Eschatology 101 Part 4
We have now come to the fourth part in our series of Eschatology, and the foundation we need to progress in our study. Isaiah’s Law of God Eternality reveals to us that God is eternal and God’s character is unchanging through subtraction. We know that Satan is concerned about the Post-Millennium-Culmination or PMC for short. So the stage is set, and we can now evaluate prophecies to examine how they were foretold and how they resulted. By doing this, it can help us evaluate what we will study soon regarding future events. Ironically, we are in the Christmas season and this is the best “case study” for those who wish to study eschatology to understand how God works.
Let us examine eight prophecies about Jesus and see what was said and how it was carried out.
1.) Jesus would be born of a woman.
Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
The answer revealing this happening is.
Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”
2.) Jesus would be born of a virgin.
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”
The answer of Jesus being born of a virgin.
Matthew 1:18-25 “18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” Luke 1:26-31 (NASB95) 26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”
3.) Jesus will be the descendent of Abraham.
Genesis 22:18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
We see God carries this out as promised in the following.
Matthew 1:1 “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”
4.) Jesus will be the descendent of Isaac.
Genesis 17:19 “But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
We see God carries this out as promised in the following.
Luke 3:34 “the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,”
5.) Jesus will be the descendent of Jacob.
Numbers 24:17 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.”
We see God carries this out as promised in the following.
Matthew 1:2 “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.”
6.) Jesus will be the descendent of Judah.
Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
We see God carries this out as promised in the following.
Luke 3:33 “the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah.”
7.) Jesus will be the descendent of Jesse.
Isaiah 11:1 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.”
We see God carries this out as promised in the following.
Matthew 1:6 “Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.”
8.) Jesus will be the descendent of King David of Israel.
1 Samuel 7:12-16 “12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 15 Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 He used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.”
Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
We see this carried out in the following.
Luke 1:32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”
This is only a short list of the prophecies regarding Jesus’ FIRST COMING! And yet, the total list of first coming prophecies is less than a third of what is prophesied regarding Jesus Christ’s second coming. In fact, we have MORE TO ANALYZE regarding His second coming than His first. However, what does the first coming of Jesus provide for cross examination of eschatology? It reveals God’s seriousness of what He says.
God does not change; when He says that He will do something, no matter how unlikely it is, it is going to happen. Remember, impossible does not mean impossible when God is involved. This is why Gabriel says to men when Man doubts God’s actions, Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” When Man thinks it is impossible, Jesus quickly corrects their understanding. Matthew 19:25-26 “25 When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
This understanding is summarized into the following term. Theo Praxis: A declaration by Yahweh of a future event that no matter how unlikely or statistically impossible, will happen exactly as told.
When studying a Theo Praxis, one must take into account the slippery slope of examining the messenger and reader’s inability to understand the Theo Praxis resulting in possible improper analysis of data. This is why God takes His word seriously, thus we need to take His word seriously. So if you are ever reading God’s word, and you come across a prophetic declaration by God and think to yourself, “This is impossible, so it must not mean what it says,” take a moment and ask yourself if this is a Theo Praxis.
Unfortunately, many cults today have done the opposite of a Theo Praxis. They have examined the scripture and ignore the data based on improbability, declaring that God could not have done what He said He has or will do. This is called a Parexigesi Theo Praxis. As we read forward, we need to recognize that God takes His word seriously, and so should we. When examining the future and Jesus’ second coming, numerous Theo Praxis will become prevalent. We need to be cautious not to make any analytical miscalculations regarding God’s capability to fulfill His word. God’s word is not inaccurate, rather our study and application needs to be evaluated in order to understand this capability. Join us next week as we look at two Theo Praxis in scripture that are happening today.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
JL