11-9 Different Sequences of Prophetic Fulfillment

The sequence of possible, potentially possible events as outlined in Ezekiel 35-48 is perhaps not the same sequence as found in say Zechariah, a prophecy given some time after it had become evident that Judah and “the prince” were not fulfilling God’s intended pattern.  

Ezekiel 35-48

Zechariah 14

Daniel 9 & 11

Isaiah

Joel 3

The returned exiles of Judah restore the Kingdom and build the temple as specified (Ez. 35-37, 40-48). The dry bones come to life in the restoration. They dwell in kingdom conditions without bars and gates. The people have returned but not built the temple as they ought to have done, and are not living the Kingdom life. The decree to rebuild the temple is made by Cyrus. Within 70 literal weeks (about one a half years) it would be possible for the Kingdom to be properly established. Judah return with joy from Babylon, Zion revives and no longer has the uncircumcised in it (cp. Tobiah!). “Your heart shall rejoice [for Zion], and your bones shall flourish” (Is. 66:14), in the fulfilment of the Ez. 37 vision. The captivity of Judah return from Babylon and other places where the Babylonians transported them.
After 62 weeks, Messiah is “cut off” in order to bring about the final forgiveness of Israel.. Messiah, who also ‘comes up’ from the dry ground of Babylon [Is. 53:2 “grow up”], gives his life to obtain eternal forgiveness for Israel’s sins.
Surrounding nations along with Babylon and Assyria make an unsuccessful attempt to invade them to take a spoil (Ez. 38). All nations are gathered against Jerusalem and they capture it and murder many of the returned exiles. As a result of this, some repent (Zech. 12:14). Another “prince”, i.e. an anti-Christ, a fake “Messiah the prince”, destroys the city and the temple sanctuary which the returned exiles had built. Dan. 11 defines him as a “king of the north” who has a confederacy of Arab nations with him. There is a desolating war. The offering of sacrifice ceases. The invader sets up his tent in the glorious mountain of Zion. It is the time of trouble such as never was for Israel (Dan. 12:1 = 9:25 “troublous times”). All nations where the Jews were sent around Israel are gathered into the valley of Jehoshaphat. They come as a huge confederacy to fight against the revived state of Judah.
Yahweh intervenes and destroys them, and establishes His Kingdom world-wide. All nations come to know His ways (Ez. 39). Yahweh goes out to fight against those nations and establishes His Kingdom. In the end, Judah has been punished enough for her sins. Everlasting righteousness is brought in, with the establishment of the Kingdom age. The dead are raised and those who turned many in Israel to righteousness are rewarded (Dan. 12:3; this is a reference to how the lips of the priests at the restoration ought to have taught others knowledge, Mal. 2:7). There in the valley of Jehoshaphat, Yahweh sits to judge the nations. He roars out of Zion and the earth shakes.
People from all the surrounding nations become proselytes, and drink from the river that comes from Jerusalem, the water of which is for the healing of all nations (Ez. 40-48). Yahweh is “there”, dwelling in Zion. Proselytes world-wide come up to Jerusalem to keep the feasts in the temple. A newly built “most holy” is anointed, seeing that “the sanctuary” had been destroyed in the invasion. “Everlasting righteousness” is brought in. A redeemed Israel go forth into the Gentile world, proclaiming the joy of their restored relationship with God. Converts from all over the world come to worship Yahweh in the Jerusalem temple, bringing with them their various offerings. Yahweh dwells in Zion (3:21). The hills flow with milk, and a fountain comes out of the temple.

Bible students have sought in vain to reconcile these and many other different sequences of prophetic fulfillment. We have mused about there being several invasions in the last days to get all the details fulfilled, and have conceived the repentance of Israel as being in various stages to fit in with the sequences outlined in the various prophets. But it seems impossible to geographically and chronologically synchronise all these things together in terms of one universal fulfilment. My suggestion is that the above prophecies were all potential scenarios of what could have happened at the time of the restoration. The ideal intention was in the Ezekiel record- that an unsuccessful invasion such as that described in Ez. 38 would have occurred, rooted in jealousy at the rebuilt temple and Babylon feeling like Pharaoh that they had let the Jews go too far; and this would have lead up to the establishment of the Kingdom. But God foresaw that this was not going to happen. Judah simply didn’t return with joy and righteousness as commanded / prophesied in Isaiah and Jer. 31:4 etc. And so another possibility opened up. The self-satisfied returnees would be invaded and Jerusalem captured, many of them would be killed, but a minority would endure through this invasion and be the basis for the Kingdom of God to be established. But so unresponsive were God’s people that even this didn’t happen. All these prophecies await some element of fulfilment in our last days. The essence of them will be fulfilled, but the local details, I suggest, were only relevant to their immediate context- e.g. that the wooden weapons will be burnt for seven years, and that they would invade with shields and swords. These wider principles explain much about Revelation. The judgments to come upon the earth / land of Israel are presented in four groups of seven. This is exactly the pattern of Lev. 26, where Israel are threatened with seven-fold judgments; and if they did not repent, then the seven-fold judgments would be repeated. Four times this is threatened; if they had repented after the first seven-fold judgments, there would have been no need for the others. It seems to me that the sequence of events in the last days is likewise impossible to predict in detail, because depending upon human freewill, the fulfilment of the various prophecies may be suspended or be realized in more symbolic ways, as we have already seen God working like this in the past. Thus Joel 3:2 says that God will “plead” with the nations He gathers to Jerusalem, plead with them for His people, plead with them to accept His Son, as outlined in Psalm 2. They may or may not respond, and how they do will doubtless influence the sequence and nature of prophetic fulfilment which then follows. 

Micah 5 opens up too when approached from this angle. It was a prophecy given in the days of Hezekiah, concerning how the Assyrians would invade the land, and be saved by the arising of a Messianic figure- “seven shepherds and eight principal men” (5:5- probably these are to be read as intensive plurals for the great shepherd, the great leader). Judah under his leadership would than “waste the land of Assyria with the sword”, and thereby “deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land”. Then “the remnant of Judah shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord”. But what happened? The Assyrians invaded, Hezekiah was raised up as a potential Messiah, the Assyrians were destroyed by Divine theophany, Judah were delivered from the Assyrians. But then what happened? Hezekiah invited the Babylonians [often used interchangeably for ‘Assyrians’] into his house, showed off everything, and provoked Yahweh’s anger. He did the very opposite to leading Judah against Assyria, to the end that they became a blessing for all nations. But it could have happened. But Hezekiah and the people didn’t let it go as far as it could go; and therefore the full fulfilment of the prophecy will be in our last days. Earlier in Micah, the daughter of Zion was to be in labour pangs (symbolic of their troubles in the 70 years captivity- Jer. 6:24), and then give birth to a new nation as a result of this (4:9,10), as well as her Messiah (5:2), who would lead Judah in destroying Babylon (4:13; 5:5-8). But Judah didn’t want to destroy Babylon. Most of them preferred to carry on living there. So, no Messiah. At that time. Another different sequence of prophetic fulfillment had to develop.

Radical Implications

If indeed Ez. 40-48 are conditional prophecies, this opens up the possibility that so too are many other prophecies- especially those which involve allusion to them. For example, Rev. 11:1 speaks of a command to measure the temple- and immediately our minds are sent back to the temple being measured in such detail in Ez. 40:10, 21,22 etc. Is this to be read as a sign that we are about to receive another conditional prophecy? Assuming that Revelation was given just prior to the fall of Jerusalem in AD70, we could read the ensuing prophecy in Rev. 11 as saying that although Jerusalem and the outer court would fall to the Romans, the zealots in the inner sanctuary would be preserved, and a command to repentance would be issued by two prophets (1). Now of course, this didn't happen; but perhaps it could've done, potentially? Consider the possibility- both here and in so many other passages.

(1) For more on this, see R.H. Charles, Revelation (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1920); Arthur S. Peake, The Revelation of John (London: Joseph Johnson, 1919), p. 291; I.T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse Of John (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979) pp. 584-8.


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