How Can One Prophecy be Fulfilled in Two Dispensations?

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When I just began to study Bible prophecy I use to believe that when a particular prophecy is fulfilled that's it; it wont be fulfilled a second time. And for most people that would be straight forward observation. After all, a predicted event is not supposed to happen twice; once it happens, its history. Isn't it?

Well, not necessarily.

There are prophecies that are applied by Bible writers in both a primary and a secondary sense. Prophecies that have dual applications to two dispensations are called proleptic prophecies. One fulfillment is usually limited in its scope, while the other is more complete in its extent and relates to the prophecy in a more fulsome way. 

We can look at several prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments to illustrate the point. In order for us to know whether a prophecy has a dual application, we need to examine how it is applied by different Bible writers. We will cite two examples of prophecies that appear to be applicable to one event but is also relevant to another. 

Example 1: The prophecy in Joel 2:28-32 was cited by the apostle Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost as the one that is being fulfilled when the disciples partook of the baptism of the Holy Spirit (See Acts 2). Thus Peter is clearly suggesting that Pentecost fulfills Joel's prophecy. But are we to believe that this is the original fulfillment? If you closely examine Joel's prophecy you will see clear reasons to believe that there is more to its fulfillment than what we see on the day of Pentecost.

The most glaring reason is the fact that according to Joel this prophecy is supposed to be fulfilled in the LAST DAYS, and, certainly, the day of Pentecost wasn't the last days. Then on the day of Pentecost we did not see the moon turning to blood and the sun darkened; we did not see blood and fire; we did not see a pillar of smoke. Therefore, we must conclude that this prophecy has a limited secondary fulfillment at Pentecost but will have its original and wider fulfillment in the end time.

Example 2: The next prophecy is found in Matthew 24 where Jesus gave a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. When you look at the prophecy itself you see clear evidences that Christ was also referring to last-day events. For instance, he talks about the signs of His coming, which are end-time events.

But the reason why the disciples ask Christ to tell them the signs of His coming is because of what He told them concerning the calamity that will befall Jerusalem (vs 2). Therefore, while the warnings that Christ has issued in his prophecy primarily applies to Jerusalem and its people, it will have a more complete fulfilment in the latter days. 

Interestingly, Christ, in this same prophecy, even made reference to the 'abomination that maketh desolate', that is spoken of by Daniel, applying it to the siege of the city by the Roman armies (Lk 21:20). But that prophecy, found in the book of Daniel, is clearly an end-time prophecy! This is an indication that the latter portion of Daniel 11, which speaks of this abomination of desolation, also has a dual application.

In the prophecy course I made references to proleptic prophecies in different sections. It is designed to help end-time prophecy students to understand why some prophecies cannot be looked at one way but must be observed for possible dual applications.