New Testament Prophecy Failures

The following is an excerpt from "Prophecies: Imaginary and Unfulfilled", by Farrell Till:

NEW TESTAMENT FAILURES

Except for the book of Revelation, the New Testament isn't considered as prophetic as the Old Testament; nevertheless, one can still find examples of unfulfilled prophecies and broken promises in the New Testament.

All twelve apostles to be rewarded: When Peter asked Jesus what reward the apostles could expect for forsaking all to follow him Jesus said, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). A lot of theological rhetoric has been expended on the meaning of "the regeneration." Did Jesus refer to the church era that began on the day of Pentecost when he would sit on the "spiritual" throne of David or did he have in mind a period that would follow his second coming? Regardless of the time period he was referring to, the passage poses a problem. How, for example, could Judas, who was one of the twelve at the time this was said, ever be permitted to sit on a throne in a judge's capacity? In another gospel account, Jesus himself called Judas the son of perdition (John 17:12). So will the "son of perdition" be awarded a throne to sit on during the regeneration? That hardly seems possible, because Jesus said at the last supper that it would have been better for Judas if he had not been born (Mark 14: 21). If he should be awarded a throne in Jesus's kingdom that would make this statement false, wouldn't it? How could it, in any sense, be said of a man elevated to such a position as this that it would have been better for him if he had never been born? Some Bible apologists argue that Jesus, omnisciently knowing that Matthias would be chosen to succeed Judas (Acts 1:23-26), said twelve thrones instead of eleven because of his intention to keep his apostolic crew in full force. If that is so, one might argue that he, omnisciently knowing that Saul of Tarsus would later be called into the apostleship as "one born out of due time" (1 Cor. 15:8), would have been more exact had he said thirteen thrones rather than twelve. Others insist that the number twelve should not be interpreted so literally, that this is just a case of the figure of speech known as ampliatio, the retention of a name or designation after the reason for the original designation has ceased to exist. In counterargument, however, the opposition has every right to ask if there will ever be an end to figurative and spiritual interpretations of scriptures that pose serious problems for the inerrancy doctrine. There were twelve apostles present when Jesus made this prophecy, so why should we not believe that he meant twelve?

The efficacy of prayer: Extravagant claims for the efficacy of prayer are recorded in the New Testament. Jesus said, "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matt. 21:22). Mark's account of this agrees: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them" (11:24). Substantially the same promise was made in John 14:13-14: "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." And again in John 15:7: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." The same rash promise was repeated in 1 John 5:14-15: "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him."

Theologians have wrestled for centuries with problems created by the extravagant rhetoric of these promises. A favorite hedge is to say that many prayers are not answered because of the conditions and limitations set forth in the promises. Admittedly, the promises did stipulate conditions. The one praying has to believe the petition will be granted, he must also be an obedient believer, and his petition must be in accordance with God's will. Nevertheless, to argue that the many observable absences of divine response to prayer are always attributable to lack of faith on the petitioners' part, or sin and disobedience in their personal lives, or the solicitation of things contrary to God's will is too ridiculous to warrant comment. God, for example, presumably wants all men to be saved (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:3-4), so if an obedient Christian should pray for a massive, world-wide conversion, sincerely believing that it would happen, why would his petition not be granted? It would meet all of the specified conditions. Yet this very prayer, we can reasonably assume, has been uttered time and time again to no avail, and still today Christianity, in terms of world population, remains a minority religion. I frequently receive correspondence from a subscriber to The Skeptical Review who affixes to his cards and letters a sticker that says, "Nothing Fails Like Prayer." Truer words were never spoken, and the frequent failure of prayer is a perpetual witness to the absurdity of Bible inerrancy.

The imminence of the second coming: Jesus prophesied that his second coming would occur during the lifetime of his generation. Upon leaving the temple in Jerusalem, he predicted its destruction to his disciples, saying that "not one stone shall be left here upon another" (Matt. 24:2). When they reached the Mount of Olives, his disciples said to him, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age [world, KJV, ASV]?" (v:3). In reply, Jesus spoke at great length about wars and rumors of war; nations and kingdoms rising against kingdoms; famines, earthquakes, and pestilences; the rise of false Christs and prophets; etc., all of which would be accompanied with great tribulation, "such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (v:21). Then he declared that "(i)mmediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (vv: 29-31).

Some inerrantists argue that in this passage Jesus was speaking only of the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in 70 A. D., and not of his second coming, but this dodge ignores the primary concern of the apostles, which was to know when. "When shall these things be," they had asked Jesus, "and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world [KJV, ASV]?" To argue that in all the things Jesus said in this passage he was not referring to his second coming and the end of the world is to argue that Jesus did not answer the question his apostles had asked. But, in fact, he did answer their question: "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it [he, KJV, ASV] is near at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place (vv:32-34). Mark (13:24-30) and Luke (21:25-32) agreed in substance with Matthew that the generation hearing Jesus speak would not pass away until it had seen all these things, one of which things was "the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven." Needless to say, that generation passed away centuries ago without witnessing the second coming, so Jesus proved himself to be a false prophet. We can rest this conclusion on the words of Moses himself: "When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him" (Dt. 18:22). Earlier in the context of this statement, Moses said that such a prophet deserved to die (v:20).