I’m not writing any of this as conclusion. This is my exploration on ideas fairly new to me…in terms of Islam and Biblical prophecy. This is a working journal. My notes as exploration. Take it for what it is…
Before I started watching videos by Walid Shoebat the other day, I had long had vague, general questions about the most popular interpretations of Biblical prophecy (from a New Testament perspective) I’d heard. I have never been much of a prophecy buff: I honestly didn’t see the point. Jesus, Himself said that he did not know the exact time of the end of this age – that only God did. If He, a member of the Trinity didn’t know, what good would it do me to try to figure it out?
This view was reinforced by notes in the prophetic books that said they were sealed to the reading audience and would not be opened up until the end when the events were unfolding. So, again, why ram my head against a brick wall established and noted by God through His Word?
Then again, why have all those visions – even visions with dating included – placed as a major portion of the Bible? Why spend so much time laying out not just that the Babylonian captivity would come and end but also talk about events far into the future at the end of time – if He did not want believers to do some reading and speculation?
Add to this, and perhaps more importantly, as a Christian, I didn’t see how it was as crucial to me as it seemed to be for those who were End Times buffs.
As a believer in Christ and follower of the New Testament, if I die of natural causes – or – the Rapture comes – or – Armageddon breaks out with me still here —- I’m gonna be fine…
My salvation — nobody’s salvation — is not contingent on correct interpretation of End Times prophecy or any prophecy. Our salvation is contingent on acceptance of Christ as Savior – God in the flesh offered as a sacrifice for the sins of those who accept Him. Jesus was the fulfillment of OT prophecy, but I do not have to know those prophecies to have faith in Christ Jesus. So, prophecy has always had a secondary status for me in my reading of the Bible.
Jesus as fulfillment of OT prophecy brings me to my last note: Matthew.
4So he called together all the chief priests and learned men (scribes) of the people and [b]anxiously asked them where the Christ was to be born.
5They replied to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are not in any way least or insignificant among the [c]chief cities of Judah; for from you shall come a Ruler ([d]Leader) Who will govern and [e]shepherd My people Israel. (Matthew 1:4-6)
14And having risen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew to Egypt
15And remained there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called My Son. (Matthew 2:14-15)
21Then he awoke and arose and [[m]tenderly] took the Child and His mother and came into the land of Israel.
22But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.
23He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He shall be called a Nazarene [Branch, Separated One]. (Matthew 2:21-23)
Can you picture someone coming on the Internet before Jesus was born saying, “If you look closely at the prophecies, it’s absolutely clear: A male child is going to be born of a virgin in Bethlehem to be our Messiah, but He’ll have to flee, or will just move, to Egypt for awhile. But, He’ll return from there and settle down in Nazareth, not Bethlehem.”
Who would have recognized the future through these prophecies Matthew lays out and gotten the correct interpretation before Jesus came???
Later in the Bible, prophecy scholars even dismissed Jesus as Christ, because they said they knew he was from Nazareth and no prophet is said to ever described as coming from there.
52They answered him, Are you too from Galilee? Search [the Scriptures yourself], and you will see that no prophet comes (will rise to prominence) from Galilee. (John 7:52)
That should be a humbling note for prophecy buffs: The most learned scholars of that time, people who knew the scriptures backward-and-forward had Christ walking and talking to them, but they failed to recognize him even then. They knew the prophecies by heart, but they could not see the fulfillment of them right before their eyes.
Matthew did.
The wise men came from the east looking for him due to some prophecy. They came following a star that they recognized as part of that/those prophecies.
But, who would have been able to connect the dots Matthew does in his book before the events took place???
