Sunday, April 21, 2024

Present tense of prophecy list

Bible.org Rev 22:12 “I am coming” in the Greek is a present tense verb. It is what we call a futuristic or prophetic present. This is used of an event which is so certain that it is regarded as already in the process of coming to pass.

For future judgment:

  • John 3:36b "the wrath of God remains on him."

  • Matt 3:10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees...every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

  • Matt 23:38 "your house is left desolate";

  • Matt 26:28 “this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

  • Eph. 5.6 the wrath of God "has come upon"; cp. Rom 1.18 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven"; 

  • 1Cor 10:11 “the end of the ages has come”!


For the coming Kingdom on earth:

  • John 3.36 "anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life";

  • Matt 23:13 "are entering the kingdom of heaven";

  • Eph. 1.14 holy spirit is the guarantee of "our inheritance," cp. Eph. 5.5 "has any inheritance";

  • Rev 5.10 some manuscripts read "they are reigning";


For the coming Messiah:

A Layman's Theology, James Clark, p 93. "The prophecies generally considered to apply to Jesus in Isa 9 and Isa 53 are couched in all three major tenses - past, present, and future."

  • Isa 40:3a “a voice is calling”;

  • Isa 53:2b “he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him

  • Isa 53:5b "by his wounds we are healed";

  • Isa 63:1 "Who is this who comes from Edom? He is majesty, marching."


For the Resurrection from the dead:

  • John 5:25 "an hour is coming and is now [here]"


All 3 Tenses:

Henry Jones in Principles of Interpreting the Prophecies, p 70. "The promiscous use of the present, past, and future tenses in the ancient Prophets, shows that the sign of the past tense was no sign against the future fulfilling of the things thus written. [see Isa 40.2-6; 53.1-3; 63.1-6]"

  • Hebrew 8:13 "He has made the first one obsolete [past]; and what is obsolete [present] and aging will soon disappear [future]". NOTE: spoken from the perspective of when the words first spoken by God through the prophet hundreds of years earlier.

  • John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life [present tense] and will not be judged [future] but has crossed over from death to life [past tense].”

  • Rev 17:8 "The beast that you saw was [past], and is not [present], and is about to rise [future] from the bottomless pit and go to destruction."

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