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THE PROPHETS of the Bible did not necessarily foretell the future when they spoke; it has been truly said that their mission was to forthtell rather than foretell. However, the gospel is the gospel of the Kingdom, a Kingdom yet to be established, and of necessity therefore prophets, and apostles for that matter, spoke often of the future.
It is possible, however, to think of prophecy in a narrower sense, to distinguish God’s revelation of His purpose in the earth from His revelation of that which is to happen on the way to the fulfilment of that purpose. The latter is what we will consider in this article: prophecies which in fact have largely been fulfilled already.
What is the purpose of such prophecy? We propose to offer five lines of approach, overlapping to some extent, but each worth identifying and considering separately. Fulfilled prophecy:
We will look at each of these in turn, providing ideas for further study as well as explaining each aspect.
Fulfilled prophecy establishes the existence of God
When the Jews were carried captive to Babylon they entered a society full of false gods, gods to whom the Babylonians attributed their rise, to become the most powerful empire then known. How were the Jews to know that in reality Yahweh their God was the only true God? Through Isaiah God gives them the test; only He had shown Himself capable of foretelling the future.
In Isaiah 46, a chapter which begins by exposing the helplessness of the Babylonian gods Bel and Nebo, Yahweh declares: "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (vv. 9,10). He declares Himself to be unique, and as evidence cites the fact that He alone is able to declare what the future will bring.
What is the evidence that this is so? In chapter 44 God declares in verse 6 His uniqueness, challenges others in verse 7 to foretell the future as He has done, and says in verse 8 that the Jews are His witnesses. God has given prophecies about the future of His people Israel which have been fulfilled. The worshippers of other gods can make no such claims. Today many claim that there is no God (atheists), and others claim it is not possible to know whether He exists or not (agnostics). Fulfilled prophecy, especially about the Jews, proves that God exists.
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Fulfilled prophecy establishes that the Bible is God’s Word
In Deuteronomy 18 God warned Israel that in Canaan there would be many who professed to give divine messages by various different means (vv. 9-14). He then instituted a test whereby true prophets can be distinguished from false: whether what they say comes to pass or not (vv. 20-22). Later on, false prophets arose in Israel claiming to speak on behalf of God, and the test applies to them too.
An application of this test can be found in Jeremiah 28. In chapter 27 Jeremiah, by means of a dramatic, enacted prophecy, foretold that God would subject Judah, and the nations around her, to the dominance of Babylon; but the false prophets said otherwise (vv. 9,10). In chapter 28 one false prophet, Hananiah, claimed that the Babylonian dominance would be gone within two years (v. 11). God, through Jeremiah, said that this would not be so, and that Hananiah would shortly die (v. 16). Within two months he was dead (vv. 1,17), and within seven years Nebuchadnezzar had put an end to the kingdom of Judah (v. 1; 52:4-14). Jeremiah’s claim to be a true prophet was vindicated.
The principle can be applied to the Bible as a whole. Many prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled, so it must be what it claims to be, the Word of God. No other book, claimed to be God’s Word (for example the Koran, the Book of Mormon) has this feature. Amongst all the books in the world claiming to be divinely given, the Bible is unique.
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Fulfilled prophecy enables us to believe that God’s Kingdom will be established
Bible prophecies are not just isolated statements, devoid of any link to other events. Instead prophets gave prophecies covering whole sequences of events, some of which have clearly not yet taken place because they concern the return of Christ and the establishing of the Kingdom of God. The fact that some parts of these prophecies have already been fulfilled shows that the rest will be. Some examples are as follows:
| 1 | Micah 4:1-4 is one of the clearest prophecies in the Bible about God’s coming Kingdom, worldwide but centred on Jerusalem. The first word, "But...", links this with the desolation of Jerusalem of 3:12 which has already been fulfilled. |
| 2 | Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks of a time yet to be when the Jews will come under the new covenant in Christ, but the chapter also contains prophecies of the scattering, preservation and regathering of Israel, which have already been fulfilled (vv. 10,35-37). |
| 3 | Daniel 2:44 is a clear prophecy of a time to come when God’s Kingdom will fill the earth and stand for ever, but this is the culmination of the prophecy of the four great empires of men and the subsequent divided state, which has already been fulfilled. |
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Fulfilled prophecy demonstrates that God is at work in the world
There is more to Bible prophecy than just predicting the future. It is not that God has foreknowledge of the future and is therefore able to tell us what will happen, He actually causes it to happen. In Isaiah 46:9,10, quoted above, He not only speaks of Himself "declaring the end from the beginning"; He also says: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure".
Thus, before the future history of the world is revealed in outline to Nebuchadnezzar (and us) in Daniel 2, Daniel declares of God: "He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings" (v. 21). Later it is recorded that an angel declares: "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will" (4:17). God is therefore working out His purpose in the earth, and fulfilled prophecy shows us that this is so. We know that, however black the history of mankind looks, there is meaning behind it all.
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Fulfilled prophecy shows us where we are in God’s plan
God could have revealed His ultimate purpose of setting up His Kingdom, given some prophecies to be fulfilled earlier as evidence that the other prophecies would be fulfilled, and left it at that. However, God does not operate like that; we are told: "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).
Some Bible prophecy is thus fulfilled in a sequence of events over a considerable period of time; in fact, part of the prophecy may indicate the length of time. Genesis 15:13-16 is the first example of such a prophecy, covering Israel’s descent into Egypt, oppression by Egypt (including the time span involved), God’s judgement on Egypt, and Israel’s coming out of Egypt.
Daniel contains several such prophecies, much more detailed, and covering longer time spans. The Mount Olivet Prophecy is also best understood as such a prophecy, and the whole of the prophetic part of Revelation as such too, or, perhaps better, two such sequences, each commencing with heaven opening, and ending with the Kingdom (4:1–11:18, and 11:19 onwards). These prophecies cover long periods of time, but culminate in the return of Christ and the setting up of the Kingdom.
The study of such sequential, or continuous-historic, prophecies, fulfilled over long periods, enables believers to see where they are in the sequence of fulfilment. For example, the Mount Olivet Prophecy in Luke 21 indicates that when Jerusalem ceases to be trodden down by the Gentiles, the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (v. 24), and when there is global perplexity at world problems and fear for the future, Christ returns (vv. 25-27). We know from this that we are living near the time of Christ’s return.
Other prophecies which speak of the return of Christ and the setting up of the Kingdom can be the subject of the same approach, even if the fulfilment does not involve a long period of time. It is possible to work back from the return of Christ/setting up of the Kingdom, and identify what has been fulfilled and what has not yet been fulfilled. This is of varying difficulty according to the prophecy concerned, however. Sometimes events are parallel, and sometimes the same period of time is covered twice from different angles.
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Unexpected developments and premature expectations
God in His wisdom has not given us a simple list of events, to be ticked off as they happen. He revealed the future through His prophets in many and varied ways, often difficult to understand. This forces us to devote effort to studying His Word and pondering what has been fulfilled and what has not. In doing so we are filling our minds with the things of God’s purpose and will benefit spiritually.
Studying Bible prophecy in relation to our own times is especially fraught with difficulty. In seeking to relate prophecy to our own times we are not always able to see the significance of events as they happen, and our anticipations of what will happen may well be faulty. There is a middle line to be steered between making dogmatic assertions and ignoring prophecy altogether; there is nothing wrong with expressing views on the fulfilment of prophecy as possibilities rather than as certainties.
The study of latter-day prophecy has to take account of both unexpected developments and premature expectations. A prime example of the first is the break-up of the Soviet Empire in the late 1980s. It looked as though the Soviet Empire was to be the basis of the Gogian confederacy of Ezekiel 38; then in a short time it was gone. Yet the power of Russia remains, and the host of Ezekiel 38 is a confederacy of nations, not an empire. The answer to unexpected developments is therefore to think again and adjust one’s ideas to take account of the new developments, perhaps realising that we have overlooked aspects of a prophecy in our keenness to see it fulfilled.
Premature expectations, of course, occur when hopes are raised by a dramatic turn of events which looks as though it could bring the return of Christ. Sometimes this involves the expiry of a prophetic time period. For over two hundred years the 2,300 evening and morning prophecy of Daniel 8 was interpreted as applying to 2,300 years from the time when Alexander the Great triumphed over the Persian Empire, a time expiring in 1967. In 1967 the Six-Day War broke out, and the Brotherhood was poised in expectation. However, Christ did not return, but Israel did take the Old City of Jerusalem, ending its treading down by Gentiles (Lk. 21:24); and Israel’s triumph over the Arabs has resulted in a situation which is one of the factors which looks as though it will trigger off the conflict that will bring Christ’s return. So it was a significant date, but not the final date.
In fact, the evidence from Scripture is that God’s purpose has always been carried out in stages, even when a sudden end is prophesied. The Old Testament Kingdom of Israel came to an end in stages, and revived after captivity in stages, involving three seventy-year periods, each with a separate fulfilment (2 Chron. 36:21; Jer. 25:11; 29:10). We should therefore expect the time of the end to be the same.
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The impact of prophecy
The study of prophecy is no mere academic pursuit. Like all Bible study, it should impact on our daily lives. Simply by turning our minds to Divine things rather than the empty pursuits of the world we shall of course benefit spiritually. However, there should be more to it than that.
Noah knew from prophecy that God was to bring an end to the world of the ungodly, and, "moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house" (Heb. 11:7). We should never forget that according to Bible prophecy the society in which we live is moving towards inevitable judgement, and we need to order our lives so as to escape that judgement. Noah also was "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5), seeking to save such of his generation as would heed his call; and so should we be.
Although we cannot directly prove it from Scripture, it appears that Moses believed that the 400 years of Genesis 15:13 were expiring in his day, and sought to deliver his people from Egyptian bondage (Acts 7:25). It is certainly the case that he deliberately decided to associate himself with God’s people, despite the affliction it would bring him, rather than enjoy the wealth of Egypt that could have been his. He certainly knew what God’s promises, which were prophecies, about Israel entailed, and recognised that association with God’s purpose would bring ultimately far greater rewards than this life can ever offer. Bible prophecy should have this effect on us too.
Jeremiah lived in dismal times, when his country was under the threat of imminent destruction by the Babylonians. Yet in the darkest of days he believed that he would ultimately inherit the land in the final restoration of Israel that he and others had prophesied, and was prepared to purchase a portion (Jer. 32:7-15). Today, no matter how evil the times, we can place our confidence in the sure and certain inheritance which will be ours in the age to come, on the basis of fulfilled prophecy.
Daniel in Babylon studied the prophecies of his people’s return from exile, and prayed earnestly for their fulfilment, knowing that the seventy years spoken of were ending (9:2-4). We too know from fulfilled prophecy that the end is near, yet need to urge God that He will soon fulfil His purpose.
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