Table of Contents
History and prophecy agree
Time can be compared to a boundless maze museum which is filled with countless closed rooms with paintings and photos. The world is a traveler in this maze and an unseen hand opens before him those closed rooms one by one.
And thus the traveler continues his way and in the period of 365 days he goes through one end of a room to the other, and travels through the whole of it. In this walk, he gets acquainted with the paintings that are in the room, and he has a memory of the ones that were in the rooms he had already passed through, but he cannot know beforehand what surprise for him is held in the rooms in which he hasn’t been before.
History tells us that from the earliest ages in different nations, there have been people who have claimed to have the ability to reveal the secrets of the future. This has been the occupation of magicians, astrologers, and soothsayers – people who claimed that their calling was to reveal secrets, read the stars, and declare the future.
The practices of reading cards, coffee, calling the dead, casting leads on New Year’s night, etc., this sad inheritance of the pagans, is evidence that those who use such practices and believe in them have not known the true God who reveals secrets.
A revelation of the future
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever…” Deut. 29:29.
Mortal men – though they may be magicians, sorcerers, seers, – are utterly unable to learn the future. To them, it is dense darkness. Only God is able to predict the future because only before his eyes the past and the future are as the present time.
The Holy Scriptures say: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” Ps. 25:14.
A test to all the false gods
Because many people place their trust in sorcerers and soothsayers, without receiving a revelation from God, he makes the following offer to the false gods:
“Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.” Isaiah 41:21-23.
See also Isaiah 44:6-7.
God knows the end from the beginning
The Bible is a book of miracles in which the God of heaven has predicted the history of the world. It is the mirror of time, a gallery of images and pictures of the ages, in which God has outlined the events that were to transpire. The Bible is the photo album that contains the events, photographed thousands of years before their occurrence.
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts…” 2 Peter 1:19.
The Book of Daniel and the Revelation are two extraordinary films in which God has presented in living pictures the most important and significant events thousands of years before their fulfillment. Whoever reads these two books sees in all three directions – he can look at the past, the present and the future.
In the Book of Revelation, the following admonition is given to those who would read and study it to the close of time. We read:
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” Rev. 1:3.
A blessed benediction
This same book ends with a benediction to those who keep the words, written therein. In Chapter 22, we read:
“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 22:7.
What would be the result of faithful obedience to what is written in the Revelation? The righteous ones are promised the right to the eternal inheritance:
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14.
The Bible is the only book of prophecy that is trustworthy. It is the only source that gives an accurate answer to the question: What will happen in the last days?
Men can now communicate, from one continent to another, they can predict the eclipses of the sun and the moon, but they cannot foresee the future events, nor can they tell what is going to transpire in the future. Men cannot determine the formation of states and the appearance of nations, they cannot foretell the rise and fall of cities and states.
The unerring accuracy of Bible prophecy
The Bible however reveals the future with amazing accuracy. It speaks of the past, as well as the future, of that which has happened, and of that which is to occur.
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure…” Isaiah 46: 9, 10.
A careful reading of the prophetic scriptures can help the believers understand where exactly we are in time, and which significant event is next to be fulfilled – i.e. know our whereabouts in time.
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:34-36.