So i'm reading the bible, and i'm looking for prophecies...?

Question

i'm just wondering how i'm supposed to know something is a prophecy. i'm just about through genesis, and have yet to read anything about a coming messiah. can someone tell me how i'm supposed to know something i'm reading is a prophecy, without foreknowledge of the new testament, in which case i can loosely relate anything i read in the old testament to what i read in the new testament and call it prophecy?

Answer 1

God gave prophecy to us through such prophets as Daniel and Isaiah in the Old Testament.  The book of Matthew in the New Testament tells about the prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus.  And Revelation also has prophecies of the end of times.  I would start with these.  Some Bibles have concordances or indexes that include scriptures on prophecies that you can look up. (Good one is Thompson Chain Reference Bible)

Answer 2

Messiah would be born of the "seed" of a woman.  Genesis 3:15a  Luke 1:34-35

Messiah would successfully defeat Satan. Genesis 3:15b 1 John 3:8

Messiah would suffer when redeeming man to God. Genesis 3:15c 1 Peter 3:18

Messiah would come from the lineage of Seth. Genesis 4:25 Luke 3:23-38

Messiah would come from the lineage of Shem. Genesis 9:26 Luke 3:23-36

Messiah would come from the lineage of Abraham. Genesis 12:3 Matthew 1:1

Messiah would come from the lineage of Isaac. Genesis 17:19 Luke 3:23-34

Messiah would come from the lineage of Abraham. Genesis 18:17-18a Matthew 1:1

Messiah would be the redeemer for all nations. Genesis 18:17-18b Acts 3:24-26

Messiah would come form the lineage of Isaac. Genesis 21:12 Luke 3:23-34

Messiah would be God's "Sacrificial Lamb". Genesis 22:8 John 1:29

Romans 8:3-4

1 Corinthians 5:7

Messiah would come from the lineage of Abraham. Genesis 22:18a Galatians 3:16

Messiah would be the redeemer for all nations. Genesis 22:18b Galatians 3:14

Messiah would come from the lineage of Isaac. Genesis 26:4 Luke 3:23-34

Messiah would come from the lineage of Jacob. Genesis 28:14a Luke 3:23-34

Messiah would be the redeemer for all nations. Genesis 28:14b Galatians 3:26-29

Messiah would come from the lineage of Judah. Genesis 49:10a Luke 3:23-33

Messiah would gather all people before Him. Genesis 49:10b Luke 12:1

Mark 1:45

Messiah would be the "vine" of all living. Genesis 49:11 John 15:1-5

No What is funny is you asked I answered.If you already know your answer why ask.

Answer 3

"A prophet never foretells 'a fixed, unchangeable future.'  Prophets do not predict what will happen tomorrow.  Instead, 'they announce a present that requires human choice and decision.'  It is a present 'in which the future is being prepared' but whose outcome depends upon the work and decisions of human beings."  Philosopher Martin Buber, quoted from "A Torah Commentary for our Times" by Harvey J. Fields

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Answer 4

There are only 23 prophecies concerning the Davidic Messiah, and they have been recognized as such for centuries before Jesus' time.

They are as follows:

* The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)

* Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)

* The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)

* He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10)

* The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)

* Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)

* Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)

* He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)

* All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)

* Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8)

* There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)

* All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)

* The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)

* He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)

* Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)

* The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)

* The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)

* Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)

* The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvot

* He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9)

* Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33)

* He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)

* He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9).

Jesus may be the Christian Messiah, but he isn't the one talked about in the Tanakh.

Answer 5

Probably the best place to start studying Bible prophecy is with the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament.

In Matthew, the author listed 60 different prophecies (quoting them from the Old Testament) as Jesus fulfilled them during his ministry.  He mentions 30 more, but does not actual quote the prophecy.

To get ALL of the prophecies of the scripture, it usually does require a reading of the entire book. Often when the prophecy is given, it does not state that this is something that Christ will do in the future (sometimes it does).  Rather you have to keep reading until the fulfillment appears, and then you can look back and see the prophecy.

Probably the earliest Bible prophecy of Jesus is Genesis 3:15, where God promised the Virgin birth of Jesus, when he said the "seed" of a woman would eventual defeat the serpent. As women do not have "seed" (sperms), the only way a woman could have a "seed" would be through a virgin birth.  And Jesus did defeat satan after being wounded by him.

An Old Testament scripture you may want to examine is Psalms 22.  We have copies (thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls) of this Psalm that predate the birth of Christ by at least 150 years.  Contained with this Psalm are over 25 events that would happen to Jesus during his crucifixion and death.

Including that his hands and feet would be pierced

His bones would not be broken like the others executed that day

The soldiers would gamble for his clothing

The words that would be used to mock him

Jesus first and last words from the cross

That he would be buried in a rich man's tomb

That he would thirst and ask for water

and more

Bible prophecy is not always obvious. (Some, like Gensis 3:15 should be if you read the whole book.)  So it does take some study to understand and spot all of it.

Answer 6

The first few books of the Bible are just History, the Messianic prophecies are mostly in the last books of the old testament (starting with Isaiah)

Yes, the Bible is a very literal book, aside from the book of Revelations that states that symbolism is used.

Answer 7

The key is to allow God to reveal to you the hidden meaning in the Scriptures (symbolism, foreshadowing, etc)....you will then see how it is "prophetic"

Answer 8

Most of the prophecies are given in the books of the prophets, like Daniel, Issiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, etc... End time prophecies are in Daniel, Amos, Joel, Zedekiah, and the New testament.

The bible uses different terms to identify the Messiah, like lamb of God, lion of the tribe of Judah, and many other terms that you have to learn.

Here is a example

Daniel 9:24-26 (NIV) "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. 25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

This prophecy tells you the exact date that Jesus would be killed and when the Jewish Temple would be destroyed. There are over 2000 prophecies concerning Jesus Christ alone and countless others.

Answer 9

J.C., when you read the Bible you will not easily find the prophecies, because they are often in symbolic language. And to see if something really was a prophecy, we can only find out in hindsight, after the event happened. That's why Bible teachers need to be cautious when talking about prophecy and not be so dogmatic about it.

For example in the early nineteenhundreds, Bible teachers didn't think that Jesus would literally return to the land of Israel, because the people of Israel were dispersed all over the world, and so they spiritualized that event. But now, that Israel is a nation again, we can look forward to a literal return of Jesus and His rule on earth.

If prophecies were easy to detect and straighforward they wouldn't be prophecies, they would be just  God showing His master-plan and there would be no need to trust Him and live by faith.

Read this blog, which talks more about prophecies:

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-6BOVXXkhc...

Answer 10

I read a Bible with extensive footnotes. When you read something prophetic in the OT, it will direct you to the related verse in the NT and vice versa.  Without being a scholar or reading everything cover to cover, anyone can evaluate the scriptures.

Answer 11

I recommend reading the ENTIRE Bible cover to cover.  Take notes.  If you do this like I did, you will not only notice that the prophecies were mostly BS and the rest were vague and inevitable, but also that the whole concept of the Biblical God is nonsense.

I recommend prior to this reading a logic class and lessons in resistant reading.  These two reliable tools are like Kryptonite to the Bible's Ubermensch.

Answer 12

some sections make it rather clear that it is prophecy.

generally it says that something will happen. for example:

>"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith HaShem. "<

this says in pretty plain language that, over the time span of aproximately one month(using a method of measurement that practically every culture in history would recognize, if not have used at one time in their history or currently) and yet more specifically to one week, (the period between sabbaths being more specific to the people this text was given to)  that a certain event will occur.  and that this occurance is stated to happen by God.

you are correct.  there are MANY verses many christians say are prophetic when they simply are not.  this is what is so profoundly laughable to Judaism, when christians say that Jesus fulfilled these hundreds of prophecys. there AREN'T that many. I have seen lists of verses that they alledge to be prophetic. ... most of them are random sentence fragments that they assert to match some NT occurance... its laughable really.

>"they will very clearly say something like "the coming messiah will..."?"<

hows this?

"And He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide concerning mighty nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. "

though the "he" is not as ideally specific  as might be perfectly ideal, this is a verse that seems clearly prophetic (IMO)  

ironically, both the verses I've quoted, ... jesus appears to have failed to fulfill.  curious isn't it?