A Prophecy to be Fulfilled!

 A Prophecy to be Fulfilled!

Matt 5: 17 – 18: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished”. NRSV

We understand that right now, we may be faced with so many challenges, and it does seem like there is no hope in sight for some. But the reality is that God had already made ready solutions for us. But the very same challenges that afflict some, keeps those ones from searching for solutions from Jesus to the challenges they face.

This is what I mean: When God allowed the people of Israel to be taken captive by Babylon, he set a time limit for their captivity. See:

Jeremiah 29: 10 “For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will bring you back to this place.

This meant that the Israelites were supposed to be lawful captives for seventy years, and then God will visit them. It didn’t occur automatically, it took men like Daniel to begin to fast and pray to God concerning the prophecy, for the prophecy to be fulfilled by the decree of King Cyrus.

Daniel 9: 2 “in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to the prophet Jeremiah, must be fulfilled for the devastation of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

But it was not only Daniel who perceived that their captivity will end in seventy years, there was a sect of Israelites who following the prophecy of Jeremiah, instituted yearly fasts for the fulfillment of the scripture.

Zechariah 7:5-6 “say to all the people of the land and the priests: when you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink only for yourselves?

The Israelites fasted in the fifth month and in the seventh month (May and July) for seventy years. Although, God was telling them here that although they abstained from food and drink those months, there was no character change in them.

Verse 9 -14 of the same Zacharia showed this well: Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. But they refused to listen and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets, Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts,”

Why did this prophecy come to Zechariah? The people of Israel came to ask the Prophet in verse 3 “and to ask the priests and the prophets, “should I mourn and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have done so many years?”

The same question many ask today, should I mourn/fast? This article was never about fasting, we were just led there. Understanding this context, let’s hear what Jesus – the bridegroom of the church had to say about fasting.

Mar 2:18  And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 

Mar 2:19  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 

Mar 2:20  But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 

Mar 2:21  No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 

Mar 2:22  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. 

·         First thing we have to note here is that the disciples of Jesus were not fasting. The people who were fasting were the disciples of John and the Pharisees. Both sects were outside the dispensation of the Christ. Without fasting the disciples of Jesus went out two by two and cast out demons and healed the sick. So, they had access to power from Jesus. Mark 6: 13.

·         Jesus attributed the fact that His disciples were not fasting to Him – the bridegroom

, being present with them. He later also explained that when he is taken away from them, they would have to fast.

·         But he also added this: no man puts new wine into old bottles. The explanation of this parable is what God by Prophet Zechariah explained to the Israelites, that is, fasting without a change in character and obedience to God is a wasted effort, in the spiritual sense. In the physical sense, our bodies benefit from fasting. That is why men like Kenneth Hagin preached living a ‘fasted life’ – that is eating for strength (limiting your food to daily need).

·         The Apostle Paul viewed it this way: Rom 14:6  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 

·         The question now is this then; is your bridegroom here with you, or is he taken away?

·         To help answer this we look at this event in the bible: the event of Jesus’ transfiguration combined with the inability of the disciples to cast out a demon from a boy. The two stories go together in all accounts for a reason. This event is mostly the same in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s accounts. Matthew indicated that Jesus said the disciples could not cast out the demon because of lack of faith, Mark’s account indicated that Jesus based the ability to cast out the demon on prayer and fasting (some bible versions do not include fasting) and in Luke’s account, Jesus called the disciples a faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?.

·         We must then merge these three reasons together. First, we must note that Jesus was not with the disciples, he had gone up to the mountain with Peter, James and John. This may not seem so significant, after all Jesus was not with the disciples physically when he sent them two by two. But there was a difference, Jesus sent those disciples with His Word Mark: 7 says He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” Between this time and when it was time to deliver the boy from the demon, the disciples had lost faith -and power (for faith cometh by hearing, hearing the word of God). But Jesus was not there present physically to give them the word, neither had he sent forth his Holy Spirit at the time, so if they wanted that faith back, they had to pray. For their prayer to be effective, for them to receive the new wine, they had to lose the old wineskin. Again, Jesus was not present physically, so they had to fast to change that old wineskin into new wine. Which means they had to have been fasting prior to the time they needed to access faith and remove perverseness from within them and not when the need was already pressing on them.

·         Jesus made it easier for us Christians by sending the Holy Spirit, who both helps our faith by telling us what Jesus is saying about our situation and guiding us away from perverseness when we truly and completely obey His leading. Living everyday leaning wholly on the help of the Holy Spirit is what we need to remove the old wineskin and have a new wineskin to receive the new wine. In order words – the fasting required is for us to keep our bridegroom – the Holy Spirit very close to us, this is the ‘fasting’ that is required today. But if a person has not been doing this, when a pressing need comes along, long hours of prayer and fasting is needed to remove the old wineskin.

Back to what I intended to share before the Holy Spirit did His thing.

There are prophecies in the scripture that we are not seeing there manifestations today because we have not looked to Jesus to receive them. Like Daniel when we perceive a prophecy in scripture that is not yet evident in our lives, we need to ask Jesus about it. Once we do, He starts to teach us by the Holy Spirit in us and from the Bible things we must obey to fulfill the prophecy.

One such Prophecy which is in line with Jesus’ commission to preach the gospel to the whole creation is this:

Isaiah 19 : 24 – 25 On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage”.

This is literally saying there will be peace and unity in the middle east and they will all serve the LORD of hosts and be blessed.

I pray in the name of Jesus, the LORD of hosts, that he brings this prophecy to fulfillment and let all bloodshed end in the middle east, the whole earth benefiting immensely from their newly found blessedness. Amen. 

There are other prophecies in the bible including those that has to do with personal prosperity. As we find them Jesus will see them fulfilled in our lives to the glory of God.