Are all the prophecies of the bible fulfilled and if not which ones
haven't been fulfilled yet.
People have dealt differently with prophecies.
Some believe Jesus failed to fulfill all the prophecies and is therefore
not the Messiah.
Others believe that some were fulfilled but others fulfilled invisibly
or allegorically.
Still, others like myself believe in the delay in the prophetic program
that scripture teaches. (Romans 11:25-27; Revelation 10:7 )
I wanted to look at particular prophecies and ask the question whether
it has been fulfilled and how.
The first one is in Zechariah which says, "And it shall come to pass
IN THAT DAY, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house
of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, THE SPIRIT OF GRACE and of supplications: and THEY SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM
THEY HAVE PIERCED, and THEY SHALL MOURN FOR HIM, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as
one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 IN THAT DAY shall there be a GREAT MOURNING IN JERUSALEM, as the mourning
of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house
of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 The family
of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families
that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." (Zechariah 12)
I've put in CAPS what i want to look at.
A casual reading of Zechariah will easily reveal that whenever 'In
That Day' is referred to it is referring to the end, which hasn't happened yet.
Everything that will happen IN THAT DAY will make it indisputable
that these prophecies haven't happened yet.
Some of the things that will happen IN THAT DAY are:
1) All the nations will be gathered against her (12:3)
2) All that try to move her will be injured. (Ibid)
3) there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (13:1)
4) that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 7 But it shall
be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall
be light. (14:7)
5) living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward
the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. (14:8)
6) And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall
there be one LORD, and his name one. (14:9)
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Also notice that this prophecy in Zechariah twelve regarding the
piercing of Messiah makes it clear that this mourning for him will be in all of Israel. Every family will mourn.
This hasn't happened yet and though Christ has been pierced, the
showing of the marks of the crucifixion AND the resultant mourning of all of Israel hasn't happened yet.
In John nineteen we have the verse which says, 'For these things
were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture
saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced. "
Is this the complete fulfillment of the Zechariah passage?
I think not.
Certainly, we can point to multiple fulfillments of prophecy in the
Bible.
Often prophecy is fulfilled in ways that beg a more specific fulfillment.
In other words, Antiochus Epiphanes was a type of Antichrist and
even his name begins with anti, but he didn't fulfill everything spoken of the AntiChrist and though what he did, resembled
a kind of abomination spoken of by Daniel, (9:25-27) Jesus still later speaks of a abomination of desolation which is still
future. (Matthew 24)
Now concerning the passage in Zechariah regarding his piercing, we
know that obviously he has already been pierced and obviously some did see him.
However, all the families of Israel have not mourned for him as Zechariah
predicts.
So there is more to come.
The Preterists make a major mistake when they assume that it is all
over and we can relax now.
There is still much more to come and one that can deny what
is happening in Israel today must be blind.
Only one that believes that there are dispensations can rightly argue
for a delay and an eventual resumption of what happened in the gospels.
It is the dispie that believes that the Kingdom was postponed while
the Gentiles were given a chance for salvation. (Romans 11:24-27; 2 Peter 3), and what we see in the end will be a resumption
of the program for Israel and the fulfillment of the rest of the prophecies.
The Preterist has to believe that Acts 2:28 was immediate and visible
but Acts 2:29 wasn't.
What justifies believing something to be literal and visible in one
verse but invisible and allegorical in the next verse?
Absolutely nothing.
If you are not a dispie then this passage in Zechariah presents a
real problem for you and if you are a Preterist then you are just not believing all of the scriptures about the matter.
For more on the delay go to :
Wanna Know Some Secrets?
The Preterist even has to include a delay of forty years in his thinking.
Because even if 'looking on him whom they have pierced' was only
to be fulfilled in John nineteen at the crucifixion, the mourning for him was still future, even according to Preterist standards.
Even the Preterist has to admit that there was a delay of forty years,
though he has no evidence of this time frame.
So even Preterists believe in delays.
Revelation says this, "Behold, he cometh with CLOUDS; and EVERY EYE
SHALL SEE HIM, and THEY ALSO WHICH PIERCED HIM: and ALL KINDREDS OF THE EARTH SHALL WAIL BECAUSE OF HIM. Even so, Amen. 8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, THE ALMIGHTY."
(Revelation 1)
These verses are problematic for the Preterist because:
1) He comes in the clouds
2) Every Eye Shall See Him
3) THEY ALSO WHICH PIERCED HIM
4) All the Kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him
Not all of Israel mourned when they 'looked upon him whom they have
pierced', immediately after the crucifixion.
He is still to come in the clouds, every eye to see him and all the
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Certainly, The A.D. 70 assumption of Preterists doesn't fulfill any
of this.
To add insult to injury, that part of this passage calls Jesus the
Almighty. The Preterist will take this literally but everything else in this passage figuratively.
This passage in Revelation One also says, 'EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM,
and THEY ALSO WHICH PIERCED HIM: '
Here John is including Israel and is reiterating what Zechariah says.
So the crucifixion was not a complete fulfillment or should I say
the only fulfillment of the passage in Zechariah because after the crucifixion we still have John making it future tense and
there is no evidence that a.d. 70 was a fulfillment of any of these predictions.
The passage in Zechariah also says, "I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, THE SPIRIT OF GRACE and of supplications:" , which will be fulfilled for Israel
and it will be an irresistable grace unprecedented.
Irresistable grace did not follow the crucifixion but will be extended
toward Israel in the end.
"And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall
come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is MY COVENANT UNTO THEM, when
I shall take away their sins. " (Romans 11)
This didn't happen after the crucifixion or in a.d. 70.
This was God's covenant 'unto them'
We will look at Ezekiel 36 after this and see that God will restore,
regather and recreate Israel in such a way as has never been seen. This is not just a national restoration but a spiritual
regeneration that will be because of God's faithfulness.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall
be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matthew 24)
BJ Max
