Continued: Chapter XVIII- The Birth and Early Life of Jesus

IV. FOUR TYPES OF PROPHECY

Actual examination shows that between one fourth and one third of the Bible is devoted to prophecy. Some predictions have been fulfilled, but the greater portion of them has not. What has not been fulfilled awaits materialization in the future.

The Bible is God's Word to man put in intelligible language; and God expects man to study, comprehend, and follow it. Though prophecy may be understood and obeyed, much speculation and guessing in regard to vast portions of it are indulged in.

In an effort to ferret out the future, many prophetic students have made out schedules and timetables, as it were, and have expected God to follow them. The Lord has His plans and purposes and marches majestically through the centuries toward the final goal, which is given in the Scriptures. He fulfills prophecy as written, and not as interpreted by the guessings and the speculations of men. Because of so very much unscientific exegesis of the Scriptures, many honest, sincere men and women have reached the conclusion that prophecy cannot be understood, and that it is a waste of time to try to understand it. There is no occasion for such gross and fantastic misinterpretation of prophecy. Essentially, history and prophecy are written upon the same basic principles. History tells what has occurred; predictive prophecy tells what will be. The same fundamental laws of logic and of language govern in both instances. If one gets these facts clearly in mind and approaches prophecy just as he does history, recognizing that the same principles obtain in both cases, he is in a position to understand prophecy more nearly accurately than is usually the case.

All the prophecies in the Scriptures fall into four general types, or classifications. A sample of each of these is found in Matthew, chapter 2.

The first type of prophecy consists of literal predictions. An illustration of this type is found in Matthew 2:6. The context shows that wise men from the East had come to Jerusalem, claiming that they had seen Messiah's star in the East. Thinking that the King of the Jews would be born in the royal palace, they went to Herod. When he heard their story, he became greatly agitated. As the news spread throughout the city, the people were alarmed. Herod, therefore, gathered together the chief priests and the scribes of the people and inquired of them where, according to prophecy, the Messiah would be born. The scribes, who were students of the Word, replied that He was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah—not Bethlehem of Galilee, as some have asserted. As proof of their position, they quoted from the Greek translation of Micah 5:2:

And you Bethlehem, land of Judah, You are by no means the least among the governors of Judah, For out of you will come forth the One governing who will shepherd My people Israel (Matt. 2:6).

Where did the prophet say that Messiah would be born? The answer is "In Bethlehem, in the land of Judah." Bethlehem meant Bethlehem, and Judah meant Judah. According to this prophecy, out of Bethlehem would come the One who was to be the governor and shepherd of God's people Israel. Thus Micah 5:2 is a literal prophecy of the town in which Messiah would be born. Hundreds of prophecies fall in this classification.

The second type of prophecy, the literal plus a typical meaning, is found in Matthew 2:15 and is a modified quotation from the Greek translation of Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I called my son." To see its significance, one must read the original statement in its context: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." The expression "called my son out of Egypt" refers primarily and originally to the nation of Israel. In order, however, to understand this statement more accurately, one must turn back to the original passage upon which Hosea 11:1 is based, namely, Exodus 4:22: "Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, my first-born: 23 and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and thou hast refused to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born." In this passage, undoubtedly, the Lord calls the nation His son, His first-born. Using the terms my son and my first-born with the same significance as is found in Exodus 4:22, 23, Hosea the Prophet called Israel God's Son, God's first-born. Hence, when Israel was a child, that is, when Israel was in the childhood stage of development, God loved him, and called His son out of Egypt. The nation of Israel was in the land of Egypt. God loves His people and has a glorious plan for them. He called them forth under the leadership of Moses out of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness into Canaan, the Land of Promise. Israel has always borne a special relationship to God, which is represented by that of a son to his father.

When Herod planned to slay the infant Jesus, God told Joseph to take Mary and the child, flee into Egypt, and remain there until called forth. Joseph was the literal foster father of Jesus, and Mary was His natural mother. Egypt was a literal land. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went down into literal Egypt, remained there for some time, and then came back to the land of Israel. Thus everything about the prophecy was literal. That which was literal, and which was spoken originally to Pharaoh about Israel, is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, to His residence in Egypt, and to His final coming forth out of that country into the land of Israel. Israel's unique relationship to the Lord, called that of son to his father, typifies the relationship that exists between Jesus, the God-man, and God the Father. Thus this passage is an illustration of that classification of prophecies which is properly termed the literal plus the typical significance.

The third type of prophecy, the literal plus an application, is illustrated in Matthew 2:18. When Herod realized that the Wise-men had returned to their land without telling him where the Christ-child was, he became very indignant and issued an order that all the male children of Bethlehem under two years of age should be slaughtered. When this decree was put into effect, there was great mourning and lamentation among the mothers of Bethlehem. Matthew states that Jeremiah 31:15 was fulfilled in this event:

A voice in Ramah was heard,
Weeping and great lamentations.
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she was not willing to be comforted,
because they are not (Matt. 2:18).

From the context out of which this passage is taken, one learns that Jeremiah was speaking of the sorrow and grief which the Jewish women experienced when they bade farwell to their sons who were in concentration camps in Ramah, and who were ready to be deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. This historic fact was a literal one. That which is spoken about the sorrow of the Hebrew mothers of Jeremiah's day was equally literal concerning the mothers of the babes of Bethlehem of the first century. As is quite evident, Matthew simply applies the language of this prophecy to a similar situation of his day. Thus this passage is a literal statement plus an application.

The fourth type of prophecy, the literal plus a summation, is illustrated in Matthew 2:23. Matthew states that Joseph brought Jesus and Mary to and settled in Nazareth, a little city in Galilee, "in order that there might be fulfilled that which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene" (Matt. 2:23).

Nazareth was a small city in Galilee. There is, however, no prophecy in the Scriptures saying that Messiah would be called a Nazarene: yet Matthew states that the family's locating in Nazareth was in fulfillment of such a prophecy. The word Nazarene was in the first century a term of reproach and shame. When Philip spoke to Nathanael about Jesus, Nathanael asked, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). That Messiah would be despised and hated was foretold in Isaiah 53:3: "He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not." Since the name Nazarene was a term of reproach, and since there are prophecies indicating that the Messiah would be hated, Matthew simply summarizes the gist of such predictions by the use of the term Nazarene. Matthew 2:23, therefore, is an illustration of the fourth type of prophecy, which is the literal plus a summation.

Every prophecy can be logically placed in one of these four classifications. In the study of the prophetic Word, therefore, it is of paramount importance that these four types be mastered.

It is fitting to conclude this chapter by calling attention to the four specific types of Messianic prophecy in the writings of Moses and the Prophets. The first type deals with predictions relating to the Messiah's first coming. Examples of this classification of prophecy are found in the following passages of Scripture: Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Psalm 16:8-11; 40:6-10; 69:13-28; Isaiah 7:14; and Zechariah 13:7. This list could be greatly increased, but these passages are sufficient. In this type of prophecy the inspired writers speak of some event or events that are connected with Messiah's first advent. In Isaiah 7:14, for instance, is a prophecy referring to the virgin birth of the Messiah. But in most of the other passages of this list reference is made to something connected with His death, burial, or Resurrection.

The second type of Messianic prophecy focuses attention on His Second Coming and events connected with His majesty and power. Examples of this class of predictions are as follows: Psalm 2:7-9; Psalms 48, 72, 132; Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah, chapters 24, 32, 33, 35, 60; Jeremiah 3:11-18; 23:1-8; Ezekiel, chapter 34; Amos 9:11-15; Habakkuk, chapter 3; Zephaniah 3:8-20; and Zechariah, chapter 2.

The third type of Messianic predictions blends prophecies concerning the two comings of the one Messiah into a single picture. Examples of this type are found in Genesis 49:10; Psalm 22; Isaiah 9:5-7; 11:1-12; Zechariah 6:9-15 and 9:9,10.

The fourth type, the one discussed above in Book Two, Chapter X, gives the whole redemptive career of King Messiah, consisting of His two comings separated by the interval during which the rejected King of Israel is enthroned in glory in heaven.

When these facts are clearly seen, those passages that at first sight seem to be contradictory appear in their true light and are seen to be in perfect harmony with other Scriptures.