Prophecy has existed throughout human history. The very first prophecy is recorded Genesis 3:15 shortly after sin entered the world:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
These words were from God the Creator who exists in the future long before it becomes our present reality. And sometimes He reveals this future to His created beings who are living in a sin cursed world. Why? The present article will answer this question. The answer will reveal a God who loves us with an incomprehensible love. The answer will reveal a God who wants to save every single human being!
Jonah & Nineveh
The book of Jonah depicts a Jewish prophet who has been given a prophecy to share with the inhabitants of Nineveh. The first mention of Nineveh is in the Table of Nations, which describes the many cities Nimrod built in Assyria including “Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city” (Genesis 10:11–12). Nineveh was known for its great wealth, power, and prestige. The Assyrians were notorious for their cruelty and idolatry (Nahum 3:19). Their capital, Nineveh, contained many temples, including one to Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess that some scholars believe was the namesake of Nineveh. In 2 Kings 19:36 and Isaiah 37:37, Nineveh is depicted as the center of the Assyrian Empire and home to King Sennacherib.
Nineveh is also noted as a longtime enemy of Israel, but God sent Jonah (an Israelite) to Nineveh with a prophecy (Jonah 3:4): “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be over-thrown.” What is going on? A loving God is using His presence in the future to reveal the endpoint for Nineveh; an endpoint that the inhabitants can prevent. According to Jonah’s narrative, the inhabitants of Nineveh repented, and the endpoint was averted. Thus, this prophecy has one objective: Save the inhabitants of Nineveh. If the prophecy had not been made known, and the people had not repented, over 100,000 people would have perished in Nineveh. Clearly, prophecy is a cornerstone of salvation. Without a doubt, prophecy flows from the heart of a loving God to save and nurture the people He created.
The second chapter of Daniel presents another prophecy. King Nebuchadnezzar had a troubling dream, and he could not remember it. God’s chosen people, Israel, had become such a poor representation of the true God that God permitted them to go into Babylonian captivity. The prophet Jeremiah who was a contemporary of Daniel stated that Israel would be in captivity for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12):
“This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the Lord, and will make it desolate forever.”
Only a God who exists in (or knows) the future can declare this outcome. Only He can declare something before it comes to pass. However, His declarations are either conditional or unconditional. When He declared in Genesis 3:15 that Eve’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head and the serpent would bruise His heel, the future event was unconditional. Nothing could prevent it from happening. However, when Jonah told the people of Nineveh that they would perish in 40 days, the prophecy was conditional.
As a contemporary of Jeremiah, Daniel was aware of the 70-year prophecy. However, I don’t think Daniel knew if the prophecy was conditional or unconditional. After all, Israel’s misrepresentation of God had brought them into Babylonian captivity. Had they reached a point in rightly representing God that would permit the 70-year prophecy to be fulfilled? Thus, we find Daniel in his 9th chapter praying to God and confessing for his people.
Back to Nebuchadnezza’s dream: Here is a heathen king who does not believe in the Creator God. Furthermore, he thinks the gods he worshipped helped him conquer a nation who claimed their God was the most powerful. However, while basking in his accomplishment, he has a troubling dream that he cannot remember. God revealed to Daniel’s Nebuchadnezza’s dream and gave Daniel the interpretation of the dream. In this dream, God revealed to Nebuchadnezza and the Babylonian kingdom the endpoint for all humanity. Through this dream, God shared the rise and fall of major kingdoms that would impact His chosen people. Through this dream, God revealed that the endpoint for all humanity would be “a stone would be cut out without hands”, it will smash the image, and break it into pieces, and the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would last forever. As this dream and its interpretation was shared throughout the Babylonian Empire (and the world), I think God’s love was displayed in a manner it had not been displayed. This dream and its interpretation say no matter how cruel and unjust a kingdom is, no matter how egregious the act, one day a rock will be cut out without hands, it will smash the image, break it into pieces, and the rock will fill the whole earth. The great God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will last forever. And this kingdom will reflect His attributes: compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin, yet does not leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34:5-8).
God’s Purpose in Prophecy
Seventh-day Adventists have been known as a people of prophecy for a long time. We take pride in our understanding of bible prophecy. And this is very good! Uriah Smith used his understanding of prophecy to predict the fall of the Ottoman Empire.[1]
However, I am suggesting that our knowledge of and understanding of prophecy do not include a strong enough focus on the God of prophecy. God shares the future with us from a heart of love. He shares the future with us to encourage and motivate us to avoid the consequences of sin. When He shared the future through John the Revelation to first century believers, they were greatly encouraged as they suffered under persecution. When He shared the future with the believers who made up the Protestant Reformation that inflicted a mortal wound on the apostate church, they were inspired and strengthened as they died in the flames or perished in dungeons. When He shares our future, which says the beast from the land (America) will force everyone to worship the beast from the sea (the apostate church), what impact does this prophecy have upon us? Knowledge of this future is flowing from a God who loves us and does not want anyone to be lost. Knowledge of the future only profits if there is a change in the present that positions one better for that future! If the fruit of the Spirit do not increase in the life, what is the value of knowledge of the future (prophecy)?
Life without prophecy will be a life with less hope. Life without prophecy will fuel spiritual complicacy. Of course, ignoring prophecy will have the same outcome! In addition, life without prophecy would not reflect well upon the God who exists in the future. The God who occupies the future reveals the future to us because He want to save us; He wants to encourage and nurture us! Every prophecy flows from a God of love; a God who wants to save everyone! In Eze. 18:23, God says: “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” (New International Version).
May the people of prophecy lift higher the loving God of prophecy!!
****
When Dr. Davis graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1976 with a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, he had a wife and two young daughters. Forty-five years later, he and his wife have five grand-children, and two son-n-laws. His career journey has included the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg, Alabama A. & M. University, Oakwood University, Alabama Center for Higher Education, the Educational Testing Service, Alcorn State University,and Jackson State University. His most memorable event was speaking to Alabama Senator Shelby’s Panel on “The Plight of the African American Male”.
Dr. Davis created the Online Journal of Rural and Urban Research, which is housed at Mississippi Urban Research Center. Dr. Davis has published, presented at national and international conferences, and secured millions in external funding. Shortly after coming to Mississippi, he joined the writing team that helped land the ACHIEVE Mississippi grant for $12 million. In 2002, Dr. Davis left higher education administration for fulltime teaching, thinking he would retire as a teacher. Since leaving the University, Dr. Davis and his wife have established A Natural Way Family Health Clinic in Byram, which uses lifestyle and traditional medicine to control and sometimes reverse diseases. They have witnessed diabetes being reversed, and hypertension and cholesterol being controlled without pharmaceuticals. Dr. Davis is grateful to God and those who supported him during his career journey!
[1] Smith, U., & Writer, R. (1907). Without Excuse. Seventh-day Adventist Association.