The “Prophetic Perfect” of Advent
A Nerdy Spark of Curiosity
Allow me to nerd out for a minute. When I learn something that connects multiple interests— writing, education, faith, neuroscience—I get excited. It all started with a Facebook post from a random page that came across my feed. It was a secular viewpoint on how we imagine and picture future events. It was not a research-based writing, so it isn’t worth resharing, but it sparked the same question in me that prompted my blog on the neuroscience of inner healing. This time, I was inspired to ask “What do prophetic words do to our brain? How does our brain respond to God’s words about our future?”
As I followed that question, it actually led to my super nerdy discovery of something about the Hebrew language I didn’t know.
Introducing the Prophetic Perfect
There is a verb-tense called the “Prophetic Perfect.” In Hebrew, a perfect verb tense is normally used to talk about something that has already happened. It describes an action that is complete or finished—what we usually think of as past tense.
But the Prophetic Perfect is a special use of that tense. God (or a prophet) can use it to talk about something that has not yet happened, as though it already has. Grammatically, the verb looks “past” or “completed,” even though the event is still in the future.
Many of the Bible’s prophets spoke and wrote this way. This doesn’t mean the prophet was confused about time. It means he was writing from the certainty of God’s perspective—where what God declares is as good as done.
Often, English translations of the Bible change these verbs to the future tense, so readers won’t think the event has already happened. For example, the book of Jude talks about Jesus returning with many saints; translators chose the future tense to avoid the confusion of thinking it had already happened.
An Example in Isaiah 9
Since it is Advent season, let’s take Isaiah 9:6-7 as an example of the prophetic perfect. This is from a direct translation (LSV), maintaining original verb tense (emphasis added on the perfect prophetic verbs and verb phrases):
“For a Child has been born to us,
A Son has been given to us,
And the dominion is on His shoulder,
And he calls His Name
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His dominion
And of peace, there is no end.”
We can read this and miss the significance of the writing because we easily identify with the past tense writing, since it is now in the past for us. However, it was an event that had not yet happened at the time of the writing. Isaiah was writing from Heaven’s perspective, where the words of God have already taken place. Scholars point out that Isaiah often uses completed-action verbs for future Messianic promises, not because the event occurred, but because God’s word is certain.
What This Means for Faith
What does that do for our faith when we consider God’s words as though they already happened? When we speak of future events, we often engage hope vs faith. Hope speaks of expectation, but faith “is [the] substance of things hoped for, [the] proof of matters not being seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 LSV).
Faith is, while hope will be.
Faith is taking hold of something that is not yet in our hands, as though it is. We talk about this “season of hope” at Christmas, and while Jesus does offer that, for Isaiah and the other prophets, it was more than a hope, it was as good as done.
Abram → Abraham as Another Example
When God spoke to Abram in Genesis 17:4, the direct translation (LSV) says,
“I— behold, My covenant [is] with you, and you have become father of a multitude of nations; and your name is no longer called Abram, but your name has been Abraham, for father of a multitude of nations I have made you; and I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and made you become nations, and kings go out from you.” (Emphasis added)
He is saying to Abram, “It is a thing I have already done, you just haven’t seen it yet.” God is outside of our linear timeline. Faith is what joins our present with God’s present, which is not measured by minutes, hours, days, months, or years.
A Question for Us
So what prophetic words has God given you? Do you read them as though it is an event still to take place? Or do you receive them as Abram, who already was Abraham?
Prophetic Words and the Brain
What I love is that even our brains seem to respond to this way of speaking. God designed our minds to take our thoughts, imaginations, and words seriously. When something is pictured or rehearsed as “already true,” the brain begins to treat it like a real memory. It builds pathways around it. It prepares for it. It leans toward it.
This is why fear can feel so real, even before anything bad happens. But it’s also why faith can feel real before anything good happens. Our brains aren’t confused—they’re responding to whatever story we agree with.
So when God speaks prophetically, he is speaking in what we’d call “past tense” about our future. He’s not only revealing His certainty—He’s also inviting our minds, hearts, and imaginations to come into agreement with Him. It’s one more picture of how faith bridges the gap between what we see and what God has already settled in heaven.
In other words:
Prophetic words don’t just encourage your spirit. They gently train your brain to recognize, expect, and move toward what God said.
A Prophetic Perfect Advent
In this Advent season—a spiritual season of expectation—what are you so certain of that it feels as if it has already happened? And what areas of your life need to shift from quietly hoping God might move…to trusting that He already has?
The time leading up to the birth of Jesus was filled with expectancy. Prophecies had been spoken, repeated, prayed over, and passed down for generations. It was long-awaited, but it wasn’t late. It was desperately needed, yet still missed by many. And the same danger exists for us if we don’t align our faith with the certainty of what God has already spoken.
Advent invites us not just to hope, but to practice this “prophetic perfect” posture—receiving God’s promises as already settled, even when we’re still waiting to see them unfold. It’s the same posture Abram had to hold when God renamed him Abraham. Nothing looked different yet, but Heaven had already declared the truth of who he was and what God had done. In fact, “students studying Semitic language and thought sometimes call this idiom, ‘here now, but not yet’ or ‘already—not yet’ (Spirit & Truth, “The Prophetic Perfect”).”
And this is where faith and neuroscience surprisingly meet. When we agree with God’s certainty, our brains begin treating His words as reality. Pathways form. Expectations shift. Our internal world starts moving toward the future God has already written.
So as we light candles, sing familiar hymns, and remember the long-awaited arrival of Jesus, let this season stir your faith again. Let it remind you that God speaks from completion, not uncertainty. What He has declared is not fragile—it is finished from His perspective.
Advent is not passive waiting.
It is active agreement.
Personally, I feel freshly challenged to listen to God the way Abram did. When God spoke, the thing was settled—finished from Heaven’s perspective—even though nothing on earth looked different yet. That is an uncomfortable place to live. But it is also where faith thrives. Abraham is remembered as a hero of faith, not a hero of just hope.
May this Advent season draw us into that same certainty—where God’s words shape our thoughts, train our brains, anchor our hope, and steady our hearts until what He has spoken becomes what we finally see.
