God’s word is not intended as a “history book,” but it most certainly contains historical information. As we study God’s word, it is most often helpful for us to have some knowledge of the historical context. For example, so many prophecies are misused and abused simply by some forcing them into an improper historical context—in an attempt to change what God says to fit their own personal conception of what they would have God say—suiting their own theological construct. We must let the Bible speak and not force interpretations that aren’t there.

When we take Scripture for what it says and then lay it alongside man’s somewhat limited record of history, we can see very vividly the glory of God’s plan for man—a plan in which God “is He who changes the times and the epochs … removes kings and establishes kings.” A plan in which those who come to Jesus in sincere obedience are “transferred … to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” — “a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”

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