As I have shared in earlier articles, the accurate prophecies of God and His messengers are not the result of God or His prophets peeking into the future, nor can they be, but rather are simply the fulfillment or accomplishment of God's purposes, promises, and plans that He had revealed ahead of time.  God tells us about things He intends to do, then later makes them happen.  (ISAIAH 46:10-11)  Let's study some prophecies that have already been fulfilled, and I want you to pay close attention to how the Lord amazingly arranged events and motivated people in order to keep His Word and accomplish His purposes.  However, let me emphasize something very important right here to prevent any misunderstandings.  The fulfillment of any given prophecy is a miraculous thing, an exception to the natural order of events.  Therefore, although God has sometimes intervened in the affairs of men to fulfill a particular promise, we musn't make the common mistake of assuming that all of the other events that occur around us each day are likewise controlled and predetermined.  This is a false conclusion that has led to a lot of confusion in the church throughout history.  Keep this in mind as we go on from here.

    To begin with, let's take a look at one of the first examples the Lord pointed out to me when He patiently taught me how prophecy works.  We need to go back and look at the time of the prophet Jeremiah.  In his day, Israel was divided into two separate nations, Israel and Judah.  The Lord had purposely raised up Jeremiah to warn the people of Judah and Jerusalem of coming judgment because of their blatant sins and idolatry.  The Lord and His commandments had long been rejected by His people and His patience with them was running out.  Jeremiah was one of many prophets sent to call Israel and Judah to repentance, but the people scoffed and refused.  Finally, when the Lord was about to act, He first revealed His plans to Jeremiah and another prophet, Isaiah.  Let's see what He told them He would do.

Jeremiah 25:8-11 
"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' declares the LORD, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.  Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.  And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."
 
    Here the Lord told His people through Jeremiah that because of their disobedience, He was going to bring the Babylonians into the land as His instruments of judgment and destruction, and that they would become the servants of Babylon for seventy years.  The accurate fulfillment of these things is amazingly described in 2 CHRONICLES 36.  We will be looking at that a little later.  But something more amazing was foretold by the prophet Isaiah.  Isaiah prophesied with incredible detail how they would later be rescued by God and brought back to Jerusalem.

Isaiah 44:26-28 
"Confirming the word of His servant, And performing the purpose of His messengers.  It is I who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built.' And I will raise up her ruins again.  It is I who says to the depth of the sea, 'Be dried up!' And I will make your rivers dry.  It is I who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.' And he declares of Jerusalem, 'She will be built,' And of the temple, 'Your foundation will be laid.'"   
 
Isaiah 45:1-4 
"Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:  "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars.  And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, in order that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.  For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me. 

    God is speaking here about His plans to raise up a Gentile ruler named Cyrus, to be instrumental in rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple after the Babylonians destroy them.  Incredibly, He names the man many years before his birth so that Israel would know that the Lord was responsible for the events when they came to pass.  Then the Lord even speaks a message to encourage Cyrus years before he ever took his first breath.  He wanted both Cyrus and His people to know for sure that these events were not merely coincidences when they came to pass.

    Jeremiah also promised of better days to come, as noted in the following verses.  Please notice again the prophet's emphasis on seventy years.  This is done so that Israel would know with absolute certainty that the Lord Himself was manipulating the events behind the scenes, faithfully keeping His promises, and strengthening their faith.

Jeremiah 29:8-14 
"For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.  For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,'declares the LORD.  For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  And I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'

    So, we've seen here what two prophets said concerning the judgment and restoration of Jerusalem.  Now let's look in the book of II CHRONICLES, the historical record of the events that took place in Judah and Jerusalem, and see how the Lord kept His word.

II Chronicles 36:15-23 
"And the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.  Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand.  And all the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon.  Then they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its fortified buildings with fire, and destroyed all its valuable articles.  And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths.  All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!'"
  
    We see here how God's word was beautifully fulfilled to His people.  First there was the horror of judgment, but then came the thrill of witnessing that "in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah", after exactly seventy years of exile in Babylon, "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus", the king of Persia, to order the rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem and to let the exiles return home.  How miraculous!  What a clear demonstration of God's sovereign power in action!  God proved to His people His ability to keep His Word.  If these prophecies had merely been a telling of what God "saw" in the future, then God would not have had to do anything in order to fulfill them.  They would have come to pass by themselves.

    Prophecy has nothing to do with "seeing" the future.  God does not see the future and then tell His prophets what He sees.  God doesn't need to see the future in order to know what He's going to do next.  Our all wise God always knows the best course to take under any given circumstances.  

    Next I want to show you how He fulfilled His Messianic prophecies through various means, especially through the life and obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ.  You will probably see things you've never noticed before as we examine many familiar New Testament passages.  I think you'll find them encouraging, enlightening, and helpful for you to understand better what I've been speaking about.

    The events surrounding the first coming of Jesus, especially as recorded in the book of Matthew, are a clear demonstration of the capabilities and faithfulness of God the Father.  There we can observe Him using some simple (to Him), creative means to assure the fulfillment of His Word.  As you know, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, king Herod heard of some wise men who were looking for the "King of the Jews".  Herod then asked the chief priests and scribes as to where this promised messiah was to be born.  He was then informed of a prophecy that the Christ was to come from Bethlehem according to God's word in MICAH 5:2.  Herod's inquiries are described MATTHEW 2:1-6

    But how did God insure that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem?  The Lord easily arranged the fulfillment of that Scripture by using Caesar at the right time to call for a census.  How did this happen?  Well, one way in which the Lord interferes in the affairs of men is by subtly planting thoughts and desires within the minds of key individuals who then unwittingly carry out His purposes.  In those days, a Roman census required that everyone had to register in the city of their family origin.  So, God used Caesar and Roman laws to get Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary to travel to Bethlehem, the city of David, so that Mary would be there in time to give birth to Jesus.  (LUKE 2:1 7)  (This is a technique that God sometimes uses to accomplish His will, and is described further in JOB 33:14-18.)

    Simple, right?  Well, that familiar episode is not quite the whole story.  There were complications.  The prophet Hosea had foretold that God's Son would come out of Egypt (HOSEA 11:1), and another prophet said He would be called a Nazarene, indicating that the Christ would be from Nazareth.  So, what's going on here?  How could the prophets announce that Jesus would come from three places?  How would God deal with this problem?  Let's see what Matthew reveals concerning this matter.
 
Matthew 2:13-15  
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."  And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt did I call My Son."

    Now isn't this amazing?  The Lord used a dream about an angel to get Joseph to flee to Egypt from Herod.  Joseph obeyed.  They could have gone to any number of other nations for refuge, but in order to fulfill the word of Hosea, God sent them to and brought them out of Egypt.  God's attention to detail and His interference in the normal course of events are plain to see.  He actually enlisted Joseph's help to fulfill His prophecy.  Now let's see how God again used Joseph to fulfill another prophet's word.

Matthew 2:21-23 
And he arose and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee, and came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

    Again by a dream the Lord guides the steps of Jesus' parents in order to fulfill a scarcely known prophecy.  I'm sure by now you are beginning to see how serious God takes His own Word.  He will never be found to be a liar.

Matthew 5:17-18  
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished."
  
    Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one word of His promises and plans revealed to us will ever fail to come to pass.  This is truly wonderful, isn't it?  We may not have a God who sees the future, but we do have one who is so much better... an all-wise, almighty God, who faithfully keeps His Word!  Hallelujah!  Now let's look at a few more fulfillments that took place concerning Jesus.

Matthew 4:12-16  
Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles    the people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned."  (See Isaiah 9:1,2)

    We see once more how the Lord does things with the intent of fulfilling His word.  Jesus was not just randomly roaming around the countryside.  He spent many hours in prayer, undoubtedly receiving detailed instructions from the Father from day to day.  He was on a mission...a very specific one that had to be carried out with delicate accuracy.  There was purpose and meaning to His every footstep, and every word He spoke.  Let's look at another passage.
 
Matthew 8:14-17  
And when Jesus had come to Peter's home, He saw his mother in law lying sick in bed with a fever.  And He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and waited on Him.  And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases."  (See Isaiah 53:4) 
 
    By now you can see that Jesus had a lot more to fulfill than His death on the cross.  Many of the things the ancient prophets had said about Him, He had to accomplish before He was to go to the cross.  So, carefully, at the direction of the Father, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, Jesus fulfilled them all.  Let's continue now with a few more revealing Scriptures.

Matthew 13:34-35  
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world."  (See Psalm 78:2)

    In case you ever wondered why Jesus always seemed to speak in parables,  now you know.  He did so in order to keep His word spoken by a psalmist possibly 900 years earlier!  The Lord doesn't forget a word He said.  If He said He'll do it, He'll do it, whatever it takes to accomplish it.  Now I want to show you one of my favorite examples.

Matthew 21:1-7 
And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"  And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat. (See Zechariah 9:9)

    This passage shows clearly how God's knowledge and providence operates, how His creation is never beyond His control, and how He is in no way handicapped by not "seeing" the future.  The Lord Jesus, in constant communication with His Father and the Holy Spirit, knew about Zechariah's prophecy and was also aware of the available donkey and colt in the village.  He then simply sent his disciples to retrieve the animals, thereby assisting Him in fulfilling that particular Scripture.  Unable to "see" the future, however, He did not know for certain if anyone would try to stop them, but knowing all possibilities and the hearts of men, the Lord gave them instructions which would enable them to succeed in any event.
 I want to now show you a passage from Matthew that really emphasizes Jesus' conscious effort to make sure that He and His disciples fulfilled all the Scriptures concerning them.

Matthew 26:51-57 
And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off his ear.  Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.  Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?"  At that time Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as against a robber?  Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me.  But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled."  Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

    Jesus above rebuked one of His followers for trying to protect and defend Him.  After assuring him that supernatural help was only a split second away if He should need it, He then reminds him of His main purpose for being there, which was to fulfill all that was written and spoken of Him.  Just before this incident had occurred, Luke recorded an additional event in his gospel account that again strongly shows the conscious effort of Jesus to fulfill the Scriptures.
                                                                   
Luke 22:35-38  
And He said to them, "When I sent you out without purse and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?" And they said, "No, nothing."  And He said to them, "But now, let him who has a purse take it along, likewise also a bag, and let him who has no sword sell his robe and buy one.  For I tell you, that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, 'And He was numbered with transgressors'; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment."  And they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough." 

    In this passage, we see again that Jesus is clearly making deliberate, conscious moves to fulfill the various prophecies.  He tells His disciples to buy swords if they don't have any, in order to fulfill what was written about Him.  Then the disciples said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  This apparently was sufficient because Jesus said, "It is enough."  It was probably one of those very swords that later cut the ear off of the high priest's slave.

    Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.  I've shown you just a small, representative sampling of the hundreds of prophecies and their fulfillments written in the Bible.  I hope I've been able to clarify for you any misunderstandings you have had concerning these things.  God does know some future events, but only in terms of what He has planned, purposed and promised.  He certainly has not planned and purposed every little detail of our lives, which thankfully gives us the great privilege and freedom to make our own decisions and to be responsible for our own actions.  This is extremely important for Christians to understand, because whatever you believe concerning this issue will have a powerful effect on how you plan and live out your life.  Believing that your entire future is already known by God can cause you to become passive and get stuck in a rut.  You will be prone to accepting the events of each day as inevitable, or "meant to be", rather than prayerfully approaching each day as a new opportunity to serve and please our Saviour.  Do you want to walk "by fate", or walk "by faith"?  It's your choice...

-nOFuTuRe