IN WHAT SENSE IS
SCRIPTURE "FULFILLED"?
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SOME PEOPLE seem to have "way
out" and fanciful interpretations of Bible prophecy. Outright and by implication,
these interpretations would contradict Bible truths elsewhere spoken in
everyday language. When we assert that these interpretations are unacceptable,
the accusation is made that we are "spiritualizing" prophecy; that we are
not taking it literally (that all prophecy is fulfilled literally). What
do we have to say about this?
We need not be an "authority" on every aspect of prophecy to know
that we are on the right track if we look at things in the way the apostles
did. Time and time again in the New Testament Scriptures, looking back,
the apostles and writers speak of Scriptures being "fulfilled." What did
they mean by "fulfilled"? In what sense is Scripture "fulfilled"? What
was the apostles’ hermeneutics in understanding prophecy? They spoke and
wrote by divine authority and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and their
hermeneutical application cannot be disregarded. It is what God meant.
The 2nd chapter of the gospel of Matthew is a good place to look
to see various ways that Scripture is fulfilled.
(1) Direct or Literal Fulfillment. The wise men came from
the east wanting to know where to find the Christ child. Troubled Herod
consulted the chief priests and scribes, after which we read, "And they
said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes
of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people
Israel" (Matthew 2:5,6).
The exact words are found in Micah 5:2 with the additional comment,
"whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." This clearly
has reference to the coming of God incarnate. Christ would be born in Bethlehem
of Judea. The fulfillment was direct and literal, the way that people commonly
think of Scripture being fulfilled. And there are many such direct and
wonderful prophecies in the Word of God. But this is not the only way that
Scripture is fulfilled.
(2) Typical, Having a Basic Meaning and An Extended Prophetic
Fulfillment. Because of the danger to the Christ child poised by the
wicked Herod, Joseph was warned by an angel in a dream. Then we read, "When
he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed
into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have
I called my son" (Matthew 2:14,15).
This points back to Hosea 11:1 and Exodus 4:22. The Hosea reference
reads, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out
of Egypt." It is talking about the nation of Israel, but how can it apply
to Christ? The nation of Israel was a type of Christ. It is what we call
a typological fulfillment. Looking back now, many people, places, and things
in the Old Testament are clearly seen with an enlarged significance. Through
foreknowledge it was the Divine design that these be prophetic types and
point to eternal realities and applications in the New Testament.
(3) Words Describing One Event Describe Another--An
Analogical Fulfillment. When wicked Herod had the babies killed in
Bethlehem following the birth of Jesus, "Then was fulfilled that which
was spoken by Jeremy [Jeremiah] the prophet, saying, In Rama was there
a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping
for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not" (Matthew
2:17,18).
Matthew calls this a fulfillment of what we read in Jeremiah 31:15,
with Genesis 37 perhaps as part of a backdrop, picturing Rachel weeping
for her children. Obviously this is not a direct prophecy, nor does it
seem to be a type. In what sense then were the words spoken by Jeremiah
"fulfilled"? It was from Ramah that Jeremiah saw the people taken away
into Babylonian Captivity when he was released (Jeremiah 39:11,12; 40:1;
31:15). There was weeping and mourning as this took place, even as "Rachel
weeping for her children." The words describing the first event in what
Jeremiah saw and heard fittingly describe the second (the lamentation in
connection with the death of the babies in Bethlehem); they are very similar.
The Scripture was fulfilled, not as direct prophecy, but as an illustration
of a like tragic and distressful situation. The meaning of words are fulfilled,
not a prediction.
(4) Fulfillment in a General Sense. We read in Matthew 2:23,
"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." These
words refer to when Joseph and Mary came back from Egypt with the Christ
child. When they learned that one of the Herod family who was also notorious
was on the throne, they went on to live in Nazareth of Galilee. Their doing
this, and consequently Jesus being called a "Nazarene," is spoken of as
Scripture being "fulfilled." A search of the Old Testament will not find
such a reference.
Thus, this is understood in a general sense as Matthew speaks of
"the prophets." Some see a tie in with Isaiah 11:1, "And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his
roots." Isaiah 53:2 reads, "For he shall grow up before him as a tender
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."
A "Nazarene" perhaps speaks of the lowly circumstances of his background.
The question is asked in John 1:46, "Can there any good thing come out
of Nazareth?"
So, in this case the Scripture was fulfilled more in the general
sense of the spirit of what the prophets said about the lowly background
of Jesus the Christ (rather than in a specific prediction).
YES, it is an interesting study to look up all references
to Scripture being fulfilled in the New Testament or the quotation of the
said Old Testament Scripture in the New Testament and its application.
When doing this, keep the 2nd chapter of Matthew in mind as sort of a key
to the use of the word "fulfill." It is not always a literal fulfillment,
but such use as the Holy Spirit made of the word. Looking back, prophecy
written in the context of the Old Testament usually bears the image and
flavor of the Old Testament even when it is talking about things to come
in the New Testament age. Many of the Jews missed out because they could
not and would not harmonize their literal, and many times wooden, interpretations
with what Christ and the apostles taught. It turned out that Christ’s mission
in coming to earth was a spiritual one.
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