For everyone and everything that draws from Biblical tradition to make a comparison to life it must be understood that that the Biblical truth that is being drawn on is in-fact historically connected vertically to a divine reality. Because of this fact the actions taken now do in reality 'echo' down through eternity as General Maximus Decimus Meridius proclaimed in the movie Gladiator.
In fact, not only is everyday reality always connected to the divine, but all the past and future were connected to every time and place in this figural interpretation of history. Every occurrence in all its everyday reality, is simultaneously a part in a world historical context through which, each part is related to every other, and thus is likewise to be regarded as being of all time or above all time.
There is a 12th century French Christian play that recent Christian theologians describe as the presence of the future in the present. A theologian named Eric Auerbach wrote that in this Christian play it is clear that Adam has advanced knowledge of Christ's coming and redemption …so that a thing of the future. [is] included in the present knowledge of any and all times.
That means…that which is biblical and historical includes a participation in realities known by faith. In other words, the future of the Kingdom was already present when the biblical authors wrote and the prophets spoke, so that the details of their writing and speaking were being shaped by the details of the future. This was not predicting the future, but more a case of absorbing the pressure of the future on their historical present. Thus, the types or the things they were seeing and depicted were already participating in the realities of the future Kingdom of God.
In other words, in this world, from the point of view of men, prophecy chronologically precedes fulfillment. In reality though and in a more important sense it is fulfillment that proceeded the prophecy. How is this possible? It is because the words of the prophet come from God who is timeless (specifically diachronic). He is and sees all time and all events as the eternal present. Time ceases to have meaning and is only needed to accommodate the limitations of human minds. The fulfillment can/could potentially precede the words of the prophet.
2 comments:
I just couldn't get through that Gladiator movie...maybe I would enjoy that French play more, if you just tell me its name! Well, the "Back to the Future" trilogy was pretty great! Are you sort of talking about Prophetic visions & dreams, such as Manuel Johnson being in a dream set in 2022...he asks a man on the street who is the President, and the dude says, "Mr Trump of course!"
I once saw a sort of vision where God showed me the history of earth as a sort of pop-up book...His view of it, I guess. I've heard Kat Kerr say this world comes from the spirit world. We have things like courts of law because God does, etc.
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