Jan. 1, 1868. it away entirely? When they uttered their sublime, and far-reaching predictions, the olden prophets searched diligently, "what, or what manner of time (even prophetical dates!) the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify"; let the injunction of their example have its due weight with us. IV. A consideration of the grievous errors which have arisen from the neglect of prophecy may serve additionally to prove its great importance. One prominent instance of this at once occurs to us all-the case of the Jews in the time of our Lord. What led them to reject and condemn the Christ? Let Paul answer. "Because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day; they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Had they studied and rightly apprehended their own prophecies, they would have accepted the Nazarene as their Messiah. Hence the force of Christ's words: "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." Neglect of prophecy blinded the Jew, destroyed Jerusalem, scattered its people, and made their very name a byword among the nations. And look at the Church now. The one great error which misleads her efforts, dims her faith, sullies her purity, and beclouds her prospects, is the neglect of the repeated injunction to watch for her Lord's coming, a neglect brought about entirely by her indifference to or determined perversion of, Scripture prophecy. Now she talks of that huge monstrosity, a kingdom without a king; goes through the world crying "Peace, peace,” when there is no peace; seeks to exalt herself at the expense of her Master; and idly dreams of coming prosperity and triumph, when the trumpet tones of the Word, and the startling signs of the times, unite to tell of coming trials and darkness. She loves to think of the Sufferer who has come, and therein she shows her wisdom; but she forgets to look for the King who shall come, and therein displays her folly, and brings upon herself the Divine rebuke, "O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" Wild notions, we are told, have arisen from the study of prophecy; and likewise from the study of geography; is that therefore to be neglected? But the wildest notions have arisen, as we see, from the neglect of prophecy; so let us choose the good with the evil (if that must be) rather than the evil without the good. It is high time for the Church to awake; her adversaries are watchful, and unless we would be taken unawares, so must we. By and bye the cry will be heard in heaven, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." How will he know this? In no other way can he know it than by a study of those prophecies which so plainly tell the signs of the coming termination of his kingdom. Let us in this respect be wise as the old serpent is. What folly else to let the devil reap the benefit of that information expressly given to us. "Ye can discern the face of the sky; can ye not discern the signs of the times?" V. We may but glance at one proof of the value of prophecy, which is a theme in itself. It furnishes striking confirmation of the truth of our religion. To what does Jehovah appeal when proving that He alone is God? "I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no Jan. 1, 1868. God; who as I shall call and shall declare it the things that are coming and shall come?" And again, "I am God, and there is none else, I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done." The fulfilment of prophecy is a great and unanswerable proof that the God of the Bible is the true God. The very language used by the ancient seers to describe Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, &c., as they would be, is the language inconsciously used even by infidel writers to describe them as they actually are. And so with regard to the Messiahship of Jesus. Mark how in his life and death all those predictions that tell of Messiah's humiliation have been accurately fulfilled; mark how those warnings of coming doom which fell on unheeding Jerusalem from his lips were so speedily and literally accomplished; mark how his predictions of the apostasy of his professing church have been realised; and what must be our conclusion? Jesus of Nazareth must have been omniscient; his claims to the Messiahship, his claims to divinity, must be true; his religion must be from God. "Here, here his solid rock," though all be sand besides. VI. Prophecy casts a glorious light upon the otherwise dark future of man. Note the words of Peter. It is "A light shining in a dark place." Such is the world—a dark place, a dark cave resounding the discord of sin. But see the light which shoots athwart that darkness; hark to the sound which "rolls like the richest melody of hope" around us. Christ the Redeemer, Christ the Saviour, Christ the King, shall come; and before the brightness of his appearing the last shades of darkness shall be chased away, at his almighty voice the last discordant note of sin shall be hushed; the long triumph of wrong shall end; the slaughter of the sword and the cannon shall cease and the air be filled with songs of peace; the throne of the oppressor shall be shattered and the chains of the oppressed everlastingly broken; the curse shall be lost in blessing, and the wilderness be a scene of rejoicing, and this world shall shine among the stars of God, a world redeemed. Having thus shown the importance of the study of prophecy, let us point out a little of the spirit and aim with which we should enter upon it. First. It is of the first importance that prophecy should be studied prayerfully. Closely observe the words of Peter. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation; for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The prophecy came not from man, and therefore cannot be interpreted by man; the prophecy was given by the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit's aid must it be understood. Such is the apostle's teaching and argument. All prophecy must be studied, looking for aid and enlightenment to that Spirit by whom it was communicated. The Romish dogma, professedly founded on this passage, that God's Word is to be withheld from God's people and interpreted by "the Church," has no place here, save by an entire substitution of words and phrases for those used by the apostle. He is not speaking of the whole Bible, but exclusively of prophecy; he does not assert the wrongfulness of private Bible reading, but the impossibility of private prophetical interpretation; he Jan. 1, 1868. does not point to the Church as the interpreter, but to that Holy Spirit whom this apostate church so much dishonours. The Romish version of the text is as unlike the original as are the post-millennial versions of Isaiah. The doctrine sought to be foisted upon this passage is not a doctrine of Peter, but of Peter's pretended successors. He would teach us the need of Divine illumination; let us learn the lesson. The Word must be interpreted by the Spirit. Prophecy to the natural man is only a mass of incomprehensible riddles and contradictions; the Spirit alone can guide us through the seeming maze. Prophecy is a treasurehouse filled with stores of knowledge; but the key is in Divine hands. Prophecy is a glorious chamber of imagery, wherein every image shadows forth a coming reality; but they can be seen only in the light of the Divine presence. Prophecy is a harp of sweetest tone and harmony; but its melody can be heard only when touched by Divine fingers. If we would understand prophecy, we must cast aside that prejudice which misleads so many; that determination to find our opinions there, or put them there, which is too common; and as humble learners must we sit at Jesus' feet and learn of Him. And so seeking knowledge, we shall find. One of the last legacies of promise given by the Master, ere He left the earth, was this:-"When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . . and he will show you things to come." (John xvi. 13.) The world may be wrapped in darkness, and the Church in slumber; but thus it is written, "THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND." Let our language then ever be, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' Second. It is important that we should compare Scripture with Scripture; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Thus only can we get a glimpse of the fulness of its meaning. The different strains of prophecy are but the different parts in one choir, and every voice is necessary to the perfect harmony. Daniel is explained by the Revelation; the Revelation is assisted by Daniel. Isaiah casts a flood of light upon Peter, which Peter reflects upon Isaiah. Every portion of Scripture prophecy unites to fling its radiance upon the others, and make the Bible its own best expositor. The best commentary upon the Bible ever written was the Bible itself; and it is transcendently the best work on prophecy. "Sweet is the harp of prophecy; too sweet Not in the bulky tomes of commentators, too frequently "darkening counsel by words without knowledge," but in the Bible itself, do we find the best exposition of its own meaning. "Looking at the Bible through commentaries," says one, "is very much like looking at a beautiful landscape through a small garret window, over which whole generations of unmolested spiders have spun their cobwebs." And too often this is true, so often as almost to make the "commentary" a work of very questionable utility; so often as to make us frequently wish man would but step aside and allow Divinity to speak. "God is his own interpreter, Thirdly. It is an important principle that, unless it is obviously symbolical or figurative, we should take the language of prophecy in its plain and literal sense. The "confusion worse confounded,” which has been brought about by the too general neglect of this principle is something extraordinary. The one rule of interpretation which appears to guide modern expositors of prophecy is this, "God never means what he says." When God speaks of Zion, we are breathlessly informed he does not mean Zion, but "the Church" (provided always a blessing is spoken of, the curses are generally left to the literal Zion; our spiritual pilferers will not touch them). When God speaks of Jerusalem or Israel, we are informed the words mean just the same as "Zion," that is, not Zion, nor Jerusalem, nor Israel, but "the Church." When Christ speaks of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, he means, we are told, the destruction of Jerusalem, or the preaching of the Gospel, except in a few passages, which are allowed to describe a literal coming, but on what principle of selection, none can determine. Every mountain and island moved out of their place, the heaven departing as a scroll; the inhabitants of the earth crying to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the rocks, "Cover us," mean the accession of Constantine! Zechariah's description of the Lord coming with all his saints, and standing upon Mount Olivet, means (so says Matthew Henry) the Lord ascending from Mount Olivet without his saints, while the great valley means the Gospel Church! We are told that Origen once said the Bible meant anything it could be made to mean; modern expositors have improved this axiom, and now the Bible" means anything" whether it can be made to mean it or no.* It is doubly strange that any should have fallen into this error, since we have the light of fulfilled prophecy to guide us. How have past predictions been fulfilled? Strikingly literally. Take the closing events of the Lord's life. Literally he rode on an ass into Jerusalem; literally he was sold for thirty pieces of silver; literally was he "numbered with the transgressors "; literally did they part his garments, and upon his vesture did they cast lots; literally not a bone of Him was broken; literally He was pierced; literally on the third day He rose again. And so literally shall He come again; literally shall those blessed feet again press the brow of Olivet; literally he shall reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem; and the name of Jesus the Saviour shall sweetly and eternally blend with that of Christ the King. Well says Albert Barnes (saying, alas! but not doing): "The only proper method of interpretation of Scripture is to take it in its plain natural sense." Fourthly. Our great aim in the study of prophecy should be (in one word, Christ. He is its great theme: he is the key-note of all its song. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." "To Him give all the prophets witness." When Philip met the eunuch in the desert, he found him studying prophecy, and at once he "began at that same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." So to us every prophecy must preach Christ. Not to gratify mere idle curiosity, but to know more of the glory of King Jesus, must we engage in this delightful study. Hence So prevalent is this idea of "figurative interpretation" that but recently a Sunday-school teacher expressed the opinion that Nineveh was not a literal place, but "typical." Jan. 1, 1868. none can rightly enter upon it, who have not first found Him as their Saviour. The Bible does not begin with the Revelation; it ends with it. When the apostle in this chapter gives the order of Christian progress, he gives it thus: "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." First, there must be faith, then determination to do right, then knowledge of what is right, then the doing of it actively by temperance, and passively by patience, and the fruit of it is godliness, shown by love to the brethren, and expanding into love to all; the world-wide allembracing charity. But the root of this tree of excellence is faith. The leader in this harmonious chorus is faith. First faith, afterwards knowledge. First gaze on the beauty of the cross, then on the lustre of the crown. But observe that the lustre of the crown is to be prominently, chiefly in view, when, with sanctified hearts, we enter upon this study. Prophecy is as the light "until the day-dawn and the day-star arise." It is the glimmer that tells of coming morning. The herald whose trumpettones proclaim the coming king and kingdom. This is the great theme of all prophecy, as it is (or should be) the one object of the believer's hope, the crown of his life of faith. "Add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity," and what then?"So an entrance shall be added" (thus in the Greek) "unto you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ""the kingdom of our God and his Christ"—into which the kingdoms of the world shall merge, this being the only future kingdom of which the Bible speaks. Faith leads the chorus, and the Amen is the glory of the kingdom. But mark what follows (v. 16): "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty," in the Mount of Transfiguration. So clearly in the mind of the apostle is the coming of the King identified with the establishment of the kingdom that when he desires to prove the certainty of the kingdom, he does so by showing that the Lord's promised coming with power is no "cunningly devised fable," since they saw the glory which will surround Him as the king actually about Him on the holy mount. Tabor was a foreshadowing of the kingdom. So the Lord himself assures us. "There are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them." But some might object: "Your senses deceived you, your enthusiasm blinded you." Then, saith the Apostle, "We have a more sure word of prophecy," pointing to the same glorious day, and the same great star of day, King Jesus. Thus he teaches what the slightest research confirms: prophecy is the guide to the kingdom. "It is a signal which God waves on the future horizon to tell the world the way she is to go;" a signal always pointing to the crucified and glorified Emmanuel; and hence none can rightly study it who do not on its every page seek and find the bright shadow of the coming King. Prophecy is as a glorious mountain rising above the darkness of this present vale of sin, its summit already gilded with the |