Natural Shadows Vs. Spiritual Realities

(Brian Simmons)

    Is temporal fulfillment of Scripture complete in itself?  Or rather, does it constitute historical shadow pointing to eternal substance?  For a long time I thought that temporal fulfillment was the end of all prophecy.  Yet I am now inclined to believe that the temporal is only a type of the eternal.  The Word of God must therefore be translated into its proper spiritual sense before it can be understood.  We have intimations of this in 2 Cor. 4: 18, where Paul says, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."  Obviously, the temporal events and occurrences must have eternal counterparts, even as natural things are only shadows of heavenly substance (Hebrews 8: 5).

    As an example, let us take the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.  Viewing this in its natural and temporal sense, we learn that this was the point at which the old Jerusalem was to abolished, and the New established (Matt. 21: 43; Gal. 4: 30).  But this itself only points to a far greater truth, which is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  I mean, that the destruction of the temple ultimately represents the destruction of the natural body (2 Cor. 5: 1-8), when we are delivered from law and corruption, and enter the presence of Jesus Christ to receive our rewards and inheritance.  This destruction was the occur at the parousia, or coming of Jesus Christ.  But the parousia has several distinct aspects.

    One of these aspects is harvest.  It is then that the Lord gathers the wheat into His barn (Matt. 3: 12).  Spiritual conversion, therefore, is only the first stage of growth.  It is the beginning of birth (1 Peter 1: 23).  It is when the engrafted word (James 1: 21) enters our hearts, and we turn from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Light (Col. 1: 12-13).  By this Word, we continue to grow and bear fruit (1 Peter 2: 2).  Yet when the final growth is achieved the sickle is put in, and the Lord gathers the fruits to Himself (John 4: 36-37).  The threshing implies that the bad will be purged away or removed (1 Cor. 3: 12-15).  All this occurs at judgment, which is but another aspect of the parousia. 

    Albeit, resurrection is the crowning and final consummation of our hope (Hebrews 12: 22-23).  It is when Jesus Christ gathers us unto Himself (John 14: 1-3).  This is equated "coming to Zion" (Isaiah 51: 11), and "inheriting the Kingdom" (Matt. 25: 34).  It is at this point that God wipes away our tears and sorrows (Rev. 21: 4).  Notice that the kingdom is spiritual.  It "came with power," or was established as a spiritual reality, when the natural Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 (Mark 9: 1).  But its fulfillment lies in the eternal, not the temporal.  Consider Jesus Christ's parable of the marriage supper in Matt. 22: 1-14.  In verses 8-14, we find that even after the destruction of Jerusalem, the supper continues, as well the discrimination between bad and good.  Thus, the judgment, resurrection, and inheritance, must be viewed as eternal realities-- not "past happenings" in the natural realm.

    But we also have a great variety of prophetical types to draw from.  There are the 40 years in the wilderness, for instance.  Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 10: 1-11 that the wandering and temptations were only a type of those experienced by them upon whom the "ends of the ages" are come (v. 11).  Thus, the historical happenings were only temporal shadows pointing to eternal spiritual substance.  The ends of the ages, therefore, must lie in the temporal, while the "age to come" will only have its complete fulfillment in the eternal.  For "that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual" (1 Cor. 15: 46).  See also 1 Cor. 13: 12, 2 Cor. 3: 18.

    I think that the historical events of Scripture can only be understood "in Christ."  For He is the Word of God (John 1: 1).  Thus, any system, which perceives either the natural or the temporal shadows as complete substance, must be a false system.  We must learn to draw the line between natural and spiritual, as well as between temporal and eternal.  For where the spiritual lies, so does the eternal.  Likewise, the natural must be classified with the temporal.  And if the student perceives these truths, he will see that every event in Scripture-- including the parousia-- has a permanent and perpetual fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 

  as of 9-2007