As we have noted elsewhere in this issue, a renewed interest in prophecy began in the early part of the nineteenth century. This coincided with a work of God in arousing believers to see the proper hope of and the truth connected with the church of God. Many took a great interest in all this, and especially in the study of prophecy. Meetings were held and conferences convened, and the Spirit of God used these to reveal to many “things which must shortly come to pass” (Rev. 1:1). This interest in prophecy has continued, and today there are many books, Internet sites and conferences disseminating various views on prophecy.
We can be thankful for all this, for God has surely used the study of prophecy to alert unbelievers to the fact that Christ is coming. The cry, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh” (Matt. 25:6), has gone out, and even many worldly people know that Scripture foretells the coming of the Lord Jesus to take all His own to be with Himself, even if they themselves do not want to believe it. More than this, many believers have embraced this blessed hope — a hope that was lost for centuries to the church — and are now once again energized “to serve the living and true God” and “to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Thess. 1:9-10).
However, as with many good things God has given to His people, prophecy has been used in the wrong way, and it has sometimes occasioned difficulties rather than being a “light that shineth in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). I would like to look at several ways in which the study of prophecy can be undertaken in an unsuitable way and thus fail to produce its desired effect.
The Object of Prophecy
First of all, we can study prophecy with an emphasis on ourselves, rather than on Christ. In Revelation we read that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10 JND). We must remember, as another has aptly said, that “all prophecy has for its object the glory of Christ and that the right understanding of what is due to Christ’s glory unlocks prophecy.” When we make ourselves the focus and center of prophecy and look at future events primarily as to how they will affect us, we fail to see the full scope and importance of what God has revealed to us. When man starts with himself, God does not receive the glory due to Him, and man does not realize the fullness of blessing God has for him. When Christ is given His rightful place, God is properly glorified, and man is far more blessed. We must always look at prophecy with the glory of Christ in view.
The Sphere of Prophecy
Second, and connected with this first wrong viewpoint, we must remember that prophecy has largely to do with this world. It is concerned with the judgment that will be necessary to vindicate Christ’s glory down here and to set up His kingdom. The church is not properly the subject of prophecy, because it has a heavenly, not an earthly, calling. It is for this reason that the church period is not reckoned in prophetic time. For the children of God in this dispensation to become overly occupied with prophecy will tend to focus our thoughts on this world, rather than on heavenly things. It will occupy our hearts with judgment, which is God’s strange work. William Kelly makes some good remarks along this line:
“The prophetic word nowhere reveals those heavenly counsels which the mystery (hid from the ages) made known through Paul. Nor does Peter here (2 Peter 1:19) do more than allude to it under the strikingly distinct figures of ‘day’ and ‘morning star.’ The lamp is excellent to cast adequate light on this dark world, its evil and its doom, and they did well in paying it heed, ‘till day dawn and a [or, the] morning star arise in your hearts.’ That is to say, till they apprehend with enjoyment the bright heavenly relationship which Christianity fully understood gives us now in Christ, and the heavenly hope of His coming to introduce us into the Father’s house. The prophetic lamp is good to help us against the squalid place, but how much more is ‘daylight’ in Christ to lift us above the world in all our associations of faith, and the bright hope, Christ as Morning Star, which He not only is, but has promised to give the overcomer (Rev. 2:28; 22:16-17)!”
It is very clear that God has given us prophecy in order that we may see how God will order everything for Christ’s glory, and, of course, in His glory the church has every interest. It is for this reason that Paul talks about the crown of righteousness which will be for all those who “love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). God wants us to be intelligent observers of what is happening in this world. However, He has even better things in mind for us — things which occupy us with our heavenly portion and lift us above this present world.
The Heavenly Calling
Third, it is a common error not to see the heavenly calling of the church and thus to expect prophecy to be fulfilled during this period of God’s grace. As already mentioned, the church period is not reckoned in prophetic time, for the church is not the subject of prophecy. For this reason, we do not see prophetic events being fulfilled in this day of God’s grace, and some, in seeking to force this kind of interpretation on the prophetic scriptures, have greatly distorted what God is seeking to teach us. We must remember that it is in the full knowledge of “the mystery of God” that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden (Col. 2:2-3 JND). Without an understanding of the mystery (or secret) of Christ and the church, prophecy cannot be interpreted correctly.
Of course, this does not mean that events in the world today have no bearing on prophecy. The establishment of Israel as a sovereign state in 1948, after they had ceased to be such more than 2500 years before, was certainly a momentous event and showed that we were in the end times. Likewise, other events in this world, such as the formation of the European Union, show how God is ordering events in the present time with a view to the fulfilling of prophecy after the church is called home. But this is not the same as the fulfillment of prophecy.
The Scope of Prophecy
Finally, there is the danger of getting too involved in the details of prophecy, rather than seeing the broad picture and how it is all “the testimony of Jesus.” If we become too concerned with small points, we will tend to make “the scope of prophecy” to be dependent on “its own particular interpretation,” thus limiting the Word of God (2 Peter 1:20 JND). The details of prophecy are important and will become clearer to those who are in this world when the prophecy is fulfilled. To see how God has foretold all this before will greatly encourage their hearts and strengthen their faith in a very difficult time. But for us in this dispensation to be too taken up with such details and trying to figure out exactly how everything will happen is perhaps not the best use of our time.
Present Events
Likewise, it is easy to go beyond Scripture in our thoughts and to use present events to impose a meaning on Scripture that is not warranted. For example, some years ago, when Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany, there were some who strongly insisted that this division was along the lines of the old Roman Empire and that part of Germany would be in the kingdom of the beast, while another part would not. Likewise, there were others who insisted that the European Union would have only ten members, to comply with the description of the kingdom of the beast in Revelation 17:12. As we well know today, Germany has become reunited, and the European Union has twenty-eight members to date, with several others having applied for membership. So we need to be cautious about making didactic statements as to how events today fit into prophecy, for it is only unto God that “all His works from the beginning of the world” are known (Acts 15:18).
Prophecy has been given to us by God and is intended for our study, so that we may see, as those whom our Lord Jesus calls His “friends” (John 15:15), all that God purposes for the Son of Man’s glory. We ought to have an intense interest in it, for it concerns the glory of the One who is our Saviour, friend and bridegroom. But let it be a means to an end and our hearts’ affections rather centered on Him, whose glory is the subject of all prophecy.
W. J. Prost