A Question About the 'Double Fulfillment' Hermeneutic

The following post is a question, not a statement. So you can't say you disagree with me - because I'm not asserting anything. I'm simply asking a question - sincerely.

A lot of end-times teachers and preachers are predicting that a temple shall be built in Jerusalem very soon; they tell us Russia and Iran will then surround the city and destroy the temple, and then the end shall come.

But hang on a minute - hasn't Jerusalem already been besieged; and wasn't the Temple already destroyed, in AD70? Not one stone was left standing on top of another, just as Jesus predicted (in Matthew chapter 24). Weren't the Jews deported all around the world at that time? and hasn't Jerusalem already been in a state of being trodden under foot of the Gentiles for the past 2000 years and counting?

"Yes, but there's going to be a 'double fulfillment' of Jesus' predictions," some say.

But here's my question: is there a precedent for this so-called 'double-fulfillment' hermeneutic, anywhere in the Bible?

An often-quoted example is when Isaiah predicted that a virgin would conceive, as a sign to Israel. Isaiah's wife conceived shortly afterwards and centuries later the virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. This is given as an example of 'double fulfillment'.

But I know of only ONE virgin birth, don't you?

The only way anyone can get around this is to claim that the Hebrew word for 'virgin' can also mean 'young woman'.

One Hebrew scholar published fifty pages of evidence that the Hebrew word exclusively means 'virgin' and never 'young woman'.

But even if not, how could it be a supernatural sign if a mere 'young woman' conceives? There's no miracle in that! It is however a miracle that for the first-and-only time in history, a virgin by the name of Mary conceived and brought forth a son and called His Name JESUS.

Therefore Isaiah's prophecy had one and one-only historical fulfillment - and that was in the person of Jesus Christ.

So if that's the strongest example that can be offered for 'double fulfillment', I'm not convinced.

A second often-cited example is when David said, "...they pierced my hands and my feet..." The assertion is that David was speaking about his own sufferings and then centuries later the same sufferings were repeated when Jesus was crucified on the cross.

But were David's hands and feet ever pierced? I don't think so, because the Bible says of David that "the Lord preserved him whithersoever he went".

Then in the Book of Acts an Apostle stood up and explained that David being a prophet, was NOT speaking about HIMSELF, but foresaw the sufferings of Christ. David even prophesied about the resurrection!

That's quite clear. Many of the Psalms are prophetic literature. David was NOT speaking about himself. He was prophesying about Jesus.

So there isn't a strong case for 'double fulfillment' per se in the Psalms either.

A third example is when Jesus was taken by his parents to Egypt then brought home as a boy to settle in Nazareth. Matthew explained that this was done in order to fulfill the verse in the Prophets where it says, "Out of Egypt have I called my son". The idea is that this verse of prophecy was fulfilled first in Israel's experience and then secondly in the life of Jesus.

But when you look at that particular Old Testament verse in context, you'll notice it's not actually a prophetic prediction of a future event - it's actually a prophetic statement about the past - about God's PAST dealings with Israel. So when Matthew uses the word "fulfilled", he means that the event took place in the life of Jesus IN ACCORDANCE WITH an Old Testament 'type'. But there's a difference between typology and a specific historical prophetic prediction.

To explain this difference, remember that the Apostle Peter called Noah's flood the 'like figure' wherein baptism doth now save us. The narrative about Noah's flood in the Book of Genesis is not a predictive prophecy about a future event. However, the flood can legitimately be used to ILLUSTRATE what takes place in PRINCIPLE by Christian baptism in water.

So there's a difference between an event fulfilling a specific historical prediction and an event 'fulfilling' or occurring in accordance with or with similarities to a figure or type.

Further proof that Matthew uses the term 'fulfilled' in this way is when he says, "That it might be 'fulfilled' which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called a Nazarene'". You won't find any specific Old Testament text which made a prediction about the Christ in those words. But it's there in figure, in type - not as a specific historical predictive pronouncement.

So once again it seems to me that we don't quite have a Biblical case there with which to establish a precedent for the so-called 'double-fulfillment' hermeneutic - at least NOT where specific historical predictive prophecy is concerned.

If we don't have a strong case for such a hermeneutic anywhere else in the Bible, then neither would we have authority to apply such a hermeneutic to Matthew chapter 24.

But even if Orthodox Jews do build a replica temple in Jerusalem, my question, in the light of the above, is: what eschatological or prophetic significance would it have? what specific prophecy would it fulfill?

Some say, "The Bible is full of prophecies about the rebuilding of the Temple".

But weren't all those prophecies pronounced during the Babylonian captivity and weren't they already fulfilled within 70 years, during the return under Ezra and Nehemiah?

Plus all those prophecies include the theme of the REINSTATEMENT OF THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD, including animal sacrifices. My concern is (and I believe St Paul would agree with this): why would God now want to take us back to the 'shadow' now that the 'substance' - the true, once-for-all sacrifice of His only Son - has already been completed? As St Paul said, speaking of returning to the Law, "If I build again that which I once destroyed, I make myself a transgressor."

"Well GOD won't rebuild it, but Israel will," some say.

But even if they (Isreal) do, that couldn't be a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies because ALL of the Old Testament prophecies spoke about the rebuilding of the Temple in terms of it being an activity which

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