There are two beliefs each of which, if applied indiscriminately, might lead to serious error in the consideration of prophecy:
- That many prophecies in the Bible have a dual fulfillment.
- That many historical events recorded in the Bible have a prophetic significance.
To prove that belief (a) is held we would quote the following from a recent Christadelphian book on prophecy: “Like so many divine prophecies this one also has both a proximate and an ultimate significance”. The idea is that the ultimate fulfilment is the one that really matters.
If a proximate and ultimate fulfilment of prophecy were a divine principle would there not be instances in the Scriptures where it has been applied? It might come as a surprise to find that there is no clear instance of this: true it is that Daniel’s prophecy of “the abomination of desolation’ was fulfilled when Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 1 70) desecrated the Temple at Jerusalem and according to Christ’s words, in the Olivet prophecy, it had a further fulfilment in A.D. 70, but that dual fulfilment hardly comes under the category we are considering, for both fulfilments were of more or less equal importance so that it was not a case of a proximate and ultimate fulfilment, for Christ was not speaking of the ultimate destruction of the Temple, but of the events that would lead to that destruction.
Another example which might be thought to illustrate this case was Malachi’s prophecy, “Behold I will send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord”, and Christ’s statement to his disciples, “Esias truly shall come and restore all things”, but here we enter the realms of conjecture for many hold that Christ’s further words, “Behold I say unto you that Elias is come already” indicate that Malachi’s prophecy will have no further fulfilment, so that it might be unwise to base such an important belief as the dual fulfilment of prophecy upon this somewhat ambiguous record.
The practice of removing the literal into the sphere of the spiritual is one which we rightly condemn when our orthodox friends apply it to such prophecies as the return of Christ, but is it not one we ourselves sometimes adopt with other prophecies? An example is found in another Christadelphian publication, where the writer, having stated that the animals of Daniel chapter 7 represent Britain (the lion), Russia (the bear) and the Arab League (the leopard), quotes Isaiah 11. 6, “The leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed and their young ones lie down together”, on which he comments, “What a wonderful continuance of the picture of Daniel chapter 7? Here the cruel and rapacious beasts, who had preyed on the more placid animals of the earth and built great empires, now lose their dominion and lie down in peace with the lamb and the kid and the calf and the fatling together, and Thy Holy Child, Christ Jesus, shall lead them in the green pastures of the knowledge of God. Of course the natural and spiritual ideas are represented, a double meaning, common in prophecy, both the natural and national beasts are referred to”.
“Of course, a double meaning, common in prophecy”-having accepted the principle that a double meaning is common in prophecy it can be made to provide evidence for any interpretation we care to introduce. For instance, if we wish to prove that the Bible teaches that Europe will soon be devastated we can quote the many prophecies which foretold the devastation of Israel or Babylon in Old Testament times, for if prophecies can have a double application why should not these apply to present day Europe? This, by the way, is no flight of fancy on our part for this very thing has been done by the Christadelphian writer from whom we have just quoted, and who is to say that he is wrong, if we accept the principle that a double meaning is common in prophecy?
Another writer, apparently adopting the double application principle, has stated that the prophecy concerning Tyre in Isaiah chapter 23 applies also to Britain. He writes:
“Accepting the interpretation that Tarshish represents Britain, there is a remarkable prophecy in Isaiah 23 predicting the present decline of the nation. It addresses Tarshish as a merchant power whose magnates were once the ‘merchant princes and honourable traffickers of the earth’ (verse 8).But ‘The Lord of Hosts hath purported it, to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth’. ‘Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish. There is no more strength. He stretches out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms; the Lord hath given a command against the merchant city to destroy the strongholds thereof.’ ” Upon which the writer comments, “Here the decline of Britain is predicted over 2,500 years ago. Today the truth of those words is apparent, Britain has declined to a second-rate power”.
But did this prophecy refer to Britain?
Note the words, “The Lord hath given command against the merchant city”. This undoubtedly referred to Tyre, which is styled “the joyous city (verse 7), “the crowning city” (verse 8) and “the merchant city” (verse 11). There is not one hint that it was intended to apply to any other than the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre.
For instance, how could the following part of the prophecy apply to Britain? : “And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years Tyre shall sing as an harlot” (verse 15). Or this: “And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord shall visit Tyre and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth” (verse 17). These items certainly applied to Tyre when and after she suffered eclipse during those seventy years of Babylon’s ascendancy, so often referred to in the Scriptures (Jeremiah 25. 11-12. Daniel 9. 2. 2 Chronicles 36. 21). But when did they apply to Britain?
If we pick out part of a prophecy and ignore the rest we can make it appear to mean almost anything we wish it to mean, but if we read the whole of the prophecy contained in Isaiah chapter 23 we shall find that by no stretch of imagination could it be made to apply to Britain, for the parts we have quoted are essentially part of the decline referred to earlier in the prophecy and cannot be separated from it.
Almost without exception prophecies of the Bible were addressed to the people contemporary with the prophet and had a purely local application. The idea of applying them to a period other than the one the prophet intended is not new but is apparently as old as human nature itself, for a prime example has recently come to light in the so-called Habakuk Commentary,found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, in which the writer of 2,000 years ago endeavoured to prove that chapter 1 of Habakuk did not really refer to the impending Babylonian invasion of that land centuries later by another power. No doubt that commentator was convinced that he was right and probably his followers were prepared to accept his deductions without question, but does anybody now believe that he was right? for all agree that Habakuk’s prophecy referred exclusively to the Babylonian invasion. Should not this be a warning to us? for the error into which he fell is very common at the present time.
An understanding of the true character of prophecy will enable us to distinguish between prophecy and type. There are many instances where types are used in the scriptures. Paul tells us that Isaac and Ishmael were allegorical of the two covenants God had made with mankind and that “Adam was a figure of him that was to come”. Jonah was a sign to the people of Christ’s day, “for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, but none of these figures were prophecies, because at the time they came into being they were not intended to foretell the future, which is what we expect of prophecy. They were simply types which some speaker or writer, at a later date used to illustrate his teaching.
Many parallels can be drawn between our wilderness journey to Zion and the forty years wandering of the children of Israel on their way to the Promised Land—Paul has much to say in that connection—but could it be argued that the children of Israel had these experiences purely with the object of providing a prophecy that would apply to us in our day? or even that anybody at that time saw a prophecy in their experiences? Is it not rather that we can now see a parallel between their and our experiences? so that we can say with Paul, “These things happened to them typically, and were written for our admonition, on whom the Ends of all the Ages are come” (Diaglott).
There are instances in the Bible where past historic events were quoted as symbolical of what would happen in future Hosea’s prophecy of the forthcoming Assyrian captivity in the words, “They shall return to Egypt” was a case in point—but where is there an instance of an historic record being also a prophecy? Some might quote Matthew’s application (Mat. 2. 15) of Hosea’s statement of historic fact, ”Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Hosea 11. 1), but could Matthew really have meant that this was a prophecy which foretold that the infant Jesus would be brought out of Egypt by his parents? for Hosea’s statement goes on to tell of Israel’s backsliding, which could not possibly apply to Christ. Was not this but another case of parallel? that just as God called upon Moses to bring Israel out of Egypt so he called upon Joseph saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Palestine”.
Even supposing that the principles of prophetic interpretation to which we have referred in this article do exist in the Bible, we trust that what we have written proves that there is no case for applying them indiscriminately and that harm may result if they are applied indiscriminately.
Jacob’s Prophecy in Gen 49 and Other Discussion Questions