The Predictive Principle
The study of Predictive Prophecy. Exodus 7:12 is the prophecy; Exodus 4:15, 16 is the divine spokesman. His sole mission is to speak the message God has given him.
We think that a prophet is one who only FORETELLS, but primarily, prophecy is FORTHTELLING. A prophet is one who is a FORTHTELLER, a spokesman for God, a forth teller (John 3:34). A prophet always came at a time of apostasy. He was one who spoke to his people in his day concerning the moral and spiritual affairs of his own people. Some prophets spoke, and what they said was NOT written. If Israel would not repent and turn from her wicked way, then God had men to write His prophecies. The nations of the earth were only mentioned when they rejoiced in the judgment of and upon Israel.
The Prophet
(1) Prophet’s Own Day; (2) 70-year captivity (into Babylon); (3) Restoration; (4) Messiah (Christ); (5) World-Wide Dispersion; (6) Tribulation; (7) The Kingdom.
(1) As for the prophet’s day, the Word abounds with references to it. (2) Jeremiah 23:11.
(3) Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:2. (4) The Old Testament is filled with Messianic prophecies.
(5) Amos 9:9; Ezekiel 36:24, 28; 37:14. (6) Jeremiah 30:4- 7; Daniel 12:1. And Jesus Christ, our Lord, spoke of it (Matthew 24:21, 22); (7) Isaiah 2:11; 11:11; Amos 9:14, 15.
Practically all prophecy has to do with these seven heads, and has to do primarily with Israel. NOTE: Again we emphasize the fact that there were no prophecies concerning the Church in the Old Testament. The Church is the Mystery, hidden until revealed first unto the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3).
The Minor Prophets are shorter in length than the Major Prophets. The best way to study the prophets is by the Chronological Order: Pre-Exile
| Judah | Israel | |
| Isaiah | Jonah (Nineveh) | |
| Micah | 100 Years | Amos |
| Nahum | Hosea |
(Silence for 70 years) Daniel Ezekiel (Ezekiel was carried off at the first deportation. Daniel followed. Jeremiah was at Jerusalem at the same time.)
(Silence for 14 years) Post Exile Haggai
Zechariah
(Silence for 29 years) Malachi (known as the "seal of the prophets")
The next was JOHN THE BAPTIST. Then came the Messiah Himself!
God points to prediction as evidence of His Word as Truth! (Isaiah 42:9; 44:6, 8; 45:21; 41:21-29).
“MAN WOULD NOT WRITE THE BIBLE IF HE COULD, AND COULD NOT IF HE WOULD.”
I. REASONS WHY PREDICTIONS ARE PREDICTIONS:
A. Remoteness of time. (Must be so far into the future that the one predicting cannot fulfill it himself.)
B. Minuteness of detail. No guesswork. When Christ was crucified twentyfive details in prophecy were fulfilled.
C. Novelty of combination. Something peculiar and strange.
D. Mystery of prediction (I Peter 1:11).
E. Clearness of forecast. History will fulfill the prophecy.
“Prophecy Is the Mould of History!”
II. RULES TO FOLLOW IN PREDICTIVE SCRIPTURE
A. The prophet gives his own interpretation (Ezekiel 37:1-14; Jeremiah 18:1- 10); Daniel 8 (the horn of the he-goat was Alexander and Grecian Empire; always read enough of the Scripture to find the interpretation)...(John 2:19-22). Do not become a speculator; do not be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”
B. The facts of history often give interpretation. The dreams of Joseph were predictive dreams. Twenty-two years later Joseph’s dream came true when his brothers bowed down to him (Genesis 37, 44 and 45). The tablets on the remains of the storehouses of Egypt reveal the truthfulness of the Biblical story. Every part of the world shows signs of a universal flood. The city of Tyre (Ezekiel 26). The doom is pronounced. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Tyrus. People (skeptics) might say that Ezekiel wrote this during the siege of Nebuchadnezzar. Tell them what follows. After the Babylonians left, the Tyrians returned, but forsook their old city and built a new one a half-mile offshore on an island. Two hundred and forty-two years after Ezekiel, Alexander the Great came and fulfilled God’s prophecy.
C. Inspiration may give interpretation.
| Prophecy | Fulfilled |
| Psalm 41:9 | Acts 1:1-18 |
| Psalm 16:1-11 (David) | Acts 2:1-47 |
| Isaiah 6:9, 10 (Judgment on Israel). | Matthew, Mark, Luke & John |
| Isaiah 29:14 |
D. Here is an illustration which includes all three: Daniel 2. The four metals are four empires—world empires. There has never been any world empire since. Luke 21 :24—”Time of the Gentiles” is that period of time in which Jerusalem is politically in the hands of the Gentiles. The ‘Time of the Gentiles” started with Nebuchadnezzar and is still existing today; Israel is without her King.
Babylon, the greatest city of all time, had a wall 300 feet high and 90 feet thick, so that six chariots could pass each other on top. It had 60 gates and 250 towers, which were 50 feet higher on the walls. The River Euphrates flowed through the city, entering one side (under the wall) and passing on through (under the wall) on the other side; the banks were enclosed (under the walls) by marble. Babylon was the first country to be a world Empire, the only real monarchy. Babylon is the Head of Gold.
Daniel 5:1-35 tells of the arms of Silver. The two arms, of course, represent the two-headed kingdom, or government, of the Medes and Persians. The Brazen Empire is the Grecian Empire (Brazen-coated Greece).
Daniel 2:5, and 8 give us the history of the gold, silver and brass empires. Luke 2:1 gives us the history of the Iron Empire (Rome)! Who has not heard of the Iron Legions of Rome? The nation of Rome came to pass 1,000 years after Daniel made this prophecy. The Roman Empire split in two, becoming the two legs, with one headquarter in Rome and the other in Constantinople. Then came the ten-toe Empire.
Daniel 7:1-28 gives the description of the Antichrist in the Little Horn. Before the Antichrist comes, the ten-toe Kingdom must come first. Mussolini introduced the old Roman symbol of the Fasce. You say Rome is dead? Take a dime and look at it; the picture you see is the head of the Roman god, Mercury. The days and the months are named after Roman gods and men. Before World War II Mussolini drew on large maps the proposed New Old Roman Empire. England and the rest of Europe were included. Of course, England opposed it. Has Rome passed out of the picture, she who united with Germany and plunged the world into the last war? Is it not strange that Rome has gotten out of the war with as little trouble and expense as she has? Rome is alive today, and kicking. Doctors write in the language of old Rome. She is coming back into power soon. The Rock (which is Christ Jesus) will, however, break the Roman Empire.
Clay mixed with iron in the toes is communism, the rule of the people. It is not found in the Head or Legs, but in the toes. The Head of Gold was absolute monarchy. The feet and toes mark the rule of the people.
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