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THE MANIFOLD ASPECT OF PROPHECY.

BY THE REV. FREDERICK WHITFIELD, M.A., WIMBLEDON.

NE of the great difficulties with which ordinary readers of the Bible and Biblical students in general have to grapple, is the application of prophecy. For example, how common it is for one class of readers to refer the prophetic announcements of the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel to the events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, while another class refer them entirely to events yet to take place at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This has been one of the chief difficulties and stumblingblocks in the way of those who are earnestly seeking to arrive at the truth. The extravagant statements and dogmatic assertions of the various schools of prophetic interpretation, have so sickened sensible and thoughtful inquirers, that they have turned away from the study of prophetic truth as a hopeless task, and there is now an increasing dread of the subject and a growing aversion to enter upon it. If there should arise a period in the history of the Church of Christ when the subject of unfulfilled prophecy will be distasteful and invariably neglected, it will be due to the crude theories and extravagant statements put forward by the different schools of prophetic interpretation. That a time of inquiry and earnest study of this subject has dawned upon us within the last twenty or thirty years many will readily allow. But that there is creeping over the Church of Christ a distaste for and neglect of this subject, many of those who have been considered as the leaders of these schools of thought, are now beginning to be painfully conscious. How much of the unreadiness of the Bride to meet the Bridegroom at His coming will be due to the conflicting theories which have been hastily put forward, each one claiming for itself the voice of an oracle, and which has turned away multitudes from the study of this great and blessed subject!

Many who have from time to time fixed dates for the fulfilment of prophetic announcements, finding that the predicted times have passed, have been compelled to shift their ground, and have thus made themselves and their theories subjects, not only of doubt, but of ridicule. For example, several of the well known and almost universally accredited writers on unfulfilled prophecy, have shifted their ground and transferred the date of the Lord's second coming from between 1848 and 1872 to the year 1970 or 1980. Are not all such statements when put forward, as they usually are, so dogmatically, calculated to shake the foundations of truth, and to deter from further study of it? On no subject do men need a more urgent warning than on this, to write modestly and after more matured thought. It is one of the saddest blots on the general study of unfulfilled prophecy.

The consideration of this subject, has forced upon me the necessity of generally taking a more expansive view of unfulfilled prophecy. May not the 1260 days mean 1260 years and also 1260 natural days? May not the man of sin be a future individual yet to arise, and may it not be a system which has already risen with a visible head? May not the two witnesses be two branches of the Church of Christ at a particu

lar period, and also two individuals yet to appear? Why may not the futurist view be the development of the preterist, as the fruit from the seed? I am persuaded that no one of these systems contains the Scriptural view of unfulfilled prophecy, and that to some extent, at any rate, the truth lies in the combination. Both present different aspects of truth at different periods.

This way of viewing unfulfilled prophecy, appears to me to be the way in which it is viewed in the Word of God. Passages which refer to one event at a particular period and which were fulfilled at that period, refer also to events yet unfulfilled. Thus the same prophecy has been fulfilled and is yet unfulfilled, and between the fulfilled period, and that of the unfulfilled thousands of years intervene. If I may illustrate it, it is like looking from an eminence over a vast wood. It all seems, at that distant view, to be one mass of trees, not divided or separated off by any intervening object. But on drawing nearer we find gaps-a road in one place, a river in another, making wide divisions where we thought all was unity. So prophecy is one stream, and is not confined to any one event. Fulfilled in the history of one of the kings of Israel, it yet points on to another fulfilment at the first coming of the Messiah, and yet the prophecy is not exhausted. It points on to a further fulfilment at the second coming of the Lord; and perhaps on yet again to events which shall happen at the close of the millennial dispensation. It seems to me, that unless this be borne in mind in reading the prophecies of the Old Testament, we must get into endless confusion, and that it has been the neglect of this which has led to such profound mistakes in the study of unfulfilled prophecy, by which so many have been led away from the truth, or have become weary of what seems to be the conflict of theories and the strife of words, and have given up the subject in despair.

It may be asked, "How comes it that prophecies which applied to one period and were fulfilled, can apply to another yet farther off under circumstances so different? The answer is simple. Prophecy deals with great principles. These principles repeat themselves in nations, in Churches, and in individuals, from time to time. History repeats itself. Consequently what applied to one nation or one individual a thousand or two thousand years ago, applies with equal force and exactness to a present or future period. It was the intention of the Holy Spirit, in giving prophecy, that it should apply to every age-that it should stretch. to the end of time. In His omniscient view, He saw all the varied phases of history and its corresponding events, and adapted the Word to each. This stamps the Word with a divine and stupendous character. No human hand could possibly adapt a prophecy to meet all varieties and diversities of time, and place, and circumstance, with exactness. None but a superhuman power could have done it. Yet this is one of the most striking features connected with the prophecies of God's Word. But it is time I should specify a few examples of what I mean from the sacred record itself.

In the Book of Joel, chapter the second, we have a prophetic picture. It was written probably in the early years of Joash, King of Israel, about 870 or 865 B.C. The judgments threatened on Israel for its sin were fulfilled in a measure by the northern army alluded to in verse 7. But

in verse 28 there is a promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which was partially fulfilled eight hundred years afterwards (Acts ii. 16-17), and is yet to receive a further fulfilment. But the prophecy does not exhaust itself here. The following verses show that it points onward still to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The following chapter in this book shows us this also. Take again the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of the prophet Isaiah. There is a prophecy which was in part fulfilled soon after the prophet wrote. But verses 20 and 21 refer to a very different period, even to the second coming of the Lord. In the 22nd verse there is a clear reference to the casting of Satan and his host into the bottomless pit, described in Rev. xx. 1-3. But in the 22nd verse there is a further prophecy. Stretching on from the scene described in Rev. xx. 1-3, it goes on to speak of what shall happen at the close of the millennium: "They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison." This is a prophecy the fulfilment of which is described in Rev. xx. 1-3. But the prophecy goes on, overleaping the thousand years of the millennium: "and after many days shall they be visited." This is a prophecy described in Rev. XI. 7-10. Here is a prophetic chapter having three distinct fulfilments, and with a separation in time of more than two thousand and three thousand years.

Again, Isaiah lxi. 2 is an instance of a prophecy divided by an interval of time of two thousand years, our Lord quoting the part which referred to His then advent in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke iv. 19), and leaving the remainder in the statute book to be fulfilled at His second coming.

In the ninth chapter of the book of the prophet Zechariah, we have another example of what I have been referring to. In the ninth verse is the prophecy of our Lord's first coming. The commencement of the tenth verse contains a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. The middle clause refers to what is going on now-the Lord speaking peace by the gospel to the heathen. The last clause refers undoubtedly to the future glory of the Messiah during the millennium. To the close of the chapter is a prophecy of the glory awaiting Israel at the Lord's second coming.

Nor is the manifold aspect of prophecy confined to any one department. We see it with reference to individuals as well as to events. It has been often asked, was John the Baptist the Elijah of the Old Testament, or did he only come in the "spirit and power of Elias ?" Two widely different schools have arisen on this very question. One maintains the coming of Elijah to be yet future; the other maintains that the prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist. I confess I cannot accept either of these views to the exclusion of the other. I believe, on the principle of the manifold aspect of prophecy, both are true. Our Lord's words in the New Testament, when looked at free from the bias of a preconceived system, clearly confirm this. John the Baptist was Elias if the Jews would have received it. Yet the prophecy, though receiving its fulfilment in him, pointed on to a more distant day when Elijah should indeed appear. Before such a view as this half the difficulties of prophecy appear to my mind to vanish. What I have previously stated as to history repeating itself, and thus making prophecy apply in all its literal exactness to events separated by thousands of years, applies here.

The days of John the Baptist and Elijah had a striking correspondence. Idolatry abounded. Iniquity reigned. The form of godliness without the power was the chief feature. The testimony of Elijah and John was exactly what the day needed, and the testimony was in every respect similar. History will yet repeat itself. At the close of this dispensation the same features will present themselves in the nation, in the Church, and in the individual, calling for the same principles to meet them. Hence arises the necessity for the manifold aspect of prophecy. "No prophecy is," in this respect more than in any other, "of private interpretation." The Spirit of God raised up men in the Old Testament to warn, to threaten, to encourage, to revive the spirit of true religion. But neither these men nor their words ended with the people they then addressed. Both were prophetic, and were to reappear in after days, their words not once, but many times, separated by intervals of hundreds or thousands of years. "The day of the Lord" is an expression of constant occurrence in both Old and New Testament. It has been restricted to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here again the manifold aspect of prophecy presents itself. "The day of the Lord " applied to the judgments then threatened on the nation at the time the words were uttered. It was "the day of the Lord" when Jerusalem was destroyed so fearfully by the Roman armies under Titus. It will be "the day of the Lord" again when Antichrist and all his host shall be destroyed by the reappearance of the King of kings. It will be the day of Lord" again when, at the close of the millennial dispensation, the scene described in Rev. xx. 7-10, shall be presented to the world, which shall usher in the eternal glory. It is impossible not to read the expression where it is used in the Bible and not see that this is the sense in which it is used.

These are only a few examples out of very many in confirmation of what I have said as to the manifold aspect of prophecy. It shows us, I think, how carefully we should read the prophetic portions of God's Word, and how necessary it is that we should perceive this manifold aspect of prophecy. It will be the clue to the right and full interpretation of many a dark and difficult passage of Scripture. It will serve to reconcile apparently conflicting passages, and to show us that though there is thrown around every prophecy a drapery which may not reappear in future stages, yet that the body, the principles underneath, are of manifold application. There are in reality few prophecies of the Bible which as yet have received their full accomplishment.

I desire to submit this view of prophecy with caution. I hope I have not written in any dogmatic spirit. I trust that those who differ will remember that we have all very much to learn, and that our great aim should be to dispossess ourselves of pre-conceived ideas, and accept truth in whatever shape it may come. We shall never arrive at truth unless we are willing at every step to look outside of our own peculiar school of prophetic thought and challenge our views. Truth lies in every system, blended it may be with much error. But let us thank God for any truth, no matter where it may be found. Let us gather up the fragments that remain" from the earthliness or error by which they are surrounded. Thus, will those fragments thus gathered up from all quarters prove spiritual food to our own souls and to the souls of others.

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The grand thought before us is-the Lord is coming. Are we living in the blessed hope? Are we putting off every thing that will not bear the searching character of that day? Oh, it will try us-all of us! It will try our hearts, try our principles, try all within us, and all without It will bring a blush on thousands of faces, even of God's own children! It will make many an important thing now lighter than the small dust of the balance! Oh, that day, that day! How it will make every thing now in each one's own history fall into its right place, if only we bring it into everything! May each member of the Church of Christ do this more and more, "as we see the day approaching."

THE SECOND ADVENT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

THE

HE contemplation of the Redeemer's return as King of kings and Lord of lords, either by communities or individuals, is one of the healthiest signs of spiritual life. We always rejoice to hear of the promotion of Christian intercourse for that purpose, and are always particularly thankful for an opportunity to be present at such meetings. We congratulate God's people at Croydon, because of the frequent opportunities afforded to them for meetings of the kind. We understand that the worthy Vicar of St. Matthew's, the Rev. T. L. N. Causton, holds a drawing-room meeting at his house once a month, and is at present engaged in the consideration of the book of "The Revelation of St. John the Divine." Mr. John Grantham, of Kirkby Cottage,-as our readers are aware, periodically throws open his drawing-room for Bible Readings of different classes. Impressed with the importance of one of our Saviour's last solemn behests to watch for His return, Mr. Grantham proposed at his usual monthly meetings, on the second Monday in the month, to take for consideration THE SECOND ADVENT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.* These meetings, we understand, are particularly well attended. We had the privilege of being present at the last meeting, Monday, the 9th ult., when the room was filled from end to end with attentive listeners.

The proceedings began exactly at eight o'clock in the evening, by the host giving out the following hymn, being the 235th in the collection named HYMNS OF GRACE AND GLORY, published at the office of The Christian.

Oh for the robes of whiteness!
Oh for the tearless eyes!
Oh for the glorious brightness
Of the unclouded skies!

Oh for the no more weeping
Within the land of love;
The endless joy of keeping

The bridal feast above!

Oh for the bliss of rising

My risen Lord to meet! Oh for the rest of lying

For ever at His feet!

Oh for the hour of seeing
My Saviour face to face!
The hope of ever being

In that sweet meeting-place.

Jesus, Thou King of glory,

I soon shall dwell with Thee; I soon shall sing the story

Of Thy great love to me.

Meanwhile my thoughts shall enter
E'en now before Thy throne;
That all my love may centre
On Thee, and Thee alone.

*See our Nos. for the last three months.

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