Why Study Prophecy?

Well, why should we study prophecy? It has a bad name. There’s no question about that. And the reason, quite frankly, is because of the predictions made by ministers that have not come to pass. 

Several years ago from the Moody library I checked out a book written by a well-known pastor in the forties who in the book suggested and showed how Hitler basically is the anti-Christ and Mussolini is the false prophet. And he made a very compelling case. It looked as if Europe was being unified and the time had come for God to wrap up history. And as I looked at the book, I realized once again, when it comes to prophecy it is better to say much too little than a little too much. 

Back in 1988 some of you will remember there was a book written entitled Eighty-eight Reasons Why Christ is Going to Return in 1988. Well, He didn’t, and a member of the pastoral staff, who shall forever remain unidentified, said that there should be another book entitled Eighty-nine Reasons Why the Lord Will Come in 1989. And the eighty-ninth reason should be that He did not come in 1988 [laughter].

I’ve been to prophecy conferences and, you too, where we were told we are living in the last days. I’ve not read the book but I’m going to. I’m going to ask my assistant to get it. And I saw it advertised. And I can understand the sentiment of the book which says, “Guess what. The last times are here again.” You’ve got all these ministers predicting what’s going to happen in the new millennium. The last times have come again.

Is it possible to study prophecy without being embarrassed if the Lord does not come back in the next couple of years? I hope so. We intend to do that. Now, you know that there are reasons to study prophecy that are very, very important. I’m not going to give you though the most important. Those come at the end of the message. I can’t even begin to tell you how explosive the reasons are, but we’re not there yet. 

Let me begin by saying it helps us to understand that God is the Lord of history. He’s going to wrap it up. Prophecy helps us understand what we will be like because we shall be like Him. We shall behold Him as He is. It helps us get an understanding of what that means. Prophecy is a test of our love. The question is, “Do we love His appearing?” 

The Apostle Paul, in fact, said there is a special crown for those who love His appearing. Do you long to see Jesus because you love Him? If you don’t long to see Him, obviously you don’t love Him. Have you ever been in love and not wanted to see the person with whom you are in love? It does not make sense. No, you want to see Him because you love Him. 

Now some of you might say, “Well, how can you talk about signs of Christ’s return? I thought we were just supposed to look for the return of Christ.” Now I need to tell you that this series of messages is going to be based on the belief that there are really two aspects to Christ’s return. There are two phases. There is going to be a rapture when the believers are going to be caught up to be with the Lord in the air, and then after a period of seven years or longer there’s going to be a glorious return of Jesus Christ to the city of Jerusalem. 

First of all, we shall go up, and the Lord shall come for His saints, and then after a period of time He shall come with His saints, and His feet, as Zechariah predicted, will stand upon the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east. Jesus said in Matthew 24:27, “ For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” It is going to be an incredible experience because every eye shall behold Him. That’s the glorious return, you see. 

So, there are some people who say, “Well, you know all of the signs have to do with the glorious return. They do not have to do with the rapture.” And I understand that, but you know when it’s Thanksgiving you know that Christmas is coming. And it may well be that as God begins to wrap up history, and we begin to see what is happening in terms of the final return of Jesus Christ in glory—and I’m assuming this for the purpose of the series—we know then that the rapture is going to precede that, and therefore there can be signs for the glorious returning of Christ that we can already see them on this side of the rapture. So, I think that it’s legitimate to ask the question, “Are there signs, and what might they be?” 

Now, the passage of Scripture today is 2 Peter and what I’m going to show you is so important that I want you to see it in the text. If you don’t have a Bible with you maybe someone sitting next to you does because this is going to be life changing. It’s not possible for me to preach this without having my life changed, and hopefully in the process yours is changed as well. That’s the agenda for today, and you will not leave here the same if your heart is open to what God is going to say to us. 

First of all, some truths regarding the return of Jesus Christ. And the first is that the scoffers are mocking at it—always have, always will. Second Peter 3:3, “First of all”—and when he says “first of all” he means “above all” because there’s no second point. It’s not like Pastor Lutzer who says, “First of all,” you always know that he’s going to say second and third at least. But Peter, you know, he wasn’t German, so he didn’t necessarily organize it the same way. But he means, “Above all, this is important,” he says. “You must understand that in the last days”—and to him last days begin with the beginning of the Church. The last days have been 2,000 years old. That’s not unusual as we shall see there are reasons for that. But he says in 2 Peter 3:3–4, “Scoffers will come in the last days [in every era, and certainly in ours] with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’”

Now these scoffers, I’ll tell you what they are basing their belief on. It is uniformitarianism. For years, since I’ve been preaching here. I’ve always wanted to have an opportunity to use that word [laughter], and it never came up. Finally, uniformitarianism.

Uniformitarianism says that everything is going to continue as it has from the beginning of time, that evolution is based on uniformitarianism, that all change is small incremental steps throughout the eons and the ages. You know we’re millions and millions of years old in development and so forth, and this will go on, the evolutionary process, at the same rate of speed essentially for millions and millions of years into the future. There is no intervention of God. There is no way in which God is going to intervene in history. They say, “And since the fathers fell asleep. Since Abraham, and Jacob, and you have all those miracles of the Red Sea. We’re not seeing those miracles anymore. Everything continues on as it has since the beginning of the world.” 

There are two things we know about the scoffers. First of all, they believe in uniformitarianism. Secondly, they are desire driven. You’ll notice it says (about the scoffers) in the last part of 2 Peter 3:3, “following their own sinful desires.”

Oh, someday I’m going to preach a series of messages on this. I just haven’t been around Moody Church long enough to preach everything I want to preach. 

I want to point out that the unbelievers are basically desire driven. They are not rationally driven. People essentially follow their own desires and create gods in accordance with those desires. And so, because they don’t want a God to whom they are accountable, they are driven by their desires and they say, “All things will be as they have been.” Where is the promise of His coming? Everybody’s talking about it. There are prophecy conferences, books on prophecy by the bushel barrel. But where is He? They are going to say, “We can do our own thing because He’s not coming.” 

It’s interesting to see how Peter answers this. I love his ability to analyze human nature. He says, “There are three things you guys ought to know.” And I suppose scoffers are guys. He says in 2 Peter 3:5, “For they deliberately overlook this fact.” It’s willful amnesia.

This is what they don’t want to remember. There are three things they don’t want to remember. First of all, [2 Peter 3:5] “That the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.” They forget that God is creator. When Peter uses this, he’s referring to Genesis 1, where it says God separated the waters, the waters above, the waters beneath. And waters were involved in the creation process. And he says, “It happened by the Word of the Lord.” Nine times in Genesis 1 it says, “And God said.” And when God said, it happened. So, he says, “They are forgetting creation. They say that all things have continued on since the creation but they don’t really understand that the God who is the creator is a cataclysmic God. He enters into the world at a period of time.” That’s the first thing they forget. 

The second thing they forget is the flood. 2 Peter 3:6, “By means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” You see, they forget that He is a God of creation. They also forget that He is a God of judgment, and they are deliberately forgetting that. And the flood, which I take to be a universal flood, is a small microcosm of coming judgment, and they forgot the flood and that God does not indefinitely postpone judgment. 

This becomes very interesting. He says in 2 Peter 3:7, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment” Catch this. They are looking at the uniformity of nature. They see the fact that the planets rotate at a certain speed with precision and accuracy, year after year, eon after eon. And they say to themselves, “God’s not coming back. There’s going to be no end to this.” 

Peter says, “You know, you’re misinterpreting the uniformity of nature. What the real issue is simply that God is doing that to keep the heavens and the earth in store. He is reserving it for judgment. You are looking at this incorrectly. You think it means He’s not coming back. I want you to know that the stability of nature—and there is some truth to uniformitarianism—but that is because of God’s desire to preserve the earth until the day of judgment. So, don’t misinterpret what God is doing in the world.” So, the first truth, the first fact regarding the return of Christ is the scoffers laugh at it and Peter said, “If you know your history and if you know God, you should stop your laughing.”

Secondly, he goes on and he talks now about the fact that it is God who is scheduling it, the return of Christ and the wrap-up of history. And what Peter does in 2 Peter 3:8, 9 is give us an explanation as to why it is that God has delayed His coming.

Why wasn’t Hitler the anti-Christ? He would have made a good one so far as I can see. Some people think he’s such a good candidate that they believe that he’s going to be raised from the dead so that he can fulfill that role. Why didn’t Christ come back before World War I? Why have prophecy preachers been wrong? Why have they said the Lord is coming back and then He hasn’t? Why this delay?

Peter says, “I’ve got two answers for you. First of all, God doesn’t count time like we do.” You’ll notice it says in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” He’s quoting Psalm 90:4. God looks at it differently. You see, we measure time by time. He measures time by eternity. It’s an entirely different perspective. 

Now several years ago I told you a story that I have to repeat at this time. I have no alternative but to repeat it because it is so relevant. It grows right out of the text. There is a story about a man who was talking to God one day and he said, “Lord, how long is a million years to you?” And the Lord said, “Oh, about a second.” And he said, “Lord, how much is a million dollars to you?” The Lord said, “Oh, about a penny.” He said, “Lord, could I have a penny?” And the Lord said, “Sure, just a second.” [laughter]

You see, the simple fact is we measure time differently. Now think this through. If it is true that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day, the church has existed for two thousand years. That’s two days. We say to ourselves, “He has delayed His coming. Where is He? Why have all these prophecy conferences? Many of them, at least a few of them, ended in embarrassment. We were told He was going to come and He hasn’t.” God is saying, “Hey, look, you think that if I delay it by fifty years or a hundred years it’s a long delay. We’re talking seconds by the divine clock—seconds.” 

Peter says, “The first reason is because the Lord counts time differently.” But secondly he says, “The Lord wants people to repent.” That’s another reason why He’s delaying it. It’s there in the text. We’re reading 2 Peter 3:9. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

So, you see, the scoffers, rather than saying, “Oh, you know the delay. There they go at The Moody Church again preaching prophecy. The Lord isn’t going to come back.” Wait a moment you scoffer. The fact that He hasn’t is because you still have time to repent because after He does it may be too late. Don’t you dare misinterpret the slowness of God. [The scoffers say] “He’s tardy. That’s our view.” His view is, “Hey, I’m being extra gracious.” 

Adam and Eve sin. “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:7). They die spiritually. They do not die physically. The process of death only begins. It doesn’t end there. Why? Grace. If they had died the moment they sinned physically they would not have had a chance to be redeemed. But because they lived, God was able to provide clothes with animals and He was able to give them some lessons on the atonement. And I assume that Adam and Eve, responding to the Lord God and His generous offer of forgiveness, received it. And so, you see, God delayed their death because He is gracious. 

Now, of course, this text has some problems theologically because you know there are other texts that clearly tell us that God decrees the destruction of the wicked. And this verse should not be interpreted to mean that everyone will be saved. It simple means that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. God is not the kind of person who enjoys seeing people lost. And so, in this sense He does not want them to perish. Now, if you look at His eternal purposes that’s another story, and I won’t even begin to get into that in this message. But the simple fact of the text is true, and must be believed, that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. And therefore, He is giving people time and an opportunity to repent. So, you skeptics out there, you who are saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Another conference on prophecy.” Wait a moment. He hasn’t come because of people like you. You have an opportunity yet to repent. 

Well God schedules it, and now I want you to notice the scoffers laugh at it. God schedules it, and God accomplishes it. And now it’s time for us to have our breath taken from us. Look at what the text says as to what is going to happen. 2 Peter 3:10-13: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

When the Apostle Paul says that the heavens will disappear with a roar, it’s the only place in the New Testament where that particular Greek word occurs. It occurs frequently in secular Greek for things such as the crackling of fire. Somebody translates this quite accurately, the heavens will disappear with a crackling crash. Boom, it’s gone. It’s going to be destroyed by fire. And when it says that the elements will melt with fervent heat, how hot do you think it has to get for the elements to melt with fervent heat? 

Now listen. This isn’t just the elements, you know, that you memorized back in the days when we took chemistry. Clearly by the next verse what he’s talking about is all of the heavens. I mean we’re talking about trillions of stars. We’re speaking of the sun, the moon, the planets, and it will be so hot that they will melt with fervent, unbelievable heat, and they will be gone. And when he says the earth and all of its works will be laid bare, that’s very obvious. Obviously if everything is going to be destroyed, why then indeed the earth will be destroyed as well. But what he means is that it will be laid bare. There will be no place to hide. That’s the impression. 

Now, you see, I believe that when Jesus Christ comes to earth, the earth will not be destroyed at that time. There will be a period of great tribulation. There will be a millennial reign yet of Jesus Christ upon this earth. But after that period of time before you begin the new heavens and the new earth, and before eternity officially begins, there’s going to be this total unbelievable cataclysmic judgment. 

Now, you say, “Well, that’s unbelievable.” Well, you scoffer, thank you for coming here today. I’m just reading the text [laughter]. It is incredible, I do have to say. Now, is that a big problem for God? Apparently this earth was so cursed by sin that the whole universe, God says, is contaminated. I don’t understand why the whole universe is contaminated, but God says, “I’m going to deal with the whole thing.” And then He says, in 2 Peter 3:13, “We are waiting for new heavens and a new earth.”

Friends, remember we are talking about God. Okay? That means He can destroy the present universe by fire. It also means that He can create a new one in a moment of time. Wow. I was just reading this morning, in preparation for this, Genesis 1. I believe it was on the fourth day that the stars were created. This is incredible. It goes through what God did on the fourth day. He did this and He did this, and then, by the way, “He created the stars also.” All in a day’s work. Isn’t that amazing? Ex nihilo, out of nothing, boom, may the stars appear. And billions respond to His word.

Now, why study prophecy? Three life-changing eternal lessons.

Number one, prophecy gives us some lessons regarding God’s judgment. What it does is it shows, for example, that for God judgment delayed is not judgment denied. That may be true about man, we sometimes say that, but not about God. The fact that God delays His judgment does not mean that judgment is not going to come with meticulous accuracy and swiftness. 

There’s a verse in Ecclesiastes that’s translated in the paraphrased version, and I’m giving you only a paraphrase of the paraphrase. But the idea is this, that because God is sometimes slow to judge people, they think it’s okay to do wrong. You see, they misinterpret the patience of God as the leniency of God. And what this passage of Scripture is teaching us is just because God delays His judgment does not mean that it isn’t coming. To Him a thousand years are like two days, or one day. And so, you see, they think it’s alright to do wrong. My dear friend, prophecy teaches us that judgment is coming. And it teaches us that the judgments of the past are small, painted on a very tiny canvas, in comparison to the judgments of the future. 

You look, for example, at the judgment of God in the destruction of the flood. We say that was a terrible judgment. I saw a discussion of this on television by some rather liberal people, and they were saying that the flood makes God look bad. “Look at what a ‘meanie’ He is.” My dear friend, the flood is nothing in comparison to what is coming. And prophecy will teach us that. We’re going to talk about judgment. It is sobering. We don’t want to hear it, but it’s in the Scriptures. 

There’s a second lesson that prophecy teaches us and that is it teaches us something about values. The earth and all of its works shall be burned up. The elements will melt with fervent heat. Wow.

Let’s take a tour. Let the tour begin in the Louvre in Paris. I was there thirty years ago. I know some of you probably think that I wasn’t able to walk thirty years ago, but I was hanging onto my mother’s hand, you understand [laughter]. No, I was able to be there on my own recognizance. I just remember hallway after hallway after hallway. Don’t ask me what I saw. I have no idea what I saw, but hallway, after hallway, after hallway paintings. Beautiful works of art. Famous works of art. Protected works of art. Suddenly someday gone—nothing, no ashes even left to say they once were here. 

Then we go to Rome, and we see its opulence, and we see its marvelous history, and we think of the years and the generations, and the hundreds of years it took to build that civilization, and to build all of those marvelous, marvelous works of art, and wealth, and churches and all of those things gone.

Then we go over to India, and we go to the Taj Mahal, and some of the the beautiful things built there, and gone.

Then we go the Far East, and we see all of the various temples that have been built to worship the different gods—gone, gone, melted with fervent heat.

Then we come around to the other side of the world and somehow we end up in Canada with all of its—well, what do we say about Canada? Canada—well, it’s gone [laughter].

Then we come to the United States and we look at Washington with all of its history, and all of its monuments, and all of its greatness, and all of the desire of some presidents to make their mark in history, and it’s gone. Nothing left.

Then we walk into your home, and before we get into your home, we stop at the garage, and we look at that car you like so much. You would not buy a second hand car. That was beneath you. You said, “I want this one, even if I have to borrow money to get it.” And you went into debt over that thing, of all things, and it’s gone. And you think back over to the first time it had a scratch in the Jewel parking lot and how upset you were [laughter] about the person who backed into that car [laughter]. Does it matter now? Big deal now? Uh-uh, gone.

If we walk into your house we see the beautiful furniture, all the things that you were kind of proud of. You even had some neighbors over after you got your house renovated because you wanted to show it off. Well, my friend, the furniture is gone. And then you go to the computer. Parents will be glad to know this—it’s gone [laughter]. And the internet—it’s gone. And the VCRs and the books that have been written—gone [laughter]. And all the cassette tapes that have been purchased—gone. Nothing to show for it. No ashes left to say it was once here. The earth, and all of its elements, and the whole universe burned up—gone.

You say, “Well, Pastor Lutzer, what is going to survive the fire? Is anything going to come through?” Listen, let me ask you a question. You make a promise to me before I tell you what I’m going to tell you. Will you promise me that if I tell you what’s going to survive the fire, that that will become your consuming passion for the day you die? Because is it not true that value is based on permanence? If I can tell you what it is that’s going through the fire and come out okay on the other side, is that to which you are going to yield your life and say, “So help me God, these are my values.” It only makes sense. You’re a sensible person. You wouldn’t be here today if you weren’t. 

Let me show you what’s going to come through the fire. Number one, the Word of God. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away. All flesh is as grass and the glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withereth. The flower fadeth. But the Word of our God shall stand forever” (2 Peter 3:10–12). Wow. The Word of God is going to make it through the fire.

People are going to make it through the fire because whether saved or unsaved, at that point they will all have indestructible bodies. They will not be consumed by fire because they shall live forever, either in hell where there is judgment commensurate with what they knew and what they did with what they knew, or in the glories in heaven. For it says, “We shall be with Him forever and ever” (See 1 Thessalonians 4:17). People will make it through the fire. People matter. 

Of course, the angels and the demons will make it through the fire. God will make it through the fire. And then there’s something else. You say, “Well, will every work be burned up?” When the Louvre is gone, and the Chicago Art Museum is gone, and when the books are gone, and when all of the things that you worked on are gone, the CDs are gone, is there anything that is going to survive that we’ve done? Yes. The acts of kindness done in the name of the Lord—they’ll survive the fire because the Scripture says that the things that we did, and so forth, we can have treasures in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupt, where thieves cannot break through and steal, and where fire does not melt those good things with fervent heat. 

It’s really true. Now, I know it’s a little jingle that we sometimes say very lightly, but it is really true, “Only one life twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Everything else gone. Those antiques that you worried about, those that you argued about with your brothers and sisters after your parents died—what difference does it now make who had them because it’s gone? Why not live your life depending on that which is going to come through the fire and come through successfully? 

And finally, there’s a third lesson. There’s a lesson about judgment. There’s a lesson about values. There’s a lesson about holy living. Notice it says in 2 Peter 3, as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming, that day will bring about the destruction of the heavens and the earth. Actually I meant to read 2 Peter 3:11, “What kind of people ought to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.” We don’t even like that word, holiness, because it’s so contrary to what we experience. Yet there should be no burning passion that is greater than that, to say, “I’m going to live a holy and a godly life in light of the fact that all these things will be destroyed.”

What manner of men and women ought you to be? 2 Peter 3:14: “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” Why? Because nothing else really matters. That’s why. Nothing else will survive the fire. 

There was a film that was made about the return of Christ that someone told me about. I don’t think I saw the film, but in this film apparently there was a house that was burning, and it was on fire, and there were no fire engines around. The fire was just roaring on the one side of the house. On the other side of the house in one of the apartments, people were renovating. And the fire was roaring, and they kept painting, and somebody was on a step ladder, and needing some help to put up some wallpaper. And somebody else, you know, was scrubbing the floor because they wanted to put in new tiling. The place is on fire.

My dear friend, I want you to know the fire is coming. You say, “Well, Pastor Lutzer, don’t get too worked up. As of yet we don’t smell smoke.” No, we don’t smell the smoke, but remember to the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day, and He may come in the next hour from His standpoint. It may be a long period of time from ours. But the point is that the fire is coming. The place is burning. Oh, but the problem is that we don’t know exactly when it’s going to get to us, but it’s happening. And in light of that, what manner of people ought we to be in all manner of conversation and godliness and holy living? That’s why you study prophecy. 

I can conclude no better than to quote one of the favorite verses of D. L. Moody. He said that one of his life verses was, “The earth passes away and all of its lusts. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17). Only what comes through the fire really matters. 

A lesson about judgment, a lesson about values, and a lesson about holy living. Some of us should go home this afternoon and get on our knees and stay there for an hour or two until we get cleansed by God, ready to live in light of the final hour. 

Would you join me as we pray? 

Our Father, today we want to thank you for your Word which is so awesome in its scope, so arresting in its teaching, so sobering in its truth. And we always fear that we hear things that we walk away from and aren’t changed by. Help us in these moments, Lord, to be changed by your Holy Word. To believe that indeed, because you are King and God, you are returning. Help us to live in light of that, we ask, and make whatever changes in our lives that need to be made for your glory and honor. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Editor’s Note: In this transcript, the verbatim intelligent transcription process simplifies and enhances spoken content by eliminating redundant words, unnecessary sounds, fixing grammar errors, and clarifying meaning while preserving the author's original intent. All Scripture quotes are according to the biblical text, not as they were originally spoken.