What is the message of Bible prophecy to believers and unbelievers?
If you were asked to describe the fundamental message of end time Bible prophecy, what would you say? What is the message to the believer? What is its message to the unbeliever? A panel of 15 Bible prophecy experts answers those very questions! To find out, read or watch below.
Don Perkins, According to Prophecy Ministries
I teach a message entitled, “Bible Prophecy, God’s Order of Events.” In that message I show that God has everything under control. Everything is under control.
To the Christian I share the message of Bible prophecy — it is now time for us to be about our Father’s business reaching a lost world that don’t know Him. To the unbeliever I share a warning from the message of Bible prophecy — today is the day of salvation.
No matter how chaotic things look today, God is in control.
David Hocking, Hope for Today Ministries
When it comes to the message of Bible prophecy to believers, I always love to read what the Apostle Peter said. In a few words, he told us what the message was all about. I personally like to go to this almost every time people ask me that question. Peter said that we don’t follow cunningly devised fables or myths. He said he was with his friends James and John on the Holy Mount and he heard the voice from Heaven of the Heavenly Father saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
Listen also to this, “We have a more sure word of prophecy where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star rise in our hearts, 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; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
One of the blessings to me is that prophecy is like an anchor of the soul. Hebrews has a great discussion of that in chapter 6. Bible prophecy is a light in a dark place. The fact is that it’s prophecy that gives us a sure word. That word “sure” is used of the anchor of a ship.
I think of how Paul spoke of the children of God wavering and going here and there, not knowing who to believe and being deceived. But, what will keep the anchor deep into the soil and keep the ship steady is the sure words of Bible prophecy.
The message of Bible prophecy to the unbeliever is I pray and hope that God will bring them to faith in the Messiah of Israel, our blessed Lord Yeshua. I believe that for the Jewish people also. In our radio and television outlets we have multiple Jewish people. We have a whole lot of Israelis who listen to our program. We are desirous of seeing lost men and women coming to know the Lord, whether they are Jew or Gentile. I can attest to that because I was asked to speak so much in churches about prophecy 25 years ago I stopped being a pastor. I was a pastor for many, many years, but I saw the need. There has never been a prophecy conference that we’ve been involved within 25 years where we’ve not seen people saved. So, Bible prophecy is definitely being used by God to turn people’s hearts to the Lord.
Ed Hindson, World Prophetic Ministry
The message of Bible prophecy to the believer is summarized in the whole Communion service. This do in remembrance of me until He comes. Every time we celebrate the bread and the cup, we remember the death of Christ in the past, but we look forward to His coming in the future. We are to do that consistently until Jesus comes. We are living in anticipation of His coming.
The message to the believer is that you have a job to do to fulfill the Great Commission — build the Church to the glory of God. It doesn’t surprise me that Gospel preaching, Bible believing churches are growing and they are reaching people and thousands of people are coming to Christ today.
At the same time, the message of Bible prophecy for the unbeliever is a warning. It foretells that the love of most will grow cold. There will come a time of ungodliness, unparalleled in human history. A self-centered society will arise and will be so indulged in itself that they won’t care about God or the things of God. That will set the stage ultimately for the rise of the Antichrist who himself doesn’t believe in the God of his father’s or any god. He thinks he’s a god! It would not surprise me that our culture in the way it is going today would produce such a person. When the Antichrist is indwelled by the power of Satan, he’ll become the ultimate deceiver.
So, the message of Bible prophecy to the unbeliever is you need to come to faith in Christ while there’s hope and while there’s time. Don’t keep putting it off! Don’t delay, because one day the trumpet will sound and the archangel will shout, and the family of God will be called home to Heaven. When you’re left behind, literally all hell breaks loose in the time of Tribulation. Trust me, you don’t want to be left behind. Those who are left behind are under the wrath of the Lamb, Christ Himself. They are under the wrath of Satan when he is cast out of Heaven permanently. And, they are under the wrath of God the Father. Everything goes wrong during that period of time.
Sometimes people ask me, “Ed, why do you and Dr. Reagan and David Jeremiah, Chuck Swindoll, and Charles Stanley, etc, why do you all believe the Rapture has to occur before the time of Tribulation? Hasn’t the Church always suffered persecution and trouble and martyrdom and wrath?” Yes, from men, and from the Devil, but not from God. The Church may be the object of the wrath of Satan, she may be the object of the wrath of men, but she’s not the object of the wrath of Jesus. Jesus loves the Bride. He died for the Bride. He gave Himself to death for the Bride. If you have a high enough view of the Bride you’ll understand that you don’t beat up the Bride of Christ in the Tribulation period and then take her to the marriage. That doesn’t make any sense at all symbolically.
No, Jesus is going to come one day for His Bride, and when He comes, all the persecution will come to an end. All the resistance will come to an end because Jesus takes the Bride home to the marriage and she receives the white robe. She receives the blessing of God and the rewards of God at the judgment seat of Christ. Then, robed in white, she will then march out of Heaven in Revelation 19 with her warrior Husband to come back to reign and rule on earth and fulfill her ultimate destiny that she rules over the nations. God has a wonderful plan for His Bride. He has a wonderful plan for His Church.
The question is, does God have a wonderful plan for you? Have you accepted that plan as part of your own experience in life? The plan that’s centralized in the person of Jesus Himself, the sinless Son of God who went to the Cross, bore your sin, died in your place, and rose from the dead to offer you not only forgiveness of sins but a gift of righteousness and of eternal life and it’s all free? That is the best transaction you’ll ever make. It’s the best deal you’ll ever hear. And the sooner you say “yes,” the better it will go for you in life.
David Reagan, Lamb & Lion Ministries
One of the reasons I asked this question is because one of our nation’s best known pastors recently stated that the study of Bible prophecy is a distraction that Christians should not get involved in. Well, frankly, I was appalled at that statement, because it meant that he was urging Christians to set aside one-third of God’s Word and pay no attention to it. He was also implying, of course, that Bible prophecy contains no messages of any importance for us today.
I would like to say emphatically that nothing could be farther from the truth! Bible prophecy is not just pie-in-the-sky poetry that has no relevance to the here and now. It can serve as a great tool of evangelism, and it can be used very effectively to call believers to commit their lives to evangelism and holiness.
I would say that overall the message of Bible prophecy is one of urgency. The signs of the times point to the imminent return of Jesus. And, the urgency of the moment demands action; action on the part of all of us. If you are a person who has never received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray you will do so this moment. Time is short! Action is needed now. God has prolonged your life to this point because He does not wish that any should perish, but that all might be saved.
Perhaps you think you are saved because you have been baptized or you have become a member of a church or because you consider yourself to be a good person. None of those things will save your soul from Hell. Salvation is not a matter of religious rituals, church membership, or good works. It is a matter of relationship. Jesus said, “This is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Have you committed your life to Him? Are you trusting in Him, or in your good works? To come to know Jesus personally and to be sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation, you need to reach out to God in faith through a simple prayer like this one:
Dear, Heavenly Father, I confess to you that I am a sinner and that I am sorry for my sins. I thank You for the salvation You’ve made possible through the sacrifice of Your Son. I accept Him as my Lord and Savior, and I welcome the indwelling power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Once you have prayed this prayer, seek out a Bible-believing church where God’s Word is preached and where Jesus is held up as the only hope for the world. Make a public confession of your faith in Jesus and be baptized to manifest your commitment to Him and to symbolize your own death, burial and resurrection as a new person in Christ.
For those of you who have already placed your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, my plea is that you will get serious about reaching out to unbelievers with the message of the Lord’s soon return. Time is short! Urgent action is needed. I pray too that you will examine every aspect of your life to see where you have made compromises with the world and where you have grown comfortable with sin. The Holy Spirit is calling you to holiness in preparation for the Lord’s imminent return. Identify those areas of your life that are not totally surrendered to the Lord and crucify them.