The Bible is Reliable regarding Israel's Covenant and Prophecy

Opening statement Is it reasonable to believe that if God chose to reveal Himself to mankind then prophecy would prove effective? A prophecy foretells things before they actually occur and thus provides evidence for us to trust that He is and that He tells the truth. Biblical prophecy, if proven, is unique because it is reasonable to believe that no human being can continually predict what will happen with 100% accuracy before it happens unless aided by God. If Con believes otherwise, then it will be his burden to demonstrate that such a person does exist who can predict the future with 100% accuracy. Introduction - Israel, The Covenant People The theme of salvation is present throughout the Bible starting in Genesis with Adam’s choice, his disobedience, and alienation from God (spiritual death). Heaven (the spiritual) and earth (the physical) were separated on the day he sinned. God no longer “walked” (in a close intimate relationship) with Adam. Adam was left to find out what life separated from God would bring, as are we. God’s plan to restore that relationship (overcome spiritual death and separation) is revealed as another theme. The OT is not about world history but about God distinctly choosing a covenant people [Deuteronomy 7:6], starting with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel, to bring about this salvation, first to them, then through them to the rest of the world. Specifically, through Covenant Israel God would send the Messiah [Genesis 49:10 ], the Savior of mankind [Matthew 1:1-17] God rescues these people from bondage and captivity in Egypt, then in the desert sets up this covenant relationship with them, through the Law or Torah, in which they agree to be His people and He agrees to be their God [Exodus 24:3]. The covenant relationship is an “If/then” agreement. If Israel will obediently follow God’s decrees and laws then He will shower them with the blessings of the covenant and cause them to prosper as a nation [Deuteronomy 28:1-14]. If they disobey He will bring the covenant curses upon them to the point of eventual destruction [Deuteronomy 28:15-64]. The historical OT witness of these covenant people is mostly one of disobedience. God brings prophets to warn them to turn away from their sin and unbelief. They continue in unbelief. He brings covenant sanctions against them by employing other nations. The northern kingdom is conquered first, then the southern kingdom, destroying its holy city and temple, its house of worship. In Babylonian exile God (through the prophet Daniel) delivers a timeline for these OT people to end their transgressions and bring in everlasting righteousness, seventy weeks of years (70 x 7 = 490), during which time their city and temple will be rebuilt. Near the end of the timeframe the Messiah would come and everything prophesied to them would be accomplished/fulfilled. The end of that seventy sevens would be marked by the destruction of the city and temple once more [Daniel 9:24-27]. Jerusalem’s Destruction - Significance Fact: The NT deals with God’s prophetic promised coming Messiah to these covenant people, that nation, then it looks forward to the Messiah’s Second Coming and final judgment (in which He would bring both reward and punishment) [Matthew 16:27-28]. Fact: The whole of the NT speaks of the soon, near, coming kingdom that the Messiah would set up [Matthew 4:17, Matthew 10:6-8]. Fact: The whole NT speaks of two ages, the one that is and the ONE to come [Matthew 12:32]. Fact: It speaks of a soon coming judgment and reward [Matthew 3:7, Luke 3:7, Luke 21:23]. Fact: It speaks to a 1st-century relevant audience about things that would happen in their lifetime (that generation) [Matthew 23:35-37]. Fact: The NT builds on OT themes concerning these people and their Messiah. It tells of the fulfillment of these prophecies either then or in the NEAR future [Matthew 2:17, Luke 21:22, Luke 24:44]. Fact: Jerusalem and the temple are central to these prophecies. Jesus gives the timeline in Matthew 24, especially in verse 3 about when all the things that would take place - that generation. Fact: The whole NT deals with warnings of the imminent destruction of this temple in which not one stone would be left unturned. Fact: Revelation is John’s account of the same Matthew 24 discourse. The significance of the destruction of the city and temple is that God is divorcing these apostate people, the unfaithful wife, punishing them by these OT curses, and taking for Himself a new Bride. With this faithful bride, the New Israel, the spiritual kingdom, the relationship that was lost in Eden (where heaven and earth were separated) is now restored. Fact: God is abolishing the Old Covenant and replacing it with a new and better one [Hebrews 8:13]. Fact: The NT deals with the complete fulfillment of that old covenant in the Messiah, the making of a better covenant that would be fully put in place at the Second Coming of the Messiah within the lifetime of these people [Matthew 5:17-18], a complete fulfillment of the Mosaic Law and Prophets. Fact: It deals with the way in which God has chosen and planned from the beginning of humanity to restore the relationship lost in the Garden by ushering in the new spiritual heaven and earth in the Messiah. Reasonable to Believe! 1) The destruction of the city and temple theme makes no sense after A. D. 70. 2) Why would the NT authors never once mention the city nor temples destruction, of which their OT relationship with God depended on? Their whole OT economy, their system of worship according to the Law, was no longer able to be administered after A. D. 70. The Law depended on them making atonement for their sins through animal sacrifice, the priesthood, and temple worship (bringing the sacrifice to the altar). This is reason to believe the NT was written before A. D. 70. 3) The OT prophet spoke of the Messiah coming to these OT people before the destruction of the city and temple. Happened! The coming Messiah would not be applicable after A. D. 70. 4) The Law of Moses stipulated curses, wrath, and destruction for disobedience. The Prophets foretold of God divorcing His unfaithful bride for her adultery and idolatry. It speaks of Him choosing a new bride and establishing new heavens and a new earth. None of this can happen after A. D. 70. The Olivet Discourse – Its Unity The theme of the discourse encompasses much of Scripture. It deals with the fulfillment of all OT prophecy yet unfulfilled up to the Second Coming of the Messiah. It prophesies the completion of prophecy with the end of the age and start of a new age, the better covenant. It deals with God’s covenant wrath against these apostate OT people for continually breaking this binding covenant and ignoring and/or killing the prophets He sent to them. Historical Verification Fact: History verifies the end of the OT age with the destruction of both the city and temple in A. D. 70. Fact: No NT writer makes mention of an already destroyed temple! Fact: Historians from the period mention themes of the Olivet Discourse, and destruction of the city and temple in A. D. 70. Fact: None of that means anything after A. D. 70 because these OT people do not exist in covenant relation after A. D. 70. Fact: None of the prophecies concerning their Messiah mean anything after A. D. 70. He was prophesied to come to an O. T. people. Fact: The NT writers quote or cite OT prophecies as fulfilled or soon to be fulfilled in the NT. Fact: The NT writers frequently convey information that applies to an OT people, that loses meaning after A. D. 70. Fact: The time indicators throughout the NT address events that were near. Unity of Scripture – Covenant Type and Fulfillment Jesus spoke of all Scripture (the OT) referring to Him [Luke 24:17-27]. In the OT the physical history of Israel and its people is a type, shadow, pattern, of what was coming, promised redemption, the spiritual truth being Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. For instance: OT - God brings a deliverer to Egypt to free a people from bondage and captivity. NT - God sends the Messiah, the One like Moses, as the Deliverer Moses prophesied about [Deuteronomy 18:15], who would rescue His people from their bondage to sin. OT – Resistance of Pharoah - Moses warnings to release the Israelites - God’s curses on Pharoah and his people. NT – Resistance of the Pharisees - Jesus’ and John’s warnings to apostate Israel to repent. OT - A final warning in which God strikes down the firstborn of Egypt. God’s provision for His people is by the sacrificial lamb’s blood applied to the doorposts and top. NT - The spiritual significance of that OT sacrifice points to Jesus Christ, the Lamb without spot, sacrificed upon the cross. The Firstborn is raised from the dead. OT - Crossing from this land of bondage through the Red Sea - 40 year Exodus in the wilderness to the Promised Land - God supplying their food and drink - temptations and failures - the promise that those who look upon the serpent would be saved - the covenant God made with these people at Sinai - The deliverer, who struck the rock, was unable to accompany them into the Promised Land. He just saw it from afar. NT - Spiritual significance of the second Moses, the second Exodus, the people crossing from sin to freedom - Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness (like Moses) - His resistance to temptation - the NT peoples 40-year Exodus to their heavenly Promised Land - a Deliverer - who provides spiritual bread and water for the New Israel (His word) - who makes a new covenant with the people of God at Calvary - who is lifted up so that whoever looks at Him and believes will not perish - who is able to bring them into the Promised Land. He enters that land first. Are these similarities coincidence? Do these prophecies meet their fulfillment in the Messiah? It is reasonable to believe the answer is yes, they do! God speaks through these prophets to this particular generation and people [Hebrews 1:1-2].