If you’ve ever found yourself scratching your head over a confusing passage of Bible prophecy, you’re in good company! After Daniel received his vision of the ram and the goat (Daniel 8), he became so perplexed that he was physically sick for several days, noting, “I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it” (v. 27). We who cherish Bible prophecy oftentimes emphasize its clarity and accessibility, but honestly, we should candidly acknowledge that sometimes the prophetic Scriptures are difficult. This article explores four major reasons why the Bible’s prophetic passages may be challenging to interpret.
The fact that God has so much planned for this planet can sometimes make prophetic details seem overwhelming and difficult to synthesize.
Complex Events
Biblical prophecy deals with the full sweep of God’s plans for the future, and those plans are not simple! The fact that God has so much planned for this planet can sometimes make prophetic details seem overwhelming and difficult to synthesize. This was true for Daniel, but with the benefit of hindsight, we easily see how Daniel’s prophetic vision was fulfilled by the Medo-Persian and Greek Empires, and by the infamous career of Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV, who tried to destroy the Jewish people. But at the time, the futurity and sheer complexity of the prophesied events rendered comprehension difficult.
Uninterpreted Symbolism
Many biblical prophecies are couched in symbolism: Sheaves of grain represent Jacob’s sons (Genesis 37:7); metal statue parts represent kingdoms (Daniel 2); and a Dragon represents Satan (Revelation 12). Usually, these symbols are easily understood, either because they are interpreted in the immediate context, or because they draw on well-established biblical imagery. But in some scenarios, biblical symbolism proves perplexing.
Sometimes, a symbol is left either partially or wholly uninterpreted when the Bible does not provide any explicit insight into what it is intended to represent. Examples include the basket (Zechariah 5:5–11), the ribs in the bear’s mouth (Daniel 7:5), and many figures used in Jesus’ parables (the pearl of great price, the treasure buried in the field, the wedding garment, etc.).
A symbol might be partially interpreted, making it only partially helpful in nailing down exactly what the prophecy refers to. For example, the beast’s seven heads are identified as seven kings (Revelation 17:10), but should those kings be understood as individual kings or as kingdoms (cf. the interchangeability of kings and kingdoms in Daniel 2:38–45)? Which specific kings or kingdoms are in view? The text doesn’t say, so interpreters are left to hypothesize.
Another challenge arises when the same symbol is used repeatedly, but its meaning appears to fluctuate. For example, in addition to the beast’s seven heads, his 10 horns are also identified as kings (Revelation 13:1; 17:12). However, Jesus and the False Prophet are also pictured as possessing horns (5:6; 13:11), and it isn’t clear that the symbol of horns likewise represents kings in those instances. So, great interpretive care is called for when handling these kinds of symbols.
Challenging Typology
Typology (the identification of biblical patterns in which an earlier person, event, or institution prefigures or is fulfilled by a later one) has long created challenges for biblical interpreters. Some typological connections are explicitly identified in Scripture. For example, certain details of the Old Testament worship system were prefigured and then fulfilled by Christ (Colossians 2:16–17). John the Baptist fulfilled the Elijah prophecy (Malachi 4:5; Matthew 17:12–13). There are other implicit typological connections also present in some of the prophetic Scriptures. For example, Antiochus Epiphanes seems to prefigure the Antichrist (note the connection between Daniel 11:1–35 and vv. 36–45), and Israel’s bondage in Egypt prefigured Jesus’ sojourn in Egypt as a child (Matthew 2:15, cf. Hosea 11:1).
We must use great care neither to add nor to detract from Scripture’s communicative intent.
But exactly how much leeway is there to posit typological connections in biblical prophecies? Can just anything be a type or antitype? I am convinced many well-meaning interpreters have erred and gone overboard in drawing such connections. We must use great care neither to add nor to detract from Scripture’s communicative intent.
Unchronological Prophecy
The prophets did not always write in strict chronological order, rendering it difficult to organize the timeline of these prophecies. For example, the two witnesses will minister during one half of the Tribulation (Revelation 11:3), but which half: the first or second? The Gog and Magog prophecy contains several timeline clues (Ezekiel 38:8, 11; 39:9–10), but pinning down exactly when this prophetic battle will happen relative to other eschatological events has been notoriously difficult. We know that the Tribulation will be exactly seven years (Daniel 9:27), but when do each of the three cycles of seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments occur within the seven-year duration? Such questions are not totally unanswerable, but they are difficult.
The Overall Truth of Prophecy
Here is a challenge for us. Rather than throwing up our hands at the complexities of eschatology and abandoning the interpretive pursuit altogether, Christians should rise to the occasion and study hard to discover what God wants to reveal (2 Timothy 2:15). The Friends of Israel offers many helpful study resources that can help you discern the intended meaning of even the most opaque passages of Scripture.
And here is a caveat for us. Although some prophetic passages are difficult to untangle, the majority of them are quite clear and relatively simple to interpret. God inspired all of His written Word—including the eschatological portions—with the intention of revealing truth, not of obfuscating it. While individual passages and particular interpretive details might prove elusive, the overall truth of the prophetic Scriptures is resoundingly clear: Jesus is coming again to redeem all things and to establish His righteous, just, and impeccable Kingdom upon the earth. Christians are called to adopt a posture of watchful expectancy, praying—as the church has for the past two millennia—“even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
Photo Credit: Adobe Stock
About the Author
