Rumors, Prophecy and Truth

There are rumors flying all over the web since the latest trailer for Episode VII, The Force Awakens, came out.

Is Luke Kylo Ren? Does Han Solo die? Is Rey Luke’s daughter?

All these rumors/predictions made me thing about the Prophecy mentioned in The Phantom Menace.

Qui-Gon mentions Anakin’s high midi-chlorian count and Mace Windu chimes in with “You’re referring to the prophesy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it’s this boy?”

The understanding of prophecy was one thing, the way it played out, quite another.

Obi-Wan summed it up on Mustafar when he yelled to Anakin “You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would, destroy the Sith, not join them. It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness.”

Understanding Prophecy Is Hard

In J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, we are told that there are more than 1,800 prophecies in all of Scripture.

While there are many that are straight forward and easy to understand. The majority of them are not as easy to understand.

Some predictions and prophecies have been misunderstand and misread over the years. Nonetheless, God is faithful and will bring about the fulfillment of every prophecy in Scripture.

It is understandable for people to dismiss Biblical prophecy since not all the prophecies have come to pass and because some pastors and church leaders have made claims that have failed to materialize.

Some of the Biblical prophecies that have not come to pass yet deal with the end of days. There have been rumors of the end of the world going around for 100s of years if not since the Resurrection.

These end of days prophecies have intensified over the last decade or two. There was the fear of Y2K in 1999, there was Heaven’s Gate in 1997, and recently the so-called “Blood Moon Prophecy.”

We need to be careful in explaining the fulfillment of Scripture.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew recounts the visitation of the Magi. In chapter 2, the Magi come looking for the new king of the Jews and go to visit King Herod. It only made sense to visit the palace of the current king, thinking his son would be the successor.

What we read however is that the chief priests and scribes of the people missed the birth of the savior. They did not seem to be looking for the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies during their time.

In Matthew 22:29 Jesus tells the Sadducees “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

The Sadducees, Pharisees, chief priests, and scribes of the people all knew and studied Scripture but missed many, if not all, the prophecies as they pertained to Jesus.

If learned men who lived in the culture and understood the original language of Scripture could miss prophecies, it stands to reason that we, who live 2000+ years later, might not be able to see things with pure clarity.

We know that the best commentary on Scripture is Scripture. We can better understand the Old Testament prophecies based on the New Testament. We need to be reminded that our human knowledge is far from perfect.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 we are told “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The purpose of prophecy is to provide hope to God’s people and to reveal His Son to us. The Spirit of prophecy is to build hope, faith and love in the hearts of God’s called out ones (ekklesia) so that we walk in purity and the fear of the Lord.

Prophecy is not meant to predict the future, but it can. For those professing to be prophets, they should take heed from Deuteronomy 18:15-22.

We (as believers, both new and mature) need to be reminded (as do non-believers) of what 2 Timothy 4:3 tells us. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”

The End Of Days

In Acts 1:7 we read that Jesus told His disciples “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

Any one that tells you they know when the end of days is coming, if not a follower of Jesus nor does this person remember Acts 1:7.

We should always be prepared for the Lord’s return since 1 Corinthians 13:9 tells us “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

So if you want to be prepared, you need to first become a follower and believer in Jesus.

Jesus tells us in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Just prior to this, Jesus told His disciples that He is going to prepare a place for us (in heaven) and that He will return.

In the meantime, He has left us (believers) the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-18).

When The Truth Is Revealed

We don’t need to wait that long to find out what rumors are true about The Force Awakens. We just need to wait until December 18, 2015.

I am sure that people will be tweeting what happens as they watch the movie. While I won’t be one of them, you can follow me on Twitter here.

When we find out the truth about the end of days, it will be too late for you to decide what to do with Jesus and His claims.

You need to decide now, while you still have breathe in your nostrils, what will you do with Him.

He is either your Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. You must decide.

Make Him you Lord today.