「將這默示明明地寫在版上」（哈二2），表示神準備向哈巴谷啟示一些將來要發生的事情，而這就是我們所說的「預言」。

預言在聖經裡面佔據了重要的地位，事實上，聖經超過一半是用來預測將來的事情。我深信沒有甚麼比明白預言的性質，能夠給基督徒帶來更大的安慰和慰藉。預言是神與人類關係的基礎，正因為這樣，那些質疑「神對人的關心」的人總是集中攻擊預言這個主題。鍾馬田（Martyn Lloyd-Jones）博士說：「不信神的人總是批評聖經的預言。」

今天教會裡經常有人會告訴我們說，所謂舊約的預言，只不過是那些有政治天份的人自認為對某些境況有清晰的詮釋。他們不認同那是神向舊約人物的啟示。今天的經文在《闡釋版聖經》（Amplified Bible）是這樣說的：「沒有任何預言是因為人的意願而產生──它從來都不是因人的衝動而出現──而是人與神說話，被聖靈帶領（推動和驅使）的結果。」我在想，要是聖經所包含的全都是人的思想，那麼我們從今天的經文可以得到一些甚麼呢？我敢說，不會比閱讀吉卜林（Kipling）或莎士比亞（Shakespeare）的著作會有更多的領受。我的寫作數年後就會有江郎才盡的情況出現，但神的啟示永無止境。神從啟示中出來，因為祂曾經先走進啟示中。

The words "write down the revelation and make it plain" (Hab. 2:2) show that God was about to reveal to Habakkuk something that was going to take place at a future time and, as you know, that is what we call "prophecy".

Prophecy occupies a large place in Scripture - in fact, over half the Bible is devoted to predicting future events. It is my conviction that nothing brings greater comfort and consolation to a Christian than to understand the nature of a prophecy. It is something that is basic to God's relationship with human beings and that is why those who have doubts about God's concern over humankind concentrate their attacks on the subject of prophecy. "Unbelief," said Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "is always critical of Bible prophecy."

In today's Church, we have teachers who tell us that the Old Testament prophets were simply men of political genius who had clear insight into situations. They take exception to the view that God revealed things to them. Our text for today in the Amplified Bible reads: "No prophecy ever originated because some man willed it to do so - it never came by human impulse - but as men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit." What would we get out of our Bible reading today, I wonder, if all it contained were the thoughts of men? I venture to say, no more than we would get out of reading the thoughts of Kipling or of Shakespeare. My writings are exhausted of meaning after a few years but you will never exhaust the meaning of divine revelation. God comes out of it because God has gone into it.