THE "sure Word of prophecy" is eternity's searchlight illuminating the pathway of time.
"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." 2 Peter 1:19.
The prophecies themselves are declared to be sure, the interpretation thereof is sure (Dan. 2:45); and we do well to take heed unto their teachings. How could God consistently ask us to take heed to prophecies which could not be understood? If it were not possible for men to understand prophecy, God would not have scattered these prophetic utterances throughout His revealed Word. Prophecy is like unto a light shining in a dark place, pointing out the course of nations, the succession of world events, teaching its honest students the things that "must shortly come to pass."
2. The revelation of prophecy belongs to us, and God designs that His children shall understand it.
"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut. 29:29.
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7.
God promises His children that He will do nothing of importance concerning our world or His church, without telling them of it in advance. Having made this gracious promise, who could conceive of God giving His prophecies in such a way that they could not be understood by those who were concerned in the events attending their fulfilment?
3. The revelation of prophecy is designed to show the inhabitants of earth the events of the future.
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass." "Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand." Rev. 1:1, 3.
The very language used in the opening verse of the book of Revelation indicates that God designed His children to understand its prophecies. A blessing is pronounced upon those who "hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein." How could one obtain a blessing from reading that which could not be understood, much less be able to obey the admonitions therein contained.
4. God has foretold in prophecy all the great disasters and important events in the history of the human race.
5. The prophecies are not designed for a privileged few, but are open for even the common people to study and understand.
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:33.
"And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." Hab. 2:2.
The prophet was instructed to write the vision, and to make it very plain, that it may be easily understood, so that he who reads it may run with its message.
6. Of all parts of the inspired Word, there is none that God desires His children shall know better and understand more fully than these prophecies which He has given for the express purpose of informing each generation of its whereabouts in the world's history, as well as enlightening the people concerning the significance of the events taking place in their day. Daniel understood beforehand, from the prophecies of Jeremiah, the exact time when the Babylonian captivity was to end.
"I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." Dan. 9:2.
That prophecy can be definitely understood, and that the fulfilment of its specifications in relation to time may be relied upon, is shown in the experience of Daniel, who, by the study of the prophecies of Jeremiah, understood in his day that the time was almost at hand for the deliverance of His people. The prophecy to which he refers is found in Jer. 29:10.
7. The wise men understood from prophecy the time when Christ was to be born and were looking for His star.
"Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him." Matt. 2:1, 2.
While the vast majority of the world was in darkness as to the time and manner in which the Messiah would come, there were scattered throughout the East and Palestine students of prophecy, and they understood both the time and manner in which the Son of God should come. The wise men were among these, and, having searched out the prophecies in the ninth chapter of Daniel, and found that the time of the Messiah was at hand, they were watching for the star that should arise out of Jacob. See Num. 24:17.
8. John the Baptist not only understood his own mission in the world, but also understood from the prophecies of Daniel, that Christ was due in his day.
"Then said they unto him, Who art thou? . . . What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah." John 1:22, 23. See also verses 26, 27.
John the Baptist not only understood his own mission in the world from prophecy (see Isa. 40:3-5), but by the revelation of God's Word he knew the Messiah, being due, was then in the world; and constantly watching for Him, John could exclaim on the very next day, when he saw Jesus coming, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29.
9. Christ understood from the prophecy concerning His life-cycle as found in Dan. 9:24-27 that He would be baptized in the year A.D. 27, just 69 weeks (483 years) from the time of the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem (B.C. 457); He further understood from the prophecy of Daniel that the Messiah was to be "cut off," crucified, in the middle of the week. This would give Him just three and a half years of ministry (a day for a year), and would call for His crucifixion in the spring of A.D. 31. So this prophecy was exactly fulfilled, and is one of the greatest instances in all Inspiration of how prophecy may be understood before it is fulfilled, and how truly it will be fulfilled according to the very letter.
10. The apostle Paul knew that the second advent of Christ would not take place in his day, because he understood from prophecy concerning the great apostasy of Christendom that must precede it.
"Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped." 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.
While Paul, in common with all Christians, longed for the "glorious appearing," he knew from the Saviour's utterances (John 17:12) that the son of perdition must first be revealed, and the great apostasy take place before the Master could return; thus he was saved from being misled by those who taught that Jesus would come in the clouds of heaven in his day.
11. Josiah Litch, in the last century, wrote a book based upon prophecy, in which he predicted that Turkish rule and power would end on Aug. 11, 1840.
"Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were bound, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." Rev. 9:14, 15.
Mr. Litch, figuring each day for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), calculated that that year, and month, and day, and hour, equaled 391 years, and 15 days; so, reckoning from the time when the Sultans began to rule the Ottoman Empire, July 29, 1449, he concluded that something would happen to Turkey on August 11, 1840. He published his book to the world, taking the position on the strength of what prophecy revealed. And was Mr. Litch mistaken? No; for on that very day6
Prophecy May Be Understood
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the action was taken by the powers of Europe which left the Turkish Empire what it has continued to be, the "Sick Man of the East."
12. The prophecies of the Bible, which are inspired of God (see 2 Peter 1:21), are to be understood and comprehended by careful study in the light of other scriptures.
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." 2 Peter 1:20. (The Syriac Version renders this: "No prophecy is an exposition of its own text.")
The key to prophecy is found, not in the commentaries of learned men, nor the writings of great Bible students, but rather in comparing scripture with scripture after the method described in 1 Cor. 2:13: "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth; but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
