UNDERSTANDING BIBLE PROPHECY
If we want to understand what the Bible says about the future, we must first understand how history works. As the previous article pointed out, from God’s perspective history is one continuous and developing story. From Genesis through Revelation, God’s purpose unfolds. God had this purpose in mind from the moment of creation and everything up to now has worked together to bring it to pass. What the Bible says prophetically about the future fits into this same historical flow. Prophecy is nothing more than the hints God has left us about those parts of history which have not yet happened.
God has known the end of the story from the beginning. But He didn’t reveal the entire story to us all at once. Little by little He has added details and clarified earlier hints. Much of it is still unclear. God tells us what He wants us to know about the future, but He does not satisfy all our curiosity. In God’s unfolding purpose, the future is always an outgrowth of the past. God does not throw the past away and start over; He builds on what has gone before. History is progressing toward God’s final goal, which is to restore all creation to its original purpose and intent.
As we look at the Bible as a whole, it is interesting to trace a particular concept all the way through time. Often, we find the same idea showing up in more than one place, or in more than one historical period. The full meaning of that concept is often revealed gradually. It develops or unfolds over time, so that those living in a later period understand it more fully than those from an earlier time.
For example, in Genesis 3 we read about God making clothing for Adam and Eve. In that context, it was a specific and practical answer to the sense of shame that came with their sin. They were no longer innocent. They had a need to hide their nakedness from God and from each other. The fig leaf clothing they made for themselves was not adequate, so God clothed them in animal skins. At the time, God didn’t fully explain what He was doing (at least no explanation is preserved in the Bible). But His action gives us the seed of an idea which would be developed much more fully in later periods.
The clothing God gave them is the first example of blood being shed as a sacrifice to meet the spiritual needs of sinful people. It illustrates a deeper principle which Adam and Eve may not have fully understood at the time. As we look back on it, we can find in this story the roots of atonement, a central theme which is fully developed only much later. Clothing made of animal skins requires the shedding of blood, and the death of a living being in order to provide needed covering.
The same principle reappears in the system of animal sacrifices God instituted under Moses. A lamb was killed, and its blood placed on the altar as an atonement for sin and a covering for shame. The seed idea has expanded: blood restores relationship. But the sacrifices of the Old Testament are themselves the seed of an even more fully developed truth which came later. Jesus gives his own life on the cross, shedding the blood of a new covenant. The truth was there in the garden of Eden like the first sprout of a seedling. It grew and unfolded as God revealed more about it through Moses, like a rosebud coming into view. Now we can look at the cross and see the rose opened into full bloom.
Whenever we study the Bible we need to look for general principles like this, which develop more fully as God reveals more about them in various historical contexts. Notice that as God reveals more truth, the development of our understanding is always moving forward. People in Moses’ time did not go back to making animal skin clothing for their atonement. Likewise, after the death of Jesus, His followers no longer sacrifice animals on an altar. The seed grows and develops – it never regresses back to an earlier state.
We find another example of a developing concept in the idea of life after death. In the early parts of the Bible we find only hints of what happens to people after they die. The Old Testament speaks of all the dead sharing the same fate (Ecclesiastes 3:20). There is no sense of life actually continuing there, and little emphasis on rewards or punishments (Ecclesiastes 9:1-6). The fuller understanding of heaven and hell does not come until the New Testament, and then only with scattered hints. The details about what eternal life will be like are still clouded in mystery.
This is a good example of why it is so important to build our doctrine and beliefs carefully. There will always be some gaps in our knowledge. We can fill some of those gaps by using the fullest revelation we have available. It would be a mistake to go back to Ecclesiastes, with its very pessimistic view of death, and use those statements to overturn what Paul and Jesus say in the New Testament. Later revelation always interprets the older. This is a key principle of bible interpretation.
In the realm of prophecy, this kind of thing happens a lot. A prophet will say something that has specific application in the life of the people of his own time. Later in history, that same statement is seen to have a deeper meaning. As God’s plan develops, we often see a fuller application of an older truth. And there may be additional levels of fulfillment in the eternal dimension of heaven, things we have not yet understood. Again, we see this principle illustrated in a plant, which develops from seed to shoot to flower and finally to fruit. It is the same plant, growing through different phases. Each phase grows out of and fulfills the potential which was there in the previous phases.
Failure to understand this principle has led to some fundamental mistakes. Let’s look, for example, at the concept of the Promised Land, an idea which is very much at the center of prophetic teachings about Israel today. The seed of these ideas can be seen in Genesis 1:28, where God says Adam is to rule over all the earth. Eden was first glimpse of a promised land, and Adam’s rule is the seed of the kingdom God intended. Of course, sin came into the picture and God’s intention for Eden was distorted. But the story does not end there.
In Genesis chapters 12 and 15, God moved to begin re-establishing what had been lost. He called Abraham to walk in the same kind of obedient faith Adam had once known. God promised Abraham He would lead him to a land with specific borders. He would make of Abraham’s descendents a great nation, a kingdom. When God promised "I will be your God and you will be my people", He was offering to restore the kind of relationship He had intended for Adam and all humanity at the beginning.
Let’s look more carefully at God’s promise to give Abraham a land. In Genesis, God sets the boundaries of the promised land, from the river Euphrates to Egypt (Genesis 15:18). As a matter of historical fact, neither Abraham nor his descendents ever possessed the whole land. Abraham walked over much of the area God referred to, but he never owned anything except one little burial cave. When the nation of Israel came back to conquer the land under Joshua’s leadership, they didn’t extend control to the full promised borders. Even at the peak of the Kingdom under David, Israel didn’t govern the entire dimensions of the land God promised. How are we to understand God’s promise of a land?
One possibility is that since the promise was never actually fulfilled in the past, it must still be literally fulfilled in the future. This is central to Dispensational teaching about the end times. I believe instead that the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15 was a prophetic seed. It was the first hint of a deeper truth that God knew would develop into something else. Like the clothing God gave Adam and Eve in the garden, we can now see that the promised boundaries of the land point to a deeper spiritual truth.
The writer of Hebrews talks about the faith of Abraham and the patriarchs in chapter 11. They "did not receive the things promised" but "lived like strangers" in the land. They were "looking for a country of their own", "a better country – a heavenly one", "a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:9,13,14,16). The physical promise of a "country" was pointing ahead to a deeper spiritual reality. "God had something better planned for us" (Hebrews 11:40). Now in Christ, we have entered the promised land of spirit.
The fact that Israel never possessed all the land in the borders promised to Abraham should be a clue to this truth. The promise was not about real estate or geography. The phrase "from the river Euphrates to Egypt" (Genesis 15:18) should be seen as a figurative term, encompassing all the known world, from one civilization to another. The promised land is much larger than just one part of the middle east. God promises His people a land extending throughout the whole earth. Jesus came to fulfill that promise.
I believe Jesus was referring to this promise when He gave the great commission, to go into "all the world" and make disciples. It is a theme which can be traced through the whole Bible, like the ones we were looking at earlier. First, God gave Adam and Eve a "land" in Eden. Then He called Abraham to a "land" in Canaan. Now this seed has come to full flower as He establishes His kingdom "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The promise of a land is fulfilled when the whole of creation comes into the knowledge of God. And it will find a still deeper level of fulfillment in the new heaven and new earth promised in Revelation.
The point of view I have been presenting here has huge implications for our understanding of prophecy. It means the modern nation of Israel being in that land is not a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. The promised land is not about a physical nation in middle east. It is about the entire earth, coming under the dominion of the King of Kings as He rules over His people. I plan to say more about this in a future article. The Jewish people have a right to safe place to live, just as any people would. So do the Palestinian people. God does not have a favorite side in their conflict.
The trouble with the traditional Dispensational interpretation is that it does not allow for the unfolding development of God’s truth over time. It freezes Abraham’s promise of a land at the level of geography. This would be like remaining at the level of animal skin clothing for our atonement. God has taught us more about His purpose since the time of Abraham. He is not going backwards to "finish" fulfilling that promise literally. He has gone forward in His redemptive purpose in Christ, and has "finished" the fulfillment of Abraham’s promised borders with "a better country – a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:16).
The point of this article is that all prophecy works this way. God first reveals a concept in a literal, tangible form – like skin clothing or a physical land. Then He reveals more about the concept and expands our understanding of the original seed idea – like Jesus’ death on the cross and spreading the gospel to "all nations." When we look for the fulfillment of prophecy, we need to look in the direction of increasing depth along the spiritual dimension. We must not get stuck in the past and imagine that a previous understanding cannot be modified by future revelation – neither Ecclesiastes’ view of death, nor Abraham’s view of a land.
Let’s apply this principle to a few more specific concepts. First, God’s Temple. This is another concept which develops over the flow of Biblical time. The root idea of a temple is to be a place for people to meet with God and a place for God’s name to dwell among His people (Exodus 25:8). It began as a simple "tent of meeting" and a place of prayer. When the tabernacle was constructed and the system of sacrifices was instituted, it began to play a fuller purpose in God’s plan for atonement. Then the Tabernacle was replaced by a permanent temple building in Solomon’s time, and it became a symbol of national identity and a beacon of God’s truth to the nations.
Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, then rebuilt under Ezra’s leadership. It was remodeled by Herod just before the time of Jesus, and destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. We hear a lot of talk about a temple being rebuilt once again on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. This is often seen as a key element of the last days events. But what about the temple now, in this time? What has happened to the concept of God’s presence, sacrifices for atonement, and outreach to the nations?
I believe the core idea represented by the temple has moved beyond a physical building. The temple does not need to be rebuilt – it has already been rebuilt. Where is it? God’s Spirit dwells in the hearts of believers and in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16, Ephesians 3:19-22). Even Solomon understood that God cannot fully dwell in a building made by human hands (1 Kings 8:27, see Acts 7:48, 17:24). Jesus clearly stated in John 2:19 and Matthew 26:61 that if the physical temple were destroyed He would rebuild it. Three days after His death, He did exactly that. Now that Jesus is risen, God dwells in His people through the Spirit. We are the temple. The earlier promise of God dwelling in a physical temple has blossomed into its flower stage. Everything the earthly temple was pointing toward has now become our everyday experience. In the New Jerusalem there is no longer any need for a temple because the presence of Christ is fully realized (Revelation 21:22).
If the Jewish people rebuild a physical house on Mt Zion it will not be God’s temple. If they begin to offer animal sacrifices according to the Old Testament pattern, it will not be the will of God. God no longer has need of a temple made of stone. Peter says we are the living stones which God is using to build his house (1 Peter 2:4-6). The final blood sacrifice of all time has been made; the Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world. There is no longer any need for the blood of bulls and goats. To go backwards is not God’s way. Jerusalem and its temple have fulfilled their purpose. God is now building a new temple and a new Jerusalem out of the people who call on His name.
Please do not think I am anti-Jewish. I have been to the temple mount several times. It is a wonderful experience to stand on that spot and remember all God did there. I love to visualize the temple as it was in Solomon’s time, or in Jesus time. This is a very important place in history, where God revealed Himself. Atonement was made there by the offering of animals. I would like to see the site remain accessible to tourists. But God does not dwell there, and He never will again. The temple and its sacrifices were a picture of something much greater which was coming later. But the idea of a temple has moved beyond the seed phase. Now God has taken the root truth and expanded it. We do not need to go backwards and restore a physical building.
I want to trace one more prophetic theme, the Kingdom of God. At first God’s people were very loosely organized under Moses and the judges. God allowed them to have a king only because they insisted (1 Samuel 8:7). Under David and Solomon, the kingdom prospered, and God promised that David would have a descendent on the throne forever (2 Samuel 7:15-16, 1 Kings 9:5). Because of the nation’s unfaithfulness, however, the kingdom was conquered by Babylon and never regained its former glory. Is God’s promise to David still waiting to be literally fulfilled? No. It has flowered and been fulfilled in a deeper way through Christ.
When Jesus began His ministry He said "the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17). Jesus is the promised descendent of David whose throne is established forever (Luke 1:32). The kingdom God had in mind for his people was far more than a political administration. It was a spiritual kingdom of the heart (Revelation 5:10). Jesus told Pilate "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). He told His disciples "the kingdom is within you" (Luke 17:21). We anticipate the time when Jesus will be formally crowned king of kings in the eternal kingdom of heaven (Revelation 19:16). If we look back to the first stirrings of a kingdom in the time of Samuel and Saul, we see that was a seed concept. It grew under David and Solomon and has now come to full bloom in David’s promised Son, the Messiah.
There is no need to go backwards in this progression and imagine that God’s kingdom will be embodied in a literal physical government at some point in the future. To imagine that God’s promise to David has remained unfulfilled for so many years and waits for a yet future period is to miss the point of the promise and its fulfillment in God’s Messiah. Jesus is the heir of David’s throne. We are now living in the fulfilled Kingdom of God.
I realize that the interpretation of prophecy I have been giving is very different from what most Christians have been taught in the last 30 years. Some will find it strange and even heretical. But I urge you to look carefully at what I have said. Look at the Scripture I have quoted and see if I have left something out. I have thought about this for a long time, and I am convinced that this approach is truer to the Scripture than the current popular view. In the next article, I plan to go into even greater detail and offer even more evidence to support my way of thinking.