Thursday 4 December 2014

How to Understand Eschatology

To understand Old Testament Prophecy:

1. Look at all of the Old Testament verses which are quoted in the New Testament by the Apostles, taking note of the way they applied it, particularly of the timeframe in which they regarded it to have been fulfilled;

2. Then go back to the verses' source-passage in the Old Testament, and read the wider passage in light of the way the Apostles applied the verse, and in light of the timeframe they gave for its fulfilment.

That ought to do it!

But if you want two more tips:

3. Any prophecy which was about Levitical worship MUST have been fulfilled WHILE the Old Covenant still stood - because God isn't into returning to a shadow (that would include mention of Levites, priests, altar, Temple, offerings, feasts, incense, circumcision, prohibition against pork, and pilgrimages to Jerusalem);

4. Take note of other time-indicators in the text (for example if the passage specified 70 years, or 70 weeks for its fulfilment then it must have been fulfilled in that time; or if a prophecy distinguished between the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah then its fulfilment must have been around the time of the return from captivity; if a passage mentioned cavalry, chariots and archery as weaponry, and tents as dwellings then its fulfilment doesn't likely refer to modern times).

And one more:

5. Christ and the Gospel-scheme is the focal-point that Prophecy led to - there is no other scheme - no third testament to follow - in order for Old Testament prophecy to be fulfilled.

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