4 Pitfalls of Interpreting Prophecy

It has been said that as much as one-third of the Bible is prophecy. And a quick search on the Internet will generate hundreds of resources promising to help you understand it.

The problem is, they often disagree with each other. They can’t all be right. In fact, many misapply scriptures and grasp at straws to substantiate their pet theories.

Anyone who studies his or her Bible will encounter prophecy, and interpreting it is no cinch. Avoiding some common pitfalls can help keep us on the right track.

1. Allegorizing prophecy

While there is going to be debate about whether to interpret some passages literally or allegorically, a good approach would be to apply the wisdom of Occam’s razor: the most direct answer or interpretation is usually the correct one.

Put simply, take prophecy at face value unless there’s a compelling reason not to. Usually, the context will make it clear which reading is intended. But if we insist on a symbolic interpretation of a prophecy when it is not meant, we’re bound to miss its true meaning. It also creates the risk of downplaying and minimizing realities that God wants to impress on our minds.

For example, consider Isaiah 11:6-9. The passage describes the nature of life on earth during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. It speaks of a time when the earth is renewed, and the entire physical creation lives peaceably: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb” (verse 6).

But in his commentary Matthew Henry wrote, “This is fulfilled in the wonderful effect of the gospel upon the minds of those that sincerely embrace it; it changes the nature . . . When Paul, who had persecuted the saints, joined himself to them, then the wolf dwelt with the lamb.”

It’s undeniable that accepting the gospel leads to a radical change of heart. But is this the meaning God intended in this passage? Is this a prophecy about aggressive men learning to get along with gentler ones? Why should a symbolic meaning trump a literal one?

Plenty of other passages portray the sweeping changes Christ will enact in short order when He returns; altering the nature of animals is just one. Other promises include a world devoid of war (Isaiah 2:4), where parched lands are transformed into lush gardens (Isaiah 51:3) and where poverty and starvation cease to exist (Isaiah 49:10).

These prophecies collectively fall under what Peter called the “times of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).

Henry saw them as “figurative promises,” but the literal reading is more consistent with Scripture.

2. “Prophecy is really history”

Also, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that all prophecy has already come to pass. Preterism is a view within professing Christianity that basically teaches all prophecy as history.

Preterists say, among other things, that Christ has already returned, Satan and the beast have already been cast into the lake of fire, the resurrection has already happened and the promised new heavens and earth have already arrived.

Preterism relies on spiritualizing prophecies. The only way its ideas can seem consistent with Scripture is by denying a literal return of Jesus Christ, proposing an ongoing metaphorical judgment for humanity and teaching a bitterly disappointing form of the resurrection. Its teachings are deeply flawed and challenge the very essence of Christianity.

Arming yourself with the knowledge of common pitfalls doesn’t guarantee perfect understanding, but it does help establish some guardrails. But teaching certain prophecies as past when they are in fact future is nothing new. Do the names Hymenaeus and Philetus ring a bell? They were antagonists to the early Church, selling Jesus’ disciples the lie that “the resurrection is already past.” It was a belief that Paul condemned as cancerous and prone to “overthrow the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:16-18).

The same can be said about many preterist views.

For instance, it’s simply impossible to apply the prophecies of Revelation and Matthew 24 solely to a past time without compromising logic. The descriptions in Revelation are straightforward: incredible astronomical sights, global catastrophes, the death of a third of humanity and more.

Besides, if every prophecy had been fulfilled, the hopes of millions would be dashed.

3. Not recognizing prophetic time lapses

Some prophecies are fulfilled partially and then linger for a while before they reach their total fulfillment.

An example of this can be seen in Jesus Himself. One day He stood up in a synagogue and read a prophecy concerning Himself:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:18-19).

That was all He read and claimed to fulfill (verse 21), but a flip to Isaiah shows the quotation was, in fact, longer. It continues: “[To proclaim] the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:2).

Why did He stop reading in the middle? In hindsight, the reason is obvious: only what He read applied to Him then. The remainder of Isaiah 61 is reserved for the future when He returns.

Prophecy can be like a coiled spring. At first glance, the tightly packed loops give the impression that their fulfillment will be close to one another, but when the spring is stretched out, the gaps and spaces become apparent.

Notice the same phenomenon in Jesus’ prophecy in John 5: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation [or judgment, as the Greek krisis is most often translated]” (verses 28-29).

Just as in Isaiah 61:1-2, there is a prophetic time lapse. According to Revelation 20:4-5, the resurrection of the saints to life will occur at Christ’s return, followed 1,000 years later by “the rest of the dead” (or “those who have done evil,” as John 5:29 puts it).

Acknowledging possible time lapses within prophecies is crucial to correctly placing their fulfillment in the right sequence.

4. The cherry-picking fallacy

A huge obstacle to interpreting prophecy correctly is the human tendency to see only what we want to see. That is, we like to cling to the verses that support our views and ignore the rest.

An example of this can be seen in the widely taught doctrine of the rapture, introduced in the 19th century.

Many rapture proponents rest their belief on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”

If this were the only passage dealing with the nature of Jesus’ return, then a rapture might be believable. But other verses, including those that provide context to the ones above, contradict any such thing. The idea of Jesus appearing in secret to silently whisk away His followers to heaven is the result of cherry-picking. The complete picture emerges when the whole Bible is used.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul was comforting the brethren about Christians who had died. He said they would be resurrected when Jesus returns “with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God,” an event that could hardly be described as secret.

And the parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 indicates that this resurrection occurs at the sounding of “the last trumpet,” which the book of Revelation says is accompanied by “loud voices in heaven” that announce Christ’s reign (Revelation 11:15).

Zechariah 14:4 says, “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.”

Those scriptures alone create glaring issues for rapture proponents and show the folly of cherry-picking scriptures. (For a fuller treatment, see “Will There Be a Secret Rapture?”) The antidote to this approach is to use all the material within God’s Word before forming any conclusions.

Holding onto the prophetic word

Arming yourself with the knowledge of common pitfalls doesn’t guarantee perfect understanding, but it does help establish some guardrails.

Peter wrote that we would “do well to heed” prophecy (2 Peter 1:19). This wasn’t a command to understand every nuance of a given prophecy, and it especially wasn’t a suggestion to assign specific dates and people to certain prophecies. This was a general comment about how knowing prophecy keeps us mindful of what God has in store for His followers.

We shouldn’t want an inaccurate picture of His plan for us; we should want a clear vision in our minds.

Learn more in our helpful free booklet How to Understand Prophecy.