Peculiarities of Certain Prophecies.
By Daniel T. Bourdeau
In studying the prophecies, it is highly important to observe that very often the prophets in treating subjects make a sudden transition from type to antitype, and that certain prophecies have a double fulfillment; and unless the student of prophecy is careful to notice this peculiarity, he will be in danger of applying to the type what evidently applies to the antitype. To illustrate: The history of the Jews, their bondage in Egypt and their deliverance from the same, their entering into the land of Canaan, their captivity in Babylon and the prophecies relating thereto, the final destruction of Jerusalem, etc., are typical of events to transpire either under the gospel, or at the close of this dispensation. In like manner, the fate of Babylon, that of Nineveh, the judgments that fell on the land of Idumea, etc., are all typical of the final punishment of the ungodly and of formal professors. What wisdom is displayed in all this! When the prophets took up their pens to portray and foretell events connected with God’s ancient people, how appropriate for them to so mold their remarks as to also represent events under the gospel. In so doing, the attention of God’s ancient people might be carried even beyond the events that were fulfilled in their dispensation, and they could improve on what emphatically applied in this age. And thus those living in the Christian dispensation have a special interest in those prophecies which applied primarily and typically to the Jews. Thus, in Isa. 1:1, literal Judah and Jerusalem are evidently introduced; but in the very next chapter, verse 1, and onward, Judah and Jerusalem apply unmistakably to the Protestant churches in the last days, just before the day of the Lord. Isa. 13 treats of the fate of ancient Babylon, and the Medes and Persians are mentioned as the instruments to humble that proud nation; yet the prophet, by an easy transition, introduces the day of the Lord, in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished. Compare Jer. 50 and 51, with Rev. 18. Certain promises made concerning the possession of the land of Canaan, are to be emphatically fulfilled when the saints possess the new earth; Gen. 12:7; 13:14–17, etc., Rom. 4:13; yet it seems that these promises had at least a typical fulfillment in the temporary possession of the literal land of Canaan. Deut. 34:4; 2 Chron. 20:7. Mal. 4:5, 6, foretells the coming and work of Elijah, and was typically fulfilled in the coming and work of John the Baptist, Luke 1:17, but will be emphatically fulfilled in those who engage in a similar work to that of Elijah and John the Baptist, “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Compare Matt. 17:11, Isa. 58:12, 13, etc. Mal. 4 could not all be fulfilled at Christ’s first advent, or at the destruction of Jerusalem, as some claim. The burning day, the dreadful day of the Lord, did not then come, the wicked were not then burned up, etc. The book of Nahum opens with “the burden of Nineveh;” yet in Nahum 2:3–5, we undoubtedly have a description of the railroad cars. From the connection, we see that this scripture must meet its fulfillment, (1) In the day of God’s preparation. Verse 3. (2) When God will “make an utter end; and affliction shall not rise up the second time.” (3) When the mountains are about to quake at him, the hills to be melted, the earth to be burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Chap. 1:5–9. The rocks mentioned in verse 6, are to be thrown under the last plague of Rev. 16. (4) The whole description of the chariots, how they run, etc., applies better to the “lightning trains” than to anything else. So clear is this application that we are told this prophecy was read at a railroad meeting at the completion of the Rutland and Burlington, Vt., railroad, more than twenty years ago. The burden of Ps. 22 and 69, relates primarily to David, and finally and antitypically, to Christ, and portions of these scriptures are quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled in Christ. But if you apply Ps. 69:5, to Christ, you make him a sinner. Yet verses 9, 21, etc., were fulfilled in Christ. The command of the Saviour to “pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day,” Matt. 24:20, applied primarily to the early church in Judea before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; yet it will have a special application in the time of trouble that is just before us, when the remnant church who keep the commandments of God, will have to flee from their persecutors. Rev. 12:17; 13 13–17; 14:9–12; Isa. 21:11–16; Eze. 7 15, 16; 2 Esdras 16, toward the close of the chapter. Such references might be greatly multiplied. Though we should be guarded on the doctrine of types, yet applications that are warranted by the general tenor of the Scriptures, demand our candid attention and study.