Second Peter 1:20-21 says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of one’s own interpretation; for no prophecy was ever borne by the will of man, but men spoke from God while being borne by the Holy Spirit.” These two verses prove that the prophetic word is altogether reliable, trustworthy, and firm. No prophecy of Scripture is of the prophet’s or writer’s own concept, idea, or understanding. The will, desire, and wish of man with his thought and exposition are not the source of any prophecy. The source is God. Men were borne and carried along by the Holy Spirit to speak out the will, desire, and wish of God. Therefore, these prophecies are God’s word, God’s speaking. For this reason, we should believe and take heed to all the prophecies in the word of God.
The Bible is a very accurate book; not even one word is wrong, and not a single word should be misread or replaced. If a person is careless, he will miss God’s word. A person reading prophecies must be careful and accurate. If a person is inaccurate, the accuracy of God is sacrificed. For example, at the time of Christ’s first coming, the people of Israel were expecting the coming of their God-promised Messiah (Luke 3:15; John 1:19-25, 45-46) to rescue them out of the hands of the Roman imperialists. Before the Lord Jesus was born, a number of the children of Israel were expecting to meet their Messiah because they came to know, at least partially, the prophecies of the Old Testament, which spoke of God giving His people a Messiah, the anointed One. However, many of them did not know that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem. Thinking that Jesus, who was called a Nazarene, came from Galilee, they rejected Him and missed the coming of the Messiah in their time (John 7:40-42; cf. Matt. 2:1-12, 19-23; Luke 2:39; Matt. 3:13). Due to a lack of fineness and accuracy in understanding the Old Testament prophecies, the chief priests and scribes missed the first coming of Christ. Today we also may have only a general understanding of the prophecies and not know them so accurately or finely. This may cause us to miss the second coming of Christ and suffer loss. Thus, we must learn to know the prophecies accurately and not be careless.
In trying to be accurate, we must not become curious. God’s Word is accurate, but we must never search it with a curious mind. If we search God’s Word with a curious mind, we will altogether miss its spiritual worth. The Bible is a spiritual book. If the purpose of achieving accuracy is the satisfaction of our curiosity, rather than the satisfaction of our spiritual needs, we are on the wrong track. Studying prophecies is not for the purpose of satisfying a curiosity about the future; studying prophecies is for the sake of waiting for the Lord’s return. If we are a curious person, even spiritual things of value will become non-spiritual and dead when they fall into our hands. This is a very serious matter. When we study the prophecies, we must not be curious; rather, we should touch life, touch the spirit, and touch the Lord.
The prophecies in the entire Bible are consistent, developing from one another and explaining each other. The phrase one’s own interpretation in 2 Peter 1:20 can also be translated “interpreted according to the meaning of it.” This means that any portion of a prophecy cannot be interpreted according to its own limited context. If prophecies were written according to the will of individuals, they could be interpreted by themselves, and there would be no need to care for the other prophecies. However, the prophecies in the Bible were written by different men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, even though many men wrote, the thought was one. Only the Holy Spirit is the Author of all the prophecies; hence, all the prophecies can be linked together as one. Thus, the prophecies of the Old Testament and of the New Testament must correspond. All the various prophecies should correspond to each other. Furthermore, the Old Testament prophecies were made firm by Jesus Christ the Lord and by some of the apostles in the prophecies of the New Testament. In other words, the New Testament prophecies confirm the Old Testament prophecies to make the Old Testament prophecies more firm. Thus, in studying prophecies, we must not consider only one portion in isolation; instead, we must compare it with other passages and must interpret the Bible with the Bible. Peter considered this principle to be the “first” (2 Pet. 1:20). If we interpret prophecies out of context, confusion will be inevitable. This is not permissible in biblical interpretation. Any interpretation of prophecies must match the testimony of the whole Bible, and it must be mutually confirmed by the whole Bible in order to have the proper interpretation.