We tend to underestimate the significance of predictive prophecy. Let us consider: sometimes we cannot be certain what we will be doing tomorrow, let alone next month, or next year. Who can accurately predict their lives five or ten years from now? The same can be said for world history. Who could have predicted the rise of Islam, the world wars, or the COVID-19 pandemic? Surely we can safely say that no one has the ability to accurately foresee geopolitical affairs one hundred years out. Even ten years can be a stretch! Yet God remarkably predicted several hundred years prior that Abraham’s descendants would be enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years and then brought out (Gen 15:13-14). And this is only one of many examples in the Bible.
Predictive prophecy thus proves that God is God. He appoints the times and the seasons (Acts 1:7). He is God over history. No one else can foresee as he does. Yet prediction is not only for the purpose of substantiating divinity; it is also, quite naturally, for the purpose of giving historical information and instruction. In other words, it tells us about and prepares us for the future! God did not make that prediction about slavery in Egypt merely to persuade Abraham that he really is God. He also did it so that Abraham and his descendants would be informed about the future and better prepared to face it. Similarly, there are passages in the Bible that give us insight into where we are in history and where we are headed. We too can be “in the know” about certain events still to come and live with wisdom and preparedness toward the future.