Figuring Out The Chronology
Anyone who has studied eschatology (study of last things or unfulfilled prophecy and an aspect of our study on the afterlife or hereafter) will confess that the greatest difficulty in understanding and interpreting prophecies is in regard to discerning the order of events of things, particularly as it relates to the second coming of Christ, and in regard to all yet unfulfilled prophecy.
Just as bible believers discuss and disagree on the "ordo salutis" (which deals with the sequence or order of things within the doctrine of salvation), so too do they also disagree on the chronology of prophetic events yet to occur. However, it was also that way in the days when Christ was born. It was also that way among the prophets of Israel. They too tried to figure out what things would happen first. Notice first this text:
"And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things." (Matt. 17: 9-11 nkjv)
Notice the words "coming first." Further, the people understood the order as to who would come first, Elijah or the Messiah. They no doubt were confused on some of the other order of things predetermined to come to pass.
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow." (I Peter 1: 10-11 NIV)
"Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order (Greek word anatassomai) a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us..." (Luke 1: 1 kjv)
The Greek word means to "set in order" or "arrange" or "compose." It does deal with sequence. It is important that narrators and historians in teaching and conveying stories to get things in their right order. To get the order mixed up can ruin a story or narrative. Getting historical events wrong also creates enigmas and contradictions. It is also important in giving directions, as when you say "you go this way till you come to this sign, then you turn right when you see another sign..." If you get the sign order wrong in the directions you will get lost.
The old testament prophets did not always understand things in the right order as we will see as we proceed with this study.
One of the things I have liked about Luke's gospel is the fact that he wants to get the events in the story of the life of Christ in the right order and when there is a seeming conflict between his narrative and that of Matthew, Mark, or John, I go with Luke. I also believe that he wrote in the right order in the Book of Acts, written by him.
So, it has always been an area of intense investigation by dedicated bible students to discern, when it comes to unfilled prophecies, which comes first. That is quite apparent when it comes to answering the question - "which comes first, the great tribulation or the rapture and second coming?" It also shows up when someone asks "who comes first, Christ or Antichrist?" So, not only is the order of the various aspects of salvation important, but so too is the order of the various things yet to occur in the future per all unfulfilled prophecy. Like the old testament prophets we today as late new testament believers are also "trying to find out the time and circumstances" of things yet to occur at the end of this age and in the ages to come.
Isaiah's New Heavens and Earth
17“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. 20“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, And their offspring with them. 24“It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lord." (Isa. 65: 17-25 nkjv)
“For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. 24“And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isa. 66: 22-24 nkjv)
When is this fulfilled? During the Millennium? Or, in the beginning age of the ages of the ages? Is this description of new heavens and earth the same as the description by Peter, John, and other new testament writers?
It seems clear to me and to others that the new heavens and earth of Isaiah have their fulfillment in the Millennium while the descriptions given by Peter and John have their fulfillment in the ages following the Millennium. We should begin by showing how Isaiah's description differs from that of John in the Apocalypse.
Isaiah’s vision for the new heavens and earth includes physical death (although human life-spans are substantially lengthened) and a greatly transformed quality of natural life, yet it still falls short of eternal life in the new heavens and earth described by John in the Apocalypse. In the new heaven and earth of John we are told, for one thing, that there is "no more death." (Rev. 21: 4) Isaiah’s vision must therefore, for this reason alone, be pointing to the Millennium (which, in many ways, as we will see, anticipates the eternal state).
My Thesis
The prophecies of the old testament concerning the coming of Christ the Messiah did not reveal that there would be two comings of Christ (they assuming that all that Christ would accomplish would involve only one coming). It is the new testament revelation, first given by Christ himself while here on earth, that speaks of his going away and coming again, and telling us that both comings would be different in their purpose and effect. (See for instance Colossians 1: 26-27)
The new testament inspired authors speak of several "mysteries" that saints of the old testament did not have revealed to them to the extent that they are now revealed in the new testament. The idea that Christ would come to earth two times and separated by thousands of years was not revealed to them, although hints of it were present to them. Because of this, when we read old testament texts describing things that are to occur when the Messiah would come, we see where some of them were fulfilled in his first coming but others in his second coming. Notice this text from the gospels as an example:
"16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4: 16-20)
Here is the text in Isaiah that Christ read from:
"61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."
Why did Christ abruptly quit reading the Isaiah text when he did? Why did he not say "this day is this scripture fulfilled" in relation to the words following, such as "to proclaim the day of vengeance" or "they shall build the old wastes" and "raise up the former desolations" and "repair waste cities" and "the desolations of many generations"? Is it not because the first part of the Isaiah passage, that part which was read by Christ, was fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, but the rest, the part he did not read nor pronounce as fulfilled, awaits fulfillment at his second coming?
The Scofield Reference Bible expresses this view, saying:
“Observe that Jesus suspended the reading of this passage in the synagogue at Nazareth Lu 4:16-21 at the comma in the middle of Isa 61:2. The first advent, therefore, opened the day of grace, “the acceptable year of Jehovah,” but does not fulfil the day of vengeance. That will be taken up when Messiah returns 2Th 1:7-10 Cf. Isa 34:8; 35:4-10. The last verse, taken with the 4th, gives the historic connection: the vengeance precedes the regathering of Israel, and synchronizes with the day of the Lord. Isa 2:10-22; Re 19:11-21; Isa 63:1-6.”
Some think that it is reading too much into this fact that Christ stopped reading just where he did with the closing words "this scripture is fulfilled today." In fact, he could not rightly say of the "day of vengeance" that it had also been fulfilled and is the reason he stopped where he did in his citation.
The brothers at Got Questions web page (See here) say what others also say along this line, writing (emphasis mine):
"The Old Testament clearly teaches that the Messiah would come, but it does not explicitly say that He would come twice."
They also write:
"In short, there were many things in the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah that were not fully explained, and sometimes seemingly contradictory things were presented in the same book or even the same chapter. Some of the Jewish rabbis even suggested that there would be two Messiahs, a humble, suffering one and a conquering, reigning one; but no one was suggesting that the same Messiah would come twice, once to suffer and once to reign."
I firmly believe what these brethren write in the above two citations. They also write:
"The Old Testament had several mysteries regarding the Messiah: would He be a divine figure or a human descendant of David? The New Testament gives the answer—both, because of the Incarnation. Would the Messiah be cut off or reign forever? The New Testament gives the answer—both, because of the Resurrection. Would the Messiah come to suffer or to reign? The New Testament once again gives the answer—both, because He would come twice."
They also write:
"The idea that the Messiah would come once to suffer and again to reign is not clearly taught in the Old Testament, although the doctrine is completely consistent with Old Testament teaching. Further, the second coming resolves some of the apparently contradictory teachings about the Messiah in the Old Testament."
We could give many examples of how many old testament prophecies of the Messiah have parts of the prophecy finding fulfillment in Christ's first coming, while the rest find fulfillment in Christ's second coming. Also, some things are fulfilled in both comings. There are instances of what theologians call a "dual fulfillment."
Clarence Larkin, Dispensationalist teacher and architect of many charts that have been widely used by bible teachers, in the chart at the heading of this chapter, shows how the prophets often did not see the chronology of events so clearly. Their prophecies of the coming of Christ and of the kingdom of God and of the new heavens and earth are often envisioned as occurring in one single coming or in one single age or period of time.
In a discussion board at "Quora" one writer, Chavoux Luyt, expressed my view very well and copy and paste it here. He wrote (See here - emphasis mine):
"Why then does Isaiah explicitly mention the new heavens and earth? I believe that this is typical of prophecy (most clearly seen in the Old Testament, but also for example, in Matt.24 — referring to both the coming fall of Jerusalem, within that same generation, and the far future return of the Son of Man, the Messiah, within what appears like a single prophecy). Some theologians use the word “telescopy”. It is the idea that similar to a mountain range seen at a distance, where the mountains often seem to be on the same level, once you get closer, you can see that there are actually two mountain ranges that are separated quite far from each other. The same pattern is seen in the Messianic prophecies where the prophets often made no distinction between the first coming of the Messiah and his final triumphant return (e.g. Mic.5, Is.7–9). It is not only seen in the Messianic prophecies, it is sometimes also seen in shorter term, more literal prophecies, e.g. that of Ezekiel on Tyre, where part of the prophecy was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar (victory over the mainland part of Tyre) and the last part of the prophecy (the walls been thrown into the sea and the city totally destroyed, including the island portion) only being fulfilled much later in the time of Alexander the Great. Yet, both events are found in the same prophecy as if it is single event. (this is what is also called a "dual fulfillment" of prophecy) For this reason I believe that a similar pattern is at play in Isaiah 65. Both the eventual new heavens and earth (where there is no death at all) and the “millennial” reign of Messiah on earth, are described within a single prophecy as part of the same plan of God and in language that would make much more sense to the Israelites at the time, before Messiah had been raised from the dead and eternal life has become a reality. But it is a misunderstanding of that prophecy (like many have misinterpreted other old Testament prophecies) to insist that the whole prophecy refers to the same time period."
Wrote Dr. John Piper in commenting upon the prophecy of Malachi (4: 1-3, 5) about the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord (see here - emphasis mine):
"There was no clear prophecy in the Old Testament that this day of the Lord, with its blazing judgment against evil, and its healing and leaping for joy for those who fear God, would come in two stages separated by 2,000 years. The Old Testament prophetic perspective looked at the nearer and farther mountains in the mountain range of God’s future and saw them as temporally indistinct."
The very first announcement of a Messiah by God himself in the Garden of Eden speaks of a singular coming, and yet we now know that Messiah was predetermined to come twice, and each for its own ends and purposes. That promise, called the protoevangelium, is given in these words of God to the Serpent:
"And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.” (Gen. 3: 15 nkjv)
All recognize this as a prophecy of the coming of that one called "her seed," and the "desired one," i.e. the Messiah or Christ. However, in the fulfillment of this prophecy, the bruising of the heel of the virgin's seed was fulfilled in Christ's first coming when the Serpent (Satan) via his seed put Christ to death, literally wounding him in his feet and heels via the nails. But, the crushing of the serpent's head did not occur during the first coming, but will occur during the second coming. Christ obtained victory over the Serpent and his seed when he lived a life without sin and in obedience to the will of his Father died as an innocent sacrifice for the sins of believers. But, the complete overthrow of Satan awaits the second coming. So Paul testifies: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Rom. 16: 20) In Isaiah's prophecy of new heavens and earth, cited already, he says:
"The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD." (Isa. 65: 25)
Here the prophecy of the fate of the Serpent and his seed about eating dust and being crushed by the seed of the woman is viewed as what is yet to be fully realized. Yes, in some sense, Satan has been defeated, but his complete destruction awaits the time Christ has chosen. Perhaps we can say that there is a dual fulfillment of these prophecies. Yet, who can deny that the prophecy has things that were fulfilled in the first coming and things that await fulfillment in the second coming?
Here is another example:
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end." (Isaiah 9: 6-7)
This passage combines a prophecy of a child being born (the first coming) and the prophecy of the Davidic kingdom being revived, bringing peace and righteousness from then and forever more (the second coming). Isaiah combines the two events as though they were one.
We see the same thing in the prophecies of Zechariah.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.’(Zech 9: 9-10)
The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus at His first coming. (Matt 21: 1-11) But, the second part will be fulfilled by Christ at his second coming.
Conclusion
The description that Isaiah gives of the new heavens and earth in chapters 65 and 66 of his book of prophecies mix together two scenes, like a "double exposure" in photographs, for he mixes the Millennial Age with the ages following, i.e. the ages of the ages. Since we now have the additional revelation of the Messiah himself, and of the new testament inspired writers, we can separate the events foretold into what is fulfilled in his first coming and what is fulfilled in his second coming.
In the next chapter we will look at Isaiah's description further and see how it describes things which are to be fulfilled in the Millennium alone, which are to be fulfilled in the ages following, and which are fulfilled in both the Millennium and the ages following.
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