period of nearly 2,000 years. What
I find interesting is that of the 40 writers, actually
more than 40, most of them did not even know
each other. Yet as we scrutinize these 66 books,
we realize that the Bible is an integrated message
system, written for us, in which every detail
has been designed, in a deliberate
and skillful way. This
does not simply mean that there is a theme
in the Old Testament that is fulfilled in the New
Testament. It has a far greater
implication in that we discover that every detail,
every number, every name and place name,
that even the structure hidden beneath the text
supports a master plan, and
a master design, that goes
immeasurably beyond the knowledge of any of its contributors. The
Bible anticipates events, places, and historic episodes that the
writers had no way of knowing thousands of years in
advance.
This master plan is the fingerprint of the real Author, the
Lord God Himself, and it demonstrates that the origin of these 66 books
came from outside our time domain. This is what
we are dealing with when we talk about prophecy. Prophecy
is not just inquisitiveness. It is a
demonstration that God is real, that He cares, that He has chosen to reveal to
us in advance what He is all about, giving us a view of
His plan is for the world, and what His plan is for you and me personally.
As I eluded to above, the Bible is one
integrated package.
This integrated package consists of two parts: the Old
Testament, and the New Testament. The
Old Testament is the New
Testament concealed, and the New
Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
The Old Testament closes with unfulfilled
longings, unfulfilled prophecies and incomplete
promises. The New Testament completes the Old Testament and
as a result it brings it all together
for us.
Jesus gave us a scriptural reference that is often
overlooked. Jesus said,:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say to you,
till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled" Matthew 5: 17-18
KJVER
Those verses
refer to a "jot," the smallest Hebrew letter about the size of an apostrophe,
and a "tittle," the little decorative hook or serif on some Hebrew
letters. So,
what Jesus is saying
to us is that not the smallest letter or even the
smallest part of a letter shall pass away until all is fulfilled. The Messiah
Himself emphasized that we are to take the Word of God
very seriously.
According to
J. Barton Payne,
Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy,
the Scriptures include 8,362 verses containing 1,817 predictions concerning 737
different matters. Of these, there are more than
300 prophecies dealing with the coming Messiah. The
odds of one person fulfilling just eight of those prophecies is equivalent to
covering the state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep, marking just one
of the silver dollars, mixing them up in such a way that the marked coin could
be anywhere, and then reaching back into them at
random and drawing out that one marked silver dollar. The
combined probability of this happening is 1 in 1017, or one chance in
100,000,000,000,000,000. Can you count that high? I can't!
Even more astonishing is the fact that Jesus fulfilled, not just eight,
but all of the hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah. The
odds of that happening are... well, you try to figure it out!
Throughout the entire Bible we find the fingerprints
of a supernatural message system. Numerous
design features in the Biblical text defy coincidence and
demonstrate that the Bible is an integrated message system. Because
God exists outside our space-time domain, He is able to see, in effect, the
beginning, the present, and the end of our time domain
simultaneously. Consequently, the Bible authenticates that its message is of
extra-dimensional origin through predictive prophecy.
In essence,
prophecy is God's way of showing us history... in advance
What Does the Bible Say About...?
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In this section of the
Reflections Newsletter we answer questions that have been asked.
If you have a question that you would like ask, and do not mind having
printed in the newsletter, (your name will not be mentioned), feel free to
send your question in an email to me at
biblequestions@reflecthisglory.org. Of course, you may call me
anytime by phone at 801.302-1111.
The question for this issue is, Moses
was told to strike a rock to obtain water in the desert in Exodus 17:6.
But he was punished for doing the same thing a second time in Numbers
20:8-12. Why did God deal so harshly with him for this insignificant
error? |
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The mistake that Moses made in
the second incident was not really as insignificant
as it might seem on the surface, when we consider
its symbolism. In the first incident, as
indicated, God told Moses, "smite the rock"
in Exodus 17:6. However, on the second
occasion, God said, "speak you to the rock", in
Numbers 20:8. Moses, in a fit of temper,
struck the rock two times with his rod. In
Numbers 20:10, Moses spoke harshly to the crowd, and
took credit for God's doing, asking, "Must we
fetch you water out of this rock?" God,
in His mercy, provided water for the people.
But Moses paid for his disobedience and anger by
being denied the privilege of bring the people into
the Promised Land.
However, there is a deeper
significance to what Moses did. In both cases,
the rock was symbolic of Christ Jesus, as He is the
source of the living water of our eternal life.
Speaking of Israel's travels through the desert, the
Apostle Paul made this plain when he said:
"And did all drink the same
spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual
Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ,"
1 Corinthians 10:4 KJVER
Jesus Himself said to the woman
at the well in Samaria:
"...Whosoever drinks of this
water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinks
of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life," John 4:13-14 KJVER
We are also told that Christ
Jesus only had to make this sacrifice of Himself
once:
"But this man, after He had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God... For by one offering He has
perfected forever them that are sanctified."
Hebrews 10:12 & 14 KJVER
Christ Jesus was physically
struck once in the form of His Passion, and that one
offering was all that was necessary to purchase for
mankind, the gift of everlasting life. From
that point on, any who seek Him need only speak to
Him, asking Him to come into their lives, and He
will do so with great pleasure. As we are told
in Ephesians 2:8-9, it is all by His grace and
mercy, and by our faith in Him that we are saved.
It is not by any work that we might do .
Moses violated this symbolism in
Numbers 20 by striking the rock, and so was banished
from entering the Promised Land.
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**MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK**
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 2:21
KJV
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