Shalom, friends.
Some prophecy buffs seem to have stopped learning, thinking that they've got "all the ducks there are on the lake penned up" and ready to be sorted, "getting all their ducks in a row."
Don't you ever find that you've "missed a duck or two" in some "alcove along the lake's shore?" There are nuggets of eschatological gold that one may have neglected.
Have you ever tried to read through the whole passage of Matthew 24 and 25 in one sitting and, in the process, imagined yourself as one of His Jewish talmidiym (disciples) listening to what He was telling you? I believe one SHOULD! And, I don't mean as one of His Christians, either!
Picture yourself on the hillside of the Mount of Olives listening to your Teacher telling you about things you've mostly never heard before! And, if you have the means, frequently check what you're thinking against the Greek to be sure you're still "on the same page" as its author, Mattityahu.
The authors of the Bible books were people just like us. They may have lived in a different time and culture, but they had their daily activities they discussed, had their own sets of problems, had their sorrows and their joys; let their words make SENSE to you as you read! They didn't speak disjointedly anymore than we do today.
I used to think of passages like...
1 Thess 5:14-23
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesyings.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
KJV
...and...
James 5:11-20
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
KJV
...as being disjoint hodge-podges of things to do; just lists of statements stuck together without reason.
Then, while reading through each one of these "lists" (at unrelated points in time), I discovered that each of these has an underlying theme that ties the list together: the 1 Thessalonians passage has the underlying theme of getting to know God's mind and thereby draw closer to Him, and the James passage has the underlying theme of righteousness that links them all the separate thoughts into a whole.
Do the same thing with the seemingly disjoint passages of prophecy, particularly the OT prophecies. Don't try to link them into your outline; let the author of the book tell YOU how the pieces fit! It's difficult to do, I know, but try to read a prophecy without a preconceived framework; try to be a "blank slate," as though you've never read the book before, and as much as is humanly possible, try to read the prophecy in a single sitting from start to finish, realizing that the Jewish style of conveying a message often starts with a summary and then goes into the details.
I'm telling you as best as I know how, you all may still have some learning to do. And, don't think I'm saying that I have arrived, either. I still have MUCH learning to do, as well. We ALL do.
I USED to believe that I had all the pieces of prophecy mapped out in a nice tidy outline. Of course, my nice tidy outline was pretribulational rapturistic in thought. Then I discovered that I had been looking at all these prophecies from the wrong perspective! And, I don't mean I should have seen these prophecies from a pre-Wrath point of view or a posttribulational point of view, either! I mean stuff that shook my precious outline to the core! I'm talking about a major paradigm shift!
I came to understand that Yeshua` (Jesus) wasn't changing anything from the Tanakh (the OT); He was merely fulfilling some of the prophecies, fleshing out those prophecies, and adding to them, explaining to the people how they had veered from center regarding the Torah, and punctuating the important things again without minimizing the less important things which they had been emphasizing!
So, all I'm saying is be careful when you read the Scriptures; don't try to "pigeon-hole" everything you read into this or that interpretation. Let God speak to YOU.
In the Messiah's love,
Retrobyter
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