Messianic Prophecy CA314

LESSON 01 of 24

Nature of Prophecy

Louis Goldberg, ThD

Experience: Professor of Theology and
Jewish Studies, Moody Bible Institute

Welcome to a course on messianic prophecy. We trust that our

studies together will be profitable as we plumb a subject that is
most interesting and which is most important in the study of the
Word of God.

We might from your syllabus note the purposes of such a course. It

is to first of all trace the development of messianic prophecy from
its origin in the Old Testament to the period of the first century
AD showing something of the defined plan of God concerning His
purposes within world history and ultimate destiny of man.

Second, we want to show how Jesus of Nazareth in His being, His

life, and His work fulfilled many messianic prophecies and that He
will yet fulfill many of the other prophecies of the Old Testament in
the coming prophetic kingdom. This means, of course, that we are
already indicating a hermeneutic prophecy that includes the lesson
concerning a coming prophetic kingdom, but we’ll be getting into
this a little bit later on.

The third purpose is to indicate, also, Jewish interpretation of

messianic prophecy in the various Scripture passages that will be
exegeted in the course. It is important to see in a number of places
how Jewish people have exegeted the Scriptures, and many times
they will throw light on a proper analysis and exegesis of a passage
of Scripture.

Fourth, we want to develop some discriminating judgment in

exegesis as to what constitutes a legitimate messianic prophecy
and/or typology in the interrelationship between the Old
Testament and the New Testament.

A fifth purpose is to examine some of the national prophecies and

typological teaching concerning Israel directly relevant to the
ministry of Jesus the Messiah.

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

And last of all and not least we want to provide from this study in
messianic prophecy the opportunity for enrichment and blessing in
the personal life of the student.

Now I’m going to indicate just a few volumes that will be helpful
at this point for the study of messianic prophecy, but certainly we
shall be referring to other volumes, other bibliography, later on in
the course itself. I might, for example, indicate the series of David L.
Cooper. This man lived in another generation in the twenties and in
the thirties, but yet in his books which analyzed Jesus the Messiah
and from an Old Testament point of view, the eternal God revealing
Himself; another book, Messiah, His First Coming Scheduled [Los
Angeles: Biblical Research Society, 1939]; still another, Messiah,
His Nature and His Person Los Angeles: Biblical Research Society,
1933]; and so on. We’ll be referring to these books in succeeding
lessons. Franz Delitzsch of another generation also has a book
on messianic prophecies and lectures on it [Messianic Prophecies:
Lectures (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1880)]. A source from a Jewish
point of view is Julius H. Greenstone, The Messiah Idea in Jewish
History [Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America,
1906]. Still another very important is from a Jewish point of view,
Professor [Joseph] Klausner, The Messianic Idea in Israel [New York:
Macmillan, 1955]. A Hebrew Christian has provided us with a very
good study, A. J. Kligerman, Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament
[Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1957].

In the study of many passages in the Old Testament we will have

to understand the historical background of the Scripture. This is
very important. We are going to interpret, and I would at this point
just recommend two very good books on the history of Israel, John
Bright, A History of Israel [1959; 4th ed., Louisville, KY; Westminster
John Knox, 2000], and R. K. Harrison, A History of Old Testament Times
[Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1957]. Milton Terry is also important
for his biblical hermeneutics [Biblical Hermeneutics (reprint ed.;
Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1999)], and another book in the area of
hermeneutics is Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation
[1950; reprint ed., Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1970]. But enough of
this for now. We will be referring to other bibliographies a little bit
later on.

In Block A of your syllabus we want to just make a few introductory

remarks concerning this area of messianic prophecy. We have
provided a definition of prophecy: that it is a declaration of
future events such as no human wisdom or forecast is sufficient
to make. I think we have to recognize here that we’re not talking

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

about someone who is able to, as a statesman, foresee significant

events in history over the next five or ten years from the time of
his utterance of these statesmanlike words. This is something
which deals with future events, and no human wisdom is able to
handle or even to begin to handle the information that pertains to
events in the future which can run anywhere from seven hundred
to a thousand and even two thousand years from the time the
prophecy is made. Prophecy also depends on a knowledge of the
many relationships of human affairs, which belong only to the all-
knowing God. Here again, of course, prophecy is interrelated with
human history. I am not saying here at this point that prophecy
is history foretold. There are obviously too many ramifications to
make a statement like this. However, prophecy does relate and
speak to certain events within history, and we know that in the
many interrelationships between human affairs that prophecy must
have this in the knowledge of its proclamation, and only an all-
knowing God who knows events a thousand years, two thousand
years removed from the utterance of the prophecy, only an all-
knowing God is able to provide a word of prophecy that will take
into account all the many relationships of human affairs. And we
say, finally, in the definition of prophecy that from its very nature,
prophecy must be a divine revelation.

I think we have to recognize here that the omnipotence of God can

certainly select certain individuals and give, out of the omniscience
of God, certain information. And as it is viewed once a prophecy
is fulfilled, we must say that by its very nature, this was divine
revelation.

Now, second, in this matter of the meaning and nature of prophecy

we have to mention some of the critical approaches taken by a
number of scholars. We’ve already touched on one of these where
a critic might say that prophecy is nothing more than an educated
guess. A man who is a statesman who has keen insight as to
history, as to human affairs, as to the relationship between nations,
might be able to predict five years, ten years, from the time of his
prediction concerning certain events that might take place.

While we don’t rule out the fact that there are statesmen who are
able to do this, we must emphasize that prophecy is not simply
an educated guess. Once we get into the study of prophecy, for
example, the prophecies that relate to the coming of the messiah
from the Old Testament point of view, the mathematical odds
concerning prophecy being an educated guess are overwhelmingly
against it, and we’ll see in succeeding lessons as to why.

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

Another critical approach to prophecy is to rule out the idea of

divine revelation. That is, these men say that it is not possible for
a man to receive divine revelation concerning events that would
happen hundreds of years hence. And, usual procedure in this case
is to rearrange the biblical sections. I suppose that The Introduction
to the Old Testament [rev. ed.; New York: Harper & Row, 1948] by
Robert Pfeiffer is a good example where, as he echoes the old
Wellhausen theory that prophecy cannot exist, he rearranges what
is called prophecy and slots them into history. In other words,
Daniel does not prophesy events four hundred, five hundred, six
hundred years removed from his time. Rather, Robert Pfeiffer says
that Daniel wrote all of this in the second century, and he was
simply writing history.

Still another approach to prophecy, for example with regard to the

Messiah or Jesus, is to explain that one man willed to fulfill the
word. Now, in a positive sense, in a wholesome sense, we do see
Jesus fulfilling the Word and consciously doing this. Even to the
very end when, as He hung on the cross, He said, “I thirst,” and He
took the vinegar and, thus fulfilled Scripture down to the very end.
But we’re not talking about this kind of an approach. We’re talking
about an approach that was used in The Passover Plot by [Hugh J.]
Schonfield, and here he says that Jesus set out and willed to fulfill
the prophecies [1965; New York: The Disinformation Company,
2005]. In the process of doing this Schonfield takes the liberty of
accepting what is history and not accepting portions of Scripture
to suit his own subjective notions as to what is historically valid.
In a case like this, especially in The Passover Plot, [the planning] of
Jesus does not come to fruition, and Jesus dies in the attempt. If
this is the case, if prophecy is to be seen in this light, then certainly
one could question the honesty of all the writers, the honesty of
what men were trying to say, and this would not commend itself to
people reading the Bible.

And last, there are some critics who indicate that the prophets of
Israel were like the prophets of other nations of the Middle East
who lived at the same time or who were there at the same time
when Israel was getting its start. In other words, there are some
prophets who say that the Old Testament prophets were just like
the ecstatics of other nations.

It’s true that the Old Testament text itself shows that the arts of
soothsaying and divination were extensively practiced in Canaan.
A quick perusal of Daniel 2:9–14 will indicate this. This kind of
phenomenon wasn’t limited to the land of Israel. It was to be

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

found in all the nations, including Egypt, Babylon, and throughout

the Near East. I think that we have to recognize that prophetic
phenomena in the form of certain aspects of external behavior
and religious psychology were to be found in other cultures
outside Israel throughout various periods of history. In general,
characteristics of all religions with respect to certain beliefs and
practices show some superficial similarities; however, it is the
divine source of Israel’s prophecy and the unique characteristics of
its prophetic institutions that confirm the fact that mere external
similarities do not prove relationship. It was [Johannes] Lindblom
in his Prophecy in Ancient Israel [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1962] who
declares that the ecstasy of prophecy or ecstasy as prophecy or vice
versa in itself is commonly borrowed by one people from another,
but this certainly was not true in Israel. Israel had a unique aspect
in its prophetic institutions. So much for those who were the critics.

Another aspect of this meaning and nature of prophecy has to do

with the uniqueness of Israel, and we see one uniqueness, just very
quickly at this point, and this was in the Abrahamic covenant. In
Genesis 12:2–3, in Genesis 15, and in Genesis 17:1–11 we have the
Abrahamic covenant, a covenant given by God to Israel. And as you
see this covenant begins to be particularized until finally when you
come to the sons of Israel, the covenant has special connotation
that this sets the seed of Israel apart from all other nations and
accounts for the existence of the Jewish people today. Of no other
nation can this be said. We’re going to come back to this a little bit
later on as we study these passages of Scripture, but certainly if
we’re going to talk about the meaning and the nature of prophecy,
we have to see the people who are in the center of history because
of an agreement or a covenant that God has with the sons of
Abraham and particularized with the sons of Israel. We also ought
to recognize the place of prophecy in the Scriptures, the prophetic
institution that God gave to Israel. The classic is in Deuteronomy
18:15–22. Long before prophets ever arose in any great numbers
in Israel, God promised that He would always have men who
would speak for Him, and it’s significant that before Moses ever
passed off the scene, we find that God gave a word to the nation
in a very specific way. For example, in Deuteronomy 18:15 [New
International Version] Moses declares, “The LORD your God will
raise up for you a prophet like me from among you.” We shouldn’t
immediately apply this to Christ, as Peter did when you come to the
book of Acts. I think we have to see it within the setting of Israel
itself. Here Moses was about to pass off the scene. Who would be
the prophetic voice for God? Who would stand in the place to speak
for God to the people? And now comes this promise that the Lord

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

will raise up a prophet who would speak for God even as Moses did.
So we see here a promise of a prophetic ministry. But this passage
also gives us the test of who is to be a true and who would be a
false prophet. For example: in verses 21 and 22 [New American
Standard Bible] of this chapter we read, “You may say in your heart,
‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’”
Here was a question in answer to a situation where somebody
who would say, “I’m speaking the words of God” and wasn’t, and so
logically the question comes, and so here’s the answer in verse 22:
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does
not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has
not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall
not be afraid of him.”

It’s interesting to note that one of the key tests of the prophet was
the short-range prophecy; that is, those prophecies which could
be tested in the lifetime of those who would be listening to the
prophets. The test here was that of 100 percent accuracy. In other
words, someone who was going to be a prophet speaking on behalf
of God had to be 100 percent accurate and not one whit less. If he
failed in any one prophecy, then there would be a question in the
ears and in the hearts of the people. We’ll come back to this in a
succeeding lesson, but we’ve said enough here at this point for an
introduction as to the meaning and the nature of prophecy.

Now we go on to our next block of material in your syllabus,

Block B, which has to do with the hermeneutics of typology. We
have two blocks of material before we ever get to a study of the
various passages of Scripture. We ought to say something about
hermeneutics and hermeneutics of typology and a hermeneutics
of prophecy. In case you are wondering as to what hermeneutics
means, we’ll define hermeneutics as the science and the art of
Bible interpretation. It’s a science because there are certain rules
laid down as to how to interpret and how to exegete a passage of
Scripture; rules which relate to the very grammatical construction,
the linguistic expressions, and all of these. So it is a science, but
at the same time, it’s also an art because there is a sense of a skill
that must be cultivated in handling a passage of Scripture because
so many factors are involved in the interpretation of it.

When we get into this matter of typology—and we’ll just have

enough time to get into it in this lesson—we note that there is a
justification of typology. Some critics have contended that there
is no such thing as typology; that this is nothing more than some
sort of a forced exegesis. It’s true that there are some who force

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Lesson 01 of 24 Nature of Prophecy

this matter of typology, but this does not mean that typology
does not exist at all. We have to recognize that there is a very
general relationship between the Old and the New Testaments
that does accept typology as an emblem of a figure of speech.
There is a strong prophetic element established in a real and final
tie between the Old and the New Testaments. Some have said
many times that the New Testament is latent in the Old and that
the Old is evident in the New. And when we come to this matter
of typology, we have to recognize that there is something unique.
We’ll have just enough time to give you a definition of the type, and
we’ll get into this into the next lesson.

Milton Terry gives us a definition of the type. “The type is that

species of emblem by which one object is made to represent
another mystically.” So it is, therefore, employed only in religious
matters, particularly in relation to the coming, the office, and the
death of our Savior. In this manner, for example, the offering of
Isaac is considered as a type of our Savior’s offering Himself as an
atonement or as an atoning sacrifice. So types have a very definite
and a unique place, and we have to see the divine tie between
Old and New Testaments. In typical prediction, or prediction that
includes the typology, we do note that things or events or persons
are in a divine designation. They have a divine imprint upon them.
There is involved in the type a forecast of things to come, and there
is that tie between in the Old Testament and the New Testament
situation. Perhaps some specific New Testament statements would
indicate this matter of the type. In Hebrews 7 we talk about
Melchizedek, and we relate Melchizedek to Christ. In Hebrews 10
we talk about the perfect sacrifice, and we relate the sacrificial
system of the Old Testament to the perfect sacrifice of the Messiah.

We trust that we have properly launched you in a very fascinating

study of messianic prophecy, and we shall be continuing with our
study of the hermeneutics of typology in our next lesson.

Christ-Centered Learning — Anytime, Anywhere

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