Old Testament Reading – Psalm 46:1-11 – New Testament Reading 2 Peter 2:1-18
“The Unfolding Drama of Redemption” # 1
Isaiah 46:9-11
Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor
In Isaiah 46:9-11, God declared: “For I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me!”
- God’s omniscience – “I make known the end from the beginning.”
- God’s omnipresence – “I make known from ancient times that which is yet to come.”
- God’s omnipotence – “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”
- When God said He made known the end from the beginning, that was the definition of biblical prophecy.
- When God said He made known from ancient times that which is yet to come, He described His unfolding drama of His plan for our redemption – the battle of the ages.
- Bible prophecy is not “foretelling the future” by the use of some numerical codes or calendar calculations.
- Biblical prophecy is the “forthtelling of that which God revealed in the Scriptures regarding His plan for our redemption.”
- Biblical prophecy is revealing God’s plan for the redemption of lost man.
- Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Lord God will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto Hi servants the prophets.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:4 – Paul told those who had received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they were “not in the darkness so that the day of the Lord would overtake them like a thief.”
At no other time in the history of the world has there been such a global desire to form a one-world system of government.
- 2500 years ago, the prophet Daniel predicted a one-world empire would arise just before the return of Jesus Christ to the earth.
- According to the prophets, the political and economic conditions at the end of the age would gradually cause the nations to coalesce into one powerful empire that would rule the world with an iron fist.
- The main obstacle to the establishment of this New World Order is the United States of America, and since half of the nation agrees with the Marxist–Socialist agenda, we see why the globalists are doing all they can to affect the November elections, including the riots and the anarchy in the major cities.
- However, the real battle is going on in the spiritual world between Satan’s legions of demons and God’s angelic host.
- These forces of good and evil are battling for control over the earth and the people of the earth.
- Students of biblical prophecy believe we are in the last days of this phase of the “Battle of the Ages,” and it is not only raging in the political arena, but it is erupting in worldwide terrorism, religious persecution, anti-Semitism, anarchy, violence, and lawlessness.
- At the same time, the earth is warning us of a coming revolution with vicious storms, record-breaking floods, fires, droughts, earthquakes, crop-devouring pestilence, plagues, diseases, and death.
- At the same time there is widespread spiritual apathy, rampant apostasy, the dissolution of the family, and the disintegration of the culture.
- In Matthew 24, Jesus said, the generation that sees the combination of all these things will also see His return to this earth.
- From our viewpoint, the world may be falling apart. But from God’s perspective, everything is falling into place, and something good is about to happen to those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
The Panoramic Timeline of the Bible –
The 66-books of the Bible were written by 40 different authors, over a period of 1500 years, in three languages.
- The unifying message of the Bible is God’s plan for the redemption of a lost man.
- Even though God used human authors to write the Bible, the Holy Spirit superintended what they wrote so that it would be sufficient to reveal His glory and His grace to the readers of every race and every generation.
- To be able to understand biblical prophecy, we must be able to read the Bible in the context of the timeline in which the individual books were written.
- The Progressive Nature of the Bible –
To rightly divide the word of truth, and correctly interpret biblical prophecy, one must understand the progressive, yet unified narrative of the Holy Scripture. It is divided into four distinct acts:
- Act One: Creation – God created all that exists in heaven and earth, and then He made man and woman, in His image, to enjoy His beautiful creation and to enjoy fellowship with Him.
- Act Two: Fall – deceived by Satan’s lie, Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Their fellowship with God was broken, as was their trust in each other; sickness, disease, disaster, and death became the norm of life.
- Act Three: Redemption – in Genesis 3:15, God began His plan to redeem fallen man from the penalty of sin. God gave many “types” of what would be required to redeem lost man from sin, but they all pointed toward the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- Act Four: Restoration – at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return to this earth as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, remove the curse of sin, and restore the earth to its former glory. Those who received Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord during the “church age” will rule and reign with Him for 1,000 years on this earth, and then in the new heavens and new earth forever.
The Prophetic Nature of the Bible –
- Secular history stops with the last historical event that took place today – the “top story” on tonight’s news.
- Prophetic history continues to unfold into eternity’s future, for it was determined to occur by God, in eternity’s past.
- Biblical prophecy is the only accurate source of truth to help us prepare for the events of the future.
Most people, including the majority of Christians, view the Bible as a book of history, or a book of faith. Only a few see the Bible as a book of prophecy.
- The Bible is the unfolding drama of God’s plan for the redemption of a lost man.
- The plan began in the Book of Genesis with the wedding of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and it ends in the Book of Revelation with the wedding of Christ and His Church in the millennial kingdom.
- The Bible is the story of how:
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
