Page 19 - Eschatology - Student Ebook

Study Section 3: More Fulfilled and Unfulfilled Prophecies

3.1 Connect

On October 22, 1944, William Miller, who fathered the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day
Adventist churches, predicted that Jesus was coming again. He had a following of upwards of
50,000 people who prepared for Christ’s coming. People sold their homes, gave away their
possessions, and gathered together on that fateful day. Most even stayed up all night waiting
for His coming. But He did not come. That date became known as “the Great
Disappointment!”

Many thousands of former "True Believers" who had cut ties with their former religious affiliations were
now left wondering how to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. Many swallowed their pride
and went back to their old churches. Others became greatly disillusioned with religion in general and
drifted away from any specific faith. Some stayed together and created their own new small
denominations, still convinced that the Return would be "soon," but realizing now that it was foolish to
set dates. One such group developed into the Advent Christian Church, which still exists to this day.

Setting dates is very dangerous since Christ Himself told us that ONLY THE FATHER knows the day or
hour of His return. If you plan to predict things to happen in the future, the Bible says the test of your
reliability is that you are 100% correct every time. The prophets in the Bible met those standards. They
always got it right. Their predictions were fulfilled in the past. We can be assured that their predictions
about the future will also be accurate. Let’s look into these things…

3.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe several fulfilled prophecies concerning Israel.

2. The student should be able to list several prophecies in the Bible that have NOT been fulfilled.

3. The student should be able to explain why Jesus was probably crucified on Wednesday and not Friday
of the week of His crucifixion.

4. The student should be able to explain the various views of when the 2 coming of Jesus will occur.
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3.3 Important Past Prophecies Fulfilled in Detail

Before we launch into the prophecies that remain future to us, we need to find assurance in the
fulfillment of prophecies that have been previously fulfilled. Let’s look at a few of them.

Cyrus releases the Jews.
In one of the most amazing prophecies of the Bible, Isaiah predicts Cyrus’ decree to free the
Jews. One hundred fifty years before Cyrus lived, the prophet calls him by name and gives
details of Cyrus’ benevolence to the Jews:

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