Don’t shy away from the prophetic books

                                                       Posted on May 15, 2023

By Elizabeth Prata

Prophecy gives us urgency. It reveals God’s plan and offers us the wonder of seeing it fulfilled to the jot and tittle, from the past by reading the Bible, and the future as we await His return. Prophecy shows us His holy anger, of which we must fear. We gain comfort and hope- think of Simeon and Anna in the temple, eagerly awaiting the Consolation of Israel, their hope and comfort fulfilled before their eyes as Mary and Joseph came to present the babe. (Luke 2).

I like being heavenly minded. I think of seeing the face of Jesus, singing to Him with all the redeemed. I think of the street of gold, the saints of the past I’ll get to know, and so much more. Being heavenly minded also means seeing the justice of God as He renders it in the final judgments. Judgment, wrath, and hell. There but for the grace of God go I… He took my ragged and pitifully polluted life and turned it into something glorious for the Father. He put in me a new heart and my soul daily being cleansed of sin.

In all the ways above and many more, prophecy demonstrates His glory.

I encourage you all to read and study the Book of Revelation. It is not difficult, and the Spirit will make it clear. You know, it is written in that book that we receive a blessing if we read the Book of Revelation. Zechariah has as much prophecy in it related to the final days on earth as Revelation does, if not more. I enjoyed Steve Hadley’s verse-by-verse sermons from Zechariah. There is so much prophecy in the Old Testament. I guess I should just say that the entire Bible is wonderful. Some say that a quarter of the whole Bible is prophetic. There is history, Law, narrative, poetry, wisdom, and prophecy. Something for everyone! So get to it today, don’t shy away from prophecy, especially Revelation.

Prophecy puts me in my place. I am a crumb, saved by grace, and at His perfect appointed time, placed within the Age of Grace to do His will, and perhaps gloriously see His return while I’m alive. What a privilege. Share Jesus with another, His prophetic timetable is moving quickly toward the climactic moments on earth.

Love or Law?

Satan has effectively used a very clever device to silence the law which is needed as an instrument to bring perishing men to Christ.  He has suggested that the law and love are irreconcilable enemies; they are opposites.  If they are in conflict, men will obviously choose love and spurn law; for no one would dare to despise love. Thus, the Wicked One has declared that love is independent of law and contrary to it.

Precisely the opposite is declared by Holy Scripture.  Law and love are mutually affinitive. Jesus plainly taught that the law was urging men to nothing but love. The righteous commandments may be summarized as:

Thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matt 22:37-40

The law is neither more nor less than an elucidation of the demands of love.

In the same manner our Lord defined love by reference to the law. The repetition on this point is striking. 'If ye love me, keep my commandments' (John 14:15). 'He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me' (John 14:21). Love cannot be expressed without the guidelines of law, and law cannot be kept spiritually except by the motivation of love.

Chantry, Today's Gospel

Psalm 19

The law of the Lord is perfect,

  reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9