Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: II Chronicles 6-8
II Chronicles 6:4
And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled that which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying,
Throughout the entire Bible there is no better verse explaining how prophecy is fulfilled than is contained in this verse. The Lord God of Heaven speaks it, then fulfills it with His hands, working through humans. This is how it was with the temple.
God spoke to king David about the particulars of the temple. He told the king that he would not build it but his son, Solomon, would. He gave David the pattern. God then by the power of His own hands enriched David, gave him peace for a while, and provided all the necessary building materials to David. He even worked out that whole sordid issue about numbering Israel to the end that David would purchase the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite as the building site for the temple.
David did his part through the work of gathering the material, preparing abundantly before his death, challenging Solomon, and giving his son the plans he received from God. Solomon did his part. He encouraged the people of the nation in the task, he set leaders over the workers, he oversaw the work as a king would, and he finished the House of God, the Temple.
This pattern: God speaking a prophecy, God working with His hands behind the scenes, and humans carrying out the work, all work together to fulfill God’s stated prophecy.
Remember Noah? God spoke to Noah, telling him to build an ark. With His hands, behind the human eye, God brought all the animals to Noah, and Noah did the work. God’s prophecy was fulfilled. He destroyed the world but saved those in the ark. Anyone could have entered the ark, it was plenty big enough, but they rejected God’s prophecy of rain and destruction.
Remember John the Baptist? His ministry was prophesied several times in the Old Testament, primarily in Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 3:1, 4:5-6. The unseen hand of God gave Elisabeth and Zacharias a child in their old age, a boy named John. John then, coming of age, did the work of being the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.
Remember Cyrus? God spoke to Isaiah to prophesy about Cyrus by name 200 years before he was born. He was born and with the help of the unseen hand of God became the founder of the Persian Empire. Yet, he had to do the work of forming that great world power.
On and on the examples could go. God speaks prophesies, fulfills them with His unseen hands working through human instruments. There are many prophecies that God has spoken that have yet to be fulfilled, have no doubt, He is working behind the scenes with His hands, and putting individuals into position to fulfill His stated prophetic proclamations. They will all come to pass just as Paul said on that prison ship so many years ago in Acts 27:25. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Dr. William T. Howe
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