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The Interpretation of Prophecy Part One Chapter 2

Fairbairn now addresses the interdependence between prophecy and history. Prophecy is interwoven with history and moves with it to its ultimate terminus. As we trace the prophetic stream from its beginning we find that it is at first broad and general, but then as God’s plan unfolds over the centuries the prophetic word correspondingly becomes clearer and more explicit. The protoevangelium of Genesis 3.15 projects the entire conflict between God’s chosen and the devil, but without much in the way of specifics. As history proceeds to its conclusion, the river of revelation gradually swells, growing in definiteness, until we hear such imminent pronouncements as Malachi 3.1 “And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.”

History is itself the soil out of which prophecy grows, but it does not limit the understanding of prophecy to it’s own immediate particulars. While history provides the occasion and context of prophecy, e.g. the Fall is the occasion and immediate context of the protoevangelium, the specific historical setting cannot encompass the full meaning and fulfillment of the prophetic word. Rather it functions as the point of reference with which the Omniscient One, who sees the end from the beginning, and Who works everything according to His plan, sheds whatever light He chooses upon that particular dark moment in the course of events.