Purposes of Predictive Prophecy (Part 1)
Why has God given revelation in the form of prophecy? And why so much? What is the goal of prophecy? Or are there multiple intended effects? A number of passages answer these questions. The answers are surprisingly diverse. Some passages corroborate what many interpreters emphasize about the purpose of prophecy. Other passages emphasize answers that are actually minimized by some interpreters.
Neither the passages nor the purposes listed below are exhaustive. I think it is safe to say, however, that the following list of passages and purposes represents the leading lines of thought and reflects the major categories of purpose for the giving of predictive prophecy.
Gospel of John
Jesus repeatedly told His disciples what would happen to Him and to them—His betrayal by one of the company (13:19), His imminent departure from them (14:29), and their future persecution and martyrdom (16:4). All of these qualify as prophecy because they are future events. They are also profoundly disturbing, unexpected, traumatic events. But He also explained to them why He was telling them these things ahead of time: that “ye may remember that I told you” (16:4) and that “ye may believe” (13:19; 14:29). The point is not merely to impress them with His remarkable foresight, but to feed their faith in His knowledge of and control over their future—even the most inexplicable and chaotic events.
John records one of the most remarkable examples of this principle in action. Jesus’ first cleansing of the temple provoked a demand for a sign to demonstrate His authority for such extraordinary actions and claims. In response, Jesus challenged His detractors, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (2:19). The Jews, misconstruing His meaning, scoffed. But John explains that Jesus was referring to the “temple” of His own body (2:21)—a metaphor used elsewhere in the Bible. John then explains that after Jesus’ resurrection, “his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (2:22).
Corinthians
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul concludes his lengthy discussion of resurrection (a future and therefore prophetic subject) with an exhortation designed to spur believers to confident action: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). In other words, the prophesied fact of our future resurrection and transformation (as well as Christ’s kingdom victory) is intended to compel us to poised and purposeful service to Christ—to foster the sturdy spirit and confident expectation with which Christians may face every day.
On a related note, Paul offers a rationale that prompts an adjustment to our priorities and motives in our daily choices and actions. “We labour,” Paul writes, “that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (2 Cor. 5:9). Why? Not only because of what precedes, but also because of what follows: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (5:10). That is, we make it our aim, our ambition, to be pleasing to Christ because of the certain prospect of His future evaluation of how we have lived our lives in these bodies.
In other words, these prophecies are designed to create a potentially radical shift in how and why we live the way we do. They compel us to loyal service (1 Cor. 15:58) that is always consciously aimed at pleasing Christ (2 Cor. 5:9).
Thessalonians
The Thessalonian epistles are known among Paul’s writings as the eschatological epistles because a prophetic outlook dominates both letters. In 1 Thessalonians we may immediately think the famous rapture passage in chapter 4; actually, however, all five chapters of 1 Thessalonians begin and end with a reference to some aspect of the Second Coming of Christ. Two of the three chapters in 2 Thessalonians are dominated by eschatological issues.
Connected to some of these more extended prophetic teachings are express statements of the intended purpose or effect of these prophecies. The lengthy passage on details of Christ’s Second Coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11 is punctuated from beginning to end with an express intention: comfort and edification (4:13, 18; 5:11). An understanding of these events—including not only Paul’s assertion of their certainty but his careful explanation of their sequence—is designed to furnish grounds for comfort amid sorrow (4:13–18) and suffering (5:1–11). Comfort and confidence amid suffering and persecution are the design attached to Paul’s discussion of the return of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10 as well.
Pastorals
In 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 Paul famously asserts the value of the OT in its entirety as essential for the growth and maturity of the NT believer. The specific value Paul attaches to such Scripture is that it furnishes both doctrinal and practical instruction necessary for a well-equipped believer. Although he does not mention prophecy directly, the fact that prophecy constitutes a significant portion of the OT means that what is true of “all Scripture” is true of prophecy as well.
Hebrews
We know Hebrews 11 as the “faith” chapter. Think about that for a moment. “Faith” is about clinging to a word from God in spite of all appearances to the contrary. In the chapter’s catalog of faith-filled followers of God, each OT saint mentioned is memorialized for acting on the basis of some as-yet unseen promise from God. Think about that for a moment. A promise is a prophecy—an assurance from God of something that has not yet happened (and in many cases looked very unlikely to happen) but that God says will happen. Hebrews 11 is a series of case studies in the impact and effect of such prophetic promises (or promissory prophecies). Let’s briefly consider several examples.
In 11:7 Noah, warned of apparently unlikely (because unprecedented) events, responded contrary to appearances or precedent. His response is described as a condemning contrast to those who disbelieved and one that made him an heir of a righteousness that is by faith. In other words, prophecy differentiates believers from unbelievers and give us opportunity to display faith in God’s character via faith in God’s words.
In 11:8–16, note the repetition of the word “promise” four times (11:9, 11, 13). Again, “promise” in this context is a form of prophecy. Abraham believed God’s promise of an inheritance and acted on it: he “sojourned in the land of promise” as did his son and grandson, who were “heirs . . . of the same promise.” Though Sarah’s initial response to God’s promise of a son was less than believing, she was strengthened for childbirth even at her advanced age because “she judged him faithful who had promised” (11:11). And though all of these patriarchs “died in faith, not having received the promises”—i.e., actually inheriting all the land God had promised—they were nevertheless “persuaded of them, and embraced them” and lived in light of them. So what was the effect of these prophecy-promises? Prophecy creates the opportunity to demonstrate our belief in larger unseen realities simply because God says they are so (or will be so).
One of my favorites is found in Hebrews 11:17–19. Note again the reference to the prophetic promise (v. 17). The initial answer to God’s promise was Isaac himself. Now God calls on Abraham to destroy that crucial link to the rest of God’s promises (11:18). If Isaac dies, there will be no inheritance to Abraham’s seed as promised, because there will be no seed to receive the promised inheritance. We know that Abraham obeyed anyway. But 11:19 opens an inspired window into Abraham’s reasoning. Abraham could imagine God doing something utterly inexplicable and unprecedented before he could believe that God would fail to do exactly what He had promised. Abraham’s instinct here is hermeneutically instructive. His instinct was not to change his interpretation of God’s prophetic promise. He did not assume that God must have actually meant something else when He promised a physical son by Sarah and a literal land inheritance. He did not conclude that perhaps Isaac would only represent a spiritual seed, or that the inheritance God promised to Abraham’s seed must actually be only a heavenly inheritance. Instead, his instinct was to hang on doggedly to the apparent literal intent of God’s exact words and to assume that somehow God would still do exactly what He’d said. This remarkable example suggests that one of the effects, even purposes, of prophecy is to test our sanctified ingenuity in defending the reliability of God’s promises—our willingness to believe the unprecedented and even improbable before we would believe that God must not have meant exactly what He said as He chose to say it.
1 Peter 1:10–16
Even the prophets themselves ruminated on their own prophecies, turning them over in their minds, examining (ereunaō, same as John 5:39) both their content (“searching what”) as well as the timing (“or what manner of time”). In other words, one of the functions of prophecy is to prompt personal study and investigation in the ways and purposes of God. Verse 12 makes the additional point that prophecy is intended not merely (and in some cases not even primarily) for the prophets’ contemporaries but to minister to later generations of believers (“not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister”). Finally, verses 13–16 indicate that one of the functions of prophecy is to stimulate diligence, sobriety, hope, and personal transformation.
2 Peter 3:1–18
In the context of mentioning the words of the prophets (3:2) and the promise of Christ’s coming (3:4), Peter’s point in 3:8, 9 is twofold: (1) God’s seeming delay in bringing to pass the prophesied eschatological events gives men opportunity to repent, but even more basic than that is the fact that (2) the prophecy itself alerts men to what is coming and is designed to elicit repentance. Peter immediately extends that “ethical function” of such prophecy to motivate believers to holy living and godly priorities (3:10–14; cf. 1 John 3:2, 3). Having focused his readers’ attention on the prophesied coming of Christ (3:4), the day of the Lord (3:10), the destruction of the present earth and heavens (3:10–12), and the creation of a new earth and heavens (3:13), Peter says that knowing these things ahead of time should stabilize believers against the influence of false teaching and spur them to ongoing growth in the truth (3:17, 18).
Just this brief survey of some of the functions and purposes of predictive prophecy mentioned in the NT indicates that, far from being marginalized as uncertain or insignificant, God intends prophecy to have a profound and variegated impact on His people as well as unbelievers.
Dr. Layton Talbert teaches theology and apologetics at Bob Jones Seminary, Greenville, SC and is a Frontline Contributing Editor.
(Originally published in FrontLine • March/April 2013. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)
Photo by takomabibelot Pier-Francesco Sacchi. Les Docteurs de l’Église (Genoa?, 16th c). Louvre INV 598. Use of photo under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.