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No.7.
The Interpretation of Prophecy.
pp. 66 - 69
When we come to consider prophecy and its interpretation we realize we are face to
face with a difficult subject, and one where a great cleavage of opinion exists among
believers. Is this really necessary? Prophecy, we are told, is a light that shines in a dark
place, to which we should take heed (II Pet. 1: 19), but if we cannot know for certain what
it means, it ceases to be either a light or a guide; neither can we take heed to something
of which we cannot be sure. It is evident that, from the stand-point of the Scriptures,
prophecy was not given to puzzle or confuse, but to guide and direct the Christian,
especially in times of darkness and declension, and to hide future truth from the enemies
of God and the merely curious. It is in such times as these that we should be able to
approach Biblical prophecy, which is only God writing history in advance, and see the
glorious goal that He has planned and will most assuredly attain, and this can give us
confidence, strength and full assurance of hope. The interpretation of prophecy is
confessedly difficult even if every sound guiding principle is kept. Yet we cannot help
feeling that this subject has been clouded and confused by the various schools of
interpretation, by tradition, by fanciful and grotesque ideas, for nowhere can the
imagination more run riot and go to greater extremes than in the consideration of
prophecy.
We believe we can be greatly helped by putting into practice the guiding principles of
historico-grammatical interpretation which we have already considered.
Some
evangelical expositors use these principles till they come to the study of prophecy and
then they throw them away. Why? Because they are not convenient to their views?
These principles are not just relevant to a part of the Bible, but to the whole of it, and we
are convinced that if they are carried out with relation to prophecy, quite a number of the
difficulties vanish. To get a correct understanding of a prophetical passage, we must take
note of:
a.
the context, near and remote,
b.
note figurative and symbolic elements, and ascertain if these are explained in the
passage or in other parallel parts of Scripture. For instance, a number of the
symbols in the Revelation are explained (Rev. 1: 20), and we must be ready to
accept these as Divine explanations and not seek to re-interpret them according to
our ideas,
100:
the historical background of the passage should be ascertained, noting of whom and to
whom the prophecy relates. Is it Gentile nations or the people of Israel, or the
Messiah Himself?
d.
Scripture must be compared with Scripture. The book of the Revelation has well over
200 references to the Old Testament, which fact makes it very evident that the last
book in the Bible can never be understood apart from a knowledge of the Old
Testament Scriptures, in fact it is an insult to the Divine Author to try and interpret
it with the Old Testament shut. While the Revelation is a New Testament Book, it
is Old Testament in much of its outlook. In fact, if we found it in our Bibles next
to the prophecy of Daniel it would not be incongruous.