It is of the utmost importance in the study of Scripture to distinguish between God's moral government of the world, and the specific hope of the Church. The entire body of the Old Testament prophecy, and much of the New, treats of the former and in so doing presents, I need hardly say, a subject of commanding interest to every Christian.
It is interesting to know what God is doing, and will do, with all the nations of the earth—interesting to read God's thoughts about Tire, Babylon, Nineveh, and Jerusalem—about Egypt, Assyria, and the land of Israel. In short, the entire range of Old Testament prophecy demands the prayerful attention of every true believer. But, let it be remembered, we do not find therein contained the proper hope of the Church. How could we? If we have not therein the Church's existence directly revealed, how could we have the Church's hope? Impossible.
It is not that the Church cannot find there a rich harvest of divine moral principles which she may most happily and profitably use. She undoubtedly can; but this is quite another thing from finding there her proper existence and specific hope. And yet a large portion of the Old Testament prophecies has been applied to the Church; and this application has involved the whole subject in such mist and confusion that simple minds are scared away from the study, and in neglecting the study of prophecy, they have also neglected that which is quite distinct from prophecy, properly so called, even the hope of the Church, which hope, be it well remembered, is not anything which God is going to do with the nations of the earth, but to meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds of heaven, to be forever with Him and forever like Him.
Many may say, I have no head for prophecy. Perhaps not, but have you a heart for Christ? Surely, if you love Christ you will love His appearing, though you may have no capacity for prophetic investigation. An affectionate wife may not have a head to enter into her husband's affairs, but she has a heart for her husband's return; she might not be able to understand his ledger and daybook, but she knows his footstep and recognizes his voice. The most unlettered saint, if only he has affection for the Person of the Lord Jesus, can entertain the most intense desire to see Him; and this is the Church's hope.
The Apostle could say to the Thessalonians, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." 1 Thess. 1:9, 10. Now evidently those Thessalonian saints could, at the moment of their conversion, have known little if anything of prophecy, or the special subject thereof; and yet they were at that very moment put into the full possession and power of the specific hope of the Church—even the coming of the Son. Thus it is throughout the entire New Testament. There, no doubt, we have prophecy; there too we have God's moral government; but at the same time numberless passages might be adduced in proof of the fact that the common hope of Christians in apostolic times—the simple, unimpeded, and unencumbered hope—was THE RETURN OF THE BRIDEGROOM. May the Holy Ghost revive "that blessed hope" in the Church; may He gather in the number of the elect, and "make ready a people prepared for the Lord."