Day 11: …‘and heed the things which are written in it’…

The NIV translates the above as ‘and take to heart what is written in it’. Keeping the words of prophecy, as Mary kept the words of the shepherds in her heart, has a special meaning. The Greek verb is also found in the first letter of John,1 where keeping His Commandments is referenced. Similarly, the word is used in the Gospel of John.2

To keep the Commandments of God, the words of Jesus is to hold on to them, listen to them, obediently carry them out and act upon them. Keep your eyes upon them and stick to them carefully. Stand guard and honor them, keeping them as if they were valuable treasure. Put them into practice, obey them, and conduct yourself according to them. We will deal with this in greater detail in the missionary letter to the church at Philadelphia,3 because there this word to keep is given yet another meaning, i.e. being kept from all kinds of calamities.4

This keeping of the words of the prophecy is thus completely different from hiding it, like the man with the one talent did, when he hid it in the ground and did nothing further with it.5 At the end of the book of Revelation, the angel will again insist: ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this Book.’6 However difficult the visions and images sometimes initially appear, when we compare Scripture with Scripture and pray for understanding of what the Holy Spirit has to say to the church, we shall go on to discover what a tremendously encouraging message this book of prophecy contains. Paul says that prophecy is for strengthening, encouragement and comfort.7 The things concerning the future may also have this effect of encouragement and causing us to bear fruit in our personal spiritual life. One of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to disclose the future.8 We need to learn to understand prophecy now, in the End Times. We have been living in the End Times, in the ‘last days’, since the first coming of Jesus to earth (Hebrews 1:1-2) and since the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the ‘last days’ (Acts 2:17) and even in the ‘last hour’, with antichrist on the rise (1 John 2:18). The prophetic clock is ticking fast since the Jewish people have already been returning to the Land of Israel for decades. That is why the Book of Revelation should be opened, and should not remain closed.

• Prophecy has nothing to do with occult fortune-telling. Prophecy is history written in advance. Only He who holds the future knows what the future will hold. And He has revealed it to the prophets in Israel and in the Book of Revelation by the greatest prophet of Israel, Jesus
• Sometimes the prophets themselves did not understand what the Spirit of God in them intended when they were shown things ahead of time.9 That also is why prophecy does not proceed from the will of a It is only through the Holy Spirit that people speak of the things of God.10
• We call what people have to say about the future, from their own perspective or their exercise of science: ‘futurology’. In futurology scientists draw lines from today to the future, extending the developments in science and technology into the future. Such futurology is, however, very different from prophecy, which is revealed

Bible References:

1.1 John 2:3–5, 3:22–24, 5:2–3, cf. Luke 11:28 2.John 8:51–55, 14:15 and 21–24, 17:6 and 11–15, cf. Matthew 27:36 and 54, 28:19 3.Revelation 3:10 4.See also 1 John 5:18 5.Matthew 25:14–30 6.Revelation 22:10 7.1 Corinthians 14:3 8.John 16:13 9.1 Peter 1:10–12 10.2 Peter 1:20–21