What is a dual prophecy?
God in his wisdom gave us prophecies that foretell the future. He did that in order to lead us into repentance and find His way of salvation.
In other words, God does not prophecy that anyone will live a faithless life till the end because it is his desire and will that each of us be saved.
However, our Heavenly Parent knows that we as free agents of our destiny decide how we will respond to His word. We may receive or we may reject it. As such God prophecies depends on Human Response. He may prophecy that he will destroy a city and then after people repent, decide not to destroy it.
You are not sure of the validity of this idea.
Well, what is the story of Jonah if not about this. Jonah himself was swallowed by a big fish not because he was a faithless person but because he did not want to prophecy a destruction of Nineveh, believing that the people would repent and then God not destroy them.That was exactly what happened. We read in Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened
In other words God did threaten to destroy the city through Jonah, thus a prophecy but afterwards after seeing the repentance of the people God "relented".
Jonah response to God's decision not to send the promised destruction is: But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah believed in God's word but for some reason could not understand God's Heart of Love towards mankind, it seems.
The biblical writers understood thousand of years ago that God may prophecy something and not carry it out if the people repent. In other words, many prophecies are not meant to be the final word of God, but are sent to lead the people into repentance so that the destruction does not have to be carried out.
We have a very similar prophecy in relation to the coming of Jesus. In Malachi 4:5 says: 5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi prophecies then that Elijah would come to perform a certain important task in relation to the coming of Jesus: turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents. To the Synoptic Gospels this refer to the type of preparatory work that John the Baptist undertook through his ministry of water baptism and repentance. However, to the Fourth Gospel, this referred more specifically to a work of testimony John had been given by Heaven.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. The Fourth Gospel is telling us that the primary mission of John was to witness to people and bring them all to Jesus in a convincing manner.
However, the book of Malachi gives a warning of what could happen if John the Baptist's mission is not fully fulfilled. God would come and destroy the land.
This is a very clear dual prophecy, telling the outcomes of both what will happen if people have faith and what will happen if people lose faith.
This prophecy from Malachi corresponds to the dual prophecies God had given about the coming of Jesus throughout the Old Testament.
On Isaiah we find that God prophecies about the birth of Jesus and of the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom during Jesus' own lifetime. Isaiah 9:For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
However, knowing that people may act against God's will, God also gave a corresponding prophecy about that in other places of the Old Testament as for instance Isaiah 53 in what is called the prophecy of the Suffering Servant.
What was God's primary will in terms of the coming of Jesus?
In John 6 Jesus responds what is God's Will: …28Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”
Had the people believed in Jesus, they would have never crucified. Stephen in his sermon before he is stoned to death he confirms this by saying that the Jewish people both "murdered" Jesus and "resisted the Holy Spirit". In other words, the Jewish people went against God's will when the crucified Jesus. He tells the Jewish people who came to stone him that they had received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. What is the disobedience? They disobeyed the law, how? From Stephen's sermon there is only one conclusion: The disobeyed the law by crucifying Jesus.
The implication is that they went against God's will.
Traditional Christianity have still a problem understanding this clear and important message brought by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. We hope that the light of truth will shine upon their minds.
God in his wisdom gave us prophecies that foretell the future. He did that in order to lead us into repentance and find His way of salvation.
In other words, God does not prophecy that anyone will live a faithless life till the end because it is his desire and will that each of us be saved.
However, our Heavenly Parent knows that we as free agents of our destiny decide how we will respond to His word. We may receive or we may reject it. As such God prophecies depends on Human Response. He may prophecy that he will destroy a city and then after people repent, decide not to destroy it.
You are not sure of the validity of this idea.
Well, what is the story of Jonah if not about this. Jonah himself was swallowed by a big fish not because he was a faithless person but because he did not want to prophecy a destruction of Nineveh, believing that the people would repent and then God not destroy them.That was exactly what happened. We read in Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened
In other words God did threaten to destroy the city through Jonah, thus a prophecy but afterwards after seeing the repentance of the people God "relented".
Jonah response to God's decision not to send the promised destruction is: But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah believed in God's word but for some reason could not understand God's Heart of Love towards mankind, it seems.
The biblical writers understood thousand of years ago that God may prophecy something and not carry it out if the people repent. In other words, many prophecies are not meant to be the final word of God, but are sent to lead the people into repentance so that the destruction does not have to be carried out.
We have a very similar prophecy in relation to the coming of Jesus. In Malachi 4:5 says: 5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi prophecies then that Elijah would come to perform a certain important task in relation to the coming of Jesus: turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents. To the Synoptic Gospels this refer to the type of preparatory work that John the Baptist undertook through his ministry of water baptism and repentance. However, to the Fourth Gospel, this referred more specifically to a work of testimony John had been given by Heaven.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. The Fourth Gospel is telling us that the primary mission of John was to witness to people and bring them all to Jesus in a convincing manner.
However, the book of Malachi gives a warning of what could happen if John the Baptist's mission is not fully fulfilled. God would come and destroy the land.
This is a very clear dual prophecy, telling the outcomes of both what will happen if people have faith and what will happen if people lose faith.
This prophecy from Malachi corresponds to the dual prophecies God had given about the coming of Jesus throughout the Old Testament.
On Isaiah we find that God prophecies about the birth of Jesus and of the establishment of the Heavenly Kingdom during Jesus' own lifetime. Isaiah 9:For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
However, knowing that people may act against God's will, God also gave a corresponding prophecy about that in other places of the Old Testament as for instance Isaiah 53 in what is called the prophecy of the Suffering Servant.
What was God's primary will in terms of the coming of Jesus?
In John 6 Jesus responds what is God's Will: …28Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”
Had the people believed in Jesus, they would have never crucified. Stephen in his sermon before he is stoned to death he confirms this by saying that the Jewish people both "murdered" Jesus and "resisted the Holy Spirit". In other words, the Jewish people went against God's will when the crucified Jesus. He tells the Jewish people who came to stone him that they had received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. What is the disobedience? They disobeyed the law, how? From Stephen's sermon there is only one conclusion: The disobeyed the law by crucifying Jesus.
The implication is that they went against God's will.
Traditional Christianity have still a problem understanding this clear and important message brought by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. We hope that the light of truth will shine upon their minds.
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