Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind (11 page)

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 the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman [virgin] 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 son 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 descendant 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 state it 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 were 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 and 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 fulfilling event may itself become a 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
(GR3). 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 events and persons described can point to something beyond themselves, and so build faith in us. For example, Adam is a type of Christ, while Eve is a type of Mary (
SUM
, 4).

In his thought, even St. Thomas harkened 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” (
SUM
, 4).

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 already, 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 foreshadows the one, final antichrist who will embody and perfect all of their evils. The events of the past can be imbued with meaning in the future by the God who is omnipotent and omniscient.

Apocalyptic visions may use one image to symbolize two realities

If you take great pride in your orderliness, this ground rule might bother you. It is so disconcerting to many Westerners that some ignore it even in the face of a specific teaching of Scripture. But remember, apocalyptic literature was not written for modern Westerners. We must try to be transcultural when we read it.

In The Apocalypse, St. John specifically informs his reader that one object within his vision symbolizes two things. In Chapter 17, we encounter “a scarlet beast … and it had seven heads and ten horns.… The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings” (Apoc. 17:3, 9–10).

The seven heads of this beast have a geographical meaning, “seven hills,” and also a personal meaning, “seven kings.” When we get to The Apocalypse, we will spend the necessary time to understand St. John’s meaning. What is important for us to understand at the outset is our ground rule, which St. John sets forth very clearly:
Apocalyptic visions may use one image to symbolize two realities
(GR4).

Apocalyptic literature uses dramatic imagery of cataclysmic disruptions to describe changes within the human political sphere

Most Old Testament prophecy has been fulfilled. Scholars generally agree that Isaiah 13:9–13 is one of the fulfilled prophecies: “The day of the Lord comes … to make the earth a desolation.… For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.… I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger.” Was Isaiah speaking of the end of the world? Hardly.

This prophecy was fulfilled when the Medes destroyed Babylon in 539 B.C. Look at the verses that come next, in Isaiah 13:17–19: “Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them.… And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.” Yet although the Bible gives us a record of Babylon’s defeat by the Medes, there is no record of any heavenly disturbances such as a darkened sun, moon, or stars. Yet they are undoubtedly fulfilled. The prophet Daniel predicted and then witnessed this event.

Isaiah uses similar language several chapters later. In Isaiah 34:4–10, we read, “All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine.…” Yet while this prophecy was fulfilled when Edom was destroyed in the sixth century B.C., the physical host of heaven (the stars) still exists today.

The prophet Ezekiel’s imagery is equally vivid—so vivid that it is often hard to understand at first reading. In Ezekiel 32, he prophesies the downfall of Egypt and its Pharaoh. Notice his choice of words: “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness upon your land, says the Lord God” (32:7–8). Although this prophecy has been indisputably fulfilled, there is no record that at any time during Pharaoh’s downfall there were literal heavenly disruptions such as Ezekiel described.

The only logical reading is to understand the heavenly disturbances described in these prophecies as figurative language signifying the political change God ordained as judgment. So although the prophecies describe massive disturbances in the stars and moon, this is actually apocalyptic imagery that symbolizes the historical overthrow of political powers on earth.

We see the same principle at work in Nahum. He predicted the judgment of God on the mighty city of Nineveh. “The mountains quake before him, the hills melt” (1:5). Some have tried to apply this language to an atomic explosion still to come, but the city of Nineveh was judged by God in fulfillment of Nahum’s prophecy long before the canon was closed on the Old Testament.

The Apostles clearly understood this use of vivid apocalyptic language. In his first public sermon, the apostle Peter quoted from Joel and assured his listeners that they were witnessing its fulfillment right there on that first Pentecost Sunday. You can read his entire sermon in Acts 2, but notice the descriptive language: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.… And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (2:19–21). St. Peter believed this to have been fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Rather than ask, “Where was the smoke and blood on Pentecost?” we need to accept Peter’s appreciation of Joel’s apocalyptic imagery.

What is our ground rule?
Apocalyptic literature uses dramatic imagery of cataclysmic disruptions to describe changes within the human political sphere
(GR5).

We should be aware that apocalyptic literature also uses the same hyperbole to describe positive changes. Isaiah 30:26 promises that “the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow.” Notice how the number seven is used symbolically (GR2)? We notice this again in Isaiah 60:19–20: “Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself.”

Physical objects can signify spiritual realities; for example, clouds can signify the glory of God the Judge

At a critical juncture in their wilderness wanderings, the Hebrews were near mutiny against Moses and Aaron over the lack of meat in their diet. God would eventually send them quail, but just before this, “the people of Israel … looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud” (Exod. 16:10).

Later, when God gave the Law to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, a cloud surrounded the mountaintop. This cloud was a clear physical symbol of the inscrutable power and majesty of God, as God spoke out of it to the Israelites. We are even given the interesting detail that “the Lord descended in the cloud” (Exod. 34:5).

The cloud as a symbol of the power and presence of God later descended on the tabernacle that Moses had commanded to be assembled (Exod. 40:34–38). God specifically stated, “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:2). Of course, mercy is inextricably tied to judgment. Hundreds of years later, when King Solomon built and dedicated the first Jerusalem Temple, “a cloud filled the house of the Lord … for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10–11).

All of this points us to our next ground rule:
Physical objects can signify spiritual realities; for example, clouds can signify the glory of God the Judge
(GR6).

This common imagery of the Old Testament is reflected in the New Testament when Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–13). When Peter tries to make a suggestion, “a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him!’ ”

At the Transfiguration, Jesus was still here as the Suffering Servant (see Isa. 53), discussing His coming death in Jerusalem with Moses and Elijah. When Peter, James, and John forget who their humble Master really is, God reminds them with His support of Jesus spoken in glory and power. Once again, the cloud clearly signifies the glory of God, and the fact that the disciples were afraid shows they understood the Old Testament symbolism.