News in Advance?

Every day, millions around the world look up a small superstitious feature still found in most newspapers—one that purports to tell them how their lives are going to turn out. Yet horoscopes are so generic that they have been shown to be worthless. An experiment in 1948 gave people with different birth dates the exact same horoscope, and everyone said it was accurate for them!

But the Bible warns, “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them” (Leviticus 19:31). Even so, many still want to know the future. They’d like to know the news before it happens; who can blame them? Such insights could help a person avoid tragedy, reap a financial windfall, or even change the course of world events.

While the Bible does not offer information on which stock to buy or who’s going to win the next election, God has, throughout history,

commissioned individuals to go forth and prophesy. Such proclamations were not always forecasts; rather, they contained encouragement and warnings for God’s people and for those around them.

The book of Exodus contains an example of God designating a prophet, not for the children of Israel, but for the Pharaoh oppressing them: “The Lord said to Moses: ‘See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land’ ” (7:1, 2).

Prophets also delivered God’s judgment to Israel’s leaders: After King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah, the prophet Nathan confronted him: “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).

In Bible times, prophets didn’t always deliver “news in advance,” which is called predictive prophecy. But their counsel came from God, and those who obeyed it prospered. The same is true today: Heeding prophetic wisdom brings blessings.

Apply It:

Can you think of some prophetic insights that people who read the Bible have, but that are not understood by the world at large?

Dig Deeper:

2 Peter 1:21; 1 Samuel 9:9; Daniel 2:24–45

Key Bible Texts

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:31 KJV)