{"id":5113,"date":"2016-03-30T11:54:14","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T17:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/?p=5113"},"modified":"2016-07-05T13:02:38","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T19:02:38","slug":"why-talk-about-prophecy-when-sharing-the-gospel-insight-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/30\/why-talk-about-prophecy-when-sharing-the-gospel-insight-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Why talk about prophecy when sharing the gospel? \u2014 Insight #7"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #808000;\">This series gives an inside view on the structure of<em> By This Name<\/em> and how it breaks through confusion in our diverse society, bringing clarity to the message of the gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One of the obstacles in sharing the gospel is getting the reader to trust in the truthfulness and reliability of Scripture. If he or she doesn\u2019t believe in what the Bible is saying, then that person will likely reject the gospel. So how do we enable someone to gain confidence in the Word of God?<\/p>\n<p>God has seen fit to put into his Word a powerful, self-authenticating feature that shows his Word not only to be true, but accurate. It\u2019s what we know as prophecy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prophecy is a unique, self-authenticating feature of the Bible<\/strong><br \/>\nSimply put, prophecy is a prediction about a future event. And the Bible is replete with it\u2014nearly 27% of Scripture is prophetic. No other ancient book provides so many prophecies about future world events. Many of the prophecies in the Bible have been precisely fulfilled hundreds, even thousands, of years after they were initially given. Each fulfilled prophecy adds credence to the fact that the Bible is a reliable text. <em>By This Name<\/em> highlights a number of fulfilled prophecies to help the reader build trust in Scripture.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>If prophecy can be trusted, then the rest of Scripture can be trusted<\/strong><br \/>\nBroadly speaking, the books of the Bible can be divided into two categories: \u201cMust Know Information\u201d and \u201cProphetic Information.\u201d For example, if the prophecies recorded by the Bible writers have come to pass precisely as recorded, then the \u201cMust Know Information\u201d that these men recorded can be considered true and reliable as well. This \u201cMust Know Information\u201d includes important sections on the right way to live, the source of joy and more. The most important information is the gospel message\u2014how sinful man can be made right before God through God\u2019s provision of a Saviour.<\/p>\n<p>This notion of fulfilled prophecy providing credibility to the rest of the Bible is emphasized in different places in <em>By This Name<\/em>. One significant chart is on page 228 where it details many of the prophecies about the Promised Deliverer that were precisely fulfilled by Jesus. The book links the idea that if the \u201cProphetic Information\u201d in the Bible has been precisely fulfilled and is therefore reliable, then we can be confident that the \u201cMust Know Information\u201d can also be relied upon to be true.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5338\" src=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-page-228-fulfilled-by-jesus.jpg\" alt=\"By This Name page 228 Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus\" width=\"708\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-page-228-fulfilled-by-jesus.jpg 708w, https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-page-228-fulfilled-by-jesus-300x204.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Prophecy lets us know that YAHWEH is in control<\/strong><br \/>\nThere is another benefit in using prophecy to help explain the gospel message. When a reader comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he or she will be able to draw encouragement and hope from the biblical prophecies about the future events that <em>By This Name<\/em> touches on.<\/p>\n<p>For example, on page 331 we see a chart explaining what the Bible says about God putting an end to the evil in the world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-eternity-331.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5115\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5115\" src=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-eternity-331.jpg\" alt=\"btn-eternity-331\" width=\"756\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-eternity-331.jpg 756w, https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/btn-eternity-331-300x156.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>It is indeed good news to hear that we can look forward to a new age in the future where evil is removed forever and all the people who put their trust in Jesus will live with YAHWEH forever. With so many prophecies already fulfilled, we can trust YAHWEH to fulfill the rest. He is in control! <em>By This Name<\/em> therefore highlights the prophecy aspect of the Scriptures to build trust and hope. And this is part of the good news of the gospel!<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"no\">According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a<br \/>\nnew earth in which righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13 ESV<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"no\">\n<h6><\/h6>\n<h6><em>By This Name<\/em> Insight Series<\/h6>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/28\/why-use-the-name-yahweh-insight-1\/\">#1:\u00a0Why use the name <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Yahweh<\/span>?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/27\/why-focus-on-egypts-religion-insight-2\/\">#2: Why focus on Egyptian religion?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/27\/using_tables_to_contrast_gods_way_and_mans_way_insight_3\/\">#3: Using tables to contrast God&#8217;s way and man&#8217;s way<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/25\/why-talk-about-other-gods-insight-4\/\">#4: Why talk about other &#8220;gods&#8221;?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/how-to-identify-the-promised-deliverer-insight-5\/\" target=\"_blank\">#5: How to identify the Promised Deliverer?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/12\/why-deal-with-syncretism-when-sharing-the-gospel-insight-6\/\" target=\"_blank\">#6: Why deal with syncretism when sharing the gospel?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/30\/why-talk-about-prophecy-when-sharing-the-gospel-insight-7\/\" target=\"_blank\">#7: Why talk about prophecy when sharing the gospel?<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/27\/why-use-the-concept-of-a-global-classroom-insight-8\/\">#8:\u00a0Why use the concept of a global classroom?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This series gives an inside view on the structure of By This Name and how it breaks through confusion in our diverse society, bringing clarity to the message of the gospel. One of the obstacles in sharing the gospel is getting the reader to trust in the truthfulness and reliability of Scripture. If he or &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/30\/why-talk-about-prophecy-when-sharing-the-gospel-insight-7\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why talk about prophecy when sharing the gospel? \u2014 Insight #7&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-by-this-name","category-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5113"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5368,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5113\/revisions\/5368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}