You may want to have two or three students share about what they wrote for the Lesson 1 assignments.
As an optional review exercise, you could read some of the Scriptures that go with the “Reasons to Study Biblical Prophecy” section (from Lesson 1) and ask the students to give the reason that is based on each Scripture. For example, read Revelation 1:3, then ask, “What reason does this give us for studying prophecy?”
This lesson has two parts. The first is about the significance of fulfilled prophecies. The second part describes the history of Israel and prophecies about Israel that many scholars consider important for eschatology.
This course is a study of what God’s Word reveals about the future. This lesson will briefly study some fulfilled prophecies because they show how prophecy has been important in the past.
The Bible makes some statements about how we should think about prophecies.
A student should read Isaiah 46:9-10, 48:3, 5 for the group.
► What do these passages show us about the importance of fulfilled prophecies?
God shows that he can decide what will happen, and he can make it happen. Fulfilled prophecy shows God’s control.
God sometimes said what he would do before he did it, so that people would know that it happened by his power and not by the power of false gods.
God says that he is the one who knows everything that will happen from the beginning. He also has the power to say what he will do. No other force can prevent God from accomplishing his will.
“God knows all of his own works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). From the beginning of time, God knew everything he would ever do. That implies that he knew all things, because he would not have known his own future actions if he had not known all future situations. Nothing ever surprises God. God is never unprepared for anything that happens.
A student should read Deuteronomy 18:22 for the group.
► Why was it necessary for a prophet to be perfectly accurate when he said that he spoke for God? How is that different from preaching and teaching in general?
Because of the complete knowledge and power of God, any prophet who claimed to speak for God had to be completely accurate. That did not mean that the prophet knew everything or that all his opinions were right; but when the prophet said he had a message from God, that message had to be accurate. If a prophet’s prediction was wrong, people were not supposed to trust him as a prophet.[1]
► What if a person makes prophecies that come true, but teaches doctrines that are not true? Should we follow this person?
A student should read Deuteronomy 13:1-3 for the group.
Accurate prophecy is not enough to prove that a person is from God.
Prophecy Fulfillments Recorded in Scripture
Note to class leader: If the group needs to save time, it is not necessary to look up the references in this section.
The Bible contains the record of the fulfillment of many prophecies. This section gives a few examples.
When the city of Jericho was destroyed, Joshua made a curse that would come on whoever rebuilt the city. He said that the person’s youngest son and oldest son would die (Joshua 6:36). The fulfillment of this prophecy is recorded in 1 Kings 16:34.
The army of Judah faced a large army of enemies, but the prophet told them they would not have to fight. Because the king believed the message from God, he sent singers in front of his army to lead them in praise for God. God caused the enemies to begin fighting each other until they were all killed (2 Chronicles 20:14-17, 20-23).
The prophet Elijah predicted details about the death of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings 21:19, 23). He said that dogs would lick the blood of Ahab and that dogs would eat Jezebel. The prophecies were fulfilled (1 Kings 22:38 and 2 Kings 9:30-36).
Fulfillments in History
Cyrus of Persia
The empire of Babylon conquered the kingdom of Judah and moved much of the population into another country. The prophet Isaiah predicted that King Cyrus of Persia would release the Jews to return to their country and that he would order the rebuilding of the temple and city (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1, 13). Isaiah made this prediction more than 100 years before it was fulfilled. At the time of Isaiah’s ministry, Persia was not the dominant empire, and Cyrus had not been born.
The Bible records the fulfillment of this prophecy in Ezra 1:1-8. The Jewish historian Josephus and other Jewish historians wrote about it also. The Greek historian Herodotus gave a description of Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon. An ancient Persian historian wrote about Cyrus’s decision to send people from many countries back to their homelands. His writing is called the Cyrus Cylinder. The Cylinder does not mention Jews specifically, but shows that Cyrus set this policy.
Isaiah called Cyrus the “anointed” of God (Isaiah 45:1), but that means that God gave him the power to do the plan of God. It does not mean that Cyrus consciously served God. The Cyrus Cylinder says that Cyrus claimed to be blessed by Marduk, a god of Babylon.
God is glorified by the fulfillment of this prophecy, not only because of his knowledge ahead of time, but because he made the heathen king his servant, to fulfil his purposes.
Alexander the Great
The prophet Daniel predicted that a ruler of the Greek empire would conquer the empire of the Medes and Persians, and nobody would defeat him (Daniel 8:3-7, 20-21). At the time of the prediction there was no Greek empire and no powerful Greek kings.
Daniel predicted that the Greek emperor would suddenly “be broken” while he was still strong. He would be replaced by four rulers who were not his descendants (Daniel 8:8, 22, 11:4).
Alexander the Great fulfilled these prophecies 200 years later. He formed the Greek empire and conquered the Persian empire. When he died at a young age in 323 B.C., the territory was divided by four generals in his army.
God is glorified by the fulfillment of this prophecy because in a world where great powers were in conflict, he knew far in advance what would happen.
The Regathering of Israel
The Bible contains prophecies of a return of Jews from all nations of the world back to their homeland. For centuries, people did not understand these prophecies, because a nation of Israel did not exist as a place on the earth.
Prophecies of the return of the Jews include Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 23:3, 8, 31:8, 32:37, Ezekiel 11:17, 36:24, and Zechariah 10:8-9.
God knew that Israel would again become a nation with a territory and that millions of Jews would return from the nations of the world.
Another lesson in this course covers the regathering of Jews and restoration of the nation of Israel.
Messianic Prophecies
Some Old Testament prophecies were obviously about the Messiah and were fulfilled by Jesus. The Messiah will be from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10, Hebrews 7:14). The Messiah will come from the family of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1, 10, Luke 3:32). The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1-6).
Some prophecies had special symbolism. For example, a prophet predicted that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. This did not mean only that he would use the means of transportation that was normal at that time. It was customary that a king coming to power peaceably rather than by conquest would enter the capital city on a donkey and be welcomed by the people. That is what was predicted, and it is what Jesus did (Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:1-7). The palm branches represented their acceptance of him as Messiah.
Many Old Testament verses describe details that match events in the life of Christ, though they may not have been obvious predictions about the Messiah. Some examples are betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9), piercing of hands and feet and gambling for clothing (Psalm 22:16, 18), and thirty pieces of silver paid to a potter (Zechariah 11:12-13). Not every Bible scholar believes that all these specifically refer to Jesus.
In Psalm 16:9-10 the writer says that the body of the “Holy One” will not decay after death. The New Testament interpreted that verse as a prediction of the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:27-32).
Isaiah has four special passages called the “Servant Songs” (42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, and 52:13-53:12). Israel as a nation was the servant of God but ultimately failed in its mission. The Servant Songs describe a person who will be the Servant who fulfills God’s purposes. This person will bring God’s kingdom to the whole earth (42:1, 4), bring Israel back to God (49:5), bring salvation to the whole world (49:6), and provide the atonement for sin (52:15, 53:10-12). Because of these details, we know that the Servant is the Messiah.
The passages about the Servant predict some details of the life of Jesus. These are details that nobody would have expected of the Messiah. He will not be the agitator of a violent revolution (42:2). He will be rejected by his own nation (49:7). Enemies will strike his back, pull out parts of his beard, and spit on him (50:6). He will be abused and injured severely (52:14). He will be rejected and despised (53:3). He will not argue with his accusers (53:7). He will be killed without proper justice (53:8). He will be buried with the rich though he died with criminals (53:9).
Principle for Bible Interpretation
The first application of Scripture was for the first hearers. Our interpretations and applications of Scripture should ordinarily be based on the way Scripture was understood by the first hearers. That principle is easiest to apply to the New Testament epistles. Though the time and place were far from us, most of them were addressed to Christian churches. The principle is most difficult to apply to the ancient prophecies. The first hearers could not understand how they would be fulfilled and would not live to see them fulfilled. The prophecies assured the people of the faithfulness of God and gave them hope for the future of their nation. The people were encouraged to stay faithful to God, knowing that his purposes would ultimately be achieved. The Servant passages reveal the loving and serving nature of God, showing that he would forgive the failure of Israel and send the Servant to accomplish their mission so that they could be restored to God’s blessing. These prophecies gave them hope though they could not understand exactly how they would be fulfilled.
Zechariah 12:10 is a special verse that is explained only by the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. The speaker of the words is God. He promises to pour out grace on the nation of Israel. They will understand that they have pierced him, and they will grieve because of that fact. They will grieve for him as if he is their only son. How can these things be said about God? When did they pierce God, and how can God be called the son of Israel? The prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus because he is God. Jesus was pierced, and Jesus is the special promised son of the nation of Israel.
Messianic prophecy helps us understand the proper use of prophetic Scripture. If a person did not know about the life of Jesus, he would not be able to understand many of the details in the prophecies about Jesus. Apparently the predictions were not given for the purpose of revealing history ahead of time. However, the details are clear enough for us to recognize the events as fulfillments of prophecy. The fulfillments show that God knew everything ahead of time and was in control.
Likewise, scriptural predictions about the last days may not be clear enough for us to write history before it happens. We may not understand many of the details. However, when the events happen we can see that the details of the predictions are fulfilled. The fulfillment of prophecy shows us that God knew what would happen and is in control.
[1]A failed prophecy: “The battle of the great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14) which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.”
- Jehovah’s Witness publication, The Time is at Hand
[2]Image: "Evidently, 2012 is a lie" by Geoff Sloan, retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsloan/5523158255, used under CC BY 2.0, desaturated and cropped from the original.
Part 2: Israel
The Restoration of the Nation of Israel
Jews were scattered throughout the world from ancient times. Many never returned from the Assyrian exile (beginning at approximately 740 BC) or the Babylonian exile (beginning at approximately 600 BC).
Other wars and exiles through the centuries caused Jews to be scattered among nations. Many Jews chose to leave their country (Judea) because of difficult conditions.
The Romans gradually took control of Judea. In 135 the Romans responded to a rebellion of the Jews (led by Bar Kokhba) by killing at least a half million people and destroying hundreds of villages completely. Judea ceased to exist as a nation. For centuries, Israel did not exist as a nation with a government and a territory.
The scattering of Jews throughout the world has been called the Diaspora, meaning “dispersion.” As early as the first century, the epistle of James in the New Testament was addressed to “the twelve tribes widely scattered.”
Many Jews suffered persecution and genocide, most notably in Germany during World War II. The term ghetto originally referred to the area of a city where Jews were required to live, but eventually came to mean a low-class area of a city where people lack opportunity.
Jews throughout the world consider themselves united by their ethnicity and unique religion. Even after several generations of living in other countries and speaking other languages, millions of Jews have not forgotten that they are Jews and feel a unity with Jews everywhere.
Jews considered their original territory to be home. It was the land that God gave them after he delivered them from slavery in Egypt. It is the land that God promised to Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews. Certain Jewish prayers ended with the phrase “next year in Jerusalem,” expressing a hope of returning, though most Jews using the prayer had been born elsewhere.
The Bible contains prophecies of a return of Jews from all nations of the world back to their homeland. For centuries, people did not understand these prophecies, because a nation of Israel did not exist as a place on the earth.
Prophecies of the return of the Jews include Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 16:14-15, 23:3, 8, 31:8, 32:37, Ezekiel 11:17, 36:24, and Zechariah 10:8-9.
At around 1900 many Jews began talking about establishing a national territory for a home for the Jews. They believed that Jews were not well accepted throughout the world and needed their own nation. The movement was called Zionism. The word Zion is a name for Jerusalem.
The government of Great Britain issued the “Balfour Declaration” in 1917, stating that they believed that the Jews should have an independent nation. The British government controlled much of the Middle East after World War II, because the governments of the nations in the area were unstable. The period of this rule is called the “British Mandate.” Eventually Egypt, Jordan, and other nations in the Middle East became independent of Britain.
During the period of the British Mandate, thousands of Jews moved back to the original land of Israel, though it was not an independent nation yet. By 1948, 650,000 Jews were living in the territory of Israel. The Arab nations in the region strongly opposed the presence of the Jews and did not approve of the establishment of a nation of Israel. War between Jews and various Arab groups went on for several years.
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations ruled that the territory governed by Great Britain would be divided into a nation for Jews and a nation for Arabs. The Arab nations in the area were angry at this decision, because they did not want a nation of Jews. War intensified, with thousands of casualties in a few months.
The British Mandate was scheduled to end on May 14, 1948. That meant that the British army would no longer control the area or restrain the groups who were in conflict. Arab leaders said that they would destroy the Jewish nation as soon as the British left. Jewish leaders worked to manufacture weapons, bring in weapons from other countries, and train soldiers to prepare for defense.
Israel declared itself an independent nation on May 14, 1948, on the last day of the British Mandate. Armies from several Arab nations surrounding Israel attacked the new nation on May 15, the nation’s first day of existence. The war lasted for ten months. During the war Jews continued to immigrate to Israel at the rate of 10,000 per month. At the end of the war, Israel held the territory that had been given to them and also much of the territory that had been given for an Arab nation.
The Continued Return of Jews to Israel
From the time of its new beginning as a nation in 1948, Israel has invited Jews around the world to return. They call the return to Israel Aliya, a Hebrew word that means “ascent.” Jews in ancient times used the word to refer to going to Jerusalem, as in the phrase “going up to Jerusalem.”
For Jews who desire to return to Israel, the nation offers to pay their rent for a year, provides classes in the language of Hebrew, gives loans and training for those who want to start businesses, and pays back some of the salaries for the jobs that they left. Extra incentives are offered to scientists and researchers who move to Israel. Compensation is offered to Jews who have suffered because of being Jews in other nations.
These incentives have helped increase the population of the nation. The nation had a population of 650 thousand in 1948 and 8.6 million in 2016.[1]
The Temple in Jerusalem
King Solomon of Israel built the original temple in Jerusalem. It stood for 400 years and was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The second temple was built by Zerubbabel after the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. It stood for 580 years and was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. In place of the Jewish temple, the Romans built a temple for the god Jupiter.
Today on the temple mountain in Jerusalem is a Moslem mosque called “The Dome of the Rock.”
Some scholars believe that for biblical prophecies to be literally fulfilled, a new temple must be built and sacrifices resumed.
The temple mountain is a holy place for Jews, not only because the temple was there but because they believe it was the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac. The temple site is also a holy place for Moslems, and they would not willingly agree for the mosque to be removed so that a Jewish temple could be put in its place.
A temple in Jerusalem is mentioned in prophecies of the last days. Jesus implied that the prophecy of Daniel, that someone would demand worship in the temple, was still future (Matthew 24:15-16).
The apostle Paul referred to a person that will come before the coming of the Lord and will claim to be God and expect worship in the temple (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9). He will perform miracles that will deceive the world. He will be destroyed at the return of Christ.
Prophecy scholars who believe in a literal Antichrist believe that somehow a temple will be built.
The Salvation of Israel
Hebrews 8:10-11 predicts a time when no evangelism among Jews will be needed because all of them will know God.
Revelation 7:4-8 describes 144,000 Jews with the seal of God. Verse 9 describes an innumerable crowd from all nations in heaven. It is debatable what aspects of this description of the 144,000 are literal, but apparently they represent redeemed Israel, because the people saved from all other nations are mentioned separately.
Romans 11 explains the relationship between the Jews and the gospel message. Some of them are saved (11:4-5). Any Jews who believe the gospel will be saved (11:23). God rejects the nation but will receive it again in the future (11:12, 15). The nation will come back to God: 11:26-29 says, “All Israel shall be saved” and says that God’s covenant with them will be fulfilled. That does not mean that every Jew will be converted, but that the nation as a whole will accept Jesus.
[1]“Tens of thousands of engineers and academics, along with thousands of scientists, artists and musicians, constitute unique ‘human capital’–educated, professional and dedicated–with an inestimable capacity for advancing the economy, the store of technological knowledge and creative culture in Israel.”
- Israeli Website: www.moia.gov.il
[2]Image by Stacey Franco on Unsplash, retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/ex9KQrN1mj0.
Assignments
(1) Writing Assignment: Imagine that a friend tells you that he has found an exciting new church where people make many prophecies. Write several paragraphs explaining what counsel you would give your friend.
(2) Passage Study: Study the Servant passages in Isaiah and prepare a Bible study that you could teach to a group.
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