Time in Prophecy

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Neal

One of the easiest things to misjudge in prophecy is the issue of time. There are no built-in time dimension in prophecy, so it is easy to make naïve assumptions about time.

Prophecy is like a movie or stage play, where there is no built-in time dimension. Sometimes we can gather the passage of time in the change of scenes, and by remarks which are made. We may even have flash-backs to previous scenes. If we are not paying attention to the story, we soon lose any sense of what going on in the story. And so it is also with Scripture.

A dramatic example is in Hebrews chapter one, a quote from Psalm 102.

“10 And,
“You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you continue.
They all will grow old like a garment does.
12 As a mantle you will roll them up,
And they will be changed;
But you are the same.
Your years will not fail.” Heb 1:10-12 WEB

It all spoken very close to each other. So these mere three verses cover from the creation of all things, to this universe being rolled up like an old coat and put away. How much time is it from verse 10 to verse 12? I do not know. But clearly the closeness of these verses does not indicate closeness in time.

Or to use another example: Most take Isaiah 2:1-2 as prophetic description of the beginning of the preaching of the good new of God’s salvation and God’s law.

“ It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be raised above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
Many peoples shall go and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
And he will teach us of his ways,
And we will walk in his paths.
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.” Isa 2:2-3 WEB

Assuming that is a correct interpretation, this would be beginning in the early first century AD, with the preaching of Peter in Acts 2. So far, so good.

However look at the of the very next verse.

“ He will judge between the nations,
…
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.” Isa 2:4 WEB

If you are thinking even a little bit, then you know that has not happened yet! There are still both physical and spiritual wars. Further you know this will not happen until after Rev 20:8.

So how much time is there between Isa 2:3 and the end of Isa 2:4? The real answer is: we don’t know. We know it will happen, but do not know when.

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

A Storm is Near … or the Second Coming?

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Neal

Can you know when a storm is near?

Well yes, often we can know, but still people are at times caught by surprise by these things. You are busy. You may not be noticing the sky, or listening to the weather reports. Yes there may be clouds, but often there are clouds and they may mean little or nothing. Then out of no where, obscured by a driving rain, comes an F4 tornado that can wreck great havoc over a wide area.

A really bad storm can make a believer out of you. If a town is in tornado alley, and has been hit more than once, the presence of public shelters and home made root cellars/ tornado shelters are more widely seen. The people pay closer attention to signs of trouble.

The solution of the local television stations is their “weather app,” their weather software. That app knows the physical location of your phone, and notifies you if you are in the path of a storm.

Even so there are many misses in modern weather forecasting. Despite all of our technology, and satellites looking at the cloud patterns, and multiple radar technologies, they often get it completely wrong, don’t they? There may be days of stern warnings of terrible weather coming, all of which may end in absolutely nothing happening. Forecasts of fearsome weather catastrophes absolutely going to happen in twenty years in the future? Well, although they put a good face on it, they very often cannot get the weather forecast right for tomorrow!!

But then on the other hand, can we say with some confidence that we will get some rain two months from now? Well, yes we can. We may not know how much, or when or where? We can easily say with confidence that there will be some rain two months from now, be it little or much.

Now can we tell the day or the hour rain will fall two months from now? No! Although there will be some, somewhere.

Still if that rain is about to happen two months from now … will there be signs of it about to fall? For sure there will be. There will be clouds in the sky. The wind will be picking up. Sometimes you can even smell the coming rain in the air, or see the squalls approaching from a distance. We will have near warning that it may be about to happen.

So notice carefully:

The fact that we do not know the day or the hour does not preclude the presence of signs that it is near.

Jesus clearly says that we will not know the day or the hour of the Second Coming.

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” Mk 13:32-33 KJV

Now some from knowing this, have jumped to the dogmatic conclusion, that there cannot be any signs that these things are about to happen.

But that is clearly not so. Indeed, you may not know the day nor the hour, but may know that these things are near! Lk 21:28, Heb 10:25.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

Two Sons of David, Part II

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Neal

Yes it is true, that there are two passages (1Kings 8:20 and 2Chr. 6:10) which say that Solomon was the fulfillment of the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 of the kingdom of a “seed,” a son, of David. But we have noted that at least part of that prophecy does not fit Solomon.

But then there is another son of David who does have a throne which will last forever. That is Jesus of Nazareth.

“but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” Heb 1:8 WEB

Also this Jesus Son of David is building a spiritual house of God. As the Hebrew author says,

“but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.” Heb 3:6 WEB

and again,

“Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1Cor 3:16 WEB

So Christ is building a house, a temple, to God, made up of people; and His throne lasts forever. Then lastly the author of Hebrews quotes 2Sam 7:14 and says it applies to Jesus Christ.

“For to which of the angels did he say at any time, …
“I will be to him a Father, And he will be to me a Son?” Heb. 1:5 WEB

Notice that part of 2 Samuel 7 applies only to Solomon (such as being chastened by the rods of men), and part only to Jesus (such as an eternal throne, and never losing the loving kindness of God).

Also we can see that parts of 2 Samuel 7 apply to BOTH Solomon and Jesus, but in different ways. For instance, 1.) Solomon built a literal temple, but Jesus is building an eternal spiritual temple. 2.) God was like a father to Solomon, but God was Jesus father.

So this means you can have more than one subject in a prophecy! You can have a dual subjects in a prophecy, or a double meaning! In this case we have two sons of David in one prophecy, and for instance both a literal and spiritual temple in this prophecy!

The passage in 2 Samuel 7 is discussed in more detail in “Prophecy Principles” in the section on “Type and Anti-Type, Symbol and Fulfillment,” and it charts how the passage goes back and forth between the two subjects.

Many time we like to have a single line of division between our subjects, but that is often not the way it is in Bible prophecy. So in this prophecy there is no single line of division between the two subjects. The text goes back and forth between the two subjects with no single line of division, much as in a human conversation.

Some are dogmatic that a prophecy can only have to do with one subject, and only one subject. As you can see, that is just not true. In fact double meanings are a common device in Bible prophecy, with one subject often said to be a “type,” that is to say it is symbolic of, the second subject. Thus it is easy to speak of the Solomon as a “type” of Jesus. That is to say, he is symbolic of Jesus. And strangely to us, in Greek the fulfillment is often called the “anti-type” (anti-tupos). “Anti” in Greek has the main idea of replacement. The fulfillment “replaces” the symbol.

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version of 1901

Two Sons of David, Part I

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Neal

King David of Israel had decided to build a temple to the Lord God in 2 Samuel 7. Then came the word of the Lord through the prophet Nathan. God was not going to allow David to build Him a temple. However God did make certain promises to David.

“When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2Sam. 7:12-13 WEB

He also says some other things in the verses following. To this “seed,” this son, God says He will be a father to this son of David. God says that if He does things that are wrong, “I will chasten him with the rod of men.” Still God says that His love for this son of David will not go away, and that “your throne shall be established forever.”

An immediate son of David was King Solomon. He built a literal temple, a “house” to the Lord, in the tenth century BC. And Scripture claims, “Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.” 1Kings 8:20 WEB. A similar claim is made in 2Chr. 6:10. This much fits the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 very well.

But there are things in the story of Solomon which are unsettling. First of all, Scripture says God’s love for Solomon could be lost, for it was told to Solomon about seeking God,

“… If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” 1Chron 28:9 WEB.

That is quite a bit different from “but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.” 2Sam 7:15 WEB

So first of all Solomon could be rejected, and indeed was rejected at least to some extend because of idolatry in his old age. Secondly, Solomon’s kingdom did not last forever, as prophesied. In fact it was brought to an abrupt end with the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. These facts are far beyond “if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men,” 2Sam 7:14 WEB. These are a couple of big misses!

So where do these facts leave us? Is this a Bible prophecy which has failed? Or is this simply a false prophecy by a false prophet by the name of Nathan?

Or then on the other hand, we might ask, is there another “seed” of David, another son of David, who will come later, and who will fulfill these prophecies?