CAN YOU UNDERSTAND BIBLE PROPHECY?

Can anything be more fascinating, more mysterious than some of the prophecies of the Bible? The book of Daniel, with its great image composed of various metals and miry clay; the beasts with their many horns and the “little horn” which came up among them to uproot three other beasts; the book of Revelation with its mysterious seals and trumpet plagues, great dragons, a woman clothed with the sun, a symbolic “bottomless pit”—surely there is much in biblical prophecy to fascinate, puzzle and mystify!
Approximately one third of the Bible is prophecy! The “major prophets” include Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and the minor” prophets (so-called because their prophecies in the Bible are of lesser duration) include Hosea to Malachi.
Few realize that Jesus Christ was the greatest prophet of all; that His “Olivet prophecy” (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21) provides a vital key to the understanding of all prophecy.
Believe it or not, there are prophecies found from Genesis to Revelation; some of the Psalms are prophetic in nature, and it is truly impossible to understand the very purpose for human life on this planet; impossible to understand why you were born without understanding prophecy!
Can Just Anyone Understand Bible Prophecy?
At the end of the book of Daniel, Gabriel the archangel is concluding his exposition of the
longest single prophecy in the Bible by explaining to Daniel that Palestine will be occupied by a great northern military power. In the twelfth and final chapter, following Daniel 11, the longest, and one of the most detailed prophecies in the Bible, Gabriel said, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:1–2). In Jesus’ famous “Olivet prophecy” He said, “for then shall be great tribulation [a time of trouble], such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21–22). Obviously, the prophecy of Jesus Christ and this prophecy delivered to Daniel by the archangel Gabriel are speaking of the same time!

Jeremiah said “Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it [meaning he shall go through it, not be saved from it!] For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them” (Jeremiah 30:7–9