Six Things You Should Know About Bible Prophecy
1. Nature of Bible Prophecy
Bible prophecy was first a proclamation (a forth- telling) of God’s message for the people of that time. Because of Israel’s sins, most prophecies began with a message of judgment, urging his people to repent, and then ended with words of comfort. The LORD never left the Israelites without future hope. He often drew back the curtain of the future to show the people of Israel what will happen to them and to other nations.
2. Double Fulfillment of Prophecy
Prophecies of the Bible usually have a near fulfillment, which is partial, and a distant fulfillment, which is always complete. We find double fulfillment in today’s Bible reading (particularly Daniel 11:36–12:13). In the prophecies of the Bible, it is not always clear which is partial, or a model of things to come, and which is future. The immediate context and correlation with other similar Bible texts and contexts are the keys to interpretation.
3. Context of Prophecies
Not all prophecies are in their chronological order. The context of each Scripture passage is, therefore, crucial to interpreting future events.
4. Correlations between Prophecies
Comparisons between prophecies and their fulfillment are vital to interpretation. One prophecy will often shed more light on the interpretation of another prophecy.
5. Literal Fulfillment of Prophecies
Since five hundred of the 1,000 prophecies of the Bible have been fulfilled literally, we can expect the next five hundred to also be fulfilled literally (Every Prophecy in the Bible by John F. Walvoord, “Introduction,” Victor, ©1999)
6. Symbolism in some Prophecies
Some predictions are couched in symbolism, such as numbers and metaphorical expressions. Again, context and correlation with other Bible texts give us clues for interpretation. | 
