"God Is His Own Interpreter."
By R. F. Cottrell
I AM not certain that this was written by inspiration of God, yet I believe it is true. God is now interpreting the prophecies of his word by fulfilling them before our eyes. But the objector says, "Your theory looks plausible with your interpretation, but how does it happen that you, above all others, know how to interpret the prophecies?" I answer, We do not claim superior talents or faculties, and we need no extraordinary powers of mind. We simply accept of God's interpretation, i. e., when prophecy is fulfilled, we believe it; and our work is not so much to interpret prophecy, as to call the attention of our fellow-men to the fact that God is interpreting them. Let us illustrate by an example. Some seven hundred years before the first advent of our Saviour, God gave through Isaiah the following prophecy: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make strait in the desert a highway for our God." Isa. xl, 3. Now this prophecy may have looked dark, and probably did, till God interpreted it. But time rolled on, and John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea preaching this message to prepare a people made ready for the Lord. Those who accepted of God's interpretation, were approved of God, while those who rejected it, "rejected the counsel of God against themselves." Even so at this present time, God is interpreting the advent messages of Rev. xiv, 6-12, as well as other prophecies, by fulfilling them. "But John was inspired; and you should not compare yourselves with him." God moved him to fulfill his word; but what evidence had the Jewish people of that fact? No more than people now have for believing the advent message. "John did no miracle, but what he said of Christ was truth. God moved the multitude to shout hosanna, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem; and he moved a multitude in 1844 to lift their voices and cry, 'Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.' And now, by the proclamation of the third message, he is bringing to light a people to 'keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' God is his own interpreter, and his interpretation is infallible. We have only to believe and obey.