So let it be written...so let it be done

Sooo, we have started studying the prophetic books and I have to say, I'm having a blast. I wish I could just transport you all here so you could sit in on this class. It is so fascinating and inspiring and a little frightening. But, I can't transport you here and as such I must try my best to give you the highlights (but really, everything is a highlight so...that doesn't really work). So, I'm just gonna start in and go wherever my fingers take me.

There are different approaches for interpreting prophecy, mainly: preterist, historical, idealist and futurist. Most people take a historical approach viewing prophetic events in Scripture as a panorama of church history and being in the process of being fulfilled but in reality, the view that takes Scripture at face value and doesn't allegorize anything is the futurist view. We are studying with a futurist approach because we all believe that the Bible IS truth and has complete authority. We want to avoid allegory and man's interpretive ideas influencing the meaning so a futurist view sees prophetic events described in the Bible as coming to pass some time in the future and being fulfilled precisely as described.

Studying Daniel was completely crazy! The visions God gives King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel are so accurate and it is fascinating to figure them out because many of them have been fulfilled. This just displays God's power and purpose and His promise to fulfill what he says he will do. Even though most of the prophecies are kind of scary, they really give us reassurance because we know the end and because we have seen so many fulfilled, we can trust that God will do what He says He will do...just make sure you are ready, that's all I have to say!

So in Daniel, there are prophecies of the four world kingdoms to come, starting in 605 BC and yet to be completed. Babylon is depicted as the head of gold in Nebby's vision and a beast like a lion in Daniel's. (Interesting point: in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, the kingdoms are depicted as a man would see them, glittering with glory and power but in Daniel's vision, we see the kingdom's through God's eyes, as beasts of destruction.) The next kingdom prophesied was Medo-Persia which was depicted as the silver arms and a beast like a bear. Moreover, the bear is limping which depicted that the Persians were more powerful than the Medes. Greece was the next kingdom prophesized as the belly and thighs of bronze and the beast like a leopard with four heads. The four heads depict the four dynasties which emerged as part of the Greek kingdom. Even more exciting is that Alexander the Great is even described in this prophecy! He is described as a goat with one horn who goes about conquering and at the height of his power he is broken and replaced by four others - his generals. I am just so amazed at the detail of these prophecies and how we can see them all working themselves out just like God said. The final kingdom is Rome, prophesized as the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay as well as the beast which is impossible to describe - just dreadful and terrifying. According to the Bible, this kingdom is still in place but it is not united yet - BUT IT WILL BE so watch Europe because this has been attempted so many times and some time in the future, the Empire will come together - pieced together by treaties into ten divisions and from this kingdom, the antichrist will rise!

Okay that was a lot of crazy info and I dunno if any of you can even get anything from it, my mind just kind of threw up onto the screen...but hey, that's where my fingers took me...so we're just gonna leave it.

As a side note, I am having such a great time with all my notes. I think I have too many highlighter colours because I am just kind of obsessed with using them all and colour-coordinating all my notes and such and they all look so beautiful! They make me giddy and really hyper! (but I have to admit, it's a little exhausting keeping up with our professor and doing all this colour coordinating!)

Leave a comment as to what you would like to hear about, or more about and I'll post about it next.