Hebrews 7:17 1/21/14
For it is witnessed of Him, “Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
I believe this is a psalm of David. It was spoken long ago about Jesus. This is one of many predictive passages in the Old Testament which foretell the future. While this one is milder, there are some which are very specific. For example, in Isaiah, he speaks of a king in the future named Cyrus (approx 150 years) who would rebuild Jerusalem. What’s interesting about this is that the city is still intact, the temple is still standing and the people haven’t been carted off to Babylon for their captivity. At the time of the prophecy, there was no need for those words.
Who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please: he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt” and of the temple, “Let it’s foundations be laid”.
Why does God give prophecies? Isaiah 41:26 answers it this way:
Who has declared this from the beginning, that we may know or from former times that we may say, “He is right!”
He gives prophecies to validate His word. I can remember being doubtful about Christianity in my early days. Bible prophecy was one of the biggest pieces of evidence for its validity. This isn’t the only one. There are dozens of very strong ones, as seen above and hundreds of milder ones that are also prophecies.
We live in a day in which those of faith are seen as weak. These undeniable prophecies are answers to the skeptic and comfort to the faithful.
Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thanks for the comforting part, but also for this, the passages that act as security for the mind and faith.