Archive for March, 2009
I wanted to post this study of prophetic fulfillment, I know it doesn’t go with my normal context, but hey it’s my blog.
Prophetic statements sometimes apply to more than one fulfillment, a principle call duality. A prime example of duality is Christ’s first coming to atone for our sins and His second coming to rule as King of Kings.
Such dual themes are common in Scripture. The apostle Paul, for example, wrote about the first man Adam and the last Adam [Jesus Christ]
God inspired much of prophecy to relate to the first and second appearances of Jesus as the Messiah. Prophecy explains the necessity of both His first and second comings in God’s plan for mankind. The apostles often referred to prophecies Jesus had already fulfilled to prove that He was the Messiah. But they also often spoke of His second coming.
Therefore, the first important key to an understanding of biblical prophecy is to recognize that almost all prophecy directly relates to the intervention in human affairs of one key player: Jesus the Messiah
Jesus made this clear to His disciples after His resurrection: “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).
Jesus specifically alluded to the dual application of some prophecies in Matthew 17:11-12. Asked about the prophecy of “Elijah,” who would precede the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5), Jesus responded: “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already.” The disciples understood that the “Elijah” who had come already was John the Baptist (verse 13). But Christ’s clear implication was that another “Elijah” would precede His second coming, announcing His return just as John the Baptist preceded Christ’s first coming.
Another prophecy with dual application is Jesus’ Olivet prophecy (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21), so named because He gave it on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem. Many conditions described in this prophecy existed in the days leading up to the Romans’ siege and destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But Christ makes it clear that similar conditions would prevail shortly before his return, his second coming.
In the Olivet prophecy, Jesus spoke of an “abomination of desolation.” Daniel’s prophecy about the abomination of desolation was fulfilled in 167 B.C. by Antiochus Epiphanes, but Jesus pointed out that the prophecy would have a future fulfillment or would be fulfilled in that generation.
In His most detailed prophecy of the end time, Jesus said, “When you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16).
Daniel’s prophecy warned of Antiochus: “And they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31).
“On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev in the year 145″ which corresponds to 168/167 B.C., “they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar” of the temple. This appears to have been a pagan altar, probably with an image representing the Greek chief god Zeus, as 2 Maccabees 6:2 tells us that Antiochus defiled the Jewish temple “by dedicating it to the Olympian god Zeus”
Jesus revealed to us the time for this prophecy’s ultimate fulfillment in Matthew 24:21 when He explained what would immediately follow it: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time.”
We can learn a great deal about this end-time prophecy from the original abomination of desolation Daniel foretold. Antiochus Epiphanes was a forerunner of the end-time king of the North, the world dictator the book of Revelation refers to as the “beast.” No doubt this end-time ruler will employ the same deceitful and underhanded methods that marked the reign of Antiochus
As Jesus fortold about the abomination of desolation to come, to him that have a ear to hear.(whoso readeth, let him understand) understanding because of the first fulfillment of the prophecy by Antiochus Epiphanes and the second fulfillment by Titus in 70 AD. and another to come.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.