Revelation 5:3
3 And[kai] no man[oudeis] in[en] heaven,[ouranos] nor[oude] in[epi] earth,[ge] neither[oude] under[hupokato] the earth,[ge] was able[dunamai] to open[anoigo] the book,[biblion] neither[oude] to look[blepo] thereon.[autos] KJV-Interlinear
3 And no one in heaven, or on the
earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it. NASB
And as far as the ability to look into the future,
during our dispensation, the Church Age, there is no one who has or ever will
have that ability.
John wrote this book about 96 A.D.,
and its future contents (from chapter six on) will be revealed, and will occur,
in the Tribulation and after.
That leaves our dispensation in between, in which
there will not be anyone who will be able to tell the future, look into the
future, predict the future, prophesy of the future, or even guess as to what
the future holds, without referring to this book of Revelation, and using it as
their basis for whatever they want to speculate about.
The doctrine of the Rapture states that it is imminent. That means that it could occur at anytime,
from the moment that John finished writing this book, nearly 1900 years ago.
That principle alone means that no prophecy for our
Church Age exists, except for the Rapture, which concludes our dispensation, and
therefore nobody possesses the gift of prophecy of any type for the period
within our dispensation.
And even though specific prophecy does not exist in
our dispensation, that does not mean that the trends and the stage setting
predictions for the alignment of circumstances in preparation for the
Tribulation, cannot be recognized.For
we have many such predictions that are there to help us recognize that we are
nearing the end of our age.
If there were prophecies for our dispensation, then
that would mean that they would have to occur before the Rapture, and that would
make it not imminent.
Anyway, all of the year 2000 predictions, the 2012
predictions, the Nostradamus material, the Mayan predictions, the Cayan prophecy, the Baha’i prophecies, and on and on and
on.None of these are real. None of
these, as well as others, have any basis in fact.
And that is stated here in this verse. No one, no man, no angel, no one in heaven or
on this earth, no one in this entire universe, whether man or angel or created
being of any kind, or occupants in the land of the dead, can reveal, predict,
or say what the future holds.
The word for no man, ‘oudeis,’
does not refer to humanity, but to any sentient being, living or dead, past
present or future.And no, means just
that.None have ever had that ability,
and none will ever have that ability, except to the extent that God reveals the
future to them.
God made several detailed
prophecies known in the Old Testament, but only one in the New Testament. That being this book as revealed to John.
No one predicted the death of presidents, the world
wars, or the price of tea in China.If
you have any sense at all, you yourself can predict with a certain degree of
ambiguity, almost anything in the future.
And sooner or later, someone famous will die, some earthquake will occur,
some conflict or crime or whatever, will occur in the future, and you can stand
up and take credit for it.And there
will be those who will be in awe over your uncanny insight.
In all of these three great realms, heaven, the
land of the living, the land of the dead, there was no one to be found.
None could open up the book of the future. No one could even look at it (perceive it,
predict it, speculate it).
There is only one basis for all prophecies that are
documented in cultures throughout history and from all over the world, and that is because they were spoken of by God to the
ancients in centuries long ago.
Beginning with Noah, since after the flood,
prophecy of a savior, prophecy of an end of time, have been handed down from
generation to generation, and went with each culture as people spread across
the planet.
And since Noah, there have been charlatans who have
tried to predict the times and dates, either for their own amusement, for fame,
or for profit, and none have ever come close.
We are obviously still here.
As for the present, look
to God for your spiritual needs, 2 Tim. 2:15.
As for the future, look
to God for the direction of humanity, and not to soothsayers or false prophets,
Isa. 8:19.
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