The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: God has given us in His word a syllabus to tell us where history is going. Understanding where history is headed will change how you live in the present. When the prophetic word takes root and you pay attention to it, you get your own visit to the mountain.

Announcer: This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Headlines may shift by the hour, but God’s word has already revealed where history is headed. Today, Dr. Evans shows how understanding biblical prophecy brings confidence and direction when life feels uncertain. Let’s listen.

Dr. Tony Evans: A large segment of the word of God is prophetic. In the Old Testament, it was prophetic to Christ, in the New, the prophetic from Christ. As you know, the theme of our ministry, of our worldview, is the kingdom, and that spreads from Genesis to Revelation. I’ll bring up some points about that as we go along.

Twenty-three of the 27 books of the New Testament references the coming of Christ in some form or fashion. Of course, the Old Testament covers whole epochs of time. It just brought to mind to me, especially in light of what was happening in the Middle East, that we needed to return to the practical implications of prophecy.

Peter does that for us in 2 Peter chapter 3, because that chapter is prophetically pregnant. When you see that there is a prophetic connection between the pulpit and prophecy and what is to be communicated and its implications, it can have dynamic impact on you and through you to those that God calls you to minister to.

When you go to the movies, prior to the main film showing up, you get these previews. They tell you shows that are coming up. Sometimes you’ll see when they show you this preview, "coming in May" or "coming in June" or "coming in July." They will give you a timeframe for the coming of the film.

But then there’s some previews that simply say, "coming soon." They’re not giving you any details. They’re not giving you any timeline. What they are giving you is expectation. They want you to expect the coming of the movie; they just not telling you when. You may go months seeing a preview about something a year away. But all they tell you is "coming soon."

In 2 Peter 3, he goes into specific detail about the coming, that is about the return of Jesus Christ. In this chapter, there are three movements. Before I dive into today, I want to say a word about biblical theology as opposed to systematic theology.

In systematic theology, what you’re doing is you are organizing from all of the Bible what the Bible says about any given subject. Because you cannot go to scripture and find everything about one subject in one place. So that has to be arranged and organized through a system.

We call that systematic theology. So if you want to look at the doctrine of God, you have to go to a lot of passages if you want to see the whole picture of the doctrine of God. If you want to look at the names of God, you won’t find the names all in one place or one book. It’s spread throughout scripture. People save time by having it systematized in order to be able to see the whole subject.

Not so with biblical theology. Biblical theology is not concerned with a system. Biblical theology is concerned with a particular author talking to a particular group at a particular time about a particular subject. Biblical theology is the ground of systematic theology.

The idea is to not let a system control the interpretation of a passage, but let a passage contribute to the system. The Bible was written over 1,500 years by 40 different authors. This is progressive revelation. It wasn’t just dropped at one time, at one place, to one author. It was spread out over time, the progress of revelation, because God wasn’t giving everything at one time. You’ll see that even as we go into our time today.

When you took a college course, they gave you a syllabus. A syllabus was a broad outline of where this course is going. The syllabus didn’t give you all the details; it gave you the flow of the course. God has given us in His word a syllabus to tell us where history is going. That syllabus is His prophetic word.

Announcer: When Dr. Evans returns, he'll connect the reliability of scripture to a firsthand event that confirmed the power and authority of Jesus Christ. First though, what we're hearing today comes from a special three-part series recorded live at the recent Kingdom Leaders Summit called *The Sure Word: Living in Light of Prophecy*.

In these powerful messages, Dr. Evans explains why biblical prophecy isn't meant to stir fear or endless speculation. It's meant to give us confidence, clarity, and stability in uncertain times. As we've been hearing today, God has already revealed where history is headed, and when we understand His plan, we can live with greater peace and purpose in the present.

We'd like to send you all three full-length messages in this timely series as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of The Alternative. Along with the messages, we'll also include Tony's prophecy-focused book, *Thy Kingdom Come*. In it, he explores key biblical prophecies and shows how understanding God’s plan for the future can help you approach life today with hope instead of worry, confidence instead of confusion.

Request this special resource package today at tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where a friendly team member is ready to help with your request anytime. Again, that’s 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org.

Picture yourself surrounded by crystal-clear waters, warm Caribbean breezes, and the kind of quiet that allows you to hear from God in a fresh way. This February 28th through March 7th, you’re invited to join Dr. Tony Evans and friends for a seven-day Caribbean cruise, a journey of rest and renewal.

You’ll visit beautiful ports of call like Nassau in the Bahamas, the pristine shores of Grand Turk, and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, even stopping in a private island designed for pure relaxation. In between, you’ll enjoy peaceful days at sea, perfect for reflection, fellowship, and rest. Along the way, you’ll experience powerful Bible teaching from Dr. Evans and other speakers, uplifting worship, and meaningful connection with a community that feels like family. If your soul needs refreshing and your spirit needs renewal, this is your invitation. Find out more and make your reservation today at tonyevans.org.

Dr. Tony Evans: Now, in this prophetic concern, it is revolving around the coming of the Lord. He says there are going to be false teachers. Verse 4, and they are going to say, "Where is the promise of His coming?" It is at this point that it is critical to establish the connection between the coming of the Lord and the word of God from the prophets, from the commandment of Christ, through the apostles.

This takes us to the importance of understanding a link. Let’s go back to biblical theology. If you go to chapter 1 of 2 Peter, same book, this is an apostle Peter talking about an event that happened to him. Verse 16, "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales which we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." I’m not making this stuff up is what he says in verse 16. "But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty."

"For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the majestic glory, God, 'This is My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased,' and we ourselves heed this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain." We know what that event was. That event was the transfiguration. "Until you have seen the coming of the Lord in His kingdom."

He’s saying, let me tell you what I saw. What I saw was the coming of the Lord into His kingdom. This is why you can never lose sight of the kingdom because the coming of the Lord is for the purpose of the kingdom. He told them they would not die until they saw it, which means the coming of the kingdom existed with them when they were here, which means the coming of the kingdom is not just future.

It was present with them. The reason he’s making the connection is because the kingdom is present with us. When my kids were growing up, we would go on vacation. We would drive in August. One year we went to Disneyland, the other year we went to Disney World, so LA, Florida. I would always drive at night. Always left at night.

We would go to the doughnut shop. We turned it into a journey. We started with the doughnut shop. We would stop along the way. We would stop at parks. Sometimes we stopped at an amusement park. Sometimes we stopped at hotels that had swimming pools. All of that was part of the journey to Disneyland or Disney World.

How do you think they would feel if we’re driving to one of those magic kingdom places, and we got halfway there, two-thirds of the way there, and we said, "I hope you enjoyed the trip. We’re going back home." They would be frustrated because none of those things was the destination. They were good things along the way to the destination, but that doesn't equal the destination.

The destination is the kingdom. That’s the destination of all of scripture, and that is the destination of the coming of the Lord. When you see the coming of the Lord mentioned in Mark and in Luke, it always connects the coming of the Lord to the kingdom. That’s why even when you get people who don’t understand the difference between entering the kingdom—Nicodemus, you won’t see the kingdom of God unless you enter it—and inheriting the kingdom.

Those are two different understandings of the kingdom. Unless you are looking at this bigger place that you are going, then you will not fully absorb what God is after. In this case, He’s after prophecy. So let me stay with this. I’m still in chapter 1, connecting it to chapter 3.

He says, "'My beloved Son in whom I’m well pleased,' and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain." So we heard this. We’re on the mountain. Who shows up? God shows up and speaks. We’re there. All of a sudden, Moses and Elijah show up.

Wait a minute. We got Christ. We got Old Testament prophets. We got New Testament apostles. We got God talking. We got the person of Christ, the word of God, because God was talking. We’ve got Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah. We’ve got New Testament apostles, Peter, James, and John.

He goes back to a history that’s part of his introduction to chapter 3. The Old Testament, Christ, and the New Testament all connected with God’s word. So there is correlation here in what he is saying. He says, "We have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as a lamp shining in a dark place."

In other words, the darker things get, the more the prophetic word is needed. Not just general teaching, the word that is prophetic is needed in the darkness. He says, "until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart." He says, "I want you, in the darkness and confusion of the world, to grab hold of this prophetic word."

Here’s my goal. This is very important. My goal is until verse 19, the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. What do you mean, Peter? What are you telling us? Why do you want this emphasis on prophecy? I want the prophetic word to be so deep, so impactful, that the morning star rises in your heart.

What has he just talked about? He just talked about the transfiguration. He just talked about what he saw on the mountain. He saw the glory of Jesus Christ being manifested on the mountain tied to the Old Testament, New Testament, apostles, with the voice of God. That is an experience you and I can have that they had back then. Because Jesus was physically on earth, so we can’t have that until Jesus comes back.

Kind of. Because what Peter is saying is when the prophetic word takes root and you pay attention to it, you get your own visit to the mountain. You get your own experience of the transfiguration. It’s just in your heart; it’s not on the mountain. The morning star, Jesus is called the morning star.

The reason you have to emphasize prophecy is not just so that people know the future, but that people visit their own personal transfiguration experience, so that they have their own sunshine break forth in their hearts. Because these people Peter was writing to, they weren’t on the mountain. They didn’t see it, but he says you can still go there. You can still have the experience, but it comes with the prophetic word if you pay attention to it.

Announcer: Dr. Tony Evans on the value of always looking at tomorrow through the lens of scripture. Now, as I mentioned earlier, today’s message comes from an encouraging three-part series recently recorded called *The Sure Word: Living in Light of Prophecy*.

For a limited time, we’re bundling these messages on CD, USB flash drive, or digital download along with Tony’s reference book on biblical prophecy called *Thy Kingdom Come*. You’ll receive these powerful resources as a thank-you gift when you make a donation to help us keep Tony’s teaching on this station. Get your copy before time on this special offer runs out. Just visit tonyevans.org or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222. That’s 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org.

Now, if you find Dr. Evans’ teaching helpful, you’ll enjoy listening to him engage in thoughtful conversations with spirit-filled guest speakers on the *Unbound* podcast. You can listen or watch on his YouTube channel or wherever you stream your favorite podcasts. When the world feels unstable, it’s easy to focus on what’s happening around us instead of what God has already told us. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans continues to explore how prophecy is designed to draw us closer to Christ in order to help us live with an eternal perspective. Be sure to join us for that.