How Prophecy is fulfilled. (Part 3 of 6)
Destruction of Tyre
Look at Ezekiel 26:
3 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ’Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.
4 ’And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 ’It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD; ’it shall become plunder for the nations.
6 ’Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.’
7 " For thus says the Lord GOD: ’Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people.
8 ’He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will heap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a defense against you.
9 ’He will direct his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers.
10 ’Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, the wagons, and the chariots, when he enters your gates, as men enter a city that has been breached.
11 ’With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets; he will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.
12 ’They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; they will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.
13 ’I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more.
14 ’I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD.
At first glance it would appear that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy Tyre and before fulfillment, anyone would be confident in predicting how this event would transpire. However, history unveiled this prophecy quite differently than the neat packaging methods that many prophecy experts use today. God did not promise Nebuchadnezzar that he would overthrow Tyre. The first proclamation of this judgment says that many nations will come against it.
Tyre was a very wealthy and very wicked seaport city. Tyre was also so wicked that God called Satan the king of Tyre. It was beautiful and great in splendor on the surface but vile and corrupt to the core and they were lifted up with pride against God. Just as prophesied, Nebuchadnezzar attacked the city, killed those in the fields and began to destroy the walls protecting the city. The inhabitants retreated to the island off the coast and Nebuchadnezzar was unable to reach them or spoil their riches. After Babylon retreated, the city was re-inhabited.
Years later, Alexander the Great began his conquest and built his mighty army out of the nations he conquered. With an army from many nations, he attacked Tyre. Again they withdrew to the island but Alexander would not be deterred. He took every rock, log and even scraped up all the debris he could find and cast it into the ocean to build a bridge to the island. He successfully destroyed and plundered Tyre. If Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Tyre, prophecy would not have been accurately fulfilled. Instead, one prophecy was fulfilled by two separate events. Looking back it is crystal clear. The prophecy was for Nebuchadnezzar to attack and break through the walls, but the destruction and scraping of the city was given to the army from the nations that would come afterward.
I have had critics point out that the prophecy said that Tyre will not be rebuilt, but Tyre was in existence during Jesus’ day, therefore the prophecy failed. If you look at the prophecy, it clearly states that the destroyed city will be a place for fishermen to spread their nets. The prophecy does not say that Tyre will be uninhabited. Critics of the Bible willingly ignore the amazing prediction of any prophecy and instead search for a loophole that they think they can hold against God. In Tyre’s case, if the city was uninhabited, it would be argued that there are no fishermen to spread nets. If it becomes a humble city then it is argued that fishermen have to build houses, therefore it is a failed prophecy. God promised to bring them down from their splendor never to be rebuilt but also said that it would be inhabited as well. Tyre was a mighty world trader filled with wealth but was destroyed and remains humbled throughout the ages just as prophesied. If not for the Bible, how many critics would even know Tyre existed?
Isaiah 61 – Messiah’s Reign
Begin by looking at Luke 4:
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Now look at the passage that Jesus said He was fulfilling:
Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
Notice that Jesus declared that the fulfillment ended in mid-sentence of verse 2. He came to deliver the world bound by sin and by His own blood, He proclaimed our acceptance. Through His blood, sinful man is offered acceptance by a holy God. Now is not the time for vengeance of our God. Now is not the time to comfort all who mourn. If you read the remainder of Isaiah 61 you find the promise of the restoration of Israel. All the generations of desolation and judgment will be restored. Instead of shame, they will receive double honor and double possessions. The promise that has never been fulfilled will be fulfilled. However, now is not the time of that fulfillment.
Some claim that Israel lost their promise when they rejected Christ, however, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He declared that it was not His intention to fulfill the promise to Israel. This played into the rejection of Christ. Israel was looking for someone to exalt them to glory. When Jesus refused to meet that expectation, those looking at Christ from a self-centered perspective could not accept the call to die to self and follow Him. We can see clearly that this prophecy in Isaiah was presented as a single event but was broke in mid-sentence. This is one prophecy fulfilled by two events.
Elijah Must Come First
Look at Malachi 4:
1 "For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this," Says the LORD of hosts.
4 "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
The promise that God will come and judge the oppressors and heal His people will come after Elijah. Elijah will be the forerunner that turns the hearts of God’s people and makes sure that He will not be missed. Those who reject will miss Jesus Christ, but those who hear will turn and keep the commandments of God. If you remember from the Old Testament, Elijah was the prophet that did not die. He was taken by a flaming chariot up into heaven and will return before the Lord comes. The Bible makes it clear that there is a two-part fulfillment to this prophecy concerning Elijah. Look at Matthew 17:
1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
...
9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead."
10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
11 Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.
12 "But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."
13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.
Jesus makes an interesting statement. “Elijah is coming” and “Elijah has come already”. How could both statements be true? It is ironic that John the Baptist was known to the disciples and they saw Elijah talking with Jesus during the time He was transfigured. The Elijah they saw was not John the Baptist, but Jesus pointed them to John as Elijah that has already come. The key to understanding this comes six chapters earlier in Matthew 11:
12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
13 "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 "And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
15 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Here Jesus is declaring that to those who are willing to receive it, John the Baptist is Elijah. What is ‘it’? ‘It’ is salvation through Christ. Those who are willing to receive the free gift of salvation have all things fulfilled concerning the coming of Christ. John was the Elijah who made straight the path for the church. Those who receive Christ are not looking for these things. They have already been fulfilled. Israel is still looking for Elijah and he will precede Christ’s return to the earth. I believe Elijah is one of the two witnesses found in Revelation 11. John the Baptist carries the role of Elijah to the church, but Elijah himself will physically proclaim the truth to the unredeemed earth before Jesus returns in His glory.
From the Decree to Messiah
The decree to rebuild Jerusalem is an example. Many theories arise as the starting point for the 70 weeks. Some argue that it began with Cyrus’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem. After all, he was called by name in the book of Isaiah. Other’s claim that it the decree of Darius which commanded that the Jews be allowed to rebuild the temple. Some argue that Artaxerxes’ decree should be the starting date. I believe the answer is found, not in who made what decree, but what God gave as a prophecy. Let’s look back to the prophecy that points to a specific starting point. Daniel 9:
25 "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
The prophecy that God gave was the decree that would restore and build Jerusalem, the streets and the walls in troubled times. The historic account we are given pieces it all together. Ezra 1:2-4 tells of Cyrus’ decree, Darius’ in Ezra 6 and Artaxerxes in Ezra 7 and Nehemiah 2. On the 7th year of king Artaxerxes the decree was given to rebuild and on the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king gave the final letter making Nehemiah the governor over the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple and ordering supplies and cooperation from the governors of the regions around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2). The city and the temple were rebuilt in troubled times just as foretold to Daniel. In Nehemiah, they worked with tools in one hand and a weapon in the other. Ezra 6 lists all the decrees as one. Look at Ezra 6:
14 So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
There was one command of God through prophecy and three events to fulfill that one prophecy. Though they were foretold as one event, we can look back and understand that three Persian kings and God’s people worked together to fulfill that one event. This is exactly why we can’t look at prophecy and think we can build a ‘prophecy model’. We look back with amazement at what God has done and how His word was fulfilled to the letter, but we cannot look ahead and formulate an accurate order of events. We can know what will happen, but not how God will make it happen. According to scripture, Artaxerxes finished the decree ordained by God that began with Cyrus. Based on Ezra 6:14, the decree that went forth was completed with Artaxerxes. Therefore, it can be argued that the final command by Artaxerxes was the starting point for the 69 weeks foretold by the angel Gabriel by the word of God. “From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks”.
