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love to their descendants. They are yet to "look on Him Whom they have pierced"
(Zech. 12: 10) when He returns to the mount of Olives, and at this Second Advent Christ
will turn away "ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. 11: 26). In no sense can "Jacob" be the
Body of Christ, and there is certainly no ungodliness of this Church to be turned away or
dealt with at the Lord's Second Coming, for they already rejoice in the forgiveness of all
trespasses (Col. 2: 13; Eph. 1: 7; 4: 32). Once the true Scriptural position of Israel,
past and future, is understood, the rest of the Bible falls into place. But this can never be
realized, unless the guiding principles we have enunciated are carried into effect.
Nothing is more destructive of true understanding of the purpose of the ages in Christ
Jesus (Eph. 3: 11) than the acceptance of allegorizing or spiritualizing as a method of
interpretation as is done by the amillennialist. Not only this, but as H. 50: Payne has
stated:
"It does not seem too much to say that the great strength of modern liberalism had its
spring and finds its support in the post- and amillennial circles. This is due in large
measure to the fact that the literal interpretation of the Scripture has been set aside, and
thus the door has been thrown open to all other error."
Further, if the spiritualizing principle be admitted into all realms of Christian doctrine,
every orthodox doctrine would be eliminated. Amillennialism then is the friend of
destructive modernism and Romanism, for spiritualizing has always characterized Roman
Catholic doctrine. If we want to let the Word of God speak for itself with all its
authority, then such a system must be avoided at all costs, for not in this way can the
opinions of men be eliminated in handling the Word.
1:
The Lord Jesus Christ as the central theme must be constantly kept in mind in all
prophetic interpretation. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"
(Rev. 19: 10). To miss our way here is to miss our way everywhere. The whole
of God's purposes for a new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness is
centred in the Saviour. Not one of them can be understood or come to fruition
apart from Him. To be taken up with prophetic details and to miss Christ is tragic,
being on a par with the Pharisees of old, who searched the Scriptures and missed
the Messiah of Scripture, in spite of the fact that the Old Testament testified of Him
on His Own authority (John 5: 39, 40).
We believe that adherence to historico-grammatical principles will clear away quite a
number of prophetical difficulties, many of which are man-made and not in the text at all.
Prophecy is hard enough to expound without adding weights of man's devising, and wise
are we if we avoid these pitfalls and endeavour to approach prophecy apart from schools
of interpretation, whether preterist*, historicist or futurist.
[*Preterist -- one who holds that the prophecies of the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled.]