Isaiah 42 9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. -kjv 9 See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” -niv 9 The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur.” -hcsb Question from moody radio listener on 13 Aug 2016: How do we tell when reading through the major and minor prophets, many of whom are contemporaries of each other, that the prophecy has been fulfilled or the prophecy has yet to occur in the end times? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: I am looking at Isaiah. What Isaiah 42:9 seems to say is past events have indeed happened. Then he says: now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur. This is the point in Isaiah: it's that God says I will give prophecies, short term prophecies will happen so that you will be confident of the long term prophecies that follow. That's one thing to remember: that there are short term prophecies and there are long term prophecies. The short term ones are to help us understand that we have confidence in the long term ones. The second thing is to look for certain key phrases. Very often when something says "in that day", the prophet is saying in the end of days. Not always but generally so. Sometimes the prophecy happen partially. Well, if it did not happen fully, then you can look forward to a future day that it will happen. So, what you want is complete and thorough fulfillment of prophecy before you say it's fulfilled.
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Question on moody radio open line on Aug 7, 2016: What does "this generation" in Luke 21:32 refers to? Luke 21 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. -kjv 32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. -niv 32 I assure you: This generation will certainly not pass away until all things take place. -hcsb Answer from Dr Rydelnik: If you look at the context, it's talking about the people who see the signs of the Son of Man coming and then it uses the parable of the fig tree. When the fig tree puts out leaves, when you see these things you know that summer is already near. In the same way, when you see these things, the generation during the tribulation period, you know that Son of Man and the kingdom of God is near and so the generation you are talking about is the generation living through the tribulation and they will see the signs and they know that the Son of Man is coming. This post was published on Aug 12, 2016
Judges 11 30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. -kjv 30 And Jephthah made a vow to theLord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” -niv 30 Jephthah made this vow to theLord: “If You will hand over the Ammonites to me, 31 whatever comes out of the doors of my house to greet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites will belong to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” -hcsb Question on openline moody radio July 30, 2016 Did Jephthah killed his daughter? Answer from Dr Rydelnik: Well, some people think so but I do not. In Judges 11, the story of Jephthah, it says that he would offer the first thing that greets him if the Lord gives him victory. So, he makes this vow. He's given the victory and so who came out but his daughter who came out to meet him with tambourine and dancing. She was his only child and he had no other son or daughter besides her. When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "No, not my daughter. You have devastated me! You have brought me great misery. I have given my word to the Lord and cannot take it back". Then, she responds by saying," Do to me as you have said and she asked for this one thing: Let me wander 2 months through the mountain with my friends and mourn my virginity." In other words, don't turn me over to whatever you want to do. You think that she would be mourning for her life if she's going to be a sacrifice but she's mourning for her virginity. And then she did that and she mourned for her virginity for 2 months. As you read the text, at the end of 2 months, she returned to her father and he kept the vow he made about her. You think that he killed her but the text says she never had sexual relations with a man. The point is that she would never marry and the sacrifice was that he was going to turn her to the tabernacle service. One of the things that you see in various psalms is that young women functions in the tabernacle worship dancing and singing praise to the Lord using tambourines just as she was doing here at the beginning of the story. So, that's what she did. She would probably go to serve in the tabernacle, never married and this one daughter never had an heir.