Some of the Field of Prophecy Reviewed. An Outline of What Has Been Given More Fully During the Past Six Months Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except He reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3: 7. Here is the Lord's own promise thru His prophet that He will reveal His secrets. And, furthermore, these secrets are revealed thru the prophets; hence the importance of the study of prophecy. "The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Deut. 29: 29. The secret things belong to the Lord. There is no chamber that could lock secrets more securely than the future. But the "secret things belong unto Jehovah." He has possession of them. He is able to "reveal" them thru "His servants the prophets." "Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done." Isa. 46: 8-10. There is none like unto Jehovah, the great God, "declaring the end from the beginning." He has power to look into the future and tell just what will happen. The Lord's ability to declare the end from the beginning is one of the strong evidences that He sets forth so that we may know that He who is the Author of the Bible is also the true God, the great Creator, and the One in whose life and power we all have our existence. "Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring forth, and declare unto us what shall happen; declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." Isa. 41: 21-23. Thus does Jehovah challenge every false god and every false system of religion. Yea, he challenges every disbeliever in His word. He invites every one to examine the prophecies of His word to see for himself that He has revealed the history of the world in advance. And an individual who is able to do a thing of such a character can be none other than the infinite One who is able to look into the future with unerring vision. The complete history of this world was scanned by the Lord Jehovah of hosts thousands of years ago. He saw the secrets that lay buried in the future. And He caused "His servants the prophets" to write these things out all these millenniums of years before they would happen so that we might watch the pages of unfolding and developing prophecies and thus be convinced that none other than the infinite God could so lay bare the future. Fulfilling the Prophecy Serves to Establish the Word.
The original manuscripts from which our Bible has been translated have been in existence for hundreds of years, and have been widely copied and translated. Our "authorized" English translation has been in the hands of the people for within four years of three centuries. And despite this extensive copying, and the many translations of the Bible, still we find it to agree everywhere in presenting the same truth in perfect harmony. A great part of the word of God is devoted to prophecy, and during the centuries in which this word has been in the English language there has been a wonderful unfolding of that prophecy. There has been so much of it fulfilled during that three hundred years that there is no excuse for us to doubt the authenticity of the revelations that so completely fit into the events of the centuries previous. All the great lines of prophecy point to this time as the last days; this generation is shown to be the last, and it is also shown that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will take place before this generation has passed away. There are a number of great lines of prophecy that have their beginnings in the mighty nations of the most ancient times. These great lines of prophecy, with one accord, point to this time as the period known as the "time of the end." They all with united voice proclaim this to be the last generation that shall live on this earth before the return of the Lord of Glory in the clouds of heaven. Then, in addition to these great chains of prophecy, there is a vast array of special prophecies that describe in detail what the last days shall be like. These special prophecies tell their story so plainly and in such simple, direct language that there can be no mistaking the meaning. Connected Chains of Prophecy.
In the second chapter of the prophecy of Daniel is found the account of the dream that the king of Babylon had, and in it is narrated how the prophet was finally brought in to tell what the dream was and also to interpret it.9Both the dream and the interpretation are found in that chapter. It was shown that God had given the king a view of what should be in the latter times; the nations as they would arise one by one were caused to pass before him in his dream, and the whole matter was explained to him by the prophet. He was shown that the kingdom of Babylon of which he was then the king would be succeeded by three other universal kingdoms, and that the last of these would be broken into ten separate kingdoms, and that they would remain in this divided state till the Lord Jesus Christ would establish His everlasting kingdom at His second coming. In the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel a vision is given to the prophet himself in which all the nations of the earth are made to pass before him. In this vision additional facts and characteristics are brought out that are not given in the outline prophecy of the second chapter. The prophet saw four great beasts arise, and he was told by the same angel that showed him the vision that the beasts represented "four kings that shall arise out of the earth." And in this chapter it is also shown that the fourth kingdom, represented by the fourth beast, would be broken into ten parts. And having viewed this procession of the nations as they would arise one by one, the prophet's vision is turned to the judgment scenes, thus showing that when the last of the nations comes to the stage of action we have reached the time when the judgment may be looked for as the next important event. The eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel give the record of another vision in which the earth's history is made to pass before the gaze of the prophet. The climax of this prophecy is the cleansing of the sanctuary, which is plainly set forth in the Scriptures as the investigative judgment that necessarily takes place immediately before the coming of Christ. The eleventh chapter of Daniel, without the symbolism of the preceding prophetic chapters, is a literal account of the leading events among the nations till we are brought to the time when Michael, who is the Christ, stands up to execute the judgment,—to the brief period just before the second coming of the Lord which the prophet designated as "the time of the end." The Question Is Answered.
The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is given in answer to the questions that were raised by the disciples, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The Master answers these earnest inquirers by telling them of certain signs that would precede His coming and which enable us to know definitely when the much-to-be-desired event is near at hand. In like manner the thirteenth chapter of Mark and the twenty-first of Luke describe the same interview that the disciples had with the Teacher, and in unison of narrative they tell the same story and make it plain that the Lord desires that we may know for sure when the end of time is approaching. Revelation, chapters two and three, gives an outline of the leading features that would be seen in the church of God all down the ages from the time of the evangelist prophet till the Lord's return to earth again. Revelation, chapters four, five, six, seven, and the first part of chapter eight, presents the seven seals. These seven seals present in prophetic language additional events that are not described so minutely in the prophecies of Daniel, and some of them are not mentioned before at all. In like manner the eighth to the eleventh chapters of Revelation present the prophecy of the seven trumpets, in which additional events are described and added evidence is given by which we may know when we are reaching the end of the world's history. The Chapter That Tells of the True Church.
Chapter twelve of this wonderful book of Revelation gives a vivid and powerful description of the true church of Christ as she is pursued into the wilderness of the persecutions of the Dark Ages. The wrath that the dragon, which is designated as Satan in the first part of the chapter, will manifest in making war against the remnant of this church furnishes the theme for the closing verse of this chapter. Thus we are again brought by this chain of prophecy to the time when the remnant or last part of the church will be in existence. Chapter thirteen of the book of Revelation takes us back to the great monarchies that existed in Daniel's time, and having thus given the student of prophecy his bearings, we are invited to trace again the history of the nations of the world and note many things that will be seen in a church that professes the name of Christ, but which does not act in harmony with His principles. The twelfth chapter has spoken of the persecutions and triumphs of the true church, but the thirteenth chapter tells of the malignant designings and the warring persecutions of the oppressors of the true followers of God, the ones who have stood firm to His principles all down the ages. Chapter fourteen of the book of Revelation gives in thrilling and solemn outline the great Threefold Message of warning that God sends to all the world to prepare it for its coming harvest. Those who hear and heed this message, given in this threefold manner, will be prepared to partake of the joys and labors that come to all who stand with God in this time of the world's sublime crisis; they will also be fitted to enter into the indescribable pleasures and occupations of that eternal world that will be revealed at the second coming of Christ, while those who reject the message that God gives in such plain and convincing terms will meet their chosen and self-inflicted doom. Chapters fifteen to twenty of the book of Revelation give us much additional information in regard to the detail of events that will transpire in the last days, all of which will fill the mind with the joys and desires of being present to participate in the climax of climaxes, when all the sorrow, trouble, and distress of this world are over, when the Lord shall have come in His glory, and we are brought to the time of entering the eternal home for the redeemed which is Brief reference is made to the new heaven and the new earth in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. The Scriptures elsewhere contain numerous promises and descriptions of the same thing. God says in His word (Isa. 45:18) that He formed this earth to be inhabited, and that He has created it not in vain. Certainly the righteous God did not create this earth to be inhabited by a race of sinners such as now are its occupants. If it were always to continue as at present it would be apparent that the creation of the earth had been worse than in vain. But it will not so continue, "for we, According to His Promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13. Man sinned at the very beginning of his racial career, and it can not be said so far that this earth has been the abode of the righteous. The righteous, as expressed by the writer of Hebrews (11:13), have ever "confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers in the earth." But the prophecies all show that the Lord Jesus is soon coming back to earth in person, and following that glorious event this earth will be cleansed from all its load of sin, and will be created anew for the eternal abode of the righteous. This earth, marred by sin tho it is, nevertheless is a beautiful place. But what will it be when the masterful hand of the Creator will bring it back to its original glory and beauty! Such a theme is sufficient to fill any soul with an intense and all-pervading joy that will carry him completely above any of the perplexing shadows, sorrows, or forebodings of this time. To traverse the clear field of prophecy until the unmistakable evidence of the soon coming of Christ is a reality to the mind, fills the soul with a joy that can never be told. We may talk about it, and tell about it, but it must be possessed and experienced before any one can know what it really is. The great field of prophecy is one of the most entertaining, and at the same time useful, helpful, and restful, that can engage the human mind. Reader, will not you do all in your power to bring its important truths and blessings before the world?