(1) Lets examine some prophetic passages and see if there are gaps there.
Jesus, when speaking of fulfilment of prophecy actually does show us that there can be gaps in these passages and they can even show up in the middle of sentences;
Luke 4:17 “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Notice the end of verse 19. Now compare that to the original passage of Isaiah 61;
1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”
Notice that Jesus stopped in the middle of a sentence. The little word “and” comprises a gap of at least two thousand years. The day of vengeance of our God is a reference to the Tribulation period, which will occur immediately before Jesus’ return to set up His millennial kingdom on earth. This hasn’t happened to date, and is a yet future event.
This phenomenon is not limited to Isaiah 61, but can be demonstrated in other passages of Scripture.
(2) Zechariah chapter 11 as a prime example of a prophetic passage which skips through several different prophetic time periods in one chapter. Verses 1-2 appear to be referring to the Psalm 83 war, an End Times war.
1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
Verse 3 appears to refer to another war, possibly at another time. Usually the word “Jordan” in Scripture refers to the river, but this passage may actually be a reference to the modern nation. If this is the case it could be a reference to the Psalm 83 war, but I personally think it goes ever farther in the future to Armageddon itself:
3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
Verses 4-6 appear to refer to the time Israel was scattered among the nations. A skip back by several thousand years. While it could be a reference to the Tribulation, the fact that the Lord says “I will not deliver them” would seem to indicate a skip back to the scattering of Israel among the nations, shortly after Isaiah’s time:
4 “Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them”.
In verses 7-10 the prophet appears to be taking on the identity of the Antichrist! The three shepherds he, cut-off in one month, appear to represent the three kings the Antichrist destroys in Daniel 7:8, and the breaking of the covenant in verse 10 appears to refer to the time when the Antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, in Daniel 9:27. While it could possibly still be connected to the scattering of Israel, yet God does not break His covenants. This makes me think of another person.
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
Then in verses 12-13 we have a beloved prophecy about Jesus and his betrayal by Judas, a prophecy that skips back some two thousand years from the previous verses.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
In Verse 14 the prophet goes back even farther in time to the split between Israel and Judah which occurred long before Isaiah was born, unless it is prophetic of another split in Israel in the future, which I doubt. I would think that it is more likely a reference to the fact that many Israelites did not join up with the Jews, but went to other parts of the world, like Pakistan and Afghanistan, and converted to Islam.
14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Then in verses 15-17 the prophet once again goes forward in time to concentrate on the Antichrist. This time he focuses on a wound the Antichrist will receive, where he loses the use of one arm, and his right eye is blinded. This appears to be the result of the fatal wound he receives in Revelation 13:3-14. Evidently, when the Antichrist is “resurrected” he will be crippled from that time on.
15 And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. 17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Here are the related passages from Revelation 13.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live
So, this chapter has some 5-7 jumps backward and forward in time! My point is that it really is impossible to understand prophetic passages without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The human mind can’t follow the skips and turns, and u-turns, that many of these passages take, not without help anyway.
(3) This gap in time is also seen in Zechariah 9:9 and 9:10. Verse 9 has Messiah entering Jerusalem on a Donkey and verse 10 has Messiah ruling over the nations. The time gap is known as Prophetic Compression. Prophetic compression is also demonstrated in Isaiah 9:6 and 9:7. Messiah is born a child in verse 6 and is ruling on David’s throne over the earth in verse 7.
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