It’s time once again for our monthly opportunity to get answers to your questions on the Bible, faith, and the church. Professor Mark Muska from the University of Northwestern answers your questions about reading and interpreting prophetic messages in the Bible.
When we read scriptures such as those in Revelation, Daniel, or even just the words of Jesus, we can sometimes get stumped by prophetic passages. Trying to predict what they mean or when they will happen becomes a difficult, full-time job.
Professor Muska explains that we should read them as an outline of how we should live now in preparation for future prophetic events.
“… it is typical of prophetic passages talking about the return of Christ, and all the events happening around the return of Christ, to bring it down home today and to say ‘OK, this is what’s coming, and in light of that this is the way you ought to live today.’”
In Luke 21:34-36, Jesus shares a lot of details about what’s going to happen. It comes at the end, when He is done sharing about His return, all the things going on, and looking for the signs of His coming.
“Be on guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will come when you suddenly like a trap; for will come on upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. But keep on the alert at all times praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36.
Jesus is saying that this should affect the way you live today and change the outlook that you have about your own life, those who mean something to you, and the affairs of the world itself.
How do prophetic messages affect our lives?
“This whole thing’s going to burn someday, and so what does that mean for possessions? Are we hoarding and making our own kingdoms here? In light of what’s coming with that judgment, it does have a real effect on the way we live today… I think [sometimes] we get too much into the dating and exactly, ‘What are the signs of Jesus coming?’ Those are there to encourage us to live in a certain way today.”
We should think about Peter asking that very question since everything will be destroyed in this way. Chuck Colson poses the question, ‘What kind of people are you to be?’ in his new book , and that’s a question worth asking and having discussions about in the church, Bible studies, and Sunday school.
