For many Christians, the last third of the Old Testament is pretty much a closed book. Apart from some golden chapters like Isaiah chapter 53, some dearly loved narratives like Daniel in the lions' den, and scattered messianic prophecies, Isaiah through Malachi is pretty much unfamiliar territory.

Jeremiah chapter 36 is the unhappy account of how God told Jeremiah to write down the prophetic messages he had delivered over a quarter century of his ministry and of how King Jehoiakim tried to destroy that scroll. Jehoiakim had ordered that the scroll be brought to the palace and read to him. After three or four columns of the scroll had been read, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire, until the entire scroll was destroyed. God overruled the king's intent to destroy the prophet's message and had Jeremiah rewrite it.

The words of the prophets remain, but it seems appropriate to ask, "How are we to read their prophetic messages today?" Here are a few guidelines that may be helpful.

The prophetic word often had more than a single point of reference. During Jeremiah's ministry the first contingents of citizens of Judah were deported to Babylon as exiles. They were taken to Ramah, a border town five miles north of Jerusalem, where they were assembled into groups and sent off into captivity. At that time Jeremiah heard "Rachel," mother of the race, weeping for her children who were going into exile, most likely never to be heard from again. Jeremiah wrote: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more" (Jeremiah 31:15).

Six centuries later the evangelist Matthew once again heard the mother of the race weeping, this time when Bethlehem's infants were put to death by Herod's sword. Matthew tells us: "Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children . . ." (Matthew 2:17,18). The prophetic word often has more than a single point of reference.

All of us have probably been disturbed at hearing millennialists present their detailed scenarios of history as the world winds down. An important principle for interpreting prophecy is that the prophetic word may never be interpreted in a way that contradicts a clear passage of Scripture.

Consider how The Living Bible translates Isaiah 2:3,4: "In those days the world will be ruled from Jerusalem. The Lord will settle international disputes; all the nations will convert their weapons of war into implements of peace. Then at the last all wars will stop and all military training will end."