These are but a
sampling of dozens of OT prophecies of OT nations fulfilled in OT times
that use the exact terminology Paul and Peter use to describe pending
judgment. Notice in all of these prophecies, that they say it's
the Lord who comes and does this or that when in fact it was the nations
of the world that were his instruments of his judgment. How does this
change in NT prophecy? When it says the Lord will come and bring
destruction in a flame of fire? The answer is it does not change. It is
the same illustrative language as in the OT prophecies but being
understood erroneously by NT readers. As it turned out that
pending judgment taught about in the NT was in fact temporal rather than
some end of the world scenario. Exactly the same way these OT prophecies
were.
This is a prophecy
about Assyria. Fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar conquered them.
Isaiah 30:27 Behold,
the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and
his
tongue as a devouring fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream,
shall reach to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the
sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people,
causing them to err. 29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a
holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a
pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard,
and shall
show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger,
and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest,
and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian
be beaten down, which smote with a rod. 32 And in every place where the
grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay on him, it shall be
with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yes, for the king it is prepared; he
has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood;
the
breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.
In the middle of other prophecies about the
destruction of Israel. this is a prophecy about the destruction of
Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and then other nations like the
Roman empire. All intermixed with prophecies about the coming of the
messiah and the age of promise to come.
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David
dwelled! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices. 2 Yet I will
distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be
to me as Ariel. 3 And I will camp against you round about, and will lay
siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you. 4
And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and
your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of
one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall
whisper out of the dust. 5 Moreover the multitude of your strangers
shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall
be as chaff that passes away: yes, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
6 You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts
with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and
tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. 7 And the multitude of
all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against
her and her fortification, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of
a night vision. 8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and,
behold, he eats; but he wakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a
thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he wakes, and, behold,
he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all
the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
This is a prophecy about the wicked in general,
both of those in ancient Israel and the nations that conquer them. It is
within the context of prophecy of an age of promise that was to come.
Isaiah 33:7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry
without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. 8 The highways
lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases: he has broken the covenant, he has
despised the cities, he regards no man. 9 The earth mourns and
languishes: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a
wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. 10 Now will I
rise, said the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
11 You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring
forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 12 And the people
shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned
in the fire. 13 Hear, you that are far off, what I have done;
and, you that are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among
us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He that walks
righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of
oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops
his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
This is a prophecy about the destruction of the
Babylonian Empire. Fulfilled when the Medo\Persian Empire conquered it.
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin
daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter
of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and
delicate.....Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know from
where it rises: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to
put it off: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you shall
not know. 12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of
your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you
shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13 You are wearied in
the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers,
the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things
that shall come on you. 14 Behold, they shall
be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver
themselves from the power of the flame:....
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