But Doesn't Bible Prophecy Prove That God Sees The Future?
This is one of the first questions that comes up when someone first hears it suggested that God doesn't see the future. How on earth can God foretell things that will come to pass days or months or hundreds or even thousands of years in advance if He doesn't already see or know the future? In a word...elementary. So simple, in fact, a child can understand it, and a child can even demonstrate how it's done, although on a limited scale.
To illustrate this, let's suppose a seven year old boy one day announces to his mother that within three days she will have a flat tire on her car. Startled by that declaration, the mother quizzes the child about why he would say such a thing, but he acts strange and offers no explanation. The mother, while perplexed, decides not to pursue it any further. One day goes by, and nothing happens. The second day comes and goes, and again nothing happens. Mom has forgotten the incident by now. The third morning arrives, and when Mom goes out to do some shopping, she discovers that her car has a flat tire. Frustrated, while shaking her head and wondering what to do about it, she spots her son looking out the living room window with a strange smile on his face.
"It's a miracle!", she shouts, suddenly remembering her son's prediction, and she runs back into the house to talk with her son about it.
Mom: "Son, you have the gift! You can see the future!"
Son: "What do you mean? Why do you think that?", he said, looking startled and confused.
Mom: "You told me a few days ago that I would have a flat tire in three days, and it came to pass today just like you said. You must be psychic or something."
Son: "No, mom, I'm sorry, but I was just playing a joke on you. I let the air out of your tire this morning before you got up."
In case you haven't caught on, I just illustrated to you how prophecy works. A prophet first declares that something will happen, then later on God makes it happen. At least that is how it was clearly done in the Bible. No gazing into a crystal ball, no fancy divination, no magic, no fortune-telling. God simply says something will happen, and then He makes it happen. It's as simple as that most of the time.
Below is just one of many examples of Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in this very way. Please notice the wording of this Scripture passage carefully.
Matthew 1:18-23 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” (NKJV)
In this passage we are shown how prophecy works. Hundreds of years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote of a coming Messiah who would be born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14) Now here in Matthew, Matthew tells us how God made this promise come true. First God impregnated Mary by the Holy Spirit, and then He caused Joseph to dream about an angel of the Lord who then explained to him what was going on, so that Joseph would then cooperate with the Lord in order to fulfill His Word. God first tells us what is going to happen, then He later intervenes in this world's affairs, using various means at His disposal, in order to bring His Word to pass. Basically, God is just masterfully keeping a promise He made, and He is more than able to pull it off, no matter how difficult it may seem to us.
Sometimes God will share with us something in the short-term that is about to happen, in order for our faith in Him to grow when we see it actually come to pass before our very eyes. Jesus did this with Simon Peter when He predicted that Peter would deny knowing Him three times during that very night. How was God able to accomplish this? Simply because at any given moment He is totally aware of all mankind's thoughts, plans, intentions, and movements. He is also aware of the same concerning all of the angelic forces, as well as their demonic counterparts. For that matter, He knows the location and number of all the hairs on our heads, and beyond that He even knows the position and trajectory of every single atomic particle in the universe. Nothing that exists can escape His gaze or His influence, should He choose to intervene.
God knew Peter's heart even better than Peter did. God saw through Peter's boastings and knew without a doubt that Peter would deny Him once the pressure was on. Further, God was easily able to cause people around Peter to recognize and accuse him, from which fear arose and caused him to deny his relationship with Jesus. God also caused the cock to crow afterward, reminding Peter of what Christ had said to him earlier. This was certainly no harder than causing Balaam's donkey to speak to him in Numbers 22:28. God may not "see" the future, but being Almighty and everywhere present, He has absolutely no need to see it. He is in no way intimidated, worried, weakened or diminished by that fact. He has the infinite ability to complete His plans for this creation, and carry out all His promises to us. He basically just keeps His Word. God is faithful. We can trust Him.
Now that we've established the fact that "seeing the future" is not a requirement for God to fulfill Biblical prophecies, we can move on from here and address some of the other related questions and issues that you or others may have. Have yourself a wonderful day with Jesus!
-nOFuTuRe
Well written. I am thinking we all have what I will call a potential future. We know next week, we are going here or there. God knows our every thought and knows of our "future" plans. We know nothing is set in stone in regards to our next breath, but it certainly might be confusing. I am thinking about this writing and learning scripture also. God Bless.
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The truth of the matter is that we have an infinitely amazing potential "future". During the rest of today alone, we have hundreds of small choices to make that will continue to shape our lives however we may desire. Should I go to the store, if so, which one? What should I buy? Who should I strike up a conversation with? What should I eat for dinner? Salt or no-salt? Should I clean the bathroom tonight, or watch that TV program I like, or go for a walk? You get the idea. Anything is possible, and I can change my mind repeatedly. If God could "see" the future, however, then all potential possibilities disappear altogether, and our futures become eternally set in stone. Any planning or dreaming about what we are going to do with our lives would all be a meaningless waste of time. We are doomed to do what God already "sees" us doing, tonight, tomorrow, next week, and so on...
God is very interested in how we choose to live our lives, and while He does attempt to give us guidance through His Word and His Spirit, He allows us complete freedom to build our own lives, and it pleases Him to interact with us and watch us grow. We have this great opportunity to bring Him pleasure...or disappointment...let's live for His pleasure!
-nOFuTuRe
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One thing that is important to remember is that God is with us every second of our lives. To me, that means He can and will intercede when tragedy strikes.We know He can heal us, save us, and even raise us from the dead. We do not need to worry about tomorrow or next week, etc, because He has it covered.He knows everything and sees everything as it happens. He is almighty.The future that I know for sure is Him for all eternity.It is interesting that this subject of "no future" can cause such anger in some people. Why get upset?? If you are at peace with God in your walk, it is not all that urgent whether or not one believes God can see the future. What I love is that God can see His future in us. How great is that!!! God Bless, Kathy
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Thanks for taking this opportunity to discuss this, I feel fervently about this and I like learning about this subject. Thanks for sharing this valuable post.
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