By Pastor Bob Lawrenz
As we look again today at end-times prophecy, we may want to ask what the purpose of prophecy is in the first place. As Paul outlines the order of those who rise to meet the Lord in the air, he writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep...” This phrase gives us the purpose of prophecy: to share information. Prophecy in the Bible is God’s means of sharing information with us, usually the foretelling of future events that may otherwise baffle us, or catch us off-guard. Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that God does not want us to be ignorant, or un-learned. God wants us to be prepared!
So to prepare us for His perfect will, He tells us in advance through the prophets of the Old Testament and the evangelists of the New Testament. As Christians we live and believe because we have seen how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old, and now we live in the New Testament times.
In the Old Testament, Jewish believers had to go to their priests to get the teachings of the prophets. Today, Jesus has called Believers a royal priesthood because He lives in us; a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek – Psalm 110:4. (Melchizedek was met by Abram and called him a Priest of the most High God – Genesis 14:18.)
So while the prophets foretold of events, the priests told the people. Now, WE are the priests, but who are we telling about events which shall soon come to pass? This is the evangelical nature of the Church, and spreading the Good News is our responsibility. As I read recently, there is the foretelling of events, and then there is the forth-telling of them; sharing them with others.
End-times prophesies can strike fear in the hearts of unbelievers, but they should bring comfort to the believer because, if being told correctly, believers will not be here on Earth during difficult times of the Great Tribulation. It will be a time of God’s wrath against an unbelieving world, such as never has been seen before.
“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” -Jeremiah 30:7
If Jacob is Israel, and Christ’s Church has been grafted into Israel, then we too shall be saved from that day (See Romans 11:17-23).
