Malachi 4:5⁵ “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ⁶ And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” The Jews expected Elijah to come in person, but Jesus said that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Malachi’s prediction. Matthew 11:¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, ¹⁴ and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 17:¹⁰ And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” ¹¹ He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. ¹² But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.”

This is a great example of Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled in a figurative or spiritual way instead of a literal way. John the Baptist would have the same type of ministry as Elijah did, i.e. of trying to get the Jews to repent before judgment fell on them. For Elijah, that judgement on the northern kingdom would be the Assyrian captivity. For John, that judgement would be the Romans killing one million Jews when they destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many OT Messianic prophecies were fulfilled figuratively in the new Messianic kingdom of Jesus in the NT. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel predicted that David would be the prince, shepherd, and king of the Messianic kingdom (Ezekiel 34:23,24; Jeremiah 30:9), but most agree that figuratively refers to Jesus as our king, Prince of Peace, and Good Shepherd. Jesus predicted that the kingdom to be established in the days of the 4th empire of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue (Daniel 4) was “at hand”. He even said that some of those he was talking to would be alive to see Him coming (2nd coming) in his kingdom. Matthew 16: ²⁷ `For, the Son of Man is about to come (mello which always means “about to) in the NT) in the glory of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will reward each, according to his work. ²⁸ Verily I say to you, there are certain of those standing here who shall not taste of death till they may see the Son of Man coming in his reign.’ Was Jesus a false prophet or mistaken in this prediction of an imminent establishment of the kingdom of Daniel 2? Of course not. That prediction was fulfilled figuratively in a spiritual kingdom, the church. Paul said that the Colossians were in that kingdom. Colossians 1:¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Revelation 1:To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— ⁶ and He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Another example: Jeremiah 33:¹⁴ ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch of David sprout; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety; and this is the name by which it will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.’ ¹⁷ For this is what the Lord says: ‘David shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ¹⁸ and the Levitical priests shall not lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to prepare sacrifices continually.’” The Branch of David always is a prediction of Jesus in the OT, so this is a prediction for the Messianic Age to come. “David not lacking a man to sit on his throne” is a prediction based on God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13. That is fulfilled by Jesus siting on the throne of David figuratively, forever.

But what about vs 18? If this was to be fulfilled literally, then in the Messianic Age, which is the church age now, will the Levitical priesthood with Aaron’s descendants being the high priests be restored, and will animal burnt offerings be resumed? I like these comments: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers(18) Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man . . .—Here again we have a promise which received a fulfilment other than that which the words appeared to imply, and which doubtless was in the prophet’s thoughts. The Levitical priesthood passed away (Hebrews 7:11), but Christ was made a Priest after the order of Melchizedek; and by virtue of their union with Him, His people became a holy priesthood (Hebrews 10:19-22), offering, not the burnt-offerings and meat-offerings which were figures of the true, but the spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving (1Peter 2:5; Hebrews 13:15,16), the sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit, which alone was acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).” The burnt offerings would be the offering of Jesus’ body for our sins on the cross once for all time. This prophecy could include the spiritual sacrifices that we offer as a spiritual priesthood.

But what about the predictions that Israel would be restored and live in the holy land again? Jeremiah 30:² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. ³ For behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall take possession of it.’” 33: ⁷ And I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and will rebuild them as they were at first.” Ezekiel 36:²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.” Was the restoration of Israel to the promised land to be fulfilled literally, or is that another prophecy to be (and has been) fulfilled figuratively in the church? A key to interpret this correctly is vs 27: “I will put My Spirit within you”. That was fulfilled during the last days of the Jewish Age (AD 30-AD 70) as Jesus poured out the Spirit on believers in the church (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:17-22), so we expect the land prediction to be fulfilled at the same time. Also, who is to be filled with the Spirit? Is it the nation of Israel even though most of them rejected Jesus as the Messiah? Of course not. It refers to spiritual Israel, i.e. the remnant of the Jewish nation who would accept Jesus as the Messiah and become the first church. The first Jewish remnant church in the book of Acts did not receive the physical holy land as a fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prediction. This prophecy was, like all the others, fulfilled literally. Jesus said the “meek would inherit the earth”. Any kingdom must have land. The spiritual kingdom, the church, has spiritual land. That spiritual land is the “new heavens and new earth that Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 65:“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. ¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing.” The new heavens and earth is the spiritual realm of the kingdom of Jesus over which he rules in the church. It does not refer to the nation of Israel receiving the holy land in 1948 as many claim. It is fulfilled spiritually. It refers to a restoration of the fortunes of only the remnant of Jews who accepted Jesus. It refers to spiritual, not physical land. The “new Jerusalem” of Isaiah 65:18 is a prediction of the church which is the new heavenly spiritual Jerusalem. Hebrews 12:²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, ²³ to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.”

Likewise, 2 Peter 3 is not referring to something in the future where the heavens and earth are destroyed to prepare the way for the earth to be restored to the Garden of Eden state. It is predicted the imminent destruction of the old heavens and earth, i.e. the Jewish system and replacing it with the spiritual new heavens and earth which is the Messianic system.

Revelation predicted things that would happen shortly. Revelation 1:1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, ² who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. ³ Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” 22:⁶ And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. ¹⁰ And he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” The time restraints of “soon” and “near” must mean soon in he lifetime of those John is writing to. The warning is that they must repent and keep the commands written in the book b/c the time was near and soon in their time frame, not God’s. Sure, a day is as a 1000 years and 1000 years as a day to God, but that is not the context when God is warning people to repent b/c of imminent judgement on them in their lifetime.

Revelation 21:1-4 must be interpreted in light of those time restraints. 21: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, ⁴ and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

The book of Revelation was written during the reign of the 6th emperor of Rome, i.e. Nero. Revelation 17:¹⁰ and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.” Beginning with Julius as the first king of Rome (Josephus affirms that and he lived in the first century so he should know who was considered to have been the first king of Rome), Nero would be the 6th, the “one is”. He died in 68 AD so the book had to be written before 68 AD. The book’s main prediction is the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. In chapter 17, the harlot Jerusalem is destroyed by the sea beast Rome. 17:¹⁶ And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. ¹⁸ The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Chapter 11 identifies who the “great city” (which is the same as the harlot) as Jerusalem, the place where the Lord was crucified. 11:⁸ And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”

So 21:1-4 had to be fulfilled soon after the time of writing (and it was written before 68 AD). It was fulfilled spiritually in a spiritual new heavens and earth (the new spiritual realm of the Messianic kingdom) and a spiritual new Jerusalem, the church. These came down to earth soon after the time of writing and could only refer to spiritual things. It also calls this new Jerusalem the bride of Christ which we know refers to the church. 21:⁹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”

This figurative spiritual fulfillment of Messianic predictions is the reason Paul could say in Romans 9 that God had kept his promises to Israel. 9:⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” The Israel that would receive the Messianic promises would only be the remnant Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. 9:²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel may be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.” 11:⁵ In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” Those Messianic promises were received figuratively spiritually by the remnant. The rest of the Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah would be judged in 70 AD.

It is so misleading to hear many saying that the OT Messianic prophecies are being fulled literally over in Israel, especially beginning in 1948 when Israel was officially given statehood by the UN. Please study the nature of fulfillment of those prophecies to see that they were never meant to be fulfilled literally in the Messianic Age. Paul said that God kept his promises to Israel (the remnant) but many are basically saying that he has not kept those promises yet (they are expecting a literal fulfillment).

I know this is a controversial topic, but I hope this article helps.