Notes on Prophecy

From: A Message From God: 1940

By Rev. W. Grist, M.A.,

Vicar of St. Philip and St. James, Ilfracombe.

“The Night is far Spent.”

PROPHECY is history written in advance by God, who knows the end from the beginning. Many Bible prophecies have long since become history, being fulfilled to the very letter, e.g., those concerning the Jews in their dispersion and suffering; those relating to Christ, which foretold His unique birth, His birthplace, His manner of life and death, with such intimacy of detail that the chief feature of His ministry could be constructed from these prophecies of the Old Testament, had we no records of His earthly life.

We may therefore deduce that prophecies concerning events yet future will be as accurately brought to pass. (2 Peter 1:19-21¹⁹We 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: ²⁰Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹For 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).)

The key to prophecy is in recognizing that God’s purpose for the world is the

Restoration of Ruin

caused by sin. The Bible views the world as fallen from God’s intention, and shows the activity of God moving towards the establishment of those conditions and purposes which man’s attitude to God has frustrated and postponed. The present time of man’s rebellion and exclusion of God, the effect of which is seen in increasing world strife and suffering, is viewed as the world’s night. That night will end in day—the coming time of restoration under the government of God in the personal administration of Christ. This is the day to which prophecy points.

Now is the World’s Night.

Night is the time when evil deeds are abroad. (John 3:19¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19).) In spite of man’s vaunted knowledge, never has the world seen such awful deeds of evil in murder and inhumanity. Speaking of the time before earth’s night ends, the scripture says “evil men shall wax worse and worse.” (2 Tim. 3:13¹³But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13).)

Then delusions are accepted for realities. So the Bible speaks of men having strong delusion, believing a lie. (2 Thess. 2:11¹¹And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (2 Thessalonians 2:11).) What a spate of lies now floods the world! In spiritual things too, people seem ready to believe anything, save the truth which is in Christ Jesus.

To the Church this is night in Christ’s absence, and because “the Lord is now rejected and by the world disowned.”

“The Day is at Hand.”

“The day” is the term the Bible uses to describe the time when by the activity of God these conditions which are fitly described as “night,” will be reversed. This is shown to be by new and direct movements of God in relation first to the Church; then to Israel and the nations; and finally in the establishment of a final order of righteousness and peace in a world prepared for the eternal order of God’s unchallenged rule. Each of these movements is separately described as “the day of Christ”; “the day of the Lord” and “the day of God.” Around these terms prophetic teaching gathers. Ensuing notes will seek to clarify the world events which are related to each of these processes.

The Darkest Hour precedes the Dawn.

So as we see the world situation worsening, know that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” In the hearts of His people, the day star of the hope of His coming has already risen. Every wickedness of man of which we are hearing is part of the cumulative evidence that “the night is far spent, the day is at hand.” (Rom. 13:12¹²The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:12).)

Know also that, as man is powerless to cause day to supersede night, so no work of man can end the world’s night and bring in the new order of “the day.” Only Christ can make the better world; and that, not by His influence through His people, but by His personal presence and rule.

(To be continued.)

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