Understanding Prophecy by Bandy and Merkle is unique in that
it isn’t a book that explains verse by verse Biblical Prophecy. Instead this
book was written to give us a frame work by which to interpret scripture.
Written along the same lines as “How to study the Bible for all it’s Worth” the
authors give us a frame that not only applies to prophetic scriptures, but to
all scripture. While it is geared towards Theologians; this book is simple for
even the lay-speaker to use to interpret the scriptures.
For me personally, what was nice was that this book isn’t
about looking solely at the end times prophecy and the book of Revelation—though
there is nothing wrong with that—it is a book that looks at all scripture as
they are woven together to create the Bible. This book not only explains
Biblical prophecies, it also gives the reader the big picture of how prophecy should
be interpreted in the light of Jesus Christ.
The book is divided into three sections, which I found great
for referencing information. The first three chapters being an introduction to
what prophecy is, and whether it is for today or not. These chapters set the
framework up for the rest of the book. Chapter one gives us the keys to
understanding prophecy while Chapters two and three explain what prophecy is
and how to understand it through the lens of Biblical Theology.
Chapters 4-6 shows us the Old Testament Prophecies. These
are the prophecies that have been fulfilled or will be fulfilled through Jesus
Christ—they also speak about the conditional prophecies as well as Restoration
and Messianic Prophecies.
Chapters 7-10 details the New Testament Prophecies. These
are the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, the return of Messiah
through the Gospels, Paulline Letters, and of course Revelation.
Concluding the book is a chapter of why prophecy matters.
If you are looking for a book to help you frame how to interpret
scripture, and especially prophecy; then I highly recommend this book.
This book was provided to me via the publisher for an
unbiased opinion. No monies were exchanged for my review.
