PROPHECY

Tomorrow morning I am preaching on Isaiah 11:1-10 - one of the Old Testament prophecies closely associated with the Christmas story. 

It's the one that starts like this:

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."

Years ago I heard someone explain something about Biblical prophecy I had never heard before - but it made so much sense:

Prophecy is not so much about prediction before the fact as it is about confirmation after the fact.

We tend to assume prophecy is all about predicting coming events. Thus, if we can just figure out the Bible code, we will be prepared in advance for what the future will bring. 

For instance, over the years various scholars have spilled a lot of ink commenting on the book of Revelation as predictive of all sorts of events connected to the End Times. 

Seeing as how the language is so poetic and the interpretations diverge wildly, if the function of prophecy is predictive, it would be tempting to judge Revelation as a failure.

But what if the function is, instead, confirmation? 

This is certainly how the New Testament writers treated the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. 

If predicting milestones of history ahead of time is not the goal, then perhaps prophecy is meant more to reassure believers - in the midst of living through those milestones - that God is in control. 

He is not caught off guard.

He is working His plan.

Since the (first) coming of Jesus unfolded in such counterintuitive and unexpected places and ways, it was incredibly important for the early believers to be able to look back at various centuries-old Scriptures, slap their foreheads, and proclaim, "NOW we see it!" 

Some day, the book of Revelation will read the same way. On that day when believers finally find complete and undeniable agreement on what it signifies (the hard way), the book will serve as a great comfort to God's people.