The purpose of Old Testament prophecy regarding Israel was not so much to inform the present-day Church about Israel's future, as it was to assure first-century Israel first of all, and afterwards the Gentiles, that Jesus was indeed their Messiah.
In the Gospel, every nation's future is the same as Israel's future. Those who believed will be saved; while those who believe not will be damned.
Christ came "in the end of the world" and the Law was nailed to His cross - making one new man in Himself, fulfilling the promise to Abraham that:
"In thy seed (not seeds plural, but seed singular - which was Christ) shall all nations of the earth (not only the Jews) be blessed (justified)".
In that saying, God "preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham", explained Paul.
"Before Abraham was, I am," declared Jesus.
Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad".
The historical fact of fulfilled Old Testament prophecy is one of the foundations upon which the Church was built.
To mistake those prophecies as still awaiting fulfilment in the future, is to lose sight of the completeness of the New Covenant. It removes a Scriptural and historic foundation for our faith. It wrongly implies the necessity of a return to Judaism in future. All of that would be impossible, unnecessary and wrong.
It would also be a mistake to alter the identity of 'Israel' in the prophecies to mean not Israel at all, but only the Church. Jesus had to be born in Israel, not Iraq; in Bethlehem, not Baghdad. Salvation had to be offered first to the Jew, and afterward to Gentiles. The fact that those details were required by prophecy, and the fact that that's exactly how it came to pass in history, established a case for Jesus being Messiah.
It would also be a mistake to claim some sort of 'double fulfilment' for such prophecies: one in the Church, and another in the future in Israel. A future fulfilment of all of the details of the prophecies is now a logistic impossibility, given the destruction of the Temple, the loss of Levitical genealogies, and the expiration of Daniel's 70 'weeks' by the end of Jesus' generation. If the prophecies weren't fulfilled while they still could be, then they forever lost their opportunity to be fulfilled.
Therefore we know Messiah had to come within a window of history when all of the prophesied details could still come to pass. There is only one person in history who met all of the required criteria, and that is Jesus of Nazareth.
Fulfilled prophecy therefore assures us - as it assured the early Church - that Jesus Christ who was crucified and who rose again the third day - is both Lord and Messiah, and He's coming again.
In the Gospel, every nation's future is the same as Israel's future. Those who believed will be saved; while those who believe not will be damned.
Christ came "in the end of the world" and the Law was nailed to His cross - making one new man in Himself, fulfilling the promise to Abraham that:
"In thy seed (not seeds plural, but seed singular - which was Christ) shall all nations of the earth (not only the Jews) be blessed (justified)".
In that saying, God "preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham", explained Paul.
"Before Abraham was, I am," declared Jesus.
Jesus said, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad".
The historical fact of fulfilled Old Testament prophecy is one of the foundations upon which the Church was built.
To mistake those prophecies as still awaiting fulfilment in the future, is to lose sight of the completeness of the New Covenant. It removes a Scriptural and historic foundation for our faith. It wrongly implies the necessity of a return to Judaism in future. All of that would be impossible, unnecessary and wrong.
It would also be a mistake to alter the identity of 'Israel' in the prophecies to mean not Israel at all, but only the Church. Jesus had to be born in Israel, not Iraq; in Bethlehem, not Baghdad. Salvation had to be offered first to the Jew, and afterward to Gentiles. The fact that those details were required by prophecy, and the fact that that's exactly how it came to pass in history, established a case for Jesus being Messiah.
It would also be a mistake to claim some sort of 'double fulfilment' for such prophecies: one in the Church, and another in the future in Israel. A future fulfilment of all of the details of the prophecies is now a logistic impossibility, given the destruction of the Temple, the loss of Levitical genealogies, and the expiration of Daniel's 70 'weeks' by the end of Jesus' generation. If the prophecies weren't fulfilled while they still could be, then they forever lost their opportunity to be fulfilled.
Therefore we know Messiah had to come within a window of history when all of the prophesied details could still come to pass. There is only one person in history who met all of the required criteria, and that is Jesus of Nazareth.
Fulfilled prophecy therefore assures us - as it assured the early Church - that Jesus Christ who was crucified and who rose again the third day - is both Lord and Messiah, and He's coming again.
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