To reveal God. "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I AM GOD, and there is none like Me, DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." Isa. 46: 9, 10.
2. What other important object has prophecy?
To warn His people. "Surely the LORD GOD WILL DO NOTHING, but He REVEALETH HIS SECRET unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3: 7.
3. What is the condition of this world in the last days?
"For, behold, the DARKNESS SHALL COVER THE EARTH, and GROSS DARKNESS THE PEOPLE: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee." Isa. 60: 2.
4. What has God given to His people in this time of darkness?
"We have also a more SURE WORD OF PROPHECY; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1: 19.
5. What warning did God give to the antediluvian world?
The warning of Noah of a coming deluge: "And spared not the old world, but saved NOAH the eighth person, A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, bringing in the Flood upon the world of the ungodly." 2 Peter 2: 5. See also Heb. 11: 7.
“WE HAVE ALSO A MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY; WHEREUNTO YE DO WELL THAT YE TAKE HEED, AS UNTO A LIGHT THAT SHINETH IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWN, AND THE DAY-STAR ARISE IN YOUR HEARTS.” 2 Peter 1: 19.
6. Why was the kingdom of Judah overthrown?
"And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place: but they MOCKED the MESSENGERS OF GOD, and DESPISED HIS WORDS, and MISUSED HIS PROPHETS, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy." 2 Chron. 36: 15, 16.
7. Why was Babylon destroyed?
"And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not HUMBLED THINE HEART, tho thou KNEWEST ALL THIS." Dan. 5: 22.
"We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies." Jer. 51: 9.
8. Why did destruction come upon Jerusalem?
"And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because THOU KNEWEST NOT the time of thy visitation." Luke 19: 44.
9. What blessing is promised upon those who will search and study the prophecies?
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." Rev. 1: 3.
10. How much of prophecy has God given us concerning the future, its calamities, its lessons?
Answer: More than one dozen different lines of prophecy are given in God's Word, beginning at different times in the centuries of the past, and culminating in these very days in which we live. These are found in the second, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of Daniel; in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, the thirteenth chapter of Mark, the twenty-first chapter of Luke; in the prophecies of the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven-headed dragon, the seven-headed beast, and the seven-headed scarlet-colored beast of Revelation. Besides these lines of prophecy, God has given us more than a score of special signs which are to occur in the last generation. A great part of His Word is filled with prophetic warnings of coming judgments and of dangers which menace the people of God. If in all the instances recorded in God's Word the great nations of the past met their doom because they failed to heed the warning, what will it be of the people of this generation?
