Double Fulfillment and Prophecy

Double Fulfillment Vs. Type

But here, Jesus points to that Abomination of Desolation with Antiochus Epiphanes and says you need to be looking for something like that again.

And this give us the opportunity to talk about how we should apply biblical prophecy to us today by understanding the difference between Types and what are called double or ultimate fulfillments.

Some people say, Yes, Matthew 24 is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 but there is also a double or ultimate fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that will happen at the end of the world.

AD 70 was a partial fulfillment of what Jesus was actually talking about.

But here’s the problem. Nothing in the text says that. All it says is that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (Matthew 24:34).

Where they get this is that some prophecies really do have a double fulfillment.

For example, the promised blessing to all nations promised through Abraham was initially fulfilled in Isaac. But the New Testament then takes that prophecy and explicitly says it was ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

But how do you know it was a double fulfillment? Because the Bible said so.

Without that standard, whose to say there’s not a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or hundredth fulfillment?

How would you ever know when a particular prophecy was ultimately or actually fulfilled?

So here’s the rule. Unless the New Testament takes a prophecy from the Old and says “This - what you’re seeing - is that - what was prophesied,” we should take a prophecy for what it is, base our interpretation on what it explicitly says.

But even if a prophecy has already been fulfilled, that doesn’t mean it isn’t still relevant or have meaning and application for us today.

This is how you interpret biblical prophecy as Types.

A Type, when it comes to prophecy, is when you look through the lens of a particular prophecy and ask what might this have to say about what I’m seeing today?

Think of it as applying biblical prophecy.

Its like a shadowy picture that when put it up against your life it can help you see things more clearly.

So its not another fulfillment of prophecy where you say this - what I’m seeing - is that. But it is way to look at a prophecy and say this - what I am seeing - is like that.

Let me give you a quick example.

When you read a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem, Babylon, or any nation really, those judgments in history, are all types, shadowy pictures, that give us a little glimpse of what God’s eternal wrath looks like in the Final Judgment.

But as Types, they can also give us a sneak peek behind the curtain, a picture of what God is doing behind the scenes when He judges nations today.

So its not 1:1, but those prophecies that were fulfilled long ago are still be applicable and instructive for our life and faith today.

That’s a better way to interpret prophecy.

Unless you are otherwise told in the New Testament, take a prophecy for what it is look for applications of that prophecy instead of assuming that it is really talking about something else. Something that is going to happen again in our future.

And that’s how we should look at Matthew 24.

We are not waiting for a double or ultimate fulfillment of Matthew 24 because Jesus says what He is talking about, the destruction of the Temple in that generation, is the ultimate fulfillment of the Abomination of Desolation.

For Him, that prophecy was not just about the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Ephiphanes.

It ultimately pointed to the Temple being torn down and desecrated by the Romans with not one stone left upon another.