Hindsight

The interesting thing about Biblical prophecy is that the readers during Jesus time accepted the prophecy as prediction of the future.  That sounds a little silly but today we have to prove that the prophecy was actually written before it was fulfilled, then prove that it wasn’t tampered with, then prove that it applies to the actual event, then prove something else!  But when Jesus fulfilled prophecy it was in existence for at least 400 years and everyone knew it was written before it happened. Their parents had read it to them in synagogue before Jesus was born. They knew it wasn’t tampered with because they had memorized it together as a family before Jesus was born.  They lived in the culture where Jesus fulfilled it exactly as it was written. 

Why am I telling you this?

Because the impact of prophecy was greater on the original readers during Jesus time than it is on us today!  Why?  Because they felt the authenticity, they felt the exact fulfillment, they felt the authority and they felt the actual event!  We feel the shadow of a fulfillment that is 2,000 years old. 

Think of the end of child labor in the English-speaking world!  Wow, doesn’t that make your toes tingle?  Think of the end of home remedies and the advent of modern medicine!  Wow, doesn’t that bring back recollections of the black plague, polio and epidemic influenza that used to kill thousands?  Think of the end of outhouses!  Wow, doesn’t that bring back memories of walking through the snow in the middle of the night?  None of those issues are very meaningful to us because most of us didn’t experience the improvement of life or the direct impact of those culture shifts.

Because we’re separated from the events of prophecy we lose the emotional impact of the audaciousness of the fulfillment.

If I could give you an experience of the hair on the back of your neck standing up I’d have to; pick the stock, exhort you to put every penny you could scrounge up into it and tell you to hold it for 2 years, 2 months, 2 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes and then sell it at the exact time I prescribed and you’d be a trillionaire!  You’d appreciate my prophetic ability.  The hair on the back of your neck would stand up.

That’s the feeling the first century Jewish people experienced when Jesus fulfilled prophecy.  Jesus fulfilling prophecy struck people as unbelievable.  So they put it all on the line for Jesus and he fulfilled every expectation and prophecy the Old Testament could throw at Him!

I just wish I could feel the ancient fulfillment in the here and now like they did!