(Part 1)

JBTM Paul D. Wegner
92
Prophets’ View of the Future
Some OT passages appear to mix future prophetic events with events contemporaneous to
the prophet, so that it is difficult to determine the author’s meaning. A good illustration of
this is found in Mic 5:2–5. The prophet first mentions a ruler from Bethlehem who would
rule over Israel. Could this refer to the Messiah? The chief priests and scribes in Herod the
Great’s time certainly thought so (Matt 2:4–6). And yet v. 5 would appear to anchor this
person at a different point in history: “And this one will be our peace, when the Assyrian
invades our land.” The Assyrians had been destroyed long before Jesus’s coming.
JESUS’ COMING
ASSYRIAN’S
DESTRUCTION 701 B.C.
MICAH 5:2–5
We believe that the prophets gazed at future events like a mountain range—they could
see the peaks but not the valleys so that the distance between peaks, or in the biblical
text’s case the timing between events, is not necessarily clear. Thus Micah spoke about
coming future events right alongside a victory over the Assyrians, Israel’s enemies at the
time. All the events are correct, but the OT author does not state them in a sequential
order because this was not yet revealed to him. As God reveals more and the events get
closer, the distance between the events can be realized. First Peter 1:10–11 suggests this
understanding: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that
would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know the person or time
the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ
and the glories to follow.” (author’s translation)
Meaning and Fulfillment
It is also important to make a distinction between the meaning of the passage and its
later fulfillment. The meaning of Hos 11:1 is fairly clear: “When Israel was a youth, I loved
him, and out of Egypt I called my son” refers back to the Exodus and God’s sovereign
preservation of his nation. But Matt 2:15 quotes this passage and says that it was “fulfilled”
when Jesus was brought out of Egypt. The Greek word plēroō means “to fill, fill up, make