Personal Myths Cause Prophecy to be Missed!
Mythology is a collection of stories or accounts, held by a culture or religion, which typically contain elements of fact mingled with the stories and teachings of false gods. Mythology contains stories of real, historical events and people, mixed with fantastical and idolatrous tales of “the gods”. Scripture tells us not to mix the “sacred” with the “profane” or mingle truth with deception. Thus, most believers know to avoid the realm of mythology.
Bible-based believers commonly understand that spending time in the myths of the idolatrous nations is counter-productive—even sinful. But it might shock us to discover that most of us have fallen a prey to sneaking myths, which have crept in the proverbial “back door”, coming in under our spiritual radar! These myths typically manifest in our understanding of Bible prophecy...
Notes from Class:
Prophecy Mythology is interpreting Bible Prophecy according to our own biases, and expecting the fulfillment of these prophecies to look just as we believe it must.
There are Six Areas of Prophecy Mythology:
· Prophecy Mythology Area #1: Focusing on the nation of Israel – The Jewish leaders expected Messiah to reign on Throne of David – Breaking Israel’s subservience to Rome.
o “Messiah” means “anointed One”, from Hebrew. In Greek, it’s “Christ”.
Truth: Prophecy of Messiah stated that He would overthrow lesser kingdoms and would rule on the Throne of David.
Isaiah 9:7 - “Of the increase of His Government and of peace there will be no end, on the Throne of David and over His Kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
Myth: the Rabbis believed that Yahshua’s first advent was to defeat Rome and establish an earthly Kingdom (the kingdom of Israel)
Truth: Yahshua told them that His Kingdom was not of this world. Yahshua did descend from David. He performed signs that the prophets had said would demonstrate His Messiahship (like giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, and riding on a donkey colt in His Triumphal Entry).
Isaiah 35:5-6 – Yahshua fulfilled this literally and spiritually, by teaching Truth and by healing the blind, lame… etc.
Matthew 11:4-5 – John the Baptist, in his final days, was struggling with prophecy mythology… He had ideas of what Messiah would do, that didn’t align with what Yahshua was doing… So, he sent messengers to Yahshua to ask, “Are you the Messiah, or should we look for another?” And Yahshua answered him in a profound and comforting way… He gave evidence in the Messianic signs.
Luke 5:24 – Yahshua demonstrated His Messiahship by these healings (because the Lamb, Who forgives sin is also the Healer)
Luke 18:42 – A Messianic Sign was Healing blindness.
Zechariah 9:9 – Yahshua, in the Triumphal Entry, rode on a young donkey, in fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy
Matthew 21:4-9 – Yahshua fulfilled the Zech 9:9 prophecy by riding the young donkey.
· Prophecy Mythology Area #2: Misunderstanding Prophetic Details – The Jewish leaders taught that Moses and Messiah, foretold in Deuteronomy, would be two different people. (Messiah’s coming is to be heralded by the coming of Moses and Elijah).
When Moses and Elijah literally came (Mount of Transfiguration), only three disciples (who were sworn to secrecy) witnessed it, or knew about it. So “the SIGN” (literally) happened without anyone knowing… The usual sign to the masses is SPIRITUAL.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 foretold that a prophet “like himself” (Moses) would be raised up in the time of Messiah.
For miraculous signs of His prophetic identity, Yahshua turned water to wine, like Moses turned water to blood. In another sign of His Deuteronomy 18 fulfillment, Like Moses, Yahshua commanded the sea and it obeyed. With Moses, the people ate manna that miraculously appeared in the wilderness; with Yahshua, the people ate bread and fish that miraculously multiplied in the wilderness.
But in spite of the miraculous signs and His own testimony that Yahshua was the foretold Prophet and the Messiah, the Jewish leaders largely refused to accept that their prophetic interpretation had been wrong. When the fulfillment looked different then the teachings of the Pharisees, they refused to humble themselves and accept it.
Such is the danger of Prophecy Mythology!
· Prophecy Mythology Area #3: Rejecting the Spiritual Fulfillment – The Jewish leaders misunderstood Malachi 4, expecting literal Elijah to serve as the forerunner of Messiah.
The Jews had interpreted this prophecy to mean that literal Elijah would appear and begin teaching in the land of Judea, as the forerunner of Messiah. But, when this prophecy was fulfilled, literal Elijah did not appear. Malachi 4:5 was fulfilled in a spiritual way before the eyes of the people through John the Baptist.
Matthew 17:10-13 – John the Baptist was the spiritual Elijah… The disciples revealed that this belief in literal Elijah was one of their own areas Prophecy Mythology, by their question to Yahshua regarding Elijah. In fact, in their coming to believe that Yahshua was the Messiah, one of the disciples’ biggest tripping points was their bias regarding the Elijah prophecy.
It is comforting and beautiful to see how gently the Saviour dealt with areas of Prophecy Mythology, so long as they weren’t held in pride. The reality is that everyone has them—even the sincerest of believers, like the disciples!
Prophecy
Mythology Area #4: Seeing is Fulfilling –
The Jewish leaders expected to see every aspect of prophetic fulfillment. If
they didn’t see it, they believed that it couldn’t be counted as a prophetic
fulfillment.
· Regarding the Deuteronomy 18 and
Malachi 4 prophecies of Moses and Elijah appearing to prepare the Way for
Messiah, both Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of
Transfiguration. But their appearance, in literal fulfillment of the Deuteronomy
and Malachi prophecies was not believed or counted because it was an unknown
event.
· Matthew 17:1-9 “And after six days Yahshua taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain
apart, And was transfigured before them: and His Face did shine as the
sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared
unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him…And as they came down from the
mountain, Yahshua charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until
the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.”
o
“Blessed
is he that hath not seen and yet hath believed.”
o
Faith
is spiritually seeing.
· Only three of the disciples witnessed
the appearance of Moses and Elijah. And, at Yahshua’s
instruction, no one else was told that Moses and Elijah had indeed appeared on
earth, until after Messiah was resurrected. But did the fact that almost no one
knew of the literal prophetic fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18 and Malachi 4
negate these prophecies’ fulfillment? Of course not! Thus, we see that just
because a detail of prophetic fulfillment may not be commonly known, doesn’t
mean it hasn’t been fulfilled!
· But, again, while the literal
fulfillment of these prophecies was not commonly known, the spiritual
fulfillment was plainly shown before everyone. Certainly, even though the
Messianic fulfillment looked different than they thought, the prophetic details
were profoundly manifested, albeit in unexpected ways.
Prophecy Mythology Area #5: Exalting Judaism – The Jewish leaders expected
to Messiah to be supportive and submissive to the edicts and pride of the
Rabbis and the leaders of Judaism.
· The Rabbis had a seat in the
synagogues that represented their power (in
their minds). It was called “The Seat of Moses”. The Pharisees’ sayings were
considered to be higher than Torah.
o
“The
Oral Torah” (Talmud) – states that Pharisee Rabbis have the power and
prerogative to create new commandments called takanot (“enactments”). The
Talmud calls this Oral law to be higher than the Torah!
o
The
Rabbis and Jewish leaders looked for Messiah to be a warrior-king, who would
defeat the Roman rule, but who would also be submissive to them in spiritual
matters.
o
The
Pharisees had a set of rules—known as the Talmud—which trumped
the Torah, according to their teachings. This teaching of the
Pharisees is written in the Jewish Talmud, which states:
§ “Be careful concerning
Rabbinical enactments even more than the Torah. Because… anyone who
violates a Rabbinical enactment is worthy of death.” (Eiruvin 21b).
o
Never,
in all Scripture, was the authority of Israel’s leadership to include making
new laws, or taking away any Laws of the Torah. The Torah,
given by Yahweh, was complete. In fact, adding or deleting from
it is a sin (which is defined as being transgression of the Law - 1 John
3:4):
§ “You shall not add unto the matter
which I command you today nor shall you diminish aught from it.” Deuteronomy
4:2
§ The “traditions of the elders” make
the “commandment of God” of “none effect” (Isaiah 29:13)
§ “teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men” is a sin in Matthew 15:9
§ According to Yahshua,
the “traditions of the elders” made the “Commandment of Yahweh”
of “none effect” (Isaiah 29:13). Thus, Yahshua notably
resisted the Talmud and sinful added laws of the Pharisees. He
did this both in His bold teachings as well as in the way He performed many of
His miracles.
§ In the feeding of the 5000, Yahshua
provided food (miracle) in a Moses role but the people (disciples, His
followers) did not obey the Talmud hand-washing requirement… The Pharisees complained (Matthew 15:1-3) and
Yahshua told them that they were transgressing against Yahweh by having that
hand-washing law… (your tradition).
§ Yahshua turned the water to wine at a
Pharisee wedding. Not coincidentally, the water to wine miracle took place in
the Pharisaical water purification pots. According to the teachings of the
Rabbis, wine was not permitted to be in a water-purification pot. Of course, no
such teaching appears in Torah and adding such a “law” to
Israel’s divine injunctions was a sin. This point is one which Yahshua
profoundly demonstrated in this miracle, and repeatedly emphasized throughout
the miracles He performed.
§ Instead of supporting the Pharisees
and Jewish religious leaders, Yahshua openly rebuked and
upbraided them—repeatedly. Thus, to the prideful Pharisees and religious
leaders, Yahshua was far from the submissive and supportive
Messiah they envisioned. Because of their pride, they only saw Him as an
inconvenient opposition—who was even a danger to them—threatening their power and
position over the people. Their pride in
their Prophecy Mythology, their power and their position, meant more to them
than the Truth.
Soberingly, because of their blind
perspective, they could not see Messiah, even though He stood right before them
and was fulfilling the Messianic prophecies which they had long studied and
taught.
The love of the Truth is the dividing
line between the lost and the saved.
Prophecy
Mythology Area #6: Inverting the Timeline
– The Jewish leaders expected to Messiah to be the conquering King, not the
suffering servant – at His first Advent.
· Another aspect of the Jews Prophecy
Mythology was a misplacement of events on the prophetic timeline. They expected
a conquering King, at His first Advent. Yahshua will not come as a conquering
King until the Second Advent. Thus, the Jews had unknowingly inverted the
prophetic timeline.
· But He came the first time, as a
suffering servant, and is coming the second time as the conquering King. Isaiah
prophesied about a righteous, suffering servant. But no one thought the Messiah
and the suffering servant could be the same person. Why? Because the Messiah
was supposed to rule forever, while the suffering Servant had to die, as Isaiah
plainly stated in Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53.
· See the problem with Prophecy
Mythology? The Jews didn’t see how the Messiah, whom they thought would save
Israel from Rome and establish an everlasting kingdom, could also be Isaiah’s
suffering Servant who would die.
Prophecy Mythology affect everybody:
· The people of Yahshua’s Day – Yahshua
told the crowd that He would be lifted up from the earth… They thought He was
speaking of death and this caused them to question whether He was right (John
12:34).
· Isaiah gave clues that the suffering
servant was the Messiah. In fact this faithful prophet repeatedly foretold that
Messiah would be the righteous, suffering Servant (see Isaiah 42:1-9;
49:1-12; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12). These prophecies clearly connect Messiah
with the suffering Servant, for both would:
o
be
anointed by the Spirit of Yahweh (Isaiah 11:2; 42:1)
o
bring
justice (Isaiah 9:7; 42:1; Jeremiah 23:5)
o
be
righteous (Isaiah 42:6; 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5)
o
make
others righteous (Isaiah 53:11; 61:3; Jeremiah 33:15-16)
o
bring
peace (Isaiah 9:6-7; 53:5; Ezekiel 34:24-25)
o
bring
Israel back to Yahweh (Isaiah 49:5; Jeremiah 23:3-5)
be part of a new (renewed) Covenant (Isaiah 42:6; Ezekiel 34:24-25)
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