Prophecy Class: Day 2 - First 3 Areas of Prophecy Mythology

Study Topic: "Unshackling from Prophecy Mythology"

Personal Myths Cause Prophecy to be Missed!

Mythology is a collection of stories or accounts, held by a culture or religion, which typically contain elements of fact mingled with the stories and teachings of false gods. Mythology contains stories of real, historical events and people, mixed with fantastical and idolatrous tales of “the gods”. Scripture tells us not to mix the “sacred” with the “profane” or mingle truth with deception. Thus, most believers know to avoid the realm of mythology.

Bible-based believers commonly understand that spending time in the myths of the idolatrous nations is counter-productive—even sinful. But it might shock us to discover that most of us have fallen a prey to sneaking myths, which have crept in the proverbial “back door”, coming in under our spiritual radar! These myths typically manifest in our understanding of Bible prophecy...

Notes from Class:

Prophecy Mythology is interpreting Bible Prophecy according to our own biases, and expecting the fulfillment of these prophecies to look just as we believe it must.

There are Six Areas of Prophecy Mythology:

·  Prophecy Mythology Area #1: Focusing on the nation of Israel – The Jewish leaders expected Messiah to reign on Throne of David – Breaking Israel’s subservience to Rome.

o   “Messiah” means “anointed One”, from Hebrew. In Greek, it’s “Christ”.

Truth: Prophecy of Messiah stated that He would overthrow lesser kingdoms and would rule on the Throne of David.

Isaiah 9:7 - “Of the increase of His Govern­ment and of peace there will be no end, on the Throne of David and over His Kingdom, to estab­lish it and to uphold it with jus­tice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”

Myth: the Rabbis believed that Yahshua’s first advent was to defeat Rome and establish an earthly Kingdom (the kingdom of Israel)

Truth: Yahshua told them that His Kingdom was not of this world. Yahshua did descend from David. He performed signs that the prophets had said would demonstrate His Messiahship (like giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, and riding on a donkey colt in His Triumphal Entry).

Isaiah 35:5-6 – Yahshua fulfilled this literally and spiritually, by teaching Truth and by healing the blind, lame… etc.

Matthew 11:4-5 – John the Baptist, in his final days, was struggling with prophecy mythology…  He had ideas of what Messiah would do, that didn’t align with what Yahshua was doing…  So, he sent messengers to Yahshua to ask, “Are you the Messiah, or should we look for another?” And Yahshua answered him in a profound and comforting way…  He gave evidence in the Messianic signs.

Luke 5:24 – Yahshua demonstrated His Messiahship by these healings (because the Lamb, Who forgives sin is also the Healer)

Luke 18:42 – A Messianic Sign was Healing blindness.

Zechariah 9:9 – Yahshua, in the Triumphal Entry, rode on a young donkey, in fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy

Matthew 21:4-9 – Yahshua fulfilled the Zech 9:9 prophecy by riding the young donkey.

·      Prophecy Mythology Area #2: Misunderstanding Prophetic Details – The Jewish leaders taught that Moses and Messiah, foretold in Deuteronomy, would be two different people. (Messiah’s coming is to be heralded by the coming of Moses and Elijah).

When Moses and Elijah literally came (Mount of Transfiguration),  only three disciples (who were sworn to secrecy) witnessed it, or knew about it. So “the SIGN” (literally) happened without anyone knowing… The usual sign to the masses is SPIRITUAL.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 foretold that a prophet “like himself” (Moses) would be raised up in the time of Messiah.

For miraculous signs of His prophetic identity, Yahshua turned water to wine, like Moses turned water to blood.  In another sign of His Deuteronomy 18 fulfillment, Like Moses, Yahshua commanded the sea and it obeyed. With Moses, the people ate manna that miraculously appeared in the wilderness; with Yahshua, the people ate bread and fish that miraculously multiplied in the wilderness.

But in spite of the miraculous signs and His own testimony that Yahshua was the foretold Prophet and the Messiah, the Jewish leaders largely refused to accept that their prophetic interpretation had been wrong. When the fulfillment looked different then the teachings of the Pharisees, they refused to humble themselves and accept it.

Such is the danger of Prophecy Mythology!

· Prophecy Mythology Area #3: Rejecting the Spiritual Fulfillment – The Jewish leaders misunderstood Malachi 4, expecting literal Elijah to serve as the forerunner of Messiah.

The Jews had interpreted this prophecy to mean that literal Elijah would appear and begin teaching in the land of Judea, as the forerunner of Messiah. But, when this prophecy was fulfilled, literal Elijah did not appear. Malachi 4:5 was fulfilled in a spiritual way before the eyes of the people through John the Baptist.

Matthew 17:10-13 – John the Baptist was the spiritual Elijah… The disciples revealed that this belief in literal Elijah was one of their own areas Prophecy Mythology, by their question to Yahshua regarding Elijah. In fact, in their coming to believe that Yahshua was the Messiah, one of the disciples’ biggest tripping points was their bias regarding the Elijah prophecy.

It is comforting and beautiful to see how gently the Saviour dealt with areas of Prophecy Mythology, so long as they weren’t held in pride. The reality is that everyone has them—even the sincerest of believers, like the disciples!