How do we know that prophecies we are reading about the end times will be fulfilled? All we need to do is look at the Bible and history to see how God’s prophecies have been fulfilled in the past. We will study two specific prophecies here as examples of many more fitting the same pattern of being fulfilled.
First, we look at the prophecy God gave to Daniel in 2:31-45. This is sometimes called Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream. The king dreamed of a huge statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay.
God gave the interpretation of this dream to Daniel – a kind of world history of great conquerors. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, and the Medo-Persian Empire would be the chest and arms of silver. In Isaiah 45:1, over 300 years before it happened, God told Isaiah the name of the king – Cyrus – who would be instrumental in returning the Jewish people from their captivity in Babylon.
“This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut"
We can all read history to see how the Greek and Roman empires became the third and fourth great conquerors of the world, and many of the details of these two conquerors are also given as prophecy by God. We find a restatement of these conquerors given in Daniel chapter 7, with some additional details which were also fulfilled in every detail.
Second, we look briefly at a picture-prophecy God gave in the Tabernacle He designed for the people of Israel – Exodus 2 – and the High Priestly role He commanded for Aaron – Exodus 26. While this space is far too small to give all the details, here are some of the ways this building was a prophetic picture of Jesus Christ:
- One entrance – Jesus is the only Way (John 14:6).
- Bronze altar and fixtures – bronze speaks of judgment; Revelation 1:5 shows Jesus with feet of bronze.
- Silver for the foundations – this silver was received as “redemption” payments the people paid for every male (Exodus 30:11-15) – Jesus paid the price of our eternal redemption.
- Curtains of fine linen – linen is a picture of righteousness (Revelation 19:8).
- Colors used in the Tabernacle: purple (Jesus is King of Kings – Matthew); red (Jesus’ blood); white (Jesus’ perfect life); blue (Jesus’ eternal home).
- Porpoise skin as the outer layer for the Tabernacle – this was the source of shoes, and there would have been no more available in the desert, so this becomes a picture of Jesus providing for all our needs.
We continue with the order of furniture in the Tabernacle:
- Bronze altar – Jesus’ sacrifice.
- Laver – keeping our hands and feet (our life) clean from sin.
- Candelabra – Jesus is the Light of the World, and also calls us the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
- Table of Showbread – fellowship with other believers in Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:22-40).
- Altar of Incense – prayer.
- Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat – Jesus gave His life, His blood, so we can come before God.
Prayer: Father, help us to see the wonderful pictures of Jesus you have given us throughout the Bible and all the prophecies You have given for us to understand. You are so very good and we love you Lord! In Jesus' name, Amen.
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