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The Failure of Prophecy
by Tom Stewart
May 1, 2003
"Charity
[Greek, agape, love] never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail"
(1Corinthians 13:8).
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians of our sublime
necessity of Love as the loftiest goal of the followers of the God Who Is Love (1John
4:8, 16). In no way did Paul intend to demean the value of prophecy,
for he counseled the Romans, "Having then
gifts differing according to the Grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let
us prophesy according to the proportion of Faith" (Romans
12:6). Following his exposition "concerning
Spiritual Gifts" (1Corinthians 12:1),
Paul advertised the greater excellence of Love. "But
covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way" (12:31). After extolling Love-- the mainspring of
motivation for the Saints-- he again reminded us that to prophesy, i.e., to forthtell
or preach the Word of God and Its prophecies, still subordinates to Love in importance.
"Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, these
three; but the greatest of these is Charity" (13:13). The New Testament testifies that True
Love is heartfelt obedience to God. "If
ye Love Me, keep My Commandments" (John 14:15). And, equating
True Love with obedience has always been the position of the Creator throughout
the ages. "37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt Love the LORD thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38
This is the First and Great Commandment. 39 And the Second is like unto it, Thou
shalt Love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 22:37-39).
Why then would the Apostle Paul say, "Whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail" (1Corinthians
13:8)? In context, Paul was emphasizing the insufficiency of all
things without the presence of Love. "1 Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, and have not Charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal. 2 And though
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all Mysteries, and all Knowledge; and
though I have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity,
I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1Corinthians
13:1-3). Though it is monumentally important to "preach the Word" (2Timothy
4:2), our best effort at preaching the Word of God and Its prophecies
pales in comparison to the sufficiency of the Love of God.
"9 For we know in
part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is Perfect is come, then that which
is in part shall be done away" (1Corinthians 13:9-10). Surely, we are waiting for the Perfection that comes from the soon appearing
of the LORD Jesus Christ at His Second Coming; but, even more immediate, the
Love that God has always demanded His people to exercise is the Perfection
that "never faileth" (13:8) and is the maturity of the Saints who
understand the "First Principles of the
Oracles of God" (Hebrews 5:12) and
have "put away childish things" (1Corinthians 13:11).
Does Paul's statement, "Whether there
be prophecies, they shall fail" (1Corinthians 13:8), relieve a prophet or prophecy from the necessity of accuracy in fulfilment? "When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the LORD,
if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath
not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously"
(Deuteronomy 18:22). A true prophet of God is always accurate
as to the time and circumstances of the fulfilment of a prophecy, e.g., a prophesied
judgment; however, a return to loving obedience seems to be the only exception
that the Sovereign God has mercifully allowed in withholding the execution of a divinely
prophesied judgment-- and, no recipient of that mercy would find reasonable objection
to their unexpected stay of execution, as in the case of Nineveh. "4 And
Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So
the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from
his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat
in ashes. 7 And he caused
it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his
nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them
not feed, nor drink water: 8 but
let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let
them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
9 Who can tell if God
will turn and repent [change His mind], and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their
works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He
had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not. 1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto
the LORD, and said, I pray Thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in
my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a Gracious
God, and Merciful, Slow To Anger, and of Great Kindness, and repentest Thee of the
evil [the Judgement of Death]" (Jonah 3:4-10; 4:1-2).
If God is willing to set aside promised judgments when men repent of their sins,
turn from their wicked ways, and return to the path of loving obedience, then all
True Saints should pray for divinely sanctioned failures of prophesied judgments. "7 At
what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck
up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil,
I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them"
(Jeremiah 18:7-9). And, in the name of defending the credibility
and integrity of the prophecies of God, we should never become so attached to our
perception of their fulfilment that we would sulk like Jonah, should Nineveh repent. "14 Again,
when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do
that which is lawful and right; 15 if
the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes
of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed
shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall
surely live" (Ezekiel 33:14-16).
In other words, a prophesied judgment may mercifully fail, if there is a return
to love by the condemned prisoner. "As
I live, saith the LORD GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that
the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for
why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (33:11). Therefore, if a prophesied judgment has been truly authorized by God and
it has actually failed, then the Almighty has sovereignly and mercifully withheld
or forestalled the prophesied judgment due to the repentance and change of heart
of the condemned. "And all the inhabitants
of the Earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His Will in the Army
of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the Earth: and none can stay His hand, or
say unto Him, What doest Thou?" (Daniel 4:35).
Remember, it is the Glory of God when He demonstrates mercy to His people. "18 Who
is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth
in mercy. 19 He will
turn again, He will have Compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou
wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah
7:18-19). If we would judge all prophecies in the Spirit of Love,
we would rejoice in the failure of prophecy, if God would be glorified by the addition
of souls to His Kingdom, the return of the wayward to loving obedience, and as long
as it would accomplish the greatest good for the Kingdom of God. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the
Water Of Life freely" (Revelation 22:17).
Throughout the years, this writer has seen the failure of prophecy more than once,
and has come to the understanding of rejoicing in the prolonging of the days of Mercy
that have been sovereignly allowed by a Gracious God for the Salvation and Reclamation
of souls for His Kingdom. "4 What man of you, having an hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth
it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto
them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost" (Luke
15:4-6). And, rather than sulking in a bitterness of not receiving
the result of an expected event or blanching in a mortification of what others would
think of the writer's lack of spiritual discernment, he has found it more appropriate
to rejoice. "Rejoice in the LORD alway:
and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). In the end,
we must stand alone before God. "Holding
forth the Word of Life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not
run in vain, neither laboured in vain" (2:16).
"10 And He saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy
of this Book: for the time is at hand. 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy,
let him be filthy still: and he that is Righteous, let him be Righteous still: and
he that is Holy, let him be Holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and My Reward is with Me, to
give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation
22:10-12).
Maranatha!
[Please see our article, "How
to Identify a False Prophet" ---New Window for additional background on
evaluating prophets and prophecy. "For
the Elect's Sake" ---New Window analyzes how time can be held
still, turned back, or sped up with Joshua's Long Day, Hezekiah's Sundial, and the
4th Trumpet Judgment. (Think how that can affect the fulfillment of prophecy.) And,
a Prophecy-Time Continuum is evaluated in our article, "In
the Third Day: The Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy" ---New Window
to see how "The Shoe Can Drop At Any Time," concerning the events surrounding
the soon return of the LORD Jesus Christ. "If there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8).]
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