Thursday 24 November 2016

Transcendency in Old Testament Prophecy

There was a transcendent nature about some of the prophecies in the Old Testament.

Jesus, referring to events current to his own time, sometimes said the current event was the fulfilment of certain Old Testament prophecies.

Peter said it was revealed to the prophets that they weren't speaking about their own time, but ours.

Jesus said many prophets and righteous men longed to see and hear the things which we now see and understand through the Gospel, but didn't see them. Because the mystery was kept hidden, until it was revealed through the Gospel.

So it would have been impossible to ascertain - to deduce logically and grammatically - from the prophecies themselves - at the time when they were spoken - whether certain details in the prophecies referred to their time or ours or to a still-future time. Otherwise the prophets could have deduced all that - but instead it needed to be 'revealed' to them that certain things didn't refer to their time but to ours.

Not even the disciples understood that Messiah had to die and rise again, despite being with Him some three-and-a-half years - until after His resurrection, when He opened their eyes and expounded the Scriptures to them.

So it's hardly possible to draw conclusions about still-future things, based on Old Testament prophecies, unless the Apostles already explained the said-Scripture for us.

Unfolding current events won't be good interpreters of Old Testament prophecy. Only the Lord's and the Apostles' words and writings (in the Gospels, Acts and Epistles) are authoritative interpreters of the Old Testament prophecy.

Therefore we shouldn't seek to apply Old Testament prophecy beyond what they explained.

No comments:

Post a Comment