Daniel 12:9
"And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words
are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."
Today, I'd like to talk about "a sealed prophecy." From the above texts, we can know that the 70 weeks are determined, and the words of the prophecy are closed and sealed.
Another scripture of Daniel says, "the vision is sealed till the time of the end." Therefore, we can know the following facts:
1. Every vision and prophecy about the end time is closed till God's fixed time, the end time. The prophecy is written on a scroll and is sealed. What might this mean? It means no one can read the prophecy till this scroll is opened. Because no one can read a scroll which has been sealed by God. So, this prophecy will be closed and remain unopened by God until the predetermined time. No bible commentator can open this prophecy up. It cannot be opened until God's predetermined time no matter how hard people try to do so.
2. Instead, we might say one more thing. When the time comes and it is the end time, a spirit of wisdom will be given and a spirit of interpreting prophecy will be poured out to us. As a result, the sealed prophecy and vision will be opened. At that time, if any man or woman seeks the interpretation of the prophecy, it will be given to him. It does not depend on his or her ability.
3. We can say one other thing. God's opened interpretation about end time prophecy may be different from our former interpretation. There should be no surprise about this. Because the seal which has not been opened these 2 thousands years is now opened. The interpretation given for today may be different compared to what we have imagined before.
Therefore, concerning the interpretation of the end time prophecy, a person can not outright define it false just because he or she has never heard this interpretation before. Of course, you need to be the judge of it. There is a limited possibility that we can find the same interpretation of this prophecy after we have had the seal opened. But, there is a greater possibility that the newly opened interpretation will be different from our formerly imagined one.
4. Not everybody will understand this vision and prophecy. In particular, the evil one does not understand it. Why does God hide the prophecy and make us not to understand the end time events till end of the world? I suppose he doesn't want to cause unnecessary confusion till the end time. The events to occur in the end time are special and need not to be applied to other generations. Therefore, God has had no intention to open this end time prophecy to people of other generations. But now, it is already the end times. The seal is now being opened. This is the age when the interpretations of prophecies, revelations, and visions are given to those who ask for them.
Matthew 12:42
"The queen of the south shall rise up in
the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from
the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold,
a greater than Solomon is here."
Christ says in these words that the people of his generation did not come to hear the wisdom of Jesus who was greater than Solomon, so they were to be judged by the queen of the south.
I think "this generation" is a model of "the end time generation." Therefore, the hidden meaning of this message is that if we are in the end times, but do not seek the wisdom of Christ, we will also be judged. It is not clear what kind of "wisdom" this word talks about. But, I think it about the wisdom to open God's word.
In this end time age, the seal of God's word is now opening. Therefore, for anyone who seeks for the revelation, it will be opened. End time prophecies are difficult to understand as many parables are used in them. But, there is no problem if we are not clever to understand them. We just have to ask the one with all the wisdom. That's what the queen of the south did.
She came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But, the people of this generation never hear from Christ about wisdom, even though they hear from commentaries or theologians. As a result, they cannot interpret this prophecy; that's what this is all about. If we seek wisdom from the Lord, we can understand the end time vision and prophecy correctly. But, if we do not ask the Lord, we face the possibility of making a mistake. Therefore, we should stop and think to ourselves, "Did I really seek for the wisdom of Lord?" It will be too late for us if we are judged by the queen of the south. So, we should do so now.
Why am I talking about this? Because there are many people who make a mistake in their interpretations. For example, the people who lived in the age of Jesus did so.
Luke 19:
41 And when he was come near, he beheld
the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou,
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now
they are hid from thine eyes."
Christ in the wisdom of God told about the destruction of Jerusalem. But, the Pharisees and scribes did not hear him and would not open their eyes. As a result, Jerusalem was demolished by the Roman soldiers. The same thing happened in the age of Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophetised the destruction of Jerusalem. But, the priests who heard these words were angry with him and tried to kill him. His word was far from their understanding and they could not accept it. What happened in the time of Jesus and Jeremiah are a model of the events to happen in the end time.
In the past, both Jesus and Jeremiah prophecied about the destruction of Jerusalem. Likewise, God is prophecying the destruction of Jerusalem in the end time. Of course, many Bible scholars talk about the destruction of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel in the end time. But, it is not about this city's destruction. What God is talking about is the judgment of the spiritual Jerusalem - the church. This is the judgement of God's house which is written about in the book of Peter.
But, if we declare this kind of interpretation within the church, what kind of reaction will we face? Controversy is inevitable. There is even the possibility we might be called "heretical".
But, regardless if we receive a bad response, there is no need to bother over it. This is already pre-told by God. The Bible describes the fact that Jeremiah who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem would be persecuted by the people of his time period. The Bible also describes the fact that Jesus who foretold the judgment of Jerusalem was also persecuted by the people of his time. These prophecies were written as prophecies about the people of this end time. If you "correctly" prophesy the destruction of Jerusalem in the end time, you have to expect persecution from the people.
However, let's do the will of the Lord in end time.
end.
。
。。
。
。
。