Prophecy Puzzle
Understanding God’s Plan for History
(Putting the Pieces Together)
God has a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for all of human history! From the first moment that Time began as a part of Creation, until Time one day comes to an end, God has been working out His Purpose for us all.
God has made _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that He Will Keep! Much of what we call “Prophecy” is looking at what God has promised that He will do and then looking to see if it has happened yet!
God has used _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to tell us about His Plan! This is what makes the study of prophecy possible – God wants us to know what He is doing!
As His Plan unfolds, God continues to tell us more and more about it – this is also known as _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. As we study God’s Plan, we’ll see that He has continually revealed more about his Plan through the course of human history.
( Plan , Promises , People , progressive revelation ))
- Even huge jigsaw puzzles are not really complicated, but simply require patience, diligence, and time to put them together. And when you finally put this one together, the picture is awesome and will draw you to your knees in humble worship - singing "Thou art worthy"! Not only is the study of Bible prophecy like a jigsaw puzzle in a general way, but even some of the specific principles of jigsaw puzzling are applicable to a proper study of prophecy.
- By "jigsaw puzzle" I do not condone the common error of merely gathering proof texts out of context and cramming them into a preconceived framework. To do it properly, each piece, whether it be a word, sentence, or paragraph must be prayerfully and carefully studied in its full context.
The Process of Puzzling:
- First, you gather and lay out all of your pieces.
- Second, you set in order the outline and corner pieces.
- Third, you group together pieces with similar content (all the blues, or dark greens, etc.).
- Fourth, you methodically put the puzzle together, piece by piece, and section by section.
- Fifth, eventually you will end up with a few difficult pieces that at first don't seem to easily fit into your general scheme. So you have to examine those pieces from different perspectives. Sometimes you will discover that by just looking at it from a little different angle it perfectly and beautifully fits into a spot you didn't even see before.
- Finally, if you end up with your puzzle looking kind of buckled up and bent, with some extra pieces that absolutely will not fit anywhere, then you need to seriously consider that you've been forcing a lot of pieces together.
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