Re: Prophecy - The End Times
End Times Prophecy
How I approach and handle End Times prophetic subjects now (versus earlier in my life)
This post is the least relevant post about the actual subjects of End Times prophecy, but I feel it is essential to lay a little ground work for what I am starting to share.
Like most people, I WANT TO KNOW. I want to have knowledge and I want my knowledge to be correct. Given this natural disposition, it used to be my goal to study, figure things out and come to a point of view that I claimed as my own.
In my late teens, I had a teacher that taught me that this may not be the wisest approach. I didn't learn what this teacher taught me right away. It took some time. My teacher was Witness Lee. When I read his Life Studies on the Book of Revelation I understood how he had put together a comprehensive picture of End Times prophecy. I came to think of it in terms of drawing a circle. He appeared to have drawn a complete, unbroken circle with his interpretation of End Times prophecy. As I studied what Lee had written a second time (not at 7-9 years old, but 18-19 years old), I realized that there were some breaks in the circle he had drawn. He didn't say there were breaks, but I began to see them. So, I began to shift my goal. There was still a strong (and I believe fleshly) desire TO KNOW. I studied further, but I realized that someone who was intelligent and very learned couldn't draw a full and complete circle in their interpretation of End Times prophecy.
So, I worked on drawing my incomplete circle as completely as I could. I think I did a pretty good job. At this stage, I did not realize my assumptions and those assumptions I inherited from others.
By the end of this multi-year exercise which happened in chunks at various times, I was convinced that I had an incomplete circle. There were questions that I could not definitively answer and that I felt that anyone who was intellectually honest also could not definitively answer. The only thing I could do with these unanswerable questions was to survey a set of possible answers and assign some weighting to their likelihood based on my understanding.
This was where I stopped this phase of End Times prophecy study and learning. I could definitively know some things while others were a set of possible options which I could know about, but not come to a definitive answer or conclusion. So, I left various things about End Times prophecy in a state of "Open Questions" and I asked God to put these things back in front of me at a later time if I needed to know more.
During the next 15-20 years, I learned one other core lesson that has influenced my approach to End Times prophecy. Without sharing any testimonial, I will simply state what I learned.
I have learned that answers to difficult questions come by revelation from God. In addition to His revelation, I have to use a sober/healthy mind to test what I believe has been revealed using several "tools".
I have to do this in a relationship that is completely dependent upon God for this revelation. I cannot force God to show me anything and I will only know what He wants me to know when He wants me to know it.
Until He does this, I can know the things He has presented in Scripture as "knowledge without full understanding". This is what I call "seeing darkly as in a mirror" or seeing a "shadowy picture which is not in focus". I can only see more clearly when He reveals it. Many times this happens progressively.
I cannot emphasize enough the dependent approach to learning. I am not driving the conversation or setting the subjects. I express my curiousity and interest in certain things, but I recognize that He has to reveal it. For me, it has been through this approach that I have come to understand more about End Times prophecy than I ever thought possible.
I am an active listener in receipt of things which I believe the Lord has shown me and I do not presume that I immediately have an accurate interpretation of something that He has shown me. I am responsible to test with the "tools" and training God has given me over the years.
In summary, there are many things about End Times prophecy that I do not understand. I have a shadowy image as presented through Scripture and I am completely dependent on relating to God and listening to Him to understand any further. In my experience, God has only made things clearer to me when I needed them to be clearer. He has not satisfied many aspects of my curiosity or interest to know. So, I know I have to continue to be connected to Him related to the End Times.
Matt
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