Prophetic Peaks

Throughout Biblical prophecy we see visions and revelations given to the prophets.  In most cases these prophets were only given the major events in God’s redemptive plan.  These were the peaks.  They were not given the details, or the times between events, they did not see the valleys.

God revealed his plans showing only the peaks and not the valleys.  The prophets were not given the more detailed valleys because His purpose was to reveal His major redemptive acts only, not the long stretches of time between them.  The peaks were essential for faith; the valleys were not essential for the message.

The prophets were not given the task of mapping out history’s timeline.  They were called to proclaim God to the masses.  This included: His character, covenants, warnings, promises, and decisive interventions – the peaks.

The valleys – the time of waiting, wandering, exile, restoration, church growth, apostasy, revival – were not part of the prophetic burden.  The valleys would have distracted from the message that God was conveying.  God wanted the focus to be on His acts and not on human history.

Prophecy is meant to call people to Him.  To call people to repentance, hope, and obedience.  The prophets were given the message that was needed, when it was needed, and how it was needed to draw the people back to God.

The prophets saw the mountain tops and not the valleys because this was how God revealed His plan.  This “mountain-range” pattern helps us to understand why prophecy can feel both fulfilled and unfulfilled at the same time.  The prophets saw the mountaintops.  We live in the valley between them.

A single prophecy can describe more than one event in history.  For example, it can describe both Christ’s first coming and His second coming without signaling a time gap.  Some prophecies feel ‘partially fulfilled’ because one peak has occurred while another remains future.

Eschatology is not for the faint-hearted.  It is a study that takes many twists and turns and requires a holistic approach to Scripture. Only by tracing God’s prophetic thread from Genesis to Revelation can we begin to understand the peaks and valleys of His redemptive plan.  It requires, even demands:

·         Patience

·         Humility

·         Careful reading and study

·         Willingness to wrestle with hard passages

·         Endurance when things don’t make sense right away

It involves:

·         Symbolic imagery – affects how we read, understand, and apply prophecy. It shapes prophecy by revealing literal truths through figurative pictures

·         Historic gaps – the valleys between the peaks.  Those long periods of time between the visions.

·         Layered fulfillment – divinely intended patterns.  A single prophecy can have more than one fulfillment.  These can be: Immediate or near fulfillment; Messianic fulfillment; eschatological fulfillment.  For example, Isaiah 7:14 – Immanuel.  The near fulfillment was a child born in Ahaz’s day; the Messianic fulfillment was Jesus’ virgin birth; and the eschatological fulfillment will be when God dwells with His people forever.

·         Understanding foreshadowing – when an earlier event, symbol, person, or statement hints at or prepares the way for something that will happen later.  For example, Jonah in the belly of the whale for three days, was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ three days in the tomb and His resurrection

·         Typology – the study of how people, events, and institutions of the Old Testament point to greater spiritual realities fulfilled in the New Testament

Even seasoned theologians admit that eschatology stretches the mind and spirit.  It deals with prophecy, symbolism, apocalyptic literature, and future events – all of which require maturity and perseverance.