on prophetic grammar…
For a child has been born to us,
A son has been given to us,
And the government has been
resting on His shoulders;
And His name has been called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9.6)
Here begins the first lesson… Mind your verbs. Your past, present, and future depend on them.
Here begins the second lesson… The perfect tense derives its name from the Latin word perfectus, meaning “carried through to the end, complete.” It denotes action that is completed and over with or a state already achieved and complete.
Here begins the third lesson: Isaiah's tense of choice is perfect, not future. He is so convicted about the certainty of God’s Word that he writes about the future as if it were the past. This can only mean one thing—the future is history. Therefore…
Trend prophets,
Demographic augurs,
Economic forecasters,
Environmental clairvoyants, and
Geopolitical seers
Take heed…
Worriers,
Pessimists,
Fretters,
Optimists, and the
Fearful
Take note…
The future is history…
Fate,
Whim,
Luck,
Chance, and
Kismet
Are each rendered impotent because
The future is history…
We will beware of any speculative vision of the future that fails to:
give Him preeminence;
reckon with His righteous judgment;
recognize His sovereign rule;
take courage in His covenant-destiny; and
be assured by the certainty of His promises.
The future is history…
Faith recognizes that the future is unknown.
Faith rejects the notion that the future is uncertain.
The future is history because we are certain
that Christ completely holds the future.
What can be added to it?
He is the First and the Last.
What can be taken away from it?
He is the Beginning and the End.
What can elude His rule?
He is the Lord Almighty.
He is the one Who Was
and Who Is and
Who Is to Come.
In Jesus Christ, the future is history…
What Isaiah saw prophetically, we see historically—but not more completely than he did. Otherwise, why would we be drawn to his prophecy season after season? Isaiah beheld the certainty of God’s future in Christ prophetically revealed to his present. He strategically oriented his life around God’s “historic future” and called Israel to do the same. God summons us to “back into” the future like the rower who goes forward while looking backward toward a reference point on the horizon.
Our reference point is the promises of God.
Our destination is God’s promised future.
Happy Advent
