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January 22, 2012 |
| Unseen Prophetic Fulfillment | ||
One of the major problems with the fulfillment of a prophecy is that those who are looking for its fulfillment often miss it. This happened over and over during the First Coming, one of the greatest times of prophetic fulfilment. In this lesson, we will look at some cases where this happened and why it happened. Perhaps looking at it this way will help us not make the same mistakes about the Second Coming.
John's mission was to prepare the way for the Messiah. That was to be a spiritual preparation of the people. That mission was a fulfillment of prophecies given by Isaiah and Malachi. John said as much to the Pharisees when they asked him.
And this is the testimony of Yohannan when the Judaeans sent Levites and priests to him from Jerusalem in order to ask him: "Who are you?" 20 And he confessed and did not deny and confessed: "I am not the Messiah."
21 And they asked him again, "What, therefore? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "No." "Are you the prophet", and he said "No."
22 And they said to him, "And who are you? Tell us that we may give a statement to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said: "I am the voice that cries in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord Yahweh', just as that which Isaiah the Prophet said." (John 1:19-23)
John referred to himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. This should have been a red flag to the Jewish leaders. John was making a significant claim about himself and about the nearness of the Messiah. When John has "prepared the people (the way)" sufficiently, the Messiah would be there
Isaiah's description is of a role that people of that time would have recognized, but we don't. When a king or significant dignitary was travelling to a town, it was common for him to send a person ahead of him who would prepare the people to receive him. This herald would blow trumpets and cry out, "The king is coming! The king is coming!" Quickly on the heels of the herald, the King would arrive.
Later it would be Jesus who would talk about John in this role.
… [Jesus] began to say to the crowds about Yohannan, "What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed being shaken by the wind? 25 But what did you go out to see? A man who is clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who are in glorious clothing and in luxury are in a King's house. 26 But what did you go out to see? A Prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a Prophet. 27 This is he about whom it is written: 'Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face to prepare the way before you.'" (Luke 7:24-27)
Jesus is quoting from Malachi 3:1. The priests would have known these two verses and understood their meaning. So they should have been expecting the Messiah. If Jesus is saying that John was the herald, who does Jesus say the herald was proclaiming? Who is the 'you' that Malachi refers to? Jesus is silent on that - leaving the answer to those who ask.
The teachers of the law must have asked that question. Why didn't they recognize Jesus as the Messiah?
Various places in the prophetic writings describe a suffering servant and others a conquering king, sometimes close together. The Jews then, as they have today, had decided that they were the suffering servants and the Messiah was the conquering king. So part of the reason that they misunderstood this prophecy was that they had misunderstood prophecy. They had also locked themselves into that false interpretation because of their own desires: to see themselves as sufferers under the Romans and the Messiah as the one who would save them.
Even if they had understood that the suffering servant and the conquering king were the same person at different times, they might not have understood which came first. They needed to fit what they saw to prophecy instead of fitting prophecy to what they wanted.
A lot of this goes on today as well. The risk is that people will miss out on something as the Jews did.
There was another prophecy about John the Baptist. Jesus refers to it. We pick up the verses after a select few of Jesus' disciples had been with him for the transfiguration. Having seen this, they are now certain that Jesus is the Messiah.
And as they descended from the mountain, Yeshua ordered them and he said to them, "Do not tell this vision in the presence of any man until the son of man will rise from the dead." 10 And his disciples asked him and they were saying to him, "Why do the Scribes therefore say that Elijah must come first?" 11 Yeshua answered and he said to them, "Elijah does come first so that everything may end." 12 But I say to you, behold, Elijah has come, and they have done unto him everything whatsoever they wished; likewise also the son of man is going to suffer from them. 13 Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them about Yohannan the baptizer. (Matthew 17:9-13)
Jesus disciples are referring to Malachi 4:5. They would have known that prophecy from learning it in the synagogues. Because of that prophecy, they had expected that Elijah would come before the Messiah, but they've just seen proof that Jesus is the Messiah. So they are asking: where is Elijah? Jesus tells them that Elijah did come first, as a type fulfillment of the prophecy, as John the Baptist.
Why hadn't they realized before that John the Baptist was the type fulfillment of that prophecy?
The Bible has prophecies, everyone knows that. Much less known, however, is that prophecies often have type fulfillments that come before the particular fulfillment. A type fulfillment could be thought of as as an echo that comes before. It is similar in style, but different in ways. So John the Baptist was a type of Elijah, in John's time.
We might wonder how the disciples understood what Jesus said here. They probably didn't know about type fulfillments, so they probably understood Jesus as saying that John was Elijah in a metaphorical sense. They probably never questioned him about the time when he would come again.
Jesus does address that, but very carefully, when he says, "Elijah does come first so that everything may end." With those words, Jesus is speaking about the Second Coming. His point is that Elijah, not a type of Elijah, will come before.
In the earlier examples about John the Baptist, John was the subject of the prophecies. In the following verses, we see that, at first, John is quoting prophecy to say that Jesus is the Messiah, but later he isn't sure.
And the day after, Yohannan saw Yeshua who came to him, and Yohannan said : "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! 30 This is the one of whom I said: 'After me a man is coming and he was himself before me because he had priority over me.' 31 And I did not know him, but so that he should be made known to Israel, therefore I have come to baptize in water."
32 And Yohannan testified and said: "I saw the Spirit who was descending from Heaven like a dove and remaining upon him. 33 And I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize in water, he said to me: 'the one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who baptizes in the Spirit of Holiness.' 34 And I have seen and have testified that this one is the son of God." (John 1:29-34)
But John has been hearing about Jesus healing people, raising a person from the dead, and that people are asking if Jesus is a great prophet, maybe Elijah.
And his disciples revealed all these things to Yohannan. 19 And Yohannan called two of his disciples, and he sent them to Yeshua and he said, "Are you the one who was coming or are we waiting for another?"
20 And they came to Yeshua and they were saying to him, "Yohannan The Baptizer has sent us to you, and he said, "Are you the one who was coming or are we waiting for another?" 21 But in that hour, he healed many from diseases and from plagues and of evil spirits, and he gave sight to many blind people. 22 And Yeshua answered and he said to them, "Go tell Yohannan everything that you have seen and that you have heard; that they who were blind are seeing, and they who were lame are walking, and they who were lepers are cleansed, and they who were deaf are hearing, and they who were dead are raised, and those who were poor are given good news." (Luke 7:18-22)
Despite what John had said when he called Jesus the Lamb of God and despite having seen the Spirit come down from Heaven and remain on Jesus, John is now not sure if Jesus is the Messiah. So he has sent two of his disciples to ask. What has caused John to doubt?
Most people will say that John expected the conquering king, just as the rest of the Jews did. When he got reports that Jesus was going around healing, but not planning to conquer, then he began to doubt.
That wouldn't make sense. John understood that his job was spiritual. His role was not to do roadwork for Jesus, nor to shout out "The King is coming!" to the people. His job was to prepare hearts for Jesus.
So when he sees Jesus healing people, that isn't what he expected. He would have expected Jesus to preach conviction to the people as he himself had done.
Jesus sends a message back to John that is a quote from Isaiah. Part of that is, "the poor are given good news." That was the hint in Isaiah's words that said the verse was spiritual. Poor people need money, not good news. Spiritually poor people need good news that will strengthen them. So Jesus' message to John is that Jesus is doing exactly what Isaiah said he would do.
Judas also fulfilled prophecies without being aware of it.
Then one of the twelve who is called Yehuda Scariota went out to the Chief Priests, 15 And he said to them, 'What are you willing to give me if I shall deliver him to you?', but they promised him 30 silver coins. 16 And from then on, he sought opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:14-15)
Later Judas does go through with his deal with the priests. He hands Jesus over to them, and he is paid the 30 pieces of silver for doing so.
Still later we see how this was a fulfillment of prophecy
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet who said, "I took 30 silver coins, the price of the precious one on which they of the children of Israel had agreed. 10 And I gave them for the potter's field as the Lord Yahweh commanded me." (Matthew 27:9-10)
The verses referred to here are from Zechariah 11:12,13. Jeremiah 19:1-13 and 32:6-9 have a similar message.
Why does this quote in Matthew say the people of Israel set the price on Jesus when we saw earlier that it was the high priests?
The high priests were the representatives of the people before God in the same way that our senators and representatives represent us in Congress.
The priests would have known the scriptures, and Judas would have had some understanding. When they agreed on a price of 30 pieces of silver, somebody should have said, "Hey, wait, what did Zechariah say?" Why did they miss this?
Most likely, they were not in the habit of thinking that prophecy would be fulfilled in their lives. No one in our time would even consider that.
That price was also a commonly seen price that no one would have thought about. It was the price of a man, of a slave.
The oldest Jewish understanding of Zechariah 11 was that it was a prophecy about the destruction of the 2nd Temple, the failure of Israel's leadership (the 30 pieces of silver), and the spiritual decline of the people. They were on the right track and had a chance of recognizing the 30 pieces of silver, but they never did.
As a side note, the understanding of that prophecy has changed radically since. Rabbi Rashi, writing 1,000 years later, understood Zechariah 11 as a prophecy about the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians before Jesus' time. This change in Judaism, like many others, was likely caused by Christians claiming that Zechariah 11 was about the Jews' rejection of the Messiah.
The high priest for the year that Jesus was crucified was called Caiaphas. He was also involved prophetically with Jesus. These verses describe a meeting called by the priests to discuss the 'Jesus' situation they are facing and working against.
And the Chief Priests and the Pharisees were gathered, and they were saying, "What shall we do? This man is doing great miracles. 48 And if we allow him to do so, all the people will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away our position and our nation."
49 But one of them, whose name was Qaipha, was the High Priest that year, and he said to them, "You know nothing, 50 And you do not consider that is profitable for us that one man should die instead of the nation, and not that the whole nation perish."
51 But this he said not of his own accord, but because he was the High Priest that year, he prophesied that Yeshua was going to die for the nation. 52 And not only in place of the nation, but so that also the children of God who had scattered, he would gather together into one. 53 And from that day they planned to kill him. (John 11:47-53)
The prophecy given by Caiaphas (Qaipha in this translation) is from God and therefore true. Why have the priests decided to plan to kill Jesus?
They have twisted the prophecy to suit their goals. The interpretation of the prophecy by Caiaphas is the problem. Because of it, the priests decide to help the interpretation become true.
Twisting prophecy this way is very common today as well.
These verses sum up a lot of the failures to recognize prophecy being fulfilled.
"To what therefore shall I compare the men of this generation, and what does it resemble? 32 It is like boys sitting in the street and calling their friends and saying, 'We sang to you and you did not dance, and we howled to you and you did not cry.'"
33 "For Yohannan The Baptizer came not eating bread neither drinking wine, and you were saying, 'He has a demon.' 34 the son of man came eating and drinking and you were saying, 'Behold, a man a glutton and a drinker of wine and a friend of tax collectors and of sinners.' 35 And wisdom is justified by all its works." (Luke 7)
These verses talk about the people of Israel, including the priests, being determined to set their expectations for the behavior of the Messiah and John the Baptist, and rejecting them when they didn't behave that way. They needed to accept them for what they showed themselves to be.
God will do as God pleases. It is not for us to try to define him or fit him into some role.
We must be very careful that our interpretations of prophecy don't cause us to miss the fulfillment when it comes.