The Prophetic Hermeneutic

What is the most important prophecy in the scriptures?

For as many students of the Word as there are, there will be that many answers to such a question. Genesis 3:15 or Isaiah 53 would definitely have to be considered as possible contenders, but I think there is another that is more practical in relating the present as we experience it to prophecy in the Bible. It may be a bit obscure, but Amos 3:7 turns out to be eminently practical in relating biblical predictions about what would happen to what actually is happening.

It's a prophecy about prophecy. In fact, Amos 3:7 is a hermeneutical powerhouse!

I take this passage to mean that if something will occur that is significant to God's redemptive plans for the human race, God will reveal those events to his prophets prior to their happening. Occurrences which have significance to God's plan are not going to pass by without mention, without notice from him to the faithful. The practical aspect of this reality is that when significant events happen to Israel or in the world which Christ is in the midst shepherding toward an end, those events will be found to have been foretold by one of God's writing prophets. 

Such a supposition helps unfold our understanding of redemption history during the Church Age. For instance, events like the disintegration of the Pax Romana with its long-term impact on European, and therefore church development; or the pandemic of Bubonic plague in the 1340's with its worldwide jolt to population and culture; or the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, beyond doubt, had effecst on redemption history. Therefore, we should anticipate such events to be foretold by prophecy in the Bible.

If this is so, one has to wonder where in the Bible might the earth-shattering events that have befallen mankind during the Church Age be prophesied. I think the most likely place to look is in the prophecies found in the New Testament. The very last prophetic revelation, the Apocalypse, is generally supposed to have been inspired in 95 CE. It makes "Amos 3:7 sense" that the Lord would show his servants, the New Testament Apostles, those plan-of-redemption affecting events that would happen during the Church Age.

What doesn't make sense is thinking that God would have only commented about the last 7 years of time in these prophecies and remained quiet regarding all those earth-shattering events that have happened in the mean time.

If we see Amos 3:7 as a prophetic hermeneutic, it allows us to interpret New Testament prophecy in a broader light than has been generally accepted. Doing so leads us to the discovery that God has not left us in the darkness concerning what's been going on these last 2000 years. But let me add a couple of corollaries:

1) if the prophesied event occurred within the time frame during which biblical writing was inspired, its fulfillment will be recorded in the scriptures dealing with that period; and 

2) if a prophecy interprets the past (as it certainly does in parts of the Revelation) it's fulfillment in the past will be recorded in the scriptures dealing with that period.

These principles of interpretation may not be found in any standard, evangelical approach to hermeneutics, but then again, would I be writing this if those techniques actually produced coherent, internally consistent expositions, that successfully interpreted eschatological prophecy!

These principles are essential in properly interpreting the Seven Seals as well as the Eight Kings of chapter 17. If one is left scratching his or her head, trying to understand why there wasn't a word from God when a quarter of the earth's population was killed within a few short years (the Black Death), or why a frivolous book like Esther was ever recorded in scriptures, he or she should remember this hermeneutic. The Holy Spirit inspired the recording of things he did for reasons, though sometimes those reasons don't become apparent until generations afterward.

Hopefully, they'll be apparent to you as we continue with the prophetic seals.