During the past 150 years there has been a renewed interest in the study of prophecy. If the result of this is to awaken the church to a sense of her own proper glory, we may expect that His saints will have an increased understanding of their hope. However, there are some difficulties that come in and some dangers that present themselves in the study of prophecy. We do well to be aware of these, in order to be on guard against them, and if possible to avoid them.
The Mind at Work
First of all, because of the natural curiosity of men’s hearts, prophecy presents itself as a field for the exercise of human learning. Because it is connected with antiquity, history and chronology, it may become merely an intellectual study. When this happens, there will be no deep tone of spirituality, and there will be nothing to establish or feed the souls of the poor of the flock. The mind tends to be at work in the truth of God, instead of being subject to it. We must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who is to “guide . . . into all truth” and to “show . . . things to come” (John 16:1313Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. (John 16:13)). He always does this as the One who glorifies Jesus. He never diverts the soul from the person and work of the Lord. He presents things to come as vivid realities, whether blessings or judgments. But all is given in order to feed our souls and to enable us to interpret the present in the light of the future. When considering prophecy, may we always have true subjection to the patient and safe guidance of the Holy Spirit, for this will be our safeguard against the speculating habit of our natural minds.
Private Interpretation
Another danger is that of “private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). When the value of prophecy is insisted upon in Scripture (“a light that shineth in a dark place”), the caution is also given: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of 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” (2 Peter 1:19-21). Some seek to solve the present aspect of political events by the study of prophecy. However, it is the Holy Spirit who inspired, and it is He alone who can interpret. His interpretation will not be an isolated fact, but that which connects things with the glory of Christ. “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:1818Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Acts 15:18)). This is a principle of the deepest importance. Man seeks to interpret prophecy in the light of passing events, but he who is led of the Spirit connects everything with the revealed purposes of God. God is steadily pursuing His course towards His gathering “together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)). Private interpretation is the regarding of any event marked in prophecy apart from its connection with the counsel of God. In such a case, the event itself will take on more significance than the counsel of God in the event. Let us have God’s purposes in view, and then prophecy will have its proper effect on us.
God’s Present Purposes
There is a third danger in the study of prophecy, namely, the improper understanding of the present purposes of God concerning the church. The recognition of the present special relationship of the Holy Spirit to the church is a preliminary necessary to prophetic study, and the lack of this recognition may account for much of the difficulty and danger in that study. Surely the Holy Spirit had testified beforehand the suffering of Christ and the glories to follow, but until the purpose of God as to the church was distinctly revealed, He could not guide into all truth. Now He is not only able to show us “things to come,” but He is also able to make them a present reality to the soul. If we have only a vague understanding of what the church is — its calling, its privileges, its destiny — we will find ourselves unable to appreciate the scope of prophecy.
The church is the great subject of the Holy Spirit today, but this does not interfere with, nullify or supersede the announced purposes of God. Rather, it affirms them. Thus it is of all importance to look out at the future from a church position. We must understand that while prophecy is for the church, it is not about the church. Prophecy deals with God’s purposes for the earth and always concerns the earth. The church is a heavenly company, and thus the period during which she is on earth is not reckoned in prophetic time. This explains why prophecy often takes events that are to take place after the church is called home and places them directly following events that occur up to the beginning of the church period. The church is to expect the Lord’s coming at any moment, and thus her time on earth is not the subject of prophecy. It is as if God “stopped the clock” of prophetic time when the church was formed, and then He starts it again after the Lord takes it home. Unless this is clearly understood, great confusion may result.
If the higher truth of the church is not apprehended, the very truth of God will become disproportioned and disjointed and will tend to unsettle rather than establish the soul. To look at the future may be deeply interesting, but it must be done by those to whom the riches of God’s grace have already been made known by the Holy Spirit. When the heart has been established with grace, the understanding of glory will not be accompanied with that amazement that tends to unsettle the soul. When the church looks at the future from her own proper position, danger and difficulty are removed, and she can unselfishly connect everything with her own risen Head.
The Right Spirit
Finally, there is the danger of our not having our minds disciplined, so as to enter on the study of prophecy in the right spirit — the spirit of Him who wept over Jerusalem. The closure of this present age is fearfully portrayed in Scripture, and to consider this requires preparation of soul. Focusing on the final development of evil tends to self-complacency, harshness of judgment and legality. Scripture shows us that the great professing body of Christendom is to be cut off, because they have not continued in the goodness of God. The safeguard of Christians, then, is continuance in the goodness of God. Then they will discern that nothing is manifested at the close of the age that was not already working in the beginning, when there was apostolic power to discern the evil and provide the safeguard.
When Paul opens to Timothy the perils of the last days, he solemnly charges him to “preach the word” (2 Tim. 4:2) and to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). When Peter closes his exposure of the awful ungodliness of the last days, he gives this safeguard, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). When Jude testifies of the terrible evil that is coming, he thus guards the saints: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20-2120But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (Jude 20‑21)). Even in the Old Testament, many of the prophets had to endure painful discipline to train them to study the future in a right way. By such training the conscience is exercised before God. Then, however awful may be the evil spoken of, the soul exercised before God can see in itself roots which, if unrestrained, would lead to the same evil. This causes the soul to become more rooted in grace and to experience more what a debtor it is to grace. Thus the firmest protest against evil becomes linked with personal lowliness. This in turn produces self-judgment, along with sympathy and intercession for those who may for the moment be helping on the evil. The way of God in these last days, to enable us to meet the growing evil, is practically to unfold to us the deeper resources of His grace, for the study of evil by itself is most injurious to the soul. The recognition of the faithfulness of God will lead us outside of the evil around us, while being a testimony to it of the grace of God. In addition, from this vantage point, we will be found surveying more and more the graces and glories of Christ.
G. V. Wigram, adapted from
The Present Testimony, Vol. 1, pp. 197-214