Prophecy is literal, but it is not always linear.
In Joel 2:28-29 the prophet gives God’s message and says:
And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Now, you might remember these words but from a different source. In Acts 2, Peter is preaching the gospel of Jesus to a crowd that has gathered. The main question on the crowd’s mind was “what is going on”? You see, Jews from all over the world had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast season (Passover to Pentecost) and they heard the noise as the Holy Spirit descended on those first Christians. When they arrived, they found them praising God in many languages. Peter’s response was to quote the words of Joel from above; God had poured out his Spirit and part of that work was allowing his people to declare his praises in a way to be understood by all people.
But if you keep reading the book of Joel, you’ll notice that Peter left something out:
I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls
Did Peter just forget to mention that? These other verses seem to fit far better in the book of the Revelation instead of the book of Acts. What’s going on? There’s a basic principle: Biblical Prophecy is literal, but not always linear. The prophet Joel got information on two events and described them as one.
Imagine seeing 20 things at once. Then imagine having to describe those things in a way that makes sense to people. The more I read the Bible, the more I believe that the prophets were dealing with something similar. They got information and images of things in the present as well as the near and distant future. For example, the same prophet might see things regarding both the first and second coming of Jesus the Messiah (Daniel 9 comes to mind), and then write about them as a singular event. Other prophets wrote about present events and then flowed without pause into future events (Isaiah 7 is an example).
Added to that is the challenge of human interpretation. When I was in my senior year of High School, I had a “clear sense” that I was going to work at on staff at a specific church with the two specific pastors. The crazy part isn’t that it happened, but how it was totally different than I would have expected. Within five years, I had worked directly with both pastors and been of staff at that church, but not at the same time. The senior pastor was called to a new church and having no idea of the “prophetic word” I had received, he invited me to join the staff of the new church. 3 years later I helped his former youth pastor launch a new church in Canada. After that season was over, I was asked to join the staff of the church in America where both men had previously served and where I thought I was going to work with them. So in the end, I had worked with both men and served that church, but not in the way I thought I would. The same is true with Joel’s prophecy. It all happened or will happen, but not as one singular event.
So, what does that mean for us in 2021? Well, depending on who you read, 25-30% of the Bible is direct prophecy. That’s not including parts of the Bible that comment on those prophecies or deal with them in some indirect way. So when we study the word of God, we will study prophecy at least some of the time. Now, some of it will be easy and, in our brains, we say “oh, yeah, I’ve read the Christmas story, I know what’s happening here”. But for other parts of Biblical prophecy its less clear. So here’s some general principles that I live by that might be helpful to you.
1. It’s real. The Holy Spirit really is being pour out in the lives of all who believe, just like the prophet Joel said. Jesus really is coming back just like he said he will. It has all happened, is happening, or will happen!.
2. It’s not always linear. I don’t need a Bible in one hand and a newsfeed in the other hand to figure it all out.
3. Focus on the big stuff. I don’t know how many people (including a young, bible college version of myself) have tried to figure out what the mark of the beast is. But that’s not what matters. Jesus is the big stuff. God’s mercy is the big stuff. God’s coming judgement is the big stuff. Focus on the big stuff!
-Pastor Adam