By D. Brandt Berg
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Nothing about God’s overall plans for the world and world history in general as outlined in Bible prophecy is going to change. The major events and the major participants and the final outcome, that’s all settled. “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.”1 He says, “I am the Lord, I change not.”2 God doesn’t change, His Word doesn’t change, and even His prophetic plans for the world have not changed and are not going to change.
There are certain specifics that we can be sure of. We know Jesus is coming back, and that following His return we are going to go to heaven to enjoy the Marriage Feast of the Lamb and that gorgeous Heavenly City, while there’s hell on earth and the wrath of God is being poured out on the earth below. We know that’s going to be followed by the Battle of Armageddon, which we know is going to be followed by the Millennium. All this is very clear and very specific in the Bible. We know the Millennium’s going to last exactly a thousand years, and we know it’s going to end with another war, the Battle of Gog and Magog, and be followed by the new heaven and new earth.
These are incontrovertible facts—solid stones in the building of your knowledge of Bible prophecy and coming events. They cannot be denied, cannot be doubted, because it’s all right there in the Bible; it says so in plain black and white, clearly, not once but many times. So you cannot change your opinion about these major events or periods of the future.
These are specifics we know, and the closer we get to those periods, the more specific and the more exact our understanding will be. However, right now we are in a much hazier period where many of the exact timings and details, the exact years, months, and days are not that specific yet. But we are given certain pivotal points in history, certain timeline spots from which we can measure accurately.
So what we need first, as we study the Word of God, is to know the things that are unchangeable, the established facts, proven by many scriptures, the sound foundation for our interpretation of Bible prophecy, the certain facts that will not change, that we know are true. You have to know these basic fundamentals of our concept of Bible prophecy and its interpretation first before you can know what might be changed or could possibly be changed, like some theories or guesstimates or personal opinions of the timing.
“Private interpretations”
The Bible says that “No prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation.”3 In other words, it must be generally accepted. The bulk of what I’ve taught regarding prophecy is things on which most Bible students and scholars of Bible prophecy agree. It’s not private doctrine, but things on which most of them are agreed.
When you’re talking about prophetic interpretation of the past, you can prove that many of the prophecies are true because they already happened; those empires have come and gone. It’s not hard to teach and follow that kind of Bible prophecy, fulfilled Bible prophecy; it’s already happened and you know it’s true. But where you’re getting on touchy ground is when you start getting into the future, the time periods that have not happened yet. And this is where most people’s particular little shibboleths and doctrines and interpretations tend to differ.
But just because some of it is unclear or controversial is no excuse to just toss all Bible prophecy away and never talk about it. God’s Word says, “Blessed is he that heareth and understandeth the words of this prophecy.”4 It takes effort; it’s work to try to understand Bible prophecy and to study it and to figure these things out. It sometimes takes years and years of study and working at it, comparing scripture with scripture, going back and forth through the Word of God to arrive at the most plausible interpretations. But God says you’re blessed if you do those things.
Of course, you don’t have to know all the prophetic details of the future; they’ll happen whether you know them or not. But it’s a good thing to know, and it’s a good thing to understand His predictions so you’ll be able to warn and instruct others, and you’ll be able to know what’s going on, what’s happening. Paul himself said, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren.”5
God loves a mystery
We cannot be dogmatic and exact to the nth degree in the application or interpretation or even the categorization of many of the prophetic scriptures. Often the prophets saw distant events like ranges of mountains one after the other in which only the mountaintops and peaks were outstanding, whereas the valleys were somewhat hidden. Also, if you’ve ever noticed as you view mountains at a distance, you cannot always distinguish between the ranges, and sometimes two or three ranges can look like one range from a distance.
The prophets looked into the future and saw the coming events like a row of mountaintops. You can see them all at once, like you look at a whole scene at once, but actually, when you journey up that mountain and get to the top, some of those mountains that you thought were part of the same range turn out to be another 20 or 30 miles away.
The prophet Daniel himself was also puzzled by his own prophecies. He didn’t understand much of what the Lord was revealing to him. He said the cogitations of his head bothered him and he was even sick in spirit.6
There are many mysteries that God has hidden for Himself and which He has reserved for us only to know sometime in the future or perhaps in heaven itself. The prophets who received many of these revelations never explained them, often because they didn’t understand them. God’s ways are above our ways, as high as the heavens above the earth,7 so we’re not expected to understand everything God does and has and knows. We’re just finite men and we have pretty small minds, and we can’t possibly comprehend all of the wonders and mysteries of God and the future.
That’s why when you get bogged down in too many of the details and too many specifics of Bible prophecy you’re bound to make some mistakes, because it’s often mysterious, and you can’t be too dogmatic.
Even if we don’t have the answers now, when it happens, you’ll recognize the answer. And that’s a lot of what the study of Bible prophecy is. You don’t understand everything that’s said, but why do you think God said it when you don’t even understand it? So that when it does happen, you’ll recognize it.
Is prophecy the most important thing?
This may come as a surprise to some, but it is not absolutely necessary that either you or I or any of us see exactly eye to eye on every technical detail of theological hairsplitting, such as minor doctrines and interpretations which are not essential to salvation, witnessing, soul winning, and world evangelism. It is only essential that we agree on salvation through Jesus, the basic authority of God’s Word, our obligation to witness His truth to others, to manifest His love to the world and win the lost for Christ and His service.
You may have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but without love it’s nothing.8 Love is the lifeblood of God’s work—the Spirit of God’s love. Now don’t get me wrong; Bible prophecy is important, and you should be familiar with God’s predictions of the future. But if you don’t have love, I don’t care how well you understand Bible prophecy and can describe every beast in the book and hang a label on every horn. If you haven’t got love, it’s just cold dead icicles of facts and figures—no warmth, no heat—and will never turn anyone else on either. So remember, Bible prophecy is important, but love is the most important thing.
There’s one thing about prophecy: when it happens, then you’ll know what it meant. Jesus said, “I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass ye might believe.”9 A lot of prophecies are given to help you understand the future, but if you don’t understand it, it was probably written just so that when it happens, then you’ll understand it. Some of these things are not clear, but at least one thing I’m sure of: the Lord put them there for our edification, to either understand the future or recognize it when it happens. When it happens, we’ll know, and then we’ll know what the right interpretation was.
Some people get too caught up in the details and trying to predict them and measure them and figure them out and calculate them mathematically when it’s too early for that. You’ll know soon enough when the time comes. What is the greatest commandment? To predict the future? To become theological experts in every detail of Bible prophecy? The greatest commandment is to love God! And the next greatest is to love thy neighbor as thyself.10
So don’t get your eyes so fixed on the details, doctrines, and dogmas of eschatology that you lose sight of the real goal: to reach the world with the gospel of God’s love. This is our primary purpose for being here, our excuse for existence! Jesus Himself knew all about the future, but His main mission was to love the world and His main message was the good news of God’s love and salvation.
Jesus’ last message to His disciples at the Last Supper just before He was arrested, taken to jail, beaten and crucified was all about love, that love was the most important thing.11
His last request was “Feed My sheep.”12 And this is the greatest, most important job we have to do if we love Him, to witness the Word of God, to preach the gospel, to tell folks about God’s love, to show them the love of Jesus. So may God bless and keep you sharing the good news of His love with others!
Originally published June 1986. Adapted and republished October 2015.
Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
1 Psalm 119:89.
2 Malachi 3:6.
3 2 Peter 1:20.
4 Revelation 1:3.
5 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.
6 Daniel 7:28, 8:27.
7 Isaiah 55:9.
8 1 Corinthians 13:2.
9 John 14:29.
10 Matthew 22:37–39.
11 See John 13:3–17, 34–35; 15:9–13, 17.
12 John 21:15–17.
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Nothing about God’s overall plans for the world and world history in general as outlined in Bible prophecy is going to change. The major events and the major participants and the final outcome, that’s all settled. “Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.”1 He says, “I am the Lord, I change not.”2 God doesn’t change, His Word doesn’t change, and even His prophetic plans for the world have not changed and are not going to change.
There are certain specifics that we can be sure of. We know Jesus is coming back, and that following His return we are going to go to heaven to enjoy the Marriage Feast of the Lamb and that gorgeous Heavenly City, while there’s hell on earth and the wrath of God is being poured out on the earth below. We know that’s going to be followed by the Battle of Armageddon, which we know is going to be followed by the Millennium. All this is very clear and very specific in the Bible. We know the Millennium’s going to last exactly a thousand years, and we know it’s going to end with another war, the Battle of Gog and Magog, and be followed by the new heaven and new earth.
These are incontrovertible facts—solid stones in the building of your knowledge of Bible prophecy and coming events. They cannot be denied, cannot be doubted, because it’s all right there in the Bible; it says so in plain black and white, clearly, not once but many times. So you cannot change your opinion about these major events or periods of the future.
These are specifics we know, and the closer we get to those periods, the more specific and the more exact our understanding will be. However, right now we are in a much hazier period where many of the exact timings and details, the exact years, months, and days are not that specific yet. But we are given certain pivotal points in history, certain timeline spots from which we can measure accurately.
So what we need first, as we study the Word of God, is to know the things that are unchangeable, the established facts, proven by many scriptures, the sound foundation for our interpretation of Bible prophecy, the certain facts that will not change, that we know are true. You have to know these basic fundamentals of our concept of Bible prophecy and its interpretation first before you can know what might be changed or could possibly be changed, like some theories or guesstimates or personal opinions of the timing.
“Private interpretations”
The Bible says that “No prophecy of the scripture is of private interpretation.”3 In other words, it must be generally accepted. The bulk of what I’ve taught regarding prophecy is things on which most Bible students and scholars of Bible prophecy agree. It’s not private doctrine, but things on which most of them are agreed.
When you’re talking about prophetic interpretation of the past, you can prove that many of the prophecies are true because they already happened; those empires have come and gone. It’s not hard to teach and follow that kind of Bible prophecy, fulfilled Bible prophecy; it’s already happened and you know it’s true. But where you’re getting on touchy ground is when you start getting into the future, the time periods that have not happened yet. And this is where most people’s particular little shibboleths and doctrines and interpretations tend to differ.
But just because some of it is unclear or controversial is no excuse to just toss all Bible prophecy away and never talk about it. God’s Word says, “Blessed is he that heareth and understandeth the words of this prophecy.”4 It takes effort; it’s work to try to understand Bible prophecy and to study it and to figure these things out. It sometimes takes years and years of study and working at it, comparing scripture with scripture, going back and forth through the Word of God to arrive at the most plausible interpretations. But God says you’re blessed if you do those things.
Of course, you don’t have to know all the prophetic details of the future; they’ll happen whether you know them or not. But it’s a good thing to know, and it’s a good thing to understand His predictions so you’ll be able to warn and instruct others, and you’ll be able to know what’s going on, what’s happening. Paul himself said, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren.”5
God loves a mystery
We cannot be dogmatic and exact to the nth degree in the application or interpretation or even the categorization of many of the prophetic scriptures. Often the prophets saw distant events like ranges of mountains one after the other in which only the mountaintops and peaks were outstanding, whereas the valleys were somewhat hidden. Also, if you’ve ever noticed as you view mountains at a distance, you cannot always distinguish between the ranges, and sometimes two or three ranges can look like one range from a distance.
The prophets looked into the future and saw the coming events like a row of mountaintops. You can see them all at once, like you look at a whole scene at once, but actually, when you journey up that mountain and get to the top, some of those mountains that you thought were part of the same range turn out to be another 20 or 30 miles away.
The prophet Daniel himself was also puzzled by his own prophecies. He didn’t understand much of what the Lord was revealing to him. He said the cogitations of his head bothered him and he was even sick in spirit.6
There are many mysteries that God has hidden for Himself and which He has reserved for us only to know sometime in the future or perhaps in heaven itself. The prophets who received many of these revelations never explained them, often because they didn’t understand them. God’s ways are above our ways, as high as the heavens above the earth,7 so we’re not expected to understand everything God does and has and knows. We’re just finite men and we have pretty small minds, and we can’t possibly comprehend all of the wonders and mysteries of God and the future.
That’s why when you get bogged down in too many of the details and too many specifics of Bible prophecy you’re bound to make some mistakes, because it’s often mysterious, and you can’t be too dogmatic.
Even if we don’t have the answers now, when it happens, you’ll recognize the answer. And that’s a lot of what the study of Bible prophecy is. You don’t understand everything that’s said, but why do you think God said it when you don’t even understand it? So that when it does happen, you’ll recognize it.
Is prophecy the most important thing?
This may come as a surprise to some, but it is not absolutely necessary that either you or I or any of us see exactly eye to eye on every technical detail of theological hairsplitting, such as minor doctrines and interpretations which are not essential to salvation, witnessing, soul winning, and world evangelism. It is only essential that we agree on salvation through Jesus, the basic authority of God’s Word, our obligation to witness His truth to others, to manifest His love to the world and win the lost for Christ and His service.
You may have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but without love it’s nothing.8 Love is the lifeblood of God’s work—the Spirit of God’s love. Now don’t get me wrong; Bible prophecy is important, and you should be familiar with God’s predictions of the future. But if you don’t have love, I don’t care how well you understand Bible prophecy and can describe every beast in the book and hang a label on every horn. If you haven’t got love, it’s just cold dead icicles of facts and figures—no warmth, no heat—and will never turn anyone else on either. So remember, Bible prophecy is important, but love is the most important thing.
There’s one thing about prophecy: when it happens, then you’ll know what it meant. Jesus said, “I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass ye might believe.”9 A lot of prophecies are given to help you understand the future, but if you don’t understand it, it was probably written just so that when it happens, then you’ll understand it. Some of these things are not clear, but at least one thing I’m sure of: the Lord put them there for our edification, to either understand the future or recognize it when it happens. When it happens, we’ll know, and then we’ll know what the right interpretation was.
Some people get too caught up in the details and trying to predict them and measure them and figure them out and calculate them mathematically when it’s too early for that. You’ll know soon enough when the time comes. What is the greatest commandment? To predict the future? To become theological experts in every detail of Bible prophecy? The greatest commandment is to love God! And the next greatest is to love thy neighbor as thyself.10
So don’t get your eyes so fixed on the details, doctrines, and dogmas of eschatology that you lose sight of the real goal: to reach the world with the gospel of God’s love. This is our primary purpose for being here, our excuse for existence! Jesus Himself knew all about the future, but His main mission was to love the world and His main message was the good news of God’s love and salvation.
Jesus’ last message to His disciples at the Last Supper just before He was arrested, taken to jail, beaten and crucified was all about love, that love was the most important thing.11
His last request was “Feed My sheep.”12 And this is the greatest, most important job we have to do if we love Him, to witness the Word of God, to preach the gospel, to tell folks about God’s love, to show them the love of Jesus. So may God bless and keep you sharing the good news of His love with others!
Originally published June 1986. Adapted and republished October 2015.
Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
1 Psalm 119:89.
2 Malachi 3:6.
3 2 Peter 1:20.
4 Revelation 1:3.
5 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.
6 Daniel 7:28, 8:27.
7 Isaiah 55:9.
8 1 Corinthians 13:2.
9 John 14:29.
10 Matthew 22:37–39.
11 See John 13:3–17, 34–35; 15:9–13, 17.
12 John 21:15–17.
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