Hey Pastor John,
I really enjoyed the reading last night! There were many incredible facts pointed out that I had never considered before. The reference to Judas and the setting of the price, wow! And to love us before the foundations were created… what is time to God?
While reading through the prophecies last night, I noticed that ‘time’ seemed to be of no issue. The prophecies were recorded in past, present, and future tense, and in different narratives/perspectives. Some were as if the Son were giving a live commentary while watching the events unfold. It reminds me of Rev. 4:8b, “who was, and is, and is to come”
Is there any rhyme or reason behind the tenses and perspectives used in the prophecies?
Thank you for your hard work!
-Johnny
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Hi, Johnny,
We have never been able to find a consistent applicable rule for translating the verb tenses in the prophets. Hebrew verbs in general are difficult to deal with. Sometimes, to make a sentence make sense, you have to translate the verb according to the obvious sense of the sentence instead of the grammatical tense of the verb.
The short answer for that, then, is no. As far as we have been able to tell, there is no significance to the verb tenses in Old Testament prophecies. No rule can be applied across the board.
The perspective issue you mentioned is a different matter. I think it is always important to note from whose perspective the prophecy comes. In fact, that is often the key to understanding prophecies. That issue is more important than the verb tense, in my judgment.
Hope that clears things up. Thank you for the question.
Pastor John
Tell us what you think:
https://x.com/WitnessofSpirit/status/1791465381556637910