It sure would have been nice if God could have come right out and told me what His plans were for me all those years ago.  Like this:  “Hey Bill, I know I told you about being a writer, but first you are going to have 30 jobs, lots of stress, and no money. I’ll give you some joy in there with a wonderful wife and kid, but you will have to wait until you are the same age as the speed limit to get it done.  You aren’t going to write it for the money, and it’s going to be a book about Me and how I worked in your life.  You are going to write it for your future nieces and nephews.” 

Actually, now that I think about it, I wouldn’t have wanted to know all of that!  I know it wouldn’t have helped me.  Who wants to know they have to wait 40 years and go through all that crap?  I would have probably done the same things, but with a mentality to prove God wrong.  I would have said, “I can do it quicker.  I don’t want to wait for some punk kids I don’t know to be born.”  I couldn’t have even imagined my little sisters getting married, let alone having kids.  No way I could have benefited by knowing it all up front.  If I knew all the pain that was coming, I may have tried to shut myself up in the house my whole life.   

As we’ve learned in Genesis 1 chapter 3, and from everything I have told you so far about my life, God doesn’t give the whole plan up front.  He purposely revealed more and more through time, slowly unveiling His plan for us throughout the centuries. This is a key concept in the Bible, and is the way that God gave out His program for the past, present, and future.  Now that the Bible is finished, God is done revealing His plan.  Sure, He may give a person here on earth more insight into what God already promised would happen, but never anything that would contradict the Bible.  There is a position in God’s workforce called Prophet.  They speak for God, and He expects those who hear the prophet’s words to listen.  What could go wrong there? 

Today, there are many people out there calling themselves prophets.  There are zero (0) who have 100% accuracy in their predictions.  In fact, most have closer to 0% accuracy. The Bible tells us that any prophet of God will be known, because 100% of everything they predict will come true. 100%!  God used prophets as mouthpieces.  They spoke exactly what God told them to; nothing more, nothing less.  So why did God use prophets?  For one, as I mentioned earlier, this was the method that He used to reveal His plan over time.  Different prophets, over different times in history, would all have pieces of God’s plan that would eventually come together into what we know today.

 Get this… not one of the Old-Testament (OT) prophets had as much insight into God’s plan as we do today.  All the prophets died, only knowing a piece of the puzzle that they were given.  They put their faith in God’s plan, even though they didn’t know all the details we have now. The prophets heard directly from God, yet they knew little compared to what you can know by studying the Bible.  That is pretty remarkable, and it makes me incredibly grateful I was born after the Bible was completed, and the whole plan was revealed!   I’m also extremely blessed that God gave me the last 13 years to study it full-time.   Now that the Bible is complete, God is finished bringing prophets to us for the purpose of revealing His plans.  He has told us everything He intended to tell us in the Bible; there is no need for any more prophets or apostles.

Hebrews 1:1-2: ‘God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. ‘

God also used prophets to write the Bible.  They spoke Gods words, usually to Israel, and then put them on paper scrolls.  There was no complete Bible back then, as the Savior wasn’t even here yet.  It was also the norm, that the common person  (non-priest)  didn’t own any of God’s written word.  The scrolls weren’t cheap, and the amount of time it took to copy it all over, word for word by hand, took forever. 

Another way God used the Prophets like Moses, was as the middle-man between the people and God.  In the wilderness, the people of Israel were so frightened by God’s voice, the earth shaking, and the ramifications of His Words, that they asked Moses to speak and talk to God on their behalf.  This is what we would all feel like if God was that close to us in the sinful state we are in now.  We would fall to the ground on our face with fear, because instinctively we would know we are standing in front of the judge of our sin.  Our Father in heaven would not be reaching out for a hug in that moment. 

From the time of Moses forward, God used prophets, and never spoke directly to the nation of Israel again.  Even today, believers have a mediator between us and God the Father.  Someone we have to go through for God the Father to hear our prayers.  There are also middle-men/women between unbelievers and God.  The Bible tells us that God only hears His children’s prayers, so those who are not His, need someone to help relay the info to God   I’ll get into all this later, don’t worry.

Anyone who claims to hear from God, but contradicts what God has already said in the Bible, is wrong 100% of the time.  They may be hearing from a spiritual being, but it isn’t God.  Once the Savior came, and God’s plan was fully revealed, there was no need for any more people to tell us what God has in store.  We have all we need to know about our future, and the future of mankind, right in the Bible.  Anyone who wants to take away, or add to God’s Word, is doing so for worldly reasons like fame or wealth.  Always look for the motives behind people who call themselves prophets.  False prophets have been around since the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  People of the world will always choose to listen to them, because their message blows sunshine up people’s butts. 

 

True prophets sent from God, always speak the truth, no matter how hard it is for people to hear.  If there was a real prophet walking amongst us today, His message would be the same as all the prophets in the Bible.  No one would listen to him, and his following would be very small.  He would get attacked, and probably killed, just like many did.  People who don’t believe in the promises of God, don’t want to hear that a judge is coming.  They don’t want to know that there are consequences for their actions and unbelief.  God’s prophet’s always spoke the Truth, even when no one wanted to hear it.    

To keep it simple for you: if you run into someone calling themselves a prophet, look to see if they are happy or miserable.  Are they wearing an Armani suit with Air 1 Jordan sneakers, or do they look worn down, and humble in their appearance?  Do they look like the world has been beating them into a pulp and dragging them through the mud, or do they look like they just got back from the spa, relaxed and refreshed?  God’s prophets weren’t treated well.  There is no “rosy only” message from God.  God is love, but He is also wrath for unbelievers. God is both, and He wants us to know all sides of Him. No one will never be able to say that God didn’t try to warn us.  He gave more warnings to the people of Israel than I would have ever given.   He took decades longer to bring penalties, than any human patience could have lasted.  All of this for a people who wouldn’t listen to Him.  I would have given up, especially knowing that they only change their mind after I punish them. 

Would you prefer a God who tells you the whole truth so you know what is coming, or would you prefer to live in la-la land and never have to hear Truth you don’t like?   Since it has future impact to you and those you love, one would think most would want to know the Truth.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  It’s much easier to ignore the problem, or pretend it isn’t real, than hear news that there are consequences for sin.  If you are a believer, this news makes you humble yourself and ask for forgiveness.  If you are an unbeliever, this news makes you angry, scared, or just plain anxious.  Somewhere inside, no matter how hardened a person is against the Truths in the Bible, they know something terrible is coming if things don’t change for them.  They can ignore it, and over time their conscience gets hardened, and it becomes easier to hear the Truth without worrying about it.  Most of Israel chose to ignore the warnings sent from God, and it didn’t work out well for them. 

So why all the talk about prophets and their predictions about the future?  Because you have to know the whole Bible to get the whole message.  One thing to know about Bible prophecy, is that if it says something in the Bible will happen, and it hasn’t happened yet, then it is part of the future.  Everything God says will happen, always does.   Most of the prophecies in the Bible have already come true.  What is left are prophecies about the end-times, the 1,000-year reign of Christ as King on earth, and the new heavens and new earth.  Our future was given to us through the mouths of prophets throughout the whole OT. 

Prophecy is only accurate 100% of the time, when you can control the details along the way.  I can tell you that I will drop this water bottle on my desk and it will fall to the ground right now.  But I can’t tell you with 100% certainty, that I will do it on December 12th at 6pm.  So many things could get in the way of that happening, not the least of I could be dead.  The desk could break; or I could get called out of the house for an emergency.  There are all kinds of variables.  God knows exactly how everything works out, because He is in control of the variables.  You can’t accurately predict the future 100% of the time, unless you can control it.   Just think about that logically for a minute. 

I will tell you again, that not only did God know that I would write this book, He made it happen.  He made sure that I am sitting here right now typing this out today.  This is more than just God knowing the future.  This is God controlling everything, so He gets the outcome He wants every time, without fail. 

The same goes for God’s plan for all of His children.  The Bible tells us that God knew of us before He created the universe.  He wrote the names of all those who would be saved in a book called the “Book of Life”.  God chose us before He created Adam, or the earth Adam came from.  He set us apart to be saved, before the reason we need saved even occurred.  Let that sink in.  God didn’t just look in His crystal ball and see that Billy would someday believe in Him, He made it happen.  He said it would happen before I was even born, before the universe was born.  More to come.    

Since we know that the prophets worked for God, we know that all of their predictions will come true.  What did God reveal during this period of time in world history?  More than you would think!  God gave us a lot of insight into why, and how, God was going to punish the nation of Israel for breaking His laws.  Some of their punishments have already happened, but some of the worst are still yet to come.  However, because God is merciful, He also gave His people a lot of prophecies about all the good things that will come in Israel’s future.  Not only good things, perfect things. 

The biggest promise Israel was given is that there would be a Savior King, who would come and set up His Kingdom here on earth.  He will rule the nations with an iron rod, and Israel will be the chief nation on earth.  God made all these promises to the nation of Israel.  In a future time, God will come and be King on earth.  Yes, this earth, the one we live on now.  I’ll skip ahead in the story and tell you that the King did in fact come, and was ready to set up His kingdom, but the people rejected Him.  God knew the rejection was coming, and this is why He made plans to make the Kingdom happen for a future generation of Israel, who will be alive right before the Savior comes back again. 

If everything I have told you so far about God is true, can you just imagine what the world will be like with God in charge, physically here with us on earth?   When God is King here, he will squash evil and chaos before anyone can even act on it.  He will know everyone’s motives, and can judge based on what is on their heart, not what is coming out of their mouth.  The Bible tells us we will know God’s thoughts instantly, no matter how physically far away we might be.  It will be a perfect world for God’s people, with perfect justice and perfect harmony.  God gave us a long period of world history to look back on and see that there was no man on earth who ruled perfectly.  There is no man on earth that can ensure we all live in real peace for one day, let alone 1,000 years as King.  It will take God ruling for any of this to happen.  He wants us to see what perfect rule looks like for ourselves.  God wants us to see that without Him, none of it is possible. 

Right now, there is no such thing as perfect justice.  I can name a ton of people who were treated unfairly because of their lowly station in life, or because of what they looked like.  I can also name a ton people who got off scot-free because of their higher station in life, or because they were good-looking.  There are bribes, corrupt judges, district attorneys, and lawyers who all erode a perfect system of justice.  Innocent people are locked up, and the guilty are freed. Today, many think no one is truly guilty, and the innocent really aren’t that innocent.  Justice is not blind, and the better lawyer you have, the better your outcome usually is.  None of this will happen in the Messianic/Millennial Kingdom that God runs.  None of it. 

The promises of that glorious future kingdom,  also includes believers from the church age. The church age started after Jesus left the earth, and it continues until sometime before He comes back to rule.  More on the whole different ages of time thing in a Bible study.  Just know God set aside different ages of time.  We are in the end-times of our current age right now.  When our Savior comes back to rule as King, a new age will start.  When the 1,000-year kingdom is over, a new age will start with new heavens and a new earth.  I’m hoping I have your interests high enough that you will watch a Bible study on it later.   I’m also sure some of it will come up in my book again.

So, God knew we needed saving before the sin came into the world.   Why else would He write our names in a book of saved people?   God created this world, knowing Adam and Eve would sin.  He knew He would have to curse the earth and He knew He would need to bring the flood later down the line.  Yet, He still went through with creating it all.  Had he chosen to just destroy it all and start over, would you and I even be here right now? 

What if the world we grew up in was perfect?  Would we really appreciate God like we do now that we have seen how things go wrong without Him?  Would we know everything about the God we will be spending eternity with?   The answer is no.  This whole world is for the believers, and the “not-yet” believers.  Everything we learn now about God and His plan will only help us in eternity.  How could we ever understand how merciful God is if He didn’t have to save us?  This will become clearer as you learn about God through His Word.  Knowing the fate God saved us from is essential to knowing the kind of God we serve. 

It’s impossible to say you believe in a God who could create everything, is all knowing, and is everywhere all at once, and not believe that He also knew the fall/sin was coming.  He knew I was going to be a punk teenager, and a rebellious young man too.  He knew all the stupid things I was going to do before He even created me.  He knew He was going to get me to write this book, in spite of the way I lived my life.  He didn’t just know it because He can see the future, He knew it because He made it so.  You will see a lot more examples of this when I tell you what God did in the last 10 years that defy earthly logic. 

If you created a world like ours, would you sit back, put your hands up, and just watch what happens?  Wouldn’t you be involved in this world you created?  Of course you would!  The idea that God created us all, and then watches us like some science experiment is wrong.  This isn’t Maze Runner.  Our God is a God of planning and order.  Nothing is by chance.   Once you start seeing it, you can’t stop seeing it.

In the OT, God was visibly involved and performed incredible nature defying miracles that all of Israel, and most of the world could see.  God was involved in our history, so why wouldn’t He be involved in our present and future? What changed?  The only thing that has changed is the way God dispenses His miracles.  In the OT, miracles were visible awesome signs for the nation of Israel.  Now, God dispenses His miracles on the personal level.  Yes, He can still part seas and stop tsunamis, but more often than not, what we see is the kind of stuff that happened to your Uncle Bill over the last 10 years.  Stuff that not everyone saw, but none the less were miracles.

 I can also tell you that hundreds of prophecies, that gave us detail no man could duplicate, were fulfilled exactly as God told us they would be.  The Savior came, and was born in the town God told us He would be born in hundreds of years earlier.   The Savior’s ministry on earth and His death and resurrection happened just as the OT prophets told us they would.  The nation of Israel rejected their King, just as God told us they would. 

Lastly, I just want to explain to you the difference between the Old-Testament and the New-Testament.  Testament is another word for covenant, or promise.  God promised His people (Israel) in the OT that if they obeyed His laws, they would get tremendous blessings.  If they failed to keep His laws, there would be tremendous punishment.  This type of covenant,  (you can think of it like a contract) required both parties to fulfill their obligations for the guarantees in it to happen.  Israel failed to live up to their end of the bargain, and so they received mainly punishment from God.  They were kicked out of their land a few times, and they have had no real lasting peace over all their existence.

We will later find out from the New-Testament prophets, (aka apostles) that the Law Israel agreed to keep was impossible to live up to.  The law and 10 commandments were given to Israel to show them that they still need a Savior, because no one can be perfect enough to keep all of God’s laws.  As I told you before, in order to spend eternity in the good place with God, we have to be perfect.  The law was another way of God showing us that we can’t get there on our own no matter how good our intentions, or how hard we try.  It is impossible without God.

Another covenant God made in the OT was with Abraham.  Abraham is who the Bible calls the “father of faith”.  This covenant God made with Abraham was a one-sided only contract.  Only God was obligated to fulfill the promises He made in it.  Abraham didn’t have to do anything for the guarantees in this covenant to come true.  Abraham was promised that God would give Him and his descendants the land of Israel, and more descendants than there are stars in the sky.  God promised that all of the families on earth would be blessed through Abraham. 

We find out later in the Bible, that all who have faith in God, are spiritual descendants of father Abraham.  This is what God means when He said all the nations of earth will be blessed because of Abraham.  The physical descendants of Abraham are the Jewish people, who individually, could also be a spiritual descendant, if they believe the Messiah already came and did the work required for them to be saved.  A good Bible student would notice that although God promised the physical land of Israel to Abraham, God didn’t fulfil that promise during Abraham’s lifetime.  Abraham lived as a transient in Israel, never owning a piece of land outside of the small burial plot He bought to bury His wife in.  God made it very clear to us that Abraham was looking towards a future date of the Kingdom, and the land God promised to him wouldn’t come in his lifetime.

Most have heard about the little shepherd kid who killed the mighty Giant Goliath.  David, is revered in both Christian and Jewish circles.  God loved him, even though He was far from perfect.  God made another covenant with David.  This was just like Abraham’s in the fact it was only God’s obligation to make it come true.  David had to do nothing; the contract was unconditional.  God promised David an heir to the throne that would rule forever in perfection.  David was gifted with incredible prophetic knowledge.  He wrote most of the Psalms, and most of the Psalms tell us about the Savior and His future kingdom.   This is where we start to get the knowledge that the Savior will reign as king, from this covenant he made with David.  No earthly king can rule forever in perfect peace, so we know He has to be talking about God ruling.  It is a physical place that Abraham was promised, so we know God will be ruling from Jerusalem in the future. 

So, as I keep telling you, God used these guys to get his plan out in pieces, over a long period of time.  God used Ezekiel and Isaiah to give us some of the more detailed writing about the future kingdom, and temple that will be set up there.  Daniel gives us the reason why Israel is still facing punishment now, and how long they will have to go through it.  Jeremiah tells us that God has a plan to change the hearts of the nation of Israel so that they realize they rejected their Messiah and call out for Him to return.  Hose, Joel, and the other minor prophets all wrote about the end-times, the kingdom, and other pieces of God’s plan.  Without all of it, we can’t get the complete picture.  God wrote every word in the Bible for a reason.     I’ll get into more of what these prophets of the OT said about our future later in my book.  We will also get into the New Testament/covenant that our Savior enacted, and how it is different from the old one.  For now, just keep on reading on…