The Nature of Prophetic Fulfillment
It has long been recognized that Biblical prophecy is normally fulfilled not in a single event but in a series of events which bring the prophecy to it final culmination. Seldom is the answer one-to-one but one-to-one, two, three, four, and so on. In the unfolding of redemptive history the prophecy is seen to take on a wider or more detailed significance.
Older Bible teachers described this as "double” or "dual” fulfillment and as the "near view” and "far view” of prophecy. Interpreters today speak more in terms of sensus plenior, a phrase offered to describe the "fuller sense” seemingly given to certain OT prophecies as they are unfolded in the light of NT revelation. Others would prefer to speak in terms of a "canonical process” which develops more fully and more specifically the original sense and intent of the prophecy. More popularly, interpreters speak of the "now and not yet” aspect of Biblical prophecy, emphasizing that a given prophecy may well come to realization now yet await its fuller manifestation later; its fulfillment is both now and not yet.
Arguments could be made for the precise accuracy of preferable terminology, but our point here is simply to notice that Biblical prophecy normally unfolds in a progressively fulfilling way. In the unfolding of redemptive history the prophecy is seen to take on a wider or more detailed significance.
Yes, there is the occasional one-to-one fulfillment. The Bethlehem prophecy (Mic 5:2) provides one example. But it is generally more complex than this, and examples in the prophetic Word abound. The very first prophecy, Genesis 3:15, sets the stage. The Champion promised to defeat the tempter finds initial realization in the earthly ministry of Jesus and His casting out of demons (Mat 12:28). By His casting out of demons, He Himself explains, Satan’s kingdom is invaded and plundered. In Jesus, God has made good on His promise to defeat the tempter. But there is obviously more to it than that. And again Jesus Himself says so. In anticipation of His death He declares, "Now is the prince of this world cast out” (Jn 12:31). Here, in Jesus’ death, Satan loses his head (cf. Heb 2). Here the promise finds its fulfillment. Or does it? Writing to the Roman believers Paul declares that God will "crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Ro 16:20). So we find the promise is fulfilled and "not yet” fulfilled. And of course Revelation 20 fills in the final details with Satan’s bondage in the abyss and then finally being cast into the lake of fire forever. Here, at last, the prophecy is finally and fully fulfilled. Thus we see that the answer to the original promise was not one-to-one. The fulfillment came in a succession of events which brought the promise to its full consummation.
This, Genesis 3:15, is the Bible’s first prophecy. And it stands as the pattern of the fulfillment of so many others.
(Fred Zaspel on "The Nature of Prophetic Fulfillment")
