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History is Prophecy
by David Currie

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HISTORY IS PROPHECY (pages 60 through 63 of Rapture: The End Times Error that Leaves the Bible Behind)

An event can be a prophecy of a still-future, final fulfillment, and when it is, we should consider the entire historical context of the events to gain a fuller understanding.

In all of Scripture, there is perhaps no prophecy more widely known than Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore be Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman [version] shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." This prophecy was written hundreds of years before Christ, so it may surprise you to find out that this prophecy was actually fulfilled within the lifetime of Isaiah.

In Isaiah's time, the king of Judah was Ahaz, who was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. Jerusalem was being besieged by Damascus (the Syrians) and Ephraem (the Israelites), or the ten northern tribes. To most of the people of God (Judah) at that time, the situation looked hopeless. Through the prophet Isaiah, God assured the king that their enemies would not be victorious over them. God would send the Assyrians against Damascus and Ephraem. Isaiah promised the king that a young girl would conceive and give birth to a son. This time it would eventually be weaned, but before that child was weaned, Judea's enemies would be destroyed.

Isaiah promised Hezekiah that salvation was certain, but there would be a lengthy period before that salvation was fully realized. Isaiah himself writes that this son was born: "The prophetess... conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, 'Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz; for before the child knows how to cry "My father" or "My mother," the wealth of Damascus and... Samaria will be carried away'" (Isa. 8:3-4).

Sure enough, when we look back at history, Jerusalem was spared from its enemies during those years. But the story does not stop there. In fewer than seventy years, Ephraem (the ten northern tribes that had rejected the reign of David's heir) was utterly conquered, dispersed, and left without a trace. Jerusalem did indeed experience God's salvation, but not every descendent of Abraham benefited from that salvation. Those Israelites who had rejected the Davidic line of Kings were destroyed and forgotten. Even today they are known as the ten lost tribes of Israel.

But an interesting thing occurred to this prophecy after it was initially fulfilled. The leaders of the people of God taught that the events centered on Isaiah 7:14 still had another future fulfillment in mind. We might stated this way: the event itself (the birth of a son via a young woman that signals the coming salvation of God's faithful remnant and the destruction of the faithless majority) was a prophecy pointing to a more important fulfillment in the future. Someday another Son would come who would signal the availability of a more universal salvation for a new Israel, the Israel of God. "Israel of God" is the terminology of St. Paul for the Church (Gal. 6:16; Rom. 9:6).

Even before the conception of Christ, many of these Jewish leaders or stating that the young woman of the still-future fulfillment would actually be a virgin. This is evident in the word that Jewish translators used to render this verse into Greek in the Septuagint of Isaiah 7:14. By the time of Christ, this passage from Isaiah was understood to be a Messianic prophecy, and the Gospels reference it as such. When Matthew uses this prophecy of Isaiah in Matthew 1:23, he points to more than just the virgin birth. He includes in his view the entire series of events surrounding Isaiah's time. These events included the salvation of the believing remnant in the destruction of the unbelieving majority that occurred much later than the actual birth of the child.

So we can observe that when a prophecy is fulfilled, that for filling event may itself be, prophecy, pointing to another, more final and complete fulfillment. Here is our third ground rule: An event can be a prophecy of a still-future, final fulfillment, and when it is, we should consider the entire historical context of the events to gain a fuller understanding. To put it succinctly, history can become prophecy.

St. Thomas Aquinas enunciated this principle. He wrote that the "allegorical sense" of Scripture is a reading of the Bible that appreciates the fact that even if in persons described can point to something beyond themselves, and so built faith in us. For example, Adam is a type of Christ, while Eve is a type of Mary.

In his thought, even St. Thomas harkens back to an earlier authority, St. Gregory. He wrote, "Scripture transcends all other sciences by the way it uses one and the same discourse to tell history and reveal mystery."

We repeatedly see illustrations of Old Testament stories fulfilled in the New Testament. The sacrifices of the old covenant foreshadow the one Sacrifice of Christ. The Hebrews' forty years in the desert prefigure the forty days of Jesus' being tempted in the desert. Jonah in the belly of the fish is used by Jesus as a type for His own death and Resurrection. Over and over the Old Testament events give us a picture of what will occur in the New Testament.

This ground rule also leads us to an important caveat. Although ninety-nine percent of all biblical prophecy has been fulfilled are ready, past events themselves can and do point to the final fulfillment of history when Christ returns. For example, antichrists have come (1 John 2:18) and will continue to come. Each of them for shadows of the one, final antichrist who will embody and perfect all of their evils. The events of the past can be and viewed with meaning in the future by the God who is omnipotent and omniscient.