Has biblical prophecy been fulfilled?

What the Bible says

In the Bible prophecy is first speaking for God. A prophet's message usually calls the people in front of him to repentance, justice, and faithfulness. Paul says "he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort" (1 Cor 14:3). Speaking about the future is one part of prophecy, and a part that shows how God works (Amos 3:7).

How, then, can a true prophet be recognized? Deuteronomy gives a test.

When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

Deut 18:22

A prophecy of judgment can be a conditional warning. Jonah cried, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” (Jonah 3:4), but when the people turned from evil, God "relented from the disaster He had threatened" (Jonah 3:10; see also Jer 18:7-8). An unfulfilled warning is not necessarily false.

The New Testament points to many Old Testament words as fulfilled in Jesus. Micah named Bethlehem:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel— One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.

Mic 5:2

When Herod asked where the Christ would be born, the chief priests and scribes answered from this text, "In Bethlehem in Judea" (Matt 2:4-6).

Zechariah spoke of a humble king "riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zech 9:9), which Matthew sees in Jesus' entry into Jerusalem (Matt 21:4-5). Psalm 22 begins, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" (Ps 22:1), words Jesus cried on the cross (Mark 15:34). It later says:

They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

Ps 22:18

John sees the soldiers' casting lots for Jesus' clothing as this Scripture fulfilled (John 19:23-24). Isaiah 53 pictures a servant who suffers.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Isa 53:5

An Ethiopian official reading this chapter asked, "who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" (Acts 8:34), and Philip began there to tell him about Jesus (Acts 8:35). On the Emmaus road, "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets," Jesus explained what was written about himself (Luke 24:27).

The church's witness

From the beginning the church read the Old Testament as pointing to Christ, and the Nicene Creed confesses his rising on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures The Nicene Creed. On the Emmaus road, Chrysostom says that "in the other writings of the Prophets also there are scattered about mysteries of Christ’s cross and the resurrection" Chrysostom. Matthew Henry writes, "A golden thread of gospel grace runs through the whole web of the Old Testament" Matthew Henry.

These prophecies were not written in later by Christians. The great Isaiah scroll found near the Dead Sea dates from about the second century BC and agrees closely, apart from mostly minor differences, with the Hebrew text copied a thousand years later Dead Sea Scrolls.

The church also teaches care. Matthew Henry warns on Deuteronomy 18, "Whatever is against the plain sense of the written word, or which gives countenance or encouragement to sin, we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken" Matthew Henry. Prophecy is to be weighed, not received with fear or curiosity (1 Thess 5:20-21).

In the original languages

The Old Testament word for prophet is navi (נָבִיא). Its origin is debated; it is often taken as "one called" or "one who proclaims." A prophet is first someone entrusted with God's word, and only secondly one who sees ahead.

The New Testament prophētēs (προφήτης) comes from a verb meaning "to speak forth." The prefix pro- can mean "beforehand," but the word describes a forth-teller of God's will: one who speaks out for God, and not only about the future.

"Fulfill" is plēroō (πληρόω), "to fill full." It can mean that a statement came true as predicted, or that a story reached its full meaning. Matthew's use of Hosea 11:1 for Jesus is of the second kind (Matt 2:15): Hosea spoke of Israel leaving Egypt, but Matthew reads Israel's story as completed in Israel's true Son. This way of reading is called typology.

Common objections

"The prophecies were fitted to Jesus after the fact, or, as with Daniel, written after the events." There is something in this. Jesus' riding a donkey into Jerusalem was very likely a deliberate act with Zechariah 9 in mind, and the Gospel writers chose their Old Testament texts. But being born in Bethlehem, or soldiers casting lots at an execution, are not things Jesus or his followers could arrange, and these texts stood in the Jewish Scriptures before him. Daniel is debated. The traditional view holds that Daniel wrote the book in the Babylonian exile, and notes that Jesus spoke of the prophet Daniel (Matt 24:15). Many critical scholars, noting how closely chapters 8 and 11 describe the time of Antiochus IV in the mid-second century BC, hold that the book took its present form then; on that view its force lies in giving a persecuted people hope that God's kingdom will prevail (Dan 7:13-14). Either way, faith does not hang on the date of Daniel. What the fulfilments offer is evidence, not proof.

"Some citations are strained. Hosea 11 is about Israel, the Hebrew in Isaiah 7:14 only means 'young woman,' and Psalm 22 is about David's own suffering." This is a serious objection. The Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14, 'almah, means a young woman of marriageable age; whether it implies virginity is disputed (Isa 7:14). The Greek translation rendered it "virgin," and Matthew quotes it (Matt 1:22-23). Many Christians see a sign for Ahaz's day with a deeper fulfilment. In Psalm 22:16 the standard Hebrew (Masoretic) text reads, literally, "like a lion, my hands and feet"; "they have pierced" follows the Septuagint, and one Dead Sea manuscript appears to have a verb there. The New Testament does not quote this line. So it is honest not to give every citation the same weight. A direct declaration, a pattern in which David's suffering points to David's greater Son, and a replay of Israel's story are different things. The New Testament reads them as one story, and Christians believe this is the direction the Old Testament was already pointing. A dispute over one verse does not bring the whole down, nor does one striking verse prove it.

"Aren't today's headlines fulfilling prophecy? When does the world end?" Jesus warned: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matt 24:36). After his resurrection he said, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). History is full of predicted dates for the return that came to nothing, and many were hurt. Some Christians see the modern state of Israel as fulfilled prophecy; others do not. Since interpretations of the last things differ within the church, be careful when someone presents one timetable as the Bible's own. See When will the end come?.

Going further

Fulfilled prophecy builds trust that God speaks and keeps his word, yet the purpose of reading prophecy is not to calculate dates but to recognize Christ and stay awake before the Word. Paul says, "For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ" (2 Cor 1:20).

You might ask yourself: Do I treat prophecy only as information about the future, or also as a word for me now? When rumors about dates make me anxious, what do I hold on to?

To read further, see Is Jesus the Messiah?, Will Jesus come again? and Can the Bible be trusted?.