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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

The Now of Prophecy

We're gonna get right into God's Word tonight.

Our scripture reading is taken from Revelation 16.

In verse 15, Revelation 16, and verse 15 says, Behold, I come as a thief.

Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, The Now of Prophecy.

It's part of a bigger series I have called Anchored in Time, but for today, it's The Now of Prophecy.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your Word.

And we thank you, Lord, for your mercy and your grace.

I ask now, Lord, in a special way, once again, that you just make me a nail on the wall.

Upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Instead, Father, let us hear a word from the throne room of grace.

All right, we're going to go to the book of 2 Peter, and we're going to be focused on history and prophecy in this session.

And remember the title of our session is The Prophecy of Now.

2 Peter 1 in verse 19 says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy.

Whereunto you do well that take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.

Unto the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

Peter is writing this after he just reflected in the first part of the chapter on the Mount of Transfiguration, the time when Peter, James, and John went up and met with Christ and met Moses and Elijah who were visiting from heaven.

You can go back and read the story in the Gospels.

But after Peter gives the beautiful verses on what happened there, in 2 Peter 1, he moves on in verse 19 to say, even more sure than what he saw on the Mount of transfiguration, even more sure than the miracles he saw Jesus work, he says there is a more sure word of prophecy.

Because for us, we have not been eyewitnesses to the miracles of Christ.

We don't get to see the transfiguration, but we have prophecy.

I was in a, we were doing a discussion with some gentlemen of the Muslim faith, very distinguished gentlemen, very kind, very polite Muslims.

And we were doing a discussion with them, orchestrated about the prophecies of the Bible compared to the prophecies of Muhammad.

And this is 1 of the verses that I read to show that as Christians, prophecy is critical.

And so if I had time on the subject of prophecy in history, I would go to Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7, Revelation chapter 12.

There's so many chapters in the Bible I could go to, nevermind looking at certain things from Isaiah and Jeremiah and others that really show the power of prophecy, especially in historical context.

We're going to go somewhere else with it, but I can anchor my faith, and that's why the series is anchored in time.

I can anchor my faith in the fact that I'm not just believing hearsay or stories.

The scriptural prophecies, and when we look at the Dead Sea Scrolls and the veracity of the writings of the Bible, there's a lot we could get into.

And this weekend I'm also doing some talks on apologetics for Christians and Adventists.

But when we get deep into the archeology and the history of what we believe, we're not just believing something that's made up, some fairy tale out of the sky.

There is something we can anchor our faith in if we're willing to study and pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Peter goes on to say in 2 Peter 1, sorry, in verse 20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, get this, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

We got the Bible as men spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

So the Bible is not 1 book written by 1 person.

That is an exact translation today of what it was then.

Because the Bible is not Word-inspired, it is thought-inspired.

The Bible is written so that we can extract the thought from the passage, and the Holy Spirit that breathed that thought into the writer, whether it was Moses, or whether it was Ezekiel, or whether it was Matthew, the Holy Spirit that breathed that thought into that individual can now elucidate and enlighten our minds with that very same thought.

Folk attack the Bible, they say, oh, it's been changed, it's been this, it's been that.

The question you always ask yourself is, when you study the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are you extracting from it the thought that was breathed, that moved on these men of God as they wrote, is what the Holy Ghost put on them, are you able to get it back out?

This is why when you read scripture many times, sometimes you see things new and you get new things.

It's because there's so much that happens when the Holy Spirit moves.

So for our discussion today, we're gonna jump to the book of Matthew, chapter 24.

And I'm gonna read the first 2 verses and then we're gonna go through some prophecies.

I've been doing these talks on Matthew 24 since the pandemic began, but I'm gonna add some more color and detail to this talk.

Matthew 24, 1 and 2 says, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple.

And his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.

The reason the disciples wanted to show him the buildings of the temple is because Jesus had just said in Matthew chapter 23, I leave your house unto you desolate.

He turned over the tables of the money changers, and he walked and said, I'll leave your house unto you desolate.

This scared the disciples because the disciples believed that he was the king, not the Christ Messiah who would come again in the clouds of glory and redeem all mankind.

But they thought he was the king that would sit in David's seat and vanquish the Romans.

When he said that he left the temple desolate, the disciples were perplexed.

So they start to show him as they walk out of the temple the beautiful buildings, the beautiful edifice, the stone work, everything about it.

But Matthew 24 in verse 2, Jesus said unto them, see not all these things?

Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here 1 stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.

The disciples shook their heads, they couldn't believe it, they were astonished.

But without the temple, we have no nation.

Nehemiah had to rebuild the temple, the walls of the temple.

As we rebuilt the temple, what do you mean it's going to be torn down?

And the temple in Jesus' day would have looked something like this.

But once they got alone with Jesus, Matthew 24 and verse 3, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, When shall these things be?

And what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world?

They say, wait a minute, Lord, when is this going to happen?

And when are you going to come in your glory?

The way you're talking, that's what we should be asking.

Of course, 40 years later, Jerusalem falls as Titus, the Roman general, seizes the city, and eventually troops take the city and destroy the temple just as prophesied by Christ.

And the prophecy is so sure that when you look at Daniel 9 20 to 27, I don't have time to get deep into it, but where it is given it from the decree to rebuild the temple would be 70 weeks.

70 weeks ends in AD 34 when Stephen is stoned, and that last week, the Scripture says in Daniel chapter 9, says that in the last week the Messiah should be cut off.

Well, in The middle of that week, 3 and a half years into the middle of that 70th week, is when the crucifixion happened.

This is why we as Christians don't have to just believe blindly.

We know that it was written long before the fall of Jerusalem or the coming of Christ.

In fact, as we're heading into the first Advent season of what the world calls Christmas, you've got to understand that the reason the wise men knew to go and look for the king being born is because they probably understood the prophecies of Daniel chapter 9.

We don't believe cunningly devised fables.

And as he sat upon a mountain of Olives, what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?

Matthew 24 and verse 4, and Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you.

It's the word that means to lead astray, like the 1 sheep being led away from the 99.

For many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many.

And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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The Now of Prophecy

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