PROPHETIC PAPERS. No. 1 & 2
Introductory (2 Peter 1. 16-20.)
"WE have not followed cunningly-devised fables when we
made known unto you the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses
of His majesty, for He received from God the Father honour and glory, when
there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory - This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased; and this voice which came from Heaven we heard
when we were with Him in the holy mount. We have also more fully confirmed to
us the word of prophecy, to which ye do well that ye take heed in your hearts,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the
Day-star arise."
Such I believe to be the true meaning of this verse,
and I am confirmed in this opinion by the late Dr. Tregelles, who himself told
me that he believed this to be the correct reading of it; and it gives a very
exalted place to the value of prophecy in connection with the spiritual
darkness which is fast setting in on the world; when the apostle speaking by
the Spirit of God, bids us take heed to it, in our hearts, as a man walking in
a dark place would do well to take heed to a light. When the day dawns men do
not carry lights about, for they are not needed; and when the Day-star arises,
the herald of the Day of God, there will be no need of prophecy, for we shall
then be with Him above the region of darkness to which prophecy applies. The
word "until" has manifestly this signification.
The value of a diagram
in connectiod with prophetic lectures, is that it brings before us at a glance,
the whole range of God's dispensational dealings with man from the beginning,
and so enables those who have not given much study to prophetical truth, to see
that God's ways with man on the earth have not been merely a succession of
disconnected actions, arising out of circumstances occurring in the world; but
rather one vast design which was in the mind of God from all eternity, but
which is being wrought out in time, according to the purpose of Him who
"worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" Before explaining the
diagram, it may be well to say a few words to aid us in a general way in the
study of prophecy, and to lay down a few principles which must be adhered to in
prophetic interpretation.
(The diagram referred to
is found in the book, but has not been reproduced here. A similar
dispensational chart will be found on the Home Page.)
What is a Dispensation?
First, as to the meaning of the word
"dispensation," which I have used above, and which, though its meaning is well
known to every student of prophecy, may not convey any definite idea to
ordinary readers. I would say that it is used in the same sense in which we use
the word in everyday life, when speaking of dispensing medicine, or charity, or
justice. It means, then, in Scripture language, the various dealings of God
with the human race, from the time man first appeared on the earth in God's
first creation; up to the time when God creates all things new; and when new
heavens and a new earth will take the place of the present heavens and earth
that are to pass away.
I am not speaking for those who know these
things, better probably than I do myself, but for those who are beginners in
the study of prophetical and dispensational truth, and so need not apologise
for this digression.
I will not dwell at any length on what has been so
often and so fully treated of, namely, as to what these various dispensations
or dealings of God have been with men in the ages that have passed, or as to
what they will be up to the time when dispensations, as matters connected with
time, shall have ceased, and eternity begun. To sum them up in a few words,
they are as follows
The Seven Dispensations.
1st. God's
dealings with our first parents in Innocence. and
2nd. God's dealings with
man when he was taught what was right and wrong by his conscience accusing. or
excusing him (Rom ii 15) This we call the dispensation of Conscience
3rd.
Next comes that of the Law, in which God gave definite commands to man, both
moral and ceremonial, which he was bound to observe. This is the dispensation
of the Law.
4th. Then came that one in which God was manifest in the flesh,
interpreting to man His ways and His heart in Christ Jesus, and telling men
that "He that had seen Him had seen the Father."
5th. After this comes the
time in which we live, during which Christ is on high and seated at the right
hand of God, and that other Comforter, the Holy Ghost, has come down to abide
with us until another apostacy sets in, and this dispensation ends in judgment,
and is followed by the
6th dispensation, which will be one of power and
righteousness, as distinguished from the present, which is one of
long-suffering and grace. It will be a time when subjection will be enforced by
power and by righteous, inflexible government; when cognisance will be taken of
every offence, and obedience will not be invited as now, but enforced under the
penalty of judgment. And when those thousand years, which will be the limit of
that dispensation, shall have run their course; and man, at the close of it,
gets a last chance of taking sides with Satan against God; he will prove as
rebellious against God's power, as he had before proved against His grace; and
then the end will come, when Christ as God's Vicegerent on earth will put down
all rule and all authority and power; and delegated power having ceased, God
will be all in all.
7th. Then comes the last dispensation, called the new
heavens and new earth, wherein will dwell righteousness, and God will
tabernacle with men for ever and ever.
These comprise all God's
dealings with mankind, past, present, and future.
PROPHETIC PAPERS. No. 2.
HAVING explained
our diagram in the last lecture, I would begin by making a few preliminary
remarks, and would lay down certain principles for prophetic interpretation of
the scriptures which must be kept definitely before us if we would rightly
divine the Word of Truth.
Prophecy relates to Earth.
The
first is- That prophecy always relates to the earth, and to the earthly people
(the Jews) as a centre; and has a reference to the surrounding nations (more or
less definite) according as their history was connected with that of
Israel.
While Israel is in the Holy Land, and recognised by God as His
people, the prophetic dealings of God with the earth are continued. When they
become "Lo-ammi," or not a people, His dealings with the earth as the direct
subject of prophecy cease; and are only taken up again when the Jews are back
in their own land, or in other words, when the platform, on which all God's
prophetic dealings are enacted, is again restored to its place; and so definite
is the distinction made by Jehovah between the time when His people are owned
by Him and located again in Judea, that, as another has remarked, all the
prophecies which were uttered while they were in the former condition are
addressed to them directly; whilst those which were spoken while they are
"Lo-ammi" are spoken about them, but never to them. Just as if, speaking with
reverence, God ceased to be on speaking terms with His people when they forgot
Him.
I have said that prophecy relates to the earth; not to heaven. I
know of only one prophecy which speaks of heaven (Rev. xii. 4), and even that
has reference to the earth; telling that Satan is cast out into the earth, and
his angels are cast out with him.
Literal Fulfilment of
Prophecy.
The next important thing to keep before us in the
interpretation of prophecy is its literal fulfilment. We have no warrant for
spiritualising away the fulfilment of a prophecy. Every prophecy which has as
yet been fulfilled has been fulfilled to the very letter. It was prophesied
about our Lord, that He should make His grave with the wicked, and with the
rich in His death; and He was crucified between two malefactors, and buried in
a rich man's tomb. It was prophesied that He should ride into Jerusalem on an
ass's colt (Zech. IX. 9). Who would have thought that Israel's Emmanuel King
would so come? But the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Again, it is written that
one of His garments should be rent, and that upon the other they should cast
lots. What! says some spiritualiser; doth God take care of garments? But these
things the soldiers did that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. These instances
could be multiplied many times, but this will be sufficient to prove our
case.
Symbolic Prophecies.
There are, of course, symbolic
prophecies, such as the great image in Dan. ii., but they are symbols of
realities; and, as it has been rightly remarked, "while the figure may be a
symbol, the subject of the prophecy never is." Thus, to spiritualise the
promise that Christ is to sit on David's throne, and to say that it only means
that He is to be enthroned in His people's hearts, is to take a most
unwarrantable liberty with Scripture. Christ has indeed a right to reign in our
hearts; but that is not David's throne, which is to be in Jerusalem, and not in
the Christian's heart.
Promises to Abraham.
We begin the
history of the earthly people with Gen. xii., where Abraham is called out by
God to be the head of a new family; or rather, of two families in the earth;
and the promise to him is, "In thee shall all the families of. the earth he
blessed." The word is not in the singular, but in the plural; indicating, I
think, that both the natural and spiritual seed are contemplated in this
promise. In chap, xiii., where the promise is reiterated to him in connection
with the possession of the land on which he stood, his seed is likened to the
sand which is upon the sea shore for multitude; but in chap. xv., where God
declares him to be justified by faith, he is told his seed shall be as the
stars of heaven; and the point here seems to be that he is addressed as the
father of the vast family of faith who have righteousness imputed to them on
the same ground that it was imputed to Abraham. Hence the stars, as indicating
the heavenly family, are spoken of. But in chap. xxii. 17, where Abraham has
received Isaac back from the dead, "as in a figure," God joins these two
together in the promise, and says, "As the stars of heaven, and as the sand
which is on the sea shore, so shall thy seed be"; because Christ, Abraham's
seed, of whom Isaac was a type, takes up in re-surrection both of these, and
the promise becomes sure to all the seed (Rom iv. i6).
Now, Christ
comes first as a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God; to conform
certain promises made to the fathers (Rom. xv. 8); but Israel, the natural
seed, rejects Him, and He takes up the heavenly seed for the present time,
while Israel is disowned; and this is the dispensation of the mystery of the
body before alluded to, and to which Eph. iii. 2, 3, refer; but God will take
up Israel again when this dispensation is ended; and according to Romans xi.,
the natural branches, the Jews, will be grafted again into their own olive
tree; or, in other words, brought back to the blessings and privileges they had
forfeited through their unbelief.
An Illustration.
I often
illustrate it thus: Suppose that I am driving through some mountainous country,
and that in the midst of all the barren waste I see a green spot. I ask the man
who drives me what is the reason that all around is brown and arid, while that
one spot is green; and he tells me that there is a stream which rises high up
in the mountain, and flows down to that farm, and the man who lives there has
brought it all over his fields and irrigated them with it, and hence the
difference. Now, suppose some one comes to the owner of the farm and says to
him, "I will send you a steward who will take entire control of your farm; and,
fruitful as that river makes it now, he will make it a thousandfold more
fruitful. In fact, it will be so rich that it will not be able to contain its
riches, and the river will overflow all its boundaries, and will make the rest
of the mountain as green as your farm is now." But the man says, "I will have
none of him; and would rather turn the stream away than let it water any other
fields than mine." Well; in the fulness of time, the steward is sent according
to promise; but the farmer kills him and casts him out; and, lest the stream
should flow out to the thirsty land around, he builds up a great bank to stop
its course altogether. He cannot stop the stream, for its source is above him;
but he turns it away from his own farm, and it continues its course outside it.
The mountain all around becomes green, and the only brown and arid spot is the
farm over which once the fertilising stream flowed.
These are the two
things Israel did. They killed the Prince of Life, and forbade His messengers
to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved (2 Thess. ii. i6). They
cannot, blessed be God, stop the stream, for its source is in the heart of God;
but it breaks out beyond the narrow limits of Judaism and flows out to the
Gentiles. And so Rom. xi. tells us, "that the fall of them has been the riches
of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles"; but,
by-and-by, the stream will return to its strength again, and, breaking down the
barrier of unbelief which has made Israel appear in the place of enemies for
our sakes, will flow through them as the channel, to the surrounding nations;
and the day of receiving of them again (the day of Israel's fulness) will be as
life from the dead. Now, it is important to remember that the calling of the
Gentiles into blessing was strictly in accordance with Old Testament prophecies
and promises; nay, even the casting off of the Jews for a time was often
alluded to, and even foretold, as in Hos. ii., iii.; but the peculiar form or
shape which grace was to take in this dispensation, viz., a body, of which the
risen Christ is the Head and we the members, was hidden; and this I take to be
the mystery of Eph. 3: 3, which will come in for consideration in its proper
place in these lectures.
It is not spoken of directly in the Old
Testament; for it was, as we are told, "kept secret since the world began"; but
we shall find room left for it in many scriptures and in Jewish history, to
which we will have to refer in more or less detail by-and-by.
Practical Study of Prophecy.
Now, for the practical study of
prophecy, we begin with the book of Daniel. The ten tribes, as we have stated
in explaining the diagram, have, on account of the sin of Jeroboam and the
golden calves in Bethel and Dan, been sent into captivity into Assyria (2 Kings
xvii.), and Shalmaneser, who took them captive, sent peoples from other nations
into Samaria instead of them. The Jews in Jerusalem did not know therefore
whether these were of their own nation or not; and hence, the Jews had no
dealings with the Samaritans. These are what are commonly called the ten lost
tribes. Hidden away amongst the nations; but God knows where they are, and will
bring them back into their own land, as Isa. xlix. tells us in such touching
language-where Zion, who has been a captive, and wandering m and fro, wonders
where all these have come from, and where they have been - a chapter full of
interest when read in connection with the fifteen Psalms from cxx. to cxxxv.,
called "the Songs of Degrees," which give us the experiences and exercises of
heart, uttered prophetically, of these same ten tribes when they are about to
return, or are probably on their way back to Jerusalem, in which their feet are
shortly to stand.
Daniel and his Prophecy.
Then, as we have
before stated, the two tribes are sent into captivity to Babylon, on account of
the sin of Manasseh and the idolatry which he led them into; just as the ten
tribes were sent before into Assyria. Amongst these Daniel is a captive, and he
understood by books that these 70 years of captivity were at an end, and he
asks God to tell him what will happen his own people after the 70 years of
desolations are accomplished; and, after uttering that wonderful confession and
prayer, both personal and national, in chap. ix., God tells him that at the
beginning of his supplication the command to answer him went forth, and Gabriel
is sent to show him what shall come to pass in the latter days.
He
then asks how long it is all to be, and he is told that 70 weeks, or heptads,
are determined on his peofie, that is the Jewish people, as the time in which
God is going to accomplish all His prophetic dealings with them, from the time
they were to come out of captivity up to the time when the kingdom and dominion
is to be given to the Jewish saints under their promised Messiah, who is
presented to us here as "Messiah the Prince, who is cut off and has nothing"
(as the true translation of the words, "but not for Himself," should be). He is
the same who is spoken of in chap. ii. as "the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands." That chief corner stone of Psalm cxviii.; the elect and
precious stone of 2 Peter ii.; and the same with which the Lord identifies
Himself in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, saying; whosoever shall stumble at
Him (that is, every one who will not believe in Him now) shall be broken, or
perish; but, alluding to the time when He comes in judgment, He says (referring
to the nations who reject Him by-and-by), on whomsoever it shall fall it will
grind him to powder.
This is the aspect in which He is presented to us
in the book of Daniel. Now, in answer to Daniel's desire to understand the
future of his nation, God gives him a sketch of it in the book, and makes him
the depository of the whole prophetic history, not of the Jews only, but of all
the great Gentile empires that have had to do with His people Israel. This He
does by symbols; for instance - like the great image of chap. ii., the four
great beasts rising out of the sea in chap. vii., and the ram and great rough
goat of chap. viii.; and He explains what each symbol means,- in the chapter in
which it is,- so that there is no difficulty about understanding them. But the
explanation of these symbols we must leave to the next lecture, merely asking
that it be borne in mind that all this refers to the earth and the earthly
people, the Jews.
The Church of God.
That the Church of God
in its Ephesian sense, as the mystery hid from ages is not contemplated here,
is evident; for the whole of God's dealings with the nation of which Daniel is
speaking, only extends over 70 heptads, or 490 years; whereas there have been
nearly 1900 years since the birth of Chris' alone up to this time. It is plain,
therefore, that room must be left somewhere for this vast gap. and I think we
will be able to show by-and-by that it comes in between the 69th and 7oth
heptad of Dan. ix.