9. CHRIST REVEALED AS A TRUE PROPHET

9. CHRIST REVEALED AS A TRUE PROPHET

           Jesus knew that the end of the appointed times prophesied by Daniel was near, (Matt. 24, etc.).  Although neither the day nor hour was known, the prophet Daniel had predicted the year.[1] If Daniel's predictions of an end had not come to pass in the appointed time as specified, Jesus would have been considered a false prophet and His words would not have found a place in the Biblical canon, and we would never have heard of Him. Jesus declared that "the [appointed] time is fulfilled," (Mark 1:15).  He was speaking of an "appointed time" that the people to whom He spoke were well aware. 

            Likewise, if Jesus' predictions of the end of Jerusalem and the nation had not come to pass in the specified time, that is, "this generation," He would have been called a false prophet; His words would never have been considered sacred; and we would never have heard of Him. But both Daniel and Jesus were proven to be true prophets by the fulfillment at the appointed time of their words, – not some imaginary or esoteric calculation of time outs but by the exact science of time-telling known to the faithful priests of Israel.

            Many eminent scholars have attempted to calculate these times and coordinate them with recorded historical events.[2]  From their work there is every reason to believe that the predictions were accurate, although the historical records they have to work with are fragmentary and open to interpretation. However, it is enough for me that the New Testament saints believed both Daniel and Jesus and recorded their prophesies as the inspired Word of God. They had access to first-hand information and experienced in their own lives the fulfillment. I do not question their judgment.  Furthermore, the New Testament has been proven and can yet be proven true by anyone who will believe, for Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive forevermore and is presently making intercession for us.  If He had been a false prophet, God would not so honor Him.

            Again, the end of the fleshly Israel established the pattern for the end of the entire world in the future. The fact that there was an immediate, literal fulfillment only confirms the general reference and the future eschatological fulfillment. The immediate reference that the gospel must be preached to "all the world" was fulfilled in the sense that the Roman Empire was called "all the world," (Luke 2:1), and "to every nation" was fulfilled in the sense that the tribes of Israel were "the nations," as in Acts 2:5.  Therefore, the gospel was fully preached, according to Colossians 1:23, before the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the "end of the age" for the fleshly Israel.

            The question, then, is whether or not Christ's prophecy was actually fulfilled concerning His appearance in a cloud "with power and great glory." The view popular with dispensationalists and pre-millennialists is that the events of Matthew 24:30 "did not take place after the fall of Jerusalem." [3]  Matthew 24:30: 

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.  See also Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27.

           Jesus spoke these words in the context of His prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. The phrase "and then" is a time phrase indicating that it follows in time what was just previously stated. If one is not willing to accept the testimony of the writers of the New Testament, I would suggest the secular historian Josephus' account of an appearance in the clouds over Jerusalem as it was being destroyed:

The signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation....Besides these (signs), a few days after that feast, on the one-and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities (6.5.3).

Matthew 24:29:

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:

            Again, the fact that this was fulfilled does not necessarily depend on our having some extant secular historical record of it. However, we do have records that the sun was darkened at the crucifixion.  We also know that Vesuvius erupted in AD 79 darkening the sun and moon over a large area of the world, and burying the city of Pompey, Italy. An earlier eruption of Vesuvius is recorded[4], although not so famous as that of AD 79. A more likely interpretation of this, however, is the spiritual one found in Micah 3:4-7. The prophets, priests and seers of Israel had lost their spiritual vision and so gross darkness had come upon the people, as if an eclipse darkened the sun and moon. Nevertheless, the Lord God Almighty has become the Light as in Isaiah 60:19-20:

19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. (Isaiah 60)

            We do know that the prophecy in Joel 2:31 was interpreted as having already been fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:19):

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

If Peter and the eleven and the men of Judea believed at that time that Joel 2:31 had been fulfilled, then I am willing to accept their judgment on the matter and declare that it had indeed been fulfilled.[5]

            Another popular teaching is that: "They shall look upon Him whom they pierced", (Zech. 12:10), has never been fulfilled but is yet future. However, this phrase is also interpreted as having been fulfilled when the soldiers pierced the side of Christ, John 19:37. It does not, therefore, require another future, literal fulfillment.

            The people of the New Testament believed Daniel's chronology and therefore knew it was time for the Christ. The best evidence we have for the fact that Daniel's times were indeed fulfilled is the fact that the people in the New Testament believed they were. For example, Simeon and Anna knew it was time for the Christ to be born. Andrew was expecting the Christ (John 1:41). John the Baptist had to deny that he was the Christ for the people were expecting the Christ, John 1:20, 3:28. The woman of Samaria expected the Christ, John 4:25, 29, 42; and the rulers expected the Christ, Luke 22:67, John 10:24. Many other references in the New Testament show that the "end" was expected in their lifetime.  For example:

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. (1 Pet. 4:7)

For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Pet. 4:17)

15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians. 4)

            Christ's signal predictions in the Gospels were fully realized in the events of the destruction of Jerusalem, serving also as a sign of the yet future end of the Gentile age. Thus the book of Revelation shows that the morally imperative fulfillment of Christ's prophecies did come to pass, proving that He was indeed a true Prophet.

            Just as God's word by Jeremiah was fulfilled, so also was the prophecy of Jesus fulfilled in the utter desolation of the city of Jerusalem in AD 70.[6] The fact that Jeremiah's and Jesus' predictions came to pass should have the effect of striking Godly fear into the hearts of the Gentile world, for their words are surety of the pending judgment upon the Gentile world throughout the whole earth when the Gospel has been fully preached to all nations and the whole world stands accountable before God.  Rather than being a source of racial pride and/or bigotry, it is proof that God is indeed "no respecter of person in judgment."

Next week's lesson: "Christ Revealed as Judge." Today's lesson is from Revelation in Context pages 85-87. Revelation in Context is available at Amazon.com or XulonPress.com or locally at the Living Word bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Free downloads are also available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

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[1] The year was known by those priests who had kept faithful records and observations.  The differences between the Roman method of calculating time by solar years, and the Hebrew method of calculating by lunar years would have been very confusing to those not trained in the art of calendar-reckoning. Time-reckoning was an exact science that involved calculation of several motions of moon, sun and stars and required a good deal of study. It was therefore not a concept easily worked into a sermon to an untrained audience.

[2] See also my Introductory Articles: "Christ as Time and Light", also "Calculating the Seventy Weeks."

[3] Paul Dodson, Latest Word.

[4] On the 5^th of February, AD 62 large earthquakes destroyed buildings in Pompeii, which should have been a warning of the eruption of Vesuvius to come. It is reported that a flock of 600 sheep were completely swallowed by this earthquake. Then in AD 64 another great earthquake rocked the Naples area and pumice and ash from Vesuvius covered the land for about 70 kilometers, or about 43.5 miles. The atmosphere was no doubt also filled with dust and debris which could well have reached as far as Jerusalem, darkening the sun and moon or turning them blood red.

[5] God Himself is called "a sun": “For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11). He takes the place of the sun and moon when He dwells in the midst of his holy city, New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:23.

[6] The destruction of Jerusalem was not all accomplished in one year.  Reference to the year AD 70  is to the time when the City was surrendered.