"Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." Micah 3:12
"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it." Micah 4:1
This prophecy about the sacking of Jerusalem was totally fulfilled in AD 70 when, under General Titus, both Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and the people sent into exile to different nations of the world. But it is interesting to see how the prophet, in the next four verses, leaps over a vast period of time, and begins to speak of life in the kingdom age, of peace and prosperity. The import of this is that the period, which we now know as the church age, was hidden from him; this is consistent with the truth taught in the New Testament that the church age was a mystery kept secret from the ancient prophets. Romans 16:25-26.
Each time we attempt to understand the prophecies of Old Testament prophets through the lens of the church, we cannot but fail to grasp their true intent because the prophets wrote with the nation of Israel in mind, not the church. Even the first century apostles of Jesus Christ saw the ancient prophecies through the lens of Jews, when for example, they asked Jesus, "Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6
When Daniel's 70 weeks vision is properly examined and understood, the same leap over the church age will be seen. In Matthew 24, when Jesus answered the questions of His disciples concerning the end of age, He was not addressing the events of the church age, He was addressing a purely Jewish question. Sadly, we attempt to interpret His words with a church age mindset; this manner of forcing the church into the interpretation of bible prophecy is responsible for the difficulty that we often have in understanding bible prophecy.
I believe that this failure is primarily because we have failed to distinguish the nation of Israel from the church, which in New Testament, is called a holy nation. 1 Peter 2:9. Both nations, Israel and the church, are called chosen, and witnesses. Israel is chosen through Abraham, and the church, through Jesus Christ. Israel was chosen to be a witness for God to the world, but she failed. Her failure culminated in their rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah. This ended, for a period, their witness ministry, which will be resumed after the church is taken out of the world through the rapture. It is important to emphasise that though their witness ministry failed, Israel, yet, remains a chosen nation of God.
The church, in its part, is chosen to be a witness for God to the world about Jesus Christ. Acts 1:8. This ministry of the church as witness of Jesus Christ to world will end at the rapture, then, Israel will again be the focus of bible prophecy till the end of this age and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Exciting times are ahead of us, though they will be turbulent because we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
Toni
