Gaps of Time in Prophecy
Here’s an interesting fact about some prophecies that God gave in the Old Testament. There seems to be a gap of time in between the start of it and when it finishes. Some of you may find this article Interesting. I hope you do, because it’s important for us to know and understand the prophecies that God told us about the future. Because God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10). It’s important for us to understand what He told us before it happens. Sometimes we can know when a prophecy is about to happen, and other times, we don’t know until it’s over. And sometimes we may see the start of it, but the end of it is may be 100 years away or 1000 years away. Peter gives us a glimpse of this when he says with “God one day is as a 1000 years or 1000 years or like one day”. If you take that into consideration some prophecies make more sense. We are bond by time, but God is not. He lives in eternity where there is no time. God spoke time into existence, so He knows everything that is going to happen. To God, everything has happened already, but we have to live out our lives in time.
2 Peter 3:8 (ESV) (Please read the whole chapter)
8. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of where there is a gap in between the start of it and the fulfillment of it. We will start our reading in Luke chapter 4. Jesus gives us a good example of the “time gap” in this prophecy.
Luke 4:16-21 (ESV) (Please read the whole chapter)
16. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19.
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Now, we will go and look at the scripture in Isaiah that Jesus was reading and see what it says.
Isaiah 61:1-2 (ESV) (Please read the whole chapter)
1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2.
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
Jesus didn’t finish verse 2, He didn’t read “the day of vengeance of our God”, why? Because, He knew, He was fulfilling the part that He read at that very moment in time, the day of vengeance of our God is still in our future. So there’s a gap of at least 2000 years there. To God it’s already been fulfilled but in the process of time, the last part hasn’t been fulfilled yet. I think that “the day of vengeance of our God” is going to be “the day of the Lord”.
Another gap that we find in prophecies is found in Daniel chapter 9, this is where Daniel is talking about 70 weeks or determined on the Jewish people.
Daniel 9:24-27 (ESV) (Please read the whole chapter)
24. “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
This perhaps is the most profound of all the prophecy gaps that we find in the Bible. Simply because, the dates that are mentioned can easily be proved through the calendar of time to arrive at a specific date, and all of verse 24 was not completed.
Each day in these seventy weeks is actually a year, this is proven by other verses in the Bible. Versus 25 and 26 tell us the start of the time and what will happen at the end of it. It mentions a seven week period and a 62 week period of time which is 69 weeks and then the anointed one is cut off. And then verse 27 says that someone will make a strong covenant for one week, which makes the last of the 70 week period of time that verse 24 mentions. And this one has not been fulfilled as of yet which makes the gap being over 2000 years.
We know the date that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, we call it Palm Sunday and He was crucified right after that. He is the anointed one that was cut off in verse 26. which stopped the last seven weeks from being concurrently fulfilled.
Sir Robert Anderson in his book “The Coming Prince” did all the mathematics concerning this prophecy using the Hebrew calendar, to come to the exact date of Palm Sunday that shows this prophecy to be 100% correct up to that point. You can view his work online just by placing his name in a search browser.
Now we only have that last week left to be fulfilled. We believe that this last week of verse 27 is the time of tribulation or “strong covenant” that Jesus mentions in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21. Because He speaks of the abomination of desolation in the midst of the tribulation period, which is exactly what Daniel 9:27 says. There are many prophecies speaking to the time of Jacob’s trouble (I’ve written about that in other articles). And we believe that is the 70th week to fulfill the prophecies that Daniel was given. This places over a 2000 year gap in between Jesus crucifixion or “the anointed one being cut off” and the last week which is Jacob’s trouble or tribulation period.
Another reason we believe that this gap is true, because verse 24 makes a statement that says “to bring in everlasting righteousness”. This has not happened yet. That part of the prophecy still has to be fulfilled also. But Jesus did “atone for iniquity”, which is the words right before “everlasting righteousness”.
Another good book to look at would be “Things to Come” By J. Dwight Pentecost starting at P 239 and following. He goes into the “gap” prophecies in more detail then we can here. We have presented here two good examples of gaps in prophecies that God gave us. Taking these into account and what 2 Peter 3:8 says,
“8. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”,
That makes the gaps easier to understand. Because God sees it all right now, and not as we do, as we live through time.
I had a professor in one of my classes in Central Bible College that said this, pretend for a moment all the students sitting in the classroom was God. Then he drew on the chalkboard, two vertical lines separated by space and then drew a vertical line between them. Then on it, he wrote creation at the first vertical line, the crucifixion of Jesus in the middle of the horizontal line and then at the end by the second vertical line he put the end of time. And then he said if you were God sitting out there looking at this, you see the whole of creation and time in one span and moment and that’s like God in eternity, He sees it all right now from beginning to end, Isaiah 46:10. God spoke and the world came into being.
Isaiah 46:10 (KJV) (Please read the whole chapter)
10. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
This illustration has helped me understand prophecy better than any other illustration that I’ve ever heard or been shown before. I hope that it helps you also and God bless you as you continue your search of the scriptures to get close to God.