Hello again! This Advent, I've been spending some time reading Isaiah. Admittedly, I haven't gotten very far, but I was struck by the nature of the prophecies in the first ten chapters. To of them, especially, have special significance for us around the Christmas season - Isaiah 7:14 with its prophecy of a virgin giving birth to Immanuel, and 9:6-7: "To us a child is born, to us a son is given... He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace..." To me, the fascinating thing about both of these prophecies is that their fulfillment spans a more than one point in time - Isaiah 7:14 has an immediate (but incomplete) fulfillment during Isaiah's lifetime, but its fullest fulfillment is found in Jesus. Isaiah 9:6-7 finds fulfillment at Jesus birth, but its final fulfillment will come when He returns: "Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end..." Certainly, Jesus' rule extends to all of creation, but that rule and the peace it brings are not always obvious to us. On that day - the Last Day - they will be.
The prophets, it seems to me, have the privilege of being revealed God's plan for the world, often from God's own timeless perspective. Events that are hundreds of years apart from our perspective fit neatly together from His. This might help explain why Jesus' coming, fulfilled at Christmas, is often prophesied about in end times language - the two fit together. The one guarantees the other. Such a view of prophecy might not be popular with those who think they can determine the dates and times of events like the Lord's return, since it largely discounts that fact that we can do such a thing (or that God even wants us to try). But we can take comfort in the truth that God's promises, though we haven't seen their final fulfillment, are guaranteed - in God's mind, they're a done deal. As surely as Christmas has happened, Jesus indeed reigns even now and will come again in glory, at which point His reign will be obvious to all. No doubt about it!
A blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones.
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