God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

B. Dealing with misconceptions about prophecy

1. Misconception #1: All prophecy predicts the future.

a. Some prophecy predicts the future. For example:

(1) Warnings of God’s coming judgment on sin

(2) Unfolding revelation about God’s plans, especially his plan to send the Messiah (e.g. Isa. 11.1; Mic. 5.2)

b. Predictive prophecies are very significant but nonetheless they make up a relatively small amount of the total prophetic word we call the Scriptures.

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c. Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart say “ Less than 2 percent of Old Testament prophecy is Messianic. Less than 5 percent describes the New Covenant. Less than 1 percent describes events yet to come. ”

d. Most prophecy is a revelation about God’s person, about his character, about his relationship to his chosen people, and about his purposes for all humanity rather than a prediction of future events. To use a classic theological distinction, all prophecy is forthtelling, while some prophecy is also foretelling.

2. Misconception #2: Prophecy is only found in one part of Scripture.

a. The Hebrew Scriptures were arranged in three divisions - the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.

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