If you are like most believers today, you are watching the news and social media and seeing wars, famines and natural disasters taking place all around the world. It would be spiritual malpractice for any rabbi, pastor or Bible teacher to not see these events as prophetic fulfilments. The truth is that we have been hearing from many modern-day prophets as they do their best to interpret the words spoken by the prophets of old in ways that prepare the people of G-D for the events the Bible warns will be coming upon our world.
It seems as if calamities of biblical proportions are taking place in increasing numbers and at a faster rate of speed. In the past few years, we have had not only a global pandemic, but we’ve also had hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and locusts. Add this to the natural disasters the political upheaval, the riots in cities around the world, and the growing number of wars and conflicts between nations, both internally and externally.
Those of us who read and put our faith and hope in what the Holy Scriptures say can see that we are swiftly moving toward the times that the Bible calls “the end of days.” This is especially seen with the rise of antisemitism, as a growing number of countries begin to either back away from Israel or turn their backs on the land completely.
Because of all of these events taking place so publicly, many believers who have previously only had a cursory interest in biblical prophecy have been forced by circumstances to begin to take a closer look at what the Old Testament prophets have to say about end-time events.
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People who have never really read books like Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel because they seem so mysterious have not only begun to read these books, but they have also begun to make charts, graphs and spreadsheets based on passages written by these men who spoke about end-time events under the unction of the Spirit of G-D. In years past, most people, when curious about end-time prophetic events, would attend a prophecy seminar or conference, or maybe read whichever book was most popular at the time.
Today, however, people are not settling for simply listening to speakers at a conference, no matter how exciting their presentation and no matter how educated they are or great their reputation might be. People today have been incited by the overwhelming evidence that the end of days is near, so they are studying themselves. They are digging into the words of the Old Testament prophets as never before. They have begun extensive studies comparing the prophetic statements from the Old Testament prophets with the prophetic books found within the New Testament.
A growing number of believers have begun in earnest to look at the words written in the book of Revelation, not as a new prophetic word revealed only to and written by John, but as a retelling of the singular end-time revelation that had been previously spoken through prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
As they study and compare the words, prophecies and prophets of the Old Testament, a discussion about which of the great Old Testament prophets provides the foundation for understanding all of the prophecies contained in the singular revelation, which not only tells us about end-time events, but also provides instruction to prepare us for them.
If you have ever wondered which of the Old Testament prophets was most important, or which of the Old Testament prophets provided the words upon which the foundation for all prophecy must be built, the Bible provides a clear, direct and unequivocal answer to that question. The answer might surprise you, but it really should not.
The answer to the question which of the Old Testament prophets was most important, or which of the Old Testament prophets provided the words upon which the foundation for all prophecy must be built, is Yeshua (Jesus). It was Moses who spoke of Yeshua in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (TLV):
Adonai your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst—from your brothers. To him you must listen. This is just what you asked of Adonai your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly when saying, “I cannot continue to hear the voice of Adonai my God or see this great fire any more, or I will die.” Adonai said to me, “They have done well in what they have spoken. 1I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. Now whoever does not listen to My words that this prophet speaks in My Name, I Myself will call him to account.”
Now I know that some of you just read what I wrote and said to yourself, “This can’t be true because we read about Yeshua in the New Testament writings, so Yeshua was a New Testament prophet.” If you said that to yourself, you are mistaken. While the life and words of Yeshua were written in the writings we know as the New Testament, everything He did, everything He said took place within the Old Testament. How do we know this you may ask? Because the Bible tells us so. We only have to read the book of Hebrews:
And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it. For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth (Heb. 9:15-17, ASV).
So, as we see, the most important prophet in the Old Testament and the one upon whose sayings all other prophecies must be built is in fact Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith.
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Eric Tokajer is the author of “Overcoming Fearlessness,” “What If Everything You Were Taught About the Ten Commandments Was Wrong?”, “With Me in Paradise,” “Transient Singularity,” “OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry,” “#ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer,” “Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians” and “Galatians in Context.” Visit his website at rabbierict.com.