THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST: PROMISED BLESSINGS FOR OBEDIENCE

THE PURPOSES OF PREDICTIVE PROPHECIES

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

King James Version (KJV)

28 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

²And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

³Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

⁵Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

⁶Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

⁷The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

⁸The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

⁹The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways.

¹⁰And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.

¹¹And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

¹²The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

¹³And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

¹⁴And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The Purpose Of Predictive Prophecies. PROPHECY. Promise and prophecy are abundant in the Bible. God gives many assurances of His readiness to bless, and often speaks of things He plans to do in the future. In both cases there are always conditions. God’s call to align with His will so His word of promise can bless the obedient. Ch. 28 is a classic study of both God’s promises and His prophecies. Compare vv. 1, 2 and vv. 58, 59 to note the blessings that are a promise potential to the obedient, and the judgments that are a predicted certainty for the disobedient.

This exemplifies the purpose of predictive prophecy in the Bible. It is to teach, to warn, and to instruct toward obedience and fruitful living. It is never given to arouse curiosity or promote guesswork. In Matt. 24 Jesus makes several prophecies about things to come, but tells His disciples that His purpose is only to elicit practical responses of obedient living, not guessing at the possible schedule of forthcoming events.

Elsewhere, our Lord indicates that predictive prophecies are also given to undergird our confidence in God’s sovereignty and omniscience-that He is in control and that He does know the end from the beginning. Note His words in John 13:19, 14:20, and 16:4, where His triple emphasis on this purpose of His prediction occurs-"that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he’ (that is God’s Son, the Messiah)."

28:9 Perhaps the most important blessing of the entire book is that the Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself…if thou shall keep the commandment.