We Prognosticate, But God Knows

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(20) <Daniel, upon the revelation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream> said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. (21) He changes times and seasons; He deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.  (22) He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.’ (Daniel 2:20-22)

We often look at time as ‘fleeting’, and in our own evaluation we think things are going to happen in a certain way; in our own biases and perceptions each of us may ‘read the tea leaves’ seen today as a clue of what will happen tomorrow or six months from now.  Experiences from the past often allow us to prognosticate what will happen.  Before the advent of weather satellites, my Dad would look at the weather reports of Chicago and St. Louis in the daily newspaper and with remarkable accuracy guesstimate that it would be raining in Western Pennsylvania a couple of days later.  Today we have computer models that take into account the weather patterns of the past to accurately predict where the storms will go. 

Sometimes we can simply surmise without any real study what will be occurring; here in SW Florida it will be hot and humid in the summer, and from June to October typically we will have rain almost every day, usually in the mid to late afternoon.  We surmise this because after years of living here, every summer it’s hot and humid, and every June to October it usually rains every day, typically in the afternoon.  It’s pretty easy to do predictions when these events happen all the time with great regularity. 

What we don’t know in the weather is when hurricanes are going to hit; what we do know are hurricanes will form and hit somewhere in North America but the strength of the storm and location are not known until they form.  With the aforementioned computer models the predictions can be accurate but as in the case of Hurricane Charlie in 2004, the predictions can shift in a matter of hours or even be wrong.   

Charlie was supposed to hit the Tampa Bay area but at the last minute turned right up the Peace River and straight to the center of Florida (but not before affecting Charlotte County with its destructive power).  The latest hurricane, Beryl, had been predicted to hit around the Brownsville area near the US-Mexico border but instead hit between Corpus Christi and Galveston.  Man can predict outcomes of weather events somewhat accurately but not always with the best of precision.

Fortunately for us, God’s predictions are accurate and precise – it’s because God doesn’t predict but knows the outcome before it happens.  In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar (or ‘Neb’ as I like to call him), the king of Babylonia at the time of the Jewish Exile, had a ‘dream’ or premonition.  It troubled him so much he called upon his wise men or counselors to interpret it, but to ensure accuracy Neb put in the need for the interpreter to know what the dream was without Neb describing it. 

This was to the men impossible, and Neb took the logical step (for him) and ordered his wise men to be killed.  Daniel and his friends the Pep Boys (aka Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego)) knew that for them in their own power this was an impossible task, but they knew God would know the answer and asked for time to pray and allow God to provide Daniel the answer to what the dream was and what it meant.

Daniel and the Pep Boys prayed and that night God gave Daniel the answers they (and Neb) sought.  The next day, Daniel went to Neb and gave him first the dream and then the interpretation.  It was the great statue of a gold head, arms and chest of silver, lower torso of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron & clay.  This represented kingdoms; the gold being Neb’s and the subsequent layers kingdoms to come.  A large rock from God hit the feet and it fell, shattering all the layers to pieces.  The meaning was the earthly kingdoms of man would all eventually fail and fall to the Rock, the everlasting kingdom of Jesus who would reign forever in Righteousness and Holiness.

We can perceive the future by our experiences, and with us being In Christ with the Holy Spirit indwelled, our study of the Bible and our fellowship with other Believers we know what will happen as God has given us that information, in Daniel, Isaiah, and Revelation (among many others in the Bible).  We can be accurate, but not precise, in what will happen, but God reserves the precise timing of His plan to Himself (Acts 1:7).  As the time draws closer, however, like a hurricane strike, we will see more precisely when and where these future events will take place.  They may not happen the way we thought they would today, but they will occur the way God has planned and we will recognize it as it happens.    

God was able to provide Daniel the answer to give because to God it is already done, to us a portrait of what will come but to Him it is a foregone conclusion.  Daniel, like the prophets and to New Testament authors like Paul and John, were given insights to what will come.  We think in terms of what we’ve experience and what we see – like driving a car we see what is out in front of us but only so far; we see what’s in our rearview mirror but only so far; we live in the moment we are in.  But for God, He lives in the past, the present, and the future at the same time; He knows in the end evil will lose because it’s already done.  The good news of the Gospel is Jesus wins, and when He wins, we do, too!