Prophecy is history told in advance; it is tomorrow’s history told today. In our text, God showed 400 years of advance history to Abram just in a moment of time. The captivity of Israel in Egypt for 400 years and their eventual return to the Promised Land was foretold. From the benefit of history, we realise that everything spoken by God came to pass. In one of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, God showed him the history of the world as it would unfold. We live in the closing stages of that prophetic calendar. Unfortunately, many are not aware that the world is living out what is already scripted and that we are close to the end of time.
Prophecy is history told in advance; it is tomorrow’s history told today…Prophecies could be of immense significance if treated rightly…prophecies should be an inspiration for prayer.
Prophecies could be of immense significance if treated rightly. Firstly, we must learn to honour what the scripture says about not despising prophecies. There are many charlatans on the prowl, claiming to be prophets when they are not. They speak fanciful words out of the vain imagination of their minds. The prevalence of such miscreants can make us dismiss all prophecies, but that will be a costly mistake. What we should do is to learn to judge prophecies as the Bible recommends, learning to shift the wheat from the chaff. Secondly, prophecies should be an inspiration for prayer. When Daniel read the prophecy of Jeremiah that Judah would be in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, he took to praying. Yesterday, we learned that the information we hear bestows responsibility. Nowhere is that truer than the prophecies that we receive.
