While many Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled through the birth, life, and resurrection of Jesus, some remain unfulfilled. Believers often refer to these prophecies as affirmations of God’s existence and His active involvement in human history. With each fulfilled prophecy, their faith is, perhaps unknowingly, reinforced by tangible evidence. However, an important truth every believer must grasp is this: Do prophecies serve their purpose only until they are fulfilled, or do they continue to hold a deeper, ongoing significance in the lives of believers?
Prophecies Prevent Us from Abandoning God
God reveals future events to His people in advance to strengthen and prepare them, so they can face upcoming challenges with the assurance that these things are part of His plan. To achieve this in believers’ lives, He foretells the things hard to align with the power of God, or else people will attribute them to the works of the devil.
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets. – Amos 3:7 (NIV)
Although such events may sometimes seem devastating, knowing that they come from God brings peace. Jesus Himself foretold everything that would happen to Him so that His disciples could face those moments with courage and a clear understanding of God’s redemptive purpose (John 14:29 & 16:1). Yet, the disciples failed to remember His words and were confused and fearful at His crucifixion. When Mary Magdalene announced His resurrection, fear and disbelief held them back from embracing the truth. We often study prophecies alongside their fulfilment to deepen our faith, but the true purpose of prophecy goes far beyond this—it is meant to align our hearts with God’s greater plan.
The Tenet Of Prophecies
I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?” He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. – Daniel 12:8-9 (NIV)
Because God’s ways are entirely different from ours, it is often difficult for us to comprehend them accurately. Scripture teaches that we neither know nor hear what God is about to do, which makes it hard for us to grasp His works. Unfortunately, people tend to expect God to act within the bounds of their limited understanding and are reluctant to accept anything that lies beyond their grasp. When prophets in the past received messages from God, they often had no full understanding of the ultimate truth behind those words. Yet, in faith, they spoke as God instructed them.
Today, however, our challenge is different. Being well-read and intellectually inclined, we struggle to accept anything that we do not immediately understand. As a result, some modern-day prophets shape God’s messages according to their own reasoning, unknowingly replacing unique truth with human distortion. In doing so, they seek recognition and the title of “prophet” during their lifetime. But if a prophecy can be easily understood and processed by the human mind from the outset, it is likely not from God—but possibly from the enemy. Peter confirms this principle in the following verses.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
Believers misunderstand the real purpose of prophecies as just knowing their future, rather than knowing His will. Hence, the modern prophets stop with the message of what the believers are going to have in this world, missing out on its real purpose of encouraging believers to stand firm amidst troubles to receive the reward of eternal life assured to us through prophecy.
Prophetic Messages Aligns Our Thoughts With God’s
We are all familiar with how the people of Nineveh responded when they received a warning from God—they repented without delay. In His compassion, God spared them from the destruction He had declared. In contrast, the prophet Jonah, lacking that same compassion, still anticipated their downfall. This contrast reveals an important truth: prophecies are not meant to bring destruction but to lead people back to God. If a prophecy causes people to stray, the fault does not lie with God, but with the way it was communicated by human messengers.
They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.
— Isaiah 13:5 (NIV)
Consider the example of the prophet Isaiah, who foretold Babylon’s destruction nearly a century before it happened—recorded in Isaiah chapters 13 and 14. Notably, these messages were not directly proclaimed to the Babylonians as a warning. So, what was their purpose? Perhaps they were not intended for Babylon at all but for us. God, who knows every heart, may have known the Babylonians would reject His word, and thus chose not to “cast pearls before swine.”
Instead, these prophecies serve as a solemn reminder for us—to understand God’s justice, and more importantly, His mercy in forgiving sin. As Paul wrote, Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness not just for Abraham’s sake, but for ours, so we might grasp and live by the same faith (Romans 4:22–24). In the same way, prophecy plays a crucial role in helping believers align their hearts with God’s will.
Yet many believers treat prophecy merely as proof of God’s existence and faithfulness, focusing on fulfilled predictions. But prophecy, whether already fulfilled or still awaiting fulfilment, is far more than that—it teaches us how God deals with injustice and sin. With this understanding, we should align our hearts with His, so we may experience His peace even in the midst of life’s challenges. Prophecies are not simply messages of judgment—they are warnings from God meant to steer us away from sin and draw us back to our Father, who has already forgiven and forgotten our wrongs.
Prophecies Live beyond Fulfillments
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. – Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)
We understand the message of the above verse because it was fulfilled through the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. By connecting the events surrounding His birth, we are now able to make sense of a prophecy that once seemed like a puzzle.
Although the prophets may have spoken the prophecies without fully understanding their meaning, we are now able to grasp them more clearly—especially since many have already been fulfilled. However, many believers stop at the point of fulfilment, focusing primarily on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Sadly, we often assume that the purpose of these prophecies ends with their fulfilment. This is why we commemorate them during occasions like Christmas, Lent, Good Friday, and Easter. But the true purpose of these prophecies goes beyond their fulfilment—they carry a deeper and ongoing significance for our spiritual transformation and growth.
These prophecies were given for our benefit so that when they are fulfilled, we might recognize that they originated from God and respond to their deeper purpose: to transform us into sons and daughters of God by conforming us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). As John affirms, those who believe in Jesus are given the authority to become children of God (John 1:12). If we do not grow to reflect the character of His Son, then our superficial belief is not enough to truly become His children.
The ultimate fulfilment of prophecy is not merely in historical events, but in the transformation it brings to our minds, making us more like Christ. As Scripture declares, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”—the very mindset He had when He bore our sins and delivered us from their consequences. We are created by God for this very purpose: to reflect on the character and mind of Christ in our lives.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
The Jordan Valley 
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