Uncertainty.—There is uncertainty, doubt, and consequent unrest everywhere. The world is full of it. Statesmen, rulers, politicians of all nations and lands, hope or wish for a good time, a prosperous future, but how it is to be brought about few indeed agree. What one declares will make for prosperity, another contends will prove the ruin of the world. Many rulers tremble with dread of what they know not. Strife, rebellion, revolution, anarchy, demagogism, socialism, and red-handed crime appal the bravest.
From "Patriarchs and Prophets." Copyrighted 1890.
The Cause of Uncertainty.—Uncertainty presupposes darkness or obscurity of some kind. The way or the mind is darkened. Surroundings are indistinct. Familiar objects take on strange and fearful forms. In the lulls of peace and temporal prosperity, in the light of the meteoric sparks of their own kindling, men laugh and joke and sneer over the perils and fears and pessimism of the hour before, but with the recurring hours of darkness the same ones are the swiftest to pale and pray. It is doubt, uncertainty, and darkness everywhere, and men, some men, are longing and praying for light and certainty. The Scriptures truly express the situation in the following words: “Distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21:25, 26. Truly, “he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth,” and “if the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
Certainty.—Certainty of purpose, of aim, of object, of life, of future good, presupposes light, light which illuminates the mind, scatters the fogs of obscurity, uncertainty, and doubt, and sheds its effulgent and kindly rays around us and before us. There is but one class of people in this world who may be thus certain, and that is the class composed of well-instructed Christians. It is their privilege, nay, their duty, to walk in the light and to be a light to others in darkness. While uncertain as regards the occurrence of the many details of life, they are certain as to the outcome. They know that their hope is not in princes, nor in the sons of men, nor in the schemes of statesmen, nor in the strength of kingdoms. And yet they are not pessimists; for they know that God worketh all things together for good to them that love him and are in harmony with his purpose. In all surroundings and circumstances they hope.
Children of Light.—The reason of certainty is light. “But ye, brethren,” says the apostle, speaking of Christians in contradistinction to those who believe not, “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. 5:4, 5. On the other hand, he says of the unbelievers, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” Verse 3. Of the same class the prophet declares, speaking in their behalf: “Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night.” Isa. 59:9, 10. And the reason is that they have departed from God. See context.
The Source of Light.—All this is implied in the quotations already given. Those who are Christ’s have light and certainty; those who have departed from the Lord, have darkness and uncertainty. Spiritual darkness is sin; light is righteousness and life. The source of light—righteousness, life, and certainty—is God. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5. But as God is revealed only through Christ (John 1:18; Luke 11:22), so to us Christ is light; for that which reveals is light; and Christ expressly declares, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). This was true in the person of Jesus when he was here (John 9:5); it is true of him as manifest in the living epistles of men (Matt. 5:14); it is true of him as manifested through and in the written word as given by the Spirit of Christ. So we read: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” “The entrance of thy words giveth light.” Ps. 119: 105, 130. “The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” Prov. 6:23.
The Prophetic Word.—But it is not only true that the law is light, but the prophetic word of God is no less light, is no less a revelation2of God through Jesus Christ, and is of no less importance to the children of men. The apostle Peter expressly tells us that prophecy came not “by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and that what they wrote was the Spirit of Christ testifying through them. (See 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Peter 1:11.)
The “More Sure Word.”—Of this prophetic word the same apostle thus speaks: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19. What is meant by a “more sure word” is that the evidence which God gives in his prophetic word is more sure, more to be relied on, than the evidences of our senses, what we may see and hear. (See verses 16-18.) To this prophetic word of Christ we “do well that we take heed.” The necessary inference is that we will do ill if we do not take heed. It is a light in the world’s darkness, the only true light. It shows the rise and the fall of kingdoms, the nature and tendency of fallen humanity, and that the hope of the world is alone in Jesus Christ and his coming reign. Prophecy reveals to us the character of that reign, the work of Christ now, and enables us to distinguish all false theories from the true, not by teaching the false in detail, but by pointing out the true. It is such a light as this “until the day dawn,” until the second coming of Christ shall be ushered in, the glorious consummation of all prophetic periods. What child of God, what Christian, can therefore refuse to read, to study, the prophecies of the word of God, given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ!
Two Kinds of Prophecy.—Prophecy may be divided into two kinds, literal and symbolical. The literal is that in which the predictions are stated in simple, plain language, so clearly that only those who will not may not understand. An example of this is found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and in our Lord’s discourses in Luke 21, Mark 13, etc. Thus clearly did Moses see the promised land, the coming and death of Christ, the tribulation of the Jews, and the glorious consummation—Christ’s eternal triumph. The best examples of symbolic prophecy, in which the predictions are couched in symbolic language, and the events and things are represented by symbols and figures, are found in the books of Daniel and the Revelation. A short-lived beast is used to represent a long-existing empire, a short period of time a longer period, etc. These great prophecies the Lord tells us we may understand, and upon student and doer of them he pronounces a blessing. Matt. 24:15; Rev. 1:3; 22:7. May the reader by faithfulness inherit this blessing by walking in the light.
Christ the Light.—Therefore, as Christ is the light of the world, as the prophecy came through his Spirit as a light in the world’s darkness, so to receive and walk in that light by faith is to receive Christ, and to reject that light is to reject Christ. “God is not mocked.” We may reject the light of prophecy because men have made mistakes, but that will not excuse us in the day of God. The same logic would reject the atonement of Christ because men have perverted its truths, or would reject food and water because some persons have died by their abuse. The Spirit of God predicts that in the last days men will thus treat his prophetic word: “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I can not; for it is sealed; and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned.” Isa. 29:11, 12. Nevertheless, altho learning may close the book, and ignorance turn from it, and fanatics and enthusiasts abuse it, God’s prophetic word is still light, and he who seeks that word that he may do the will of Him who gave it, who seeks the light that he may walk in it, shall know of the teaching (John 7:17), shall receive of the blessing (Rev. 1:3).
