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<\/a><\/p>\nBEN: One of my favorite ideas from this book is the notion of the mosaic when it comes to how the OT images the future in prophecy and other sorts of literature. I think you are absolutely right that the OT prophecy and the psalms etc. are opaque when it comes to speaking about the future\u2014 the prophets are deliberately general or cryptic when talking especially about the more distant future, or they choose highly poetic and hyperbolic language that shouldn\u2019t be over-pressed. I agree with you that when it comes to the divine plan of salvation, its only after the fact that one can put the pieces to the puzzle together and see the design\u2014 like a mosaic. I like the saying of John Muir, we look at the tapestry of life from the back side of the tapestry and what we normally see is loose ends, dangling threads, but occasionally the light shines through the tapestry and we get a glance of a larger design. Talk some more about your mosaic idea vis a vis how it helps us to understand prophecy in the Bible. My own mantra is\u2014 \u2018God reveals enough of the future to give us hope, but not so much that we don\u2019t have to live by faith ever day\u2019. <\/p>\n
MIKE: I like your mantra \u2013 it\u2019s spot on. It seems quite incoherent to me to presume that God gives us all the information he could on anything, or that he expects us to be capable of comprehending what he has given us with near-perfect precision. While prophecy is perhaps the best example of all that, I think those presumptions don\u2019t work in other theological areas as well. But it\u2019s the human propensity to synthesize, erect a theological edifice, and then call it complete (or some sort of irrevocable doctrine). I think God expects us to do the best we can. He\u2019s made some things clearer than others for whatever reasons he has. And that\u2019s fine. <\/p>\n
With respect to prophecy, I think that the way things worked the first time around (that the NT writers could really only comprehend messianic prophecy and its implication in hindsight) should inform the way we look at eschatology now. In other words, we aren\u2019t going to be able to figure out \u201cend times\u201d prophecy until it\u2019s over and we can look back on it. I think that\u2019s by design, as it was the first time around. Readers of my book will know that I think this in part because evil is intelligent. God isn\u2019t going to show all the cards in his hand and will use misdirection to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. Personally, I think evil will get blindsided again. Lots of people for instance wonder why the powers of darkness even resist God and fight against the Church \u201cwhen they know they can\u2019t win.\u201d I think that depends on one\u2019s definition of victory. I think winning for the principalities and powers, who know they are under judgment\u2014that Yahweh will reclaim the nations at the end of days (Psalm 82 again; cp. Isa 34 [and the meaning of \u201cEdom\u201d as an OT motif]; Isa 66, etc.)\u2014means forestalling the \u201cfullness of the Gentiles\u201d being brought into the family of God. That, as Paul notes, is a hinge point for \u201call Israel\u201d being saved (which I define as \u201call the family of God, Jewish or otherwise; cf. the recent articles by Zocalli and Staples on that). The powers of darkness get to keep their dominion by preventing God from fully acquiring his human family. But only God knows when that requirement is met\u2014and yet it\u2019s linked to the Day of the Lord and the second coming. In other words, cosmic evil is animated to fight for a reason, and will do its best to keep people blind and increase suffering so that more people hate God in a vicious cycle of unbelief. They think they can avoid the end of days. But they\u2019re actually blinded like the rest of us to God\u2019s strategic timing. So let\u2019s just be nice to each other when it comes to end times speculation. You can look at all the blood moons you want, make your prophecy charts, and do all the jubilee math a degree in calculus makes possible, but it won\u2019t do any good. No man knows the day or hour by design.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEN: One of my favorite ideas from this book is the notion of the mosaic when it comes to how the OT images the future in prophecy and other sorts of literature. I think you are absolutely right that the OT prophecy and the psalms etc. are opaque when it comes to speaking about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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