“The prophetic word” means the communication of things to come which God has been pleased to make in Scripture. The apostle Peter, in so using the expression, compares it to “a lamp that shineth in a squalid place.” It makes manifest man's evil, which God declares He will judge and supersede by His kingdom in Christ (2 Peter 1:1919We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19)). Those addressed did well to heed it, though he desired for them still better light, and this for the heart— “till day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts.” He had of course this heavenly hope bright in his own heart, and he desired it for all of them. But the saints of the circumcision were slow in apprehending what was new and heavenly: so we see over a larger area in the Epistle to the Hebrews. They were content with the elements of the doctrine of Christ, and had to be exhorted to go on to perfection, or that full age in Christ which is proper to the Christian, based on accomplished redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit, as well as occupied with Christ's glory on high. Here they were dull, as 2 Peter shows them, about the Christian hope.
But the apostle encouraged them to heed the lamp of prophecy till they seized the brighter light that the gospel brings of the hope of which Christ Himself is the, one personal object—Christ about to receive us and to present us in the Father's house, that where He is, there we also may be. Useful as a lamp is for guiding us in darkness or guarding us from the defilements around, far better is the light of Christ fully revealed, and the accompanying hope for our hearts even now, before He gives us the Morning Star, that is, association with Himself at His coming. It is the coming again of Him whose love we know, Who suffered once for all for our sins, Who will then consummate in heaven the love He proved for us on earth. When the day of Jehovah comes for the world, according to prophecy, it will burn as a furnace for the proud and wicked; but to those that fear His name, as Israel thus will here below, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Our hope is much higher, whether for our hearts now, or when it is fulfilled at His coming. It is not associated with judgment on adversaries, but founded on His own bearing our judgment on the cross, and taking us to heaven to be with Himself, apart from all thought of the earth or of man upon it.
Meanwhile, and from the earliest days, God has given prophecy in this sin-darkened world, and He took care, when human life was shortened to its present span (Psa. 90:1010The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10)) to embody it in Scripture as “the prophetic word.” In it lay, when Adam transgressed, the warrant of faith. Man fell and paradise was lost through sin. All hope turned on the woman's Seed, Who would with bitten heel bruise the serpent's head. Whatever else might be intimated and learned from God's sayings and doings in those sad circumstances of ruin, a Deliverer ways revealed in the future, Himself deeply to suffer, but to crush the enemy who had so soon and completely misled man. This Deliverer somehow must be man, the woman's Seed, itself a fact absolutely unique, and a phrase of mysterious moment and ineffable grace; yet must He also be immeasurably above man, not only to resist and beat off the old serpent, the devil, but to deal him destruction beyond remedy. The word translated “prophet” in the Old Testament (nahvee) is derived from “bubbling or pouring forth,” alluding to God's action in inspiring him, “Seer” (roheh) or (chozeh) points to the vision which distinguished such. Its scriptural meaning transcends the classical usage as the living and true God rises above the demons, who acted behind the idols that were adored by the heathen and interpreted by their prophets.
In the New Testament, as well as in the Old, the term prophet or prophecy is applied when God's mind was communicated, as in Gen. 20:77Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. (Genesis 20:7); Psa. 105:1515Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. (Psalm 105:15); John 4:1919The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. (John 4:19); 1 Cor. 14:24, 2524But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. (1 Corinthians 14:24‑25); but its strict and appropriated sense of unveiling the future, which belongs to God only, is unquestionable. When idolatry prevailed, and God separated Abraham and the line of promise, He made known clearly and severally His design to bless the chosen family, and in a specified land assured to them. He disclosed also a still larger and more wondrous purpose, bound up with their Seed, to bless all the families in the earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:143And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)
18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)
4And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; (Genesis 26:4)
14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 28:14)). While prophecy thus embraced the laying bare of facts or persons at any time (1 Sam. 9:20; 220And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house? (1 Samuel 9:20) Kings 5:26), so as to put conscience in God's presence, none the less did the revelation of the future characterize the prophet, as we see throughout the range of Scripture.
Nay, more, while the five books of Moses are distinctly called the Law, as in a vague way are the Psalms and the Prophets, yet every part of, the Pentateuch is brimful of prophecy. Adam is authoritatively declared to be figure of the Coming One; this in righteousness and life, as that in sin and death. Cain presages the way of woe in walk and worship, as righteous Abel's blood witnesses that which speaketh better. And if we omit not a few, Noah foreshadows Him Who will unfailingly govern the world after it is again judged as a whole for its iniquities. The Messiah underlies every promise and every office of special dignity, Godward and manward, covenant, sacrifice and offering, point to His work. Holy and suffering witnesses give glimpses of Him as the wicked manifest their awful antagonism. The past public dealings of God typify greater things to come. The first battle in Genesis is vividly impressed with signs of the last; especially when we read at its close Abram's meeting the royal priest, who blessed the conqueror on the part of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed God Most High, Who had delivered the enemies into his hand; the clear prefiguration of Jehovah's day, with its issue of blessedness, above and below, in righteousness and peace.
One might dwell ever so long on broad outlines and minute details alike, each and all telling the same tale of the bright future that gilds to the instructed eye the humbling lessons of the history, pointing to Christ's day, which made Abraham glad, when the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. But one must forbear even as to Genesis, rich as it is in furnishing the germs of what is developed now, or what is to be in another and more blessed way during days to come. A similar character pervades in some form every one of the other books of Moses, nay, of every book of the Old Testament. Thus Exodus points to a better redemption of God's people, and by power as well as blood; and to His subsequent deigning to dwell in the midst of the redeemed, as He will forever. Leviticus again, and Numbers, are no less predictive; and Deuteronomy, besides its more veiled intimations in its course and close, has more open prophecies of Christ and His coming triumphs than its predecessors. As the historical books that follow are said by the Jews to be written by the “earlier prophets,” so all are stamped inwardly to the intelligent Christian with shadows of good things to come, which center in Him Whom in their blindness they rejected. So more evidently are the Psalms full of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ in His people. It ought to be needless to say this of the “later” avowed prophets. But we live in days of rebuke and blasphemy, when in Christendom even professing servants of His are eagerly encouraging one another to obliterate from the Old Testament Him Who, if seen therein, shakes of itself the new critical system to atoms, and convicts its adherents of shameless incredulity.
The New Testament is the manifestation of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ come in flesh; and it declares redemption accomplished in Him, rejected by men, notably by the Jews, but risen from the dead and glorified Head over all things to the church, His body. Consequently the kingdom, pledged in the Old Testament, assumes, while Christ is on high, a character of “mystery.” (Matt. 13:1111He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (Matthew 13:11); Mark 4:1111And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: (Mark 4:11)), or the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens; till He, having caught up the risen saints to the Father's house, returns in displayed power to enforce the rights of God, and bring in the long expected times of refreshing for Israel, the nations, and all creation. The cross of Christ, being as it was the rejection of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, gave occasion to Christian blessing in the gospel, and in the church united to its exalted Head; which is wholly distinct from the things to come. Yet the apostle, in Rom. 16:2626But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: (Romans 16:26), designates the divine word which reveals this new and heavenly secret, “prophetic scriptures.” From everlasting, silence had been kept about that mystery: a statement inapplicable to “the prophets,” and yet more evidently to their Scriptures in the Old Testament. But now it was manifested, and by prophetic scriptures, according to the eternal God's commandment, made known for obedience of faith unto all the nations. In thus making it known, the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, with those to the Corinthians and others, have a primary place. And thus the saints are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner-stone. The instruments of this special teaching are hence shown to be exclusively the New Testament apostles and prophets, as a joint class for this inspired work. But the New Testament in no way lacks the richest testimony on things to come, as the Lord promised ( John 16 Witness Matt. 24; 25, Mark 13, Luke 21, to speak only of the fuller predictions in the Synoptic Gospels, and in 2 Peter and Jude, but especially 2 Thess. 2; 1 Tim. 4, 2 Tim. 3, with the Revelation, the most abundant, systematic, and profound of all prophecies.
In the Old Testament, as in the New, the greatest variety of moral appeal accompanies prediction almost everywhere, and in volume commonly exceeds it, as being of the utmost importance. But specific predictions are given throughout to be fulfilled in due time. Apply this test to Christ's first advent, incomparably the most momentous of all facts here below, so declared to be by both the Old and the New Testaments; and what can be more decisive? From Moses to Malachi the grand testimony was to the coming Messiah. Even Genesis narrowed the limits down from the first woman to Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, successively; as the Psalms did to One Who should be David's son, yet David's Lord, sitting at Jehovah's right hand before He strike through kings in His wrath (Psa. 110), Who is set on the holy hill of Zion, and sways the universal scepter as Son of man over all nations (Psa. 8; Dan. 7). The time was fixed by Daniel, the place by Micah, the birth from a virgin by Isaiah, even the strange land (where Israel was a bondman) to the Messiah a shelter from the Edomite king of Judea, as the Spirit showed by Hosea (chap. 11:1-3). So we have in Isaiah and Malachi His herald, “A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah"; for indeed He was Immanuel and Jehovah. By the same prophet. His servant character, so hateful to man's pride and rebelliousness, was fully made known. It told the tale of the world's state, His utter rejection by man, though Jehovah's chosen, in Whom His soul delighted, Whom man despised, whom the nation abhorred. There, too, the ministry of His life, the atonement of His death, are with equal clearness revealed. So, long before, David wrote in Psa. 22 what was immeasurably beyond his own sufferings and any kingly power of his—indeed, what He alone of all men knew. He is on the one hand the Holy One of God, abandoned by His God, as He must be to make expiation of sins, and on the other raised and glorified in virtue of it, so as to praise “in the midst of the congregation” or church (ver. 22) now, as He will ere long “in the great congregation,” i.e., “all Israel” then saved (ver. 25); when all the ends of the earth shall remember, and all the kingdoms of the nations worship. So it is to be, when the Kingdom becomes de facto, as it is de jure, Jehovah's, and He is ruler over the nations.
When the dread scene of the cross drew near, was the prophetic word in vain? or did it utter generalities, or easy guesses, or dubious oracles? Was it only within the space of man's life or observation that one predicted the treachery of a disciple (Psa. 41:99Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)), as another did the goodly price He was prized at by them-the thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12, 1312And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. (Zechariah 11:12‑13))? Was it within the compass of man's mind to say centuries before that He, over Whom Jehovah watched, with delight and loving care without parallel, should, in His obedience, be surrendered to the basest smiting and the cruelest contumely (Isa. 1), because His vindication was to be by resurrection (Psa. 16) and heavenly glory (Psa. 8; 110) that grace might reign through righteousness unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord? Was it the prognostic of a mortal to say of Messiah (for of Him only Psa. 22 treats), “They pierced my hands and my feet,” and again, “They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture they do cast lots"? anticipatively to provide the very words the Lord Jesus appropriated when suffering once for all for sins, Just for unjust? Was it a mere conjecture to lay down that not a bone of Him should be broken (Ex. 12; Psa. 34:2020He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:20)), when the legs of the others were? or that only He should be pierced (Zech. 12), whereas they were not? Was it fortuitous that even in such circumstances He should be with the rich in His death, whilst His grave would naturally be made with the wicked? (Isa. 53).
No good man's fancy more unreliable than Dr. T. Arnold's (Sermons 1, on the Interpretation of Prophecy, 377) that history deals with particular facts, prophecy with general principles, so as to make it conditional because of evil in the creature. It was blindness to both history and prophecy, as God has given them in, the Scriptures; and outside His word we need not concern ourselves. In all the Old Testament, avowedly historical, or ostensibly prophetic, there are deep moral principles as surely as the facts which embody them or draw out the word that conveyed them. In all too one still grander Object of faith arose before such as believed.
(To be continued)