Cracking the Code

Memory Gem: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

What a strange stone! Pierre must have thought. It was July 1799. A man named Pierre-François Bouchard was helping to rebuild an ancient Egyptian fort near the town of

Rosetta in Egypt. Suddenly he noticed something sticking out of the ground. It turned out to be a large black slab of stone. The stone had writing on it!

Later people began studying the one-ton, black rock slab, which contained portions of messages written in three different languages, or “scripts. ”The first language was Greek, and the second was an Egyptian language called Demotic. The third set of scripts was Egyptian hieroglyphics, a system of writing based on symbols and pictures.

The experts were excited! They realized that the three different languages must be telling the same story! Until then, no one had figured out the secret to understanding these super-old Egyptian word pictures. But now, by using the first two languages as their “code key,” they would finally be able to understand the meaning of the third language: hieroglyphics!

It took a long time to figure out the entire Rosetta Stone, but it was worth it. Thanks to its

discovery, the ancient “code” of Egyptian hieroglyphics had been broken at last!

Just as people needed the Rosetta Stone to understand hieroglyphics, we need the right information to understand prophecy properly. Without the right information to understand prophecy, we’ll end up wrongly dividing (translating) the word of truth (the Bible)! Too many people drift from the Bible when they try to figure out a prophecy and end up with some pretty wacky interpretations!

Here are a few tips to help keep you on the right track when reading a prophecy:

Always pray for the Holy Spirit to help you understand a prophet’s message. Accept all the heavenly help you can get!

Know your Bible. Even if it seems hard to figure out a prophecy, it will help if you know the general idea behind the Bible’s main message about God: He loves you and He wants to someday take you to heaven. The Bible is the foundation to help you understand more and more as you grow and grow!

Try a more kid-friendly Bible. It might help the text make more sense to you.

Ask for help from people you trust. Prophecies can be confusing! If you can’t figure out a prophet’s message, or if you’ve heard two different interpretations, get help from someone whom you know loves Jesus.

Don’t think you have to know it all now. Each day ask God to show you what you need to know about Him. When the time is right, He’ll bring understanding to your mind—one prophecy at a time.

Did you know?

The words on the Rosetta Stone are actually pretty boring. It’s a copy of a decree celebrating the day Ptolemy V Epiphanes became king of Egypt.

Egypt shows up in many Bible prophecies, including this one in Hosea 11:1: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.” Where did Joseph and Mary take Jesus to escape King Herod? Yep—Egypt! From there, the little family went to live in Nazareth, which is when Jesus was “called” out of Egypt.

Think it through

• Have you ever made an exciting discovery? Did it help you in some way? If so, how?

• How do you feel when you can’t understand something? What do you do about it

• Can you think of a Bible prophecy that’s easy to understand? What does it mean to you?