Most of us view the future with a mixture of optimism and fear.
There are reasons for optimism – advances in medicine, scientific discoveries and church growth. But there are reasons for fear. Events in the Middle East, unrest in Jerusalem and Russian expansionism all combine with environmental warnings and anxieties over technology to fuel a sense of impending doom.
In the midst of this confusion, the Bible offers direction as we face the future. To what extent can we or should we use prophecy in the Bible as part of our defence of the faith in evangelism?
Detailed ‘predictions’
Many of us have been immersed in churches that have provided detailed predictions of future events. Based primarily on the Book of Revelation, there are various charts offering a timetable for future events. When I first came to faith there was a very popular book by Hal Lindsey called The Late Great Planet Earth that provided just such a timetable. The parallels between John’s visions in the Bible and events unfolding on the evening news were striking. The relationship of modern nations, advanced military technology like Apache attack helicopters and cruise missiles, all seemed to be described in various passages of John’s apocalyptic vision.
The problem I came to find with many of these end times timetables is that none agreed. If the Scriptures were so clear why did none of these confident Bible teachers agree with each other on what they taught? Numbers like 666 or 1260 or three and a half were sometimes metaphorical and at other times literal, depending on the particular chart being followed by the author or teacher.
When is the end?
At its extreme, the interest in end time prophecies has led to dates being set for the end of the age or the Rapture (removal of the church from the earth). The Millerites were a group named after a Baptist preacher, William Miller, who predicted that the end would come before 21 March 1844. Failures of revised predictions for the following year became known as The Great Disappointment. More recently, Edgar C. Whisenant published 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988. The book sold 300,000 copies. He did publish later books predicting the Rapture in 1989, 1993, 1994 and 1997, but these did not sell so well.
During this year we have had various prophetic claims regarding the blood moons caused by lunar eclipses and these gain much attention. How do they help or hinder our apologetics? No doubt such Bible teachers feel they are doing the church a great service. The Internet is awash with predictive claims and interpretation of contemporary events in the light of Biblical prophecy.
The words of Jesus are rather more sobering. It is not for us to know the time (Acts 1.7). Even Jesus himself did not know the hour of his return (Matthew 24.36). The Book of Revelation provides profound assurance that God is in control of events. Whatever the tribulations, the Lord Jesus remains sovereign and works all things together for his purpose. Wars, and rumours of wars, remind us of a world in decay, in need of redemption, but are not themselves a basis for setting our watches (Matthew 24.6).
More solid ground
For the defence of the faith, it is better to draw attention to the underlying confidence in the sovereignty of God throughout Scripture. The Bible does make predictive claims, and they find fulfilment at various points in time. The survival of the people of Judah and the decline of surrounding nations unfolded as biblical prophets had foreseen.
The coming of the Messiah, even his birth in little Bethlehem (Micah 5.2), took place according to God’s plan. Now the spread and survival of his people throughout the world demonstrates the sovereignty of God. The Bible does give us reason to expect opposition, persecution and tribulation. It also affirms that the church will survive and that her Saviour will be triumphant.
These big themes should be enough to help us make sense of history and put forward the case that the survival of God’s people is itself evidence for the truth of his Word.
