VOL. 10, NO. 5 | Prophecy and the Meaning of History: Why Word and Spirit Matter

In this issue, we explore God’s promises in prophecy. If waiting for their fulfillment is part of what makes promises hard to believe, they are all the more difficult to trust when God is their author, not because he is untrustworthy but because his take so long to be accomplished. Throughout the history of the church believers have fallen to the temptation to over interpret the direction of history, give it periods, pontificate about how the Holy Spirit works in a particular age, and look for extraordinary measures of divine activity. But this is the reverse of prophecy’s purpose. Prophecy’s role in Scripture is to underscore that God is in control of history, not us. Such uncertainty is hard to live with. Yet, it is a reminder to trust God who does all things well, even when taking a long time— even an eschaton—to make good on his promises.

Featured Articles:

• Back to the Future, Rightly Understood | by Michael S. Horton
• Where Have All the Spiritual Gifts Gone? | by Richard B. Gaffin Jr.
• Gnosticism in the Mainline | by Peter R. Jones
• Jesus Christ: The Sum and Substance of Biblical Prophecy | by Kim Riddlebarger