|
|
The Coming Prince
CHAPTER XI: PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION
"THIS is a work which I find deficient; but it is to be
done with wisdom, sobriety, and reverence, or not at all." Thus wrote
Lord Bacon in treating of what he describes as "history of prophecy."
"The nature of such a work," he explains, "ought to be that every prophecy
of the Scripture be sorted with the event fulfilling the same, throughout
the ages of the world, both for the better confirmation of faith and for
the better illumination of the Church touching those parts of prophecies
which are yet unfulfilled: allowing, nevertheless, that latitude which
is agreeable and familiar unto Divine prophecies; being of the nature
of their Author with whom a thousand years are but as one day, and therefore
are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and germinant
accomplishment throughout many ages, though the height or ruiness of them
may refer to some one age."
If the many writers who have since contributed to supply the want Lord
Bacon noticed, had given due heed to these wise and weighty words, prophetic
study might possibly have escaped the reproach which comes of its followers
being divided into hostile camps. With the Christian the fulfillment of
prophecy does not belong to the region of opinion, nor even of fact, merely;
it is a matter of faith. We have a right, therefore, to expect
that it shall be definite and clear. But though the principles and maxims
of interpretation gained by the study of that part of prophecy which was
accomplished within the era of Holy Writ are by no means to be thrown
aside when we pass out into post-apostolic times, surely there is no presumption
against our finding hidden in the history of these eighteen centuries
a primary and partial fulfillment even of prophecies which will unquestionably
receive a final and complete accomplishment in days to come.
Only let us not forget the "wisdom, sobriety, and reverence" which such
an inquiry demands. In our day prophetic students have turned prophets,
and with mingled folly and daring have sought to fix the very year of
Christ's return to earth, – predictions which possibly our children's
children will recall when another century shall have been added to the
history of Christendom. If such vagaries brought discredit only on their
authors, it were well. But though broached in direct opposition to Scripture,
they have brought reproach on Scripture itself, and have given a stimulus
to the jaunty skepticism of the day. We might have hoped that whatever
else might be forgotten, the last words which the Lord Jesus spoke on
earth would not be thus thrust aside:
- "It is not for you to know the times
or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." (Acts 1:7)
But what was denied to inspired apostles in days of pristine
faith and power, the prophecy-mongers of these last days have dared to
claim; and the result has been that the solemn and blessed hope of the
Lord's return has been degraded to the level of the predictions of astrologers,
to the confusion and grief of faithful hearts, and the amusement of the
world.
Any man who, avoiding extravagant or fanciful views, both of history and
of Scripture, points to events in the present or the past as the correlatives
of a prophecy, deserves a calm and unprejudiced hearing from thoughtful
men. But let him not forget that though the Scriptures he appeals to may
thus receive "germinant accomplishment," "the height or fullness of them
may refer" to an age still future. What is true of all Scripture is specially
true of prophecy. It is ours to assign to it a meaning; but he who really
believes it to be Divine, will hesitate to limit its meaning to the measure
of his own apprehension of it.
The prophecies of Antichrist afford a signal and most apt illustration
of this. Were it not for the prejudice created by extreme statements,
prophetic students would probably agree that the great apostasy of Christendom
displays in outline many of the main lineaments of the Man of Sin. There
is, indeed, in our day a spurious liberality that would teach us to forego
the indictment which history affords against the Church of Rome; but while
no generous mind will refuse to own the moral worth of those who, in England
at least, now guide the counsels of that Church, the real question at
issue relates to the character, not of individuals, but of a system.
It is the part, therefore, not of intolerant bigotry, but of true wisdom,
to search the records of the past – terrible records, truly –
for the means of judging of that system. The inquiry which concerns us
is not whether good men are found within the pale of Rome – as though
all the moral excellence of earth could avail to cover the annals of her
hideous guilt! Our true inquiry is whether she has suffered any real change
in these enlightened days. Is the Church of Rome reformed? With
what vehemence the answer would be shrieked from every altar within her
pale! And if not, let but dark days come again, and some of the foulest
scenes and blackest crimes in the history of Christendom may be re-enacted
in Europe. "The true test of a man is not what he does, but what, with
the principles he holds, he would do"; and if this be true of individuals,
it is still more intensely true of communities. They do good service,
therefore, who keep before the public mind the real character of Rome
as the present day development of the apostasy.
But when these writers go on to assert that the predictions of the Antichrist
have their full and final realization in the Papacy, their position becomes
a positive danger to the truth. It is maintained at the cost of rejecting
some of the most definite of the prophecies, and of putting a lax or fanciful
interpretation upon those very Scriptures to which they appeal.
Indeed, the chief practical evil of this system of interpretation is that
it creates and fosters a habit of reading the Scriptures in a loose and
superficial manner. General impressions, derived from a cursory perusal
of the prophecies, are seized upon and systematized, and upon this foundation
a pretentious superstructure is built up. As already noticed, the Church
of Rome displays the chief moral lineaments of the Man of Sin. Therefore
it is an axiom of interpretation with this school that the ten-horned
beast is the Papacy. But of the beast it is written that "power was given
to him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of
life." (Revelation 13:7, 8) Are these commentators aware that one-half
of Christendom is outside the pale of Rome, and in antagonism to the claims
of the Papacy? Or do they suppose that all who belong to the Greek and
Protestant Churches are enrolled in the book of life? By no means. But
they would tell us the verse does not mean exactly what it says.[1]
1. According to these interpreters, such a statement
must be taken cum grano salis, as we term it; and the like remark
applies to their rendering of every verse of the thirteenth chapter
of Revelation.
Again, the ten-horned beast is the Papacy; the second beast,
the false prophet, is the Papal clergy; Babylon is Papal Rome. And yet when
we turn to the vision of the judgment of Babylon, we find that it is by
the agency of the beast that her doom is accomplished! "And the ten
horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the whore (Babylon),
and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn
her with fire; for God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and
to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words
of God shall be fulfilled." "These have one mind, and shall give their
power and strength unto the beast."[2] The governments of Christendom,
therefore, are to lend their power to the Roman Pontiff and priesthood in
order to the destruction of Papal Rome![3] Can absurdity be more transparent
and complete?
2. Revelation 17:16, 17, 18. In ver. 16 the best reading,
as given in the Revised Version, is "and the beast," instead
of "upon the beast."
3. Mr. Elliott's romance on this subject is disposed of by the events
of recent years, which have made Rome the peaceful capital of Italy.
Of the beast and false prophet it is written, "These both were cast
alive into a lake of fire" (Revelation 19:20). It may be pleasing to
Protestant zeal to suppose the Roman hierarchy and priesthood are "reserved"
for such a fate.
The question here at issue must not be prejudiced by misrepresentations,
or shirked by turning away to collateral points of secondary moment. It
is not whether great crises in the history of Christendom, such as the fall
of Paganism, the rise of the Papacy and of the Moslem power, and the Protestant
reformation of the sixteenth century, be within the, scope of the visions
of St. John. This may readily be conceded. Neither is it whether the fact
that the chronology of some of these events is marked by cycles of years
composed of the precise multiples; of seventy specified in the book of Daniel
and the Apocalypse, be not a further proof that all forms; part of one great
plan. Every fresh discovery of the kind ought to be welcomed by all lovers
of the truth. Instead of weakening confidence in the accuracy and definiteness
of the prophecies, it ought to strengthen the faith which looks for their
absolute and literal fulfillment. The question is not whether the history
of Christendom was within the view of the Divine Author of the prophecies,
but whether those prophecies have been fulfilled; not whether those
Scriptures have the scope and meaning which historical interpreters assign
to them, but whether their scope and meaning be exhausted and satisfied
by the events to which they appeal as the fulfillment of them. It is unnecessary,
therefore, to enter here upon an elaborate review of the historical system
of interpretation, for if it fails when tested at some one vital point,
it breaks down altogether.
Does the Apocalypse, then, belong to the sphere of prophecy accomplished?
Or, to reduce the controversy to a still narrower issue, have the visions
of the seals and trumpets and vials been fulfilled? No one will dispute
the fairness of this mode of stating the question, and the fairest possible
method of dealing with it will be to set forth some one of the leading visions,
and then quote fully and verbatim what the historical interpreters
put forward as the meaning of it.
The opening of the sixth seal is thus recorded by St. John:" And I beheld
when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were
moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men,
and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks
of the mountains; and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able
to stand?" (Revelation 6:12-17)
The following is Mr. Elliott's commentary upon the vision:
"When we consider," he declares, "the terrors of these Christ-blaspheming
kings of the Roman earth, thus routed with their partisans before the Christian
host, and miserably flying and perishing, there was surely that in the event
which, according to the usual construction of such Scripture figures, might
well be deemed to answer to the symbols of the profigurative vision before
us: in which vision kings and generals, freemen and slaves, appeared flying
to and seeking the caves of the rocks to hide them: to hide them from the
face of Him that sat on the throne of power, even from the wrath of the
Lamb.
"Thus under the first shocks of this great earthquake had the Roman earth
been agitated, and the enemies of the Christians destroyed or driven into
flight and consternation. Thus, in the political heavens, had the sun of
pagan supremacy been darkened, the moon become eclipsed and blood-red, and
of the stars not a few been shaken violently to the ground. But the prophecy
had not as yet received its entire fulfillment. The stars of the pagan heaven
had not all fallen, nor had the heaven itself been altogether rolled up
like a scroll and vanished away. On Constantine's first triumph, and after
the first terrors of the opposing emperors and their hosts, though their
imperial edict gave to Christianity its full rights and freedom, yet it
allowed to the heathen worship a free toleration also. But very soon there
followed measures of marked preference in the imperial appointments to the
Christians and their faith. And at length, as Constantine advanced in life,
in spite of the indignation and resentment of the pagans, he issued edicts
for the suppression of their sacrifices, the destruction of their temples,
and the toleration of no other form of public worship but the Christian.
His successors on the throne followed up the same object by attaching penalties
of the severest character to the public profession of paganism. And the
result was that, before the century, had ended, its stars had all fallen
to the ground, its very heaven, or political and religious system, vanished,
and on the earth the old pagan institutions, laws, rites, and worship been
all but annihilated."[4]
4. Horae Apoc., vol. 1., pp. 219, 220.
"A more notable instance of inadequate interpretation cannot
be imagined."[5] What wonder if men scoff at the awful warnings of coming
wrath, when they are told that THE GREAT DAY OF HIS WRATH[6] is past, and
that it amounted to nothing more than the rout of the pagan armies before
the hosts of Constantine, – an event which has been paralleled a thousand
times in the history of the world?[7]
5. "Another such landmark is found, I believe, in the
interpretation of the sixth seal: if it be not indeed already
laid down in what has just been said. We all know what that imagery
means in the rest of Scripture. Any system which requires it to belong
to another period than the close approach of the great day of the Lord,
stands thereby self-condemned. I may illustrate this by reference to
Mr. Elliott's continuous historical system, which requires that it should
mean the downfall of paganism under Constantine. A more notable instance
of inadequate interpretation cannot be imagined. Closely connected with
this last is another fixed point in interpretation. As the seven seals,
so the seven trumpets and the seven vials run on to the time close upon
the end. At the termination of each series, the note is unmistakably
given that such is the case. Of the seals we have already spoken. As
to the trumpets, it may suffice to refer to ch. 10:7; 11:18; as to the
vials, to their very designation tas eschatas,
and to the gegonen
of ch. 16:17. Any system which does not recognize this common
ending of the three, seems to me to stand thereby convicted of error."
– ALFORD, Gr. Test., 4., Part 2., ch. 8., §§ 5, 21, 22.
6. ha hamera ha megala tas orgas autou (Revelation
6:17).
7. If such statements were put forward in wantonness, and not in folly,
they would suggest a reference to the solemn words, "If any man shall
take away from the words of the book of this prophecy –"
(Revelation 22:19).
For, let the point at issue be clearly kept in view. If the
reign of Constantine or some other era in the history of Christendom were
appealed to as affording an intermediate fulfillment of the vision, it might
pass as a feeble but harmless exposition; but these expositors daringly
assert that the prophecy has no other scope or meaning.[8] They are bound
to prove that the vision of the sixth seal has been fulfilled; else
it is obvious that all which follows it claims fulfillment likewise. If,
therefore, their system failed at this point alone, its failure would be
absolute and complete; but in fact the instance quoted is no more than a
fair example of the manner in which they fritter away the meaning of the
words they profess to explain.
8. When the historical interpreters approach the Second
Advent, they lose the courage of their opinions, and earnestly contend
for literalness, though if their scheme be genuine, the predicted return
of Christ may surely have its fulfillment in the present revival of
religion and the concurrent spread of Christianity.
We are now, they tell us, in the era of the Vials. At this
very hour the wrath of God is being poured out upon the earth.[9] Surely
men may well exclaim, – comparing the present with the past, and judging
this age to be more favored, more desirable to live in than any age which
has preceded it, – Is this all the wrath of God amounts to! The vials
are the seven last plagues, "for in them is filled up the wrath of God,"
and we are told that the sixth is even at this moment being fulfilled in
the disruption of the Turkish Empire! Can any man be so lost in the dreamland
of his own lucubrations as to imagine that the collapse of the Turkish power
is a Divine judgment on an unrepentant world![10] Such it may appear to
be to the clique of Pachas, who, ghoul-like, fatten on the misery around
them; but untold millions would hail it as a blessing to suffering humanity,
and ask with wonder, If this be a crowning token of the wrath of God, how
are simple souls to distinguish between the proofs of His favor and of His
direst anger!
9. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous,
seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up
the wrath of God…And the seven angels came out of the temple,
having the seven plagues…And one of the four beasts gave unto
the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, who liveth
for ever and ever…And I heard a great voice out of the temple
saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of
the wrath of God upon the earth" (Revelation 15:1, 6, 7; 16:1).
10. The Austrian Pester Lloyd of 21st Nov., 1879, in commenting
on the British line of policy with regard to Turkish affairs, charged
Lord Beaconsfield's government with "confounding Mohammedanism with
the Turks, the latter having been always regarded as the scum of Mohammedanism
by all Mohammedan nations who were conscious of their own strength."
Prophetic students appear to be thoroughly possessed by this error.
If the event were cited as a primary fulfillment,
within this day of grace, of a prophecy which strictly belongs to the coming
day of wrath, it would merit respectful attention; but to appeal to the
dismemberment of Turkey as the full realization of the vision, is the merest
trifling with the solemn language of Scripture, and an outrage on common
sense.
But there are principles involved in this system of interpretation far deeper
and more momentous than any which appear upon the surface. It is in direct
antagonism with the great foundation truth of Christianity.
St. Luke narrates (Luke 4:19, 20) how, after the temptation, the Lord "returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee," and entering the synagogue of
Nazareth on the Sabbath day, as His custom was, He stood up to read. There
was handed Him the book of Isaiah's prophecy, and all eyes being fastened
on Him, He opened it and read these words, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
"And the day of vengeance of our God" are the words which followed, without
a break, upon the open page before Him; but, the record adds, "He closed
the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down." In an age
to come, when the prophecy shall have its ultimate fulfillment, the day
of vengeance shall mingle with blessing to His people.[11] But the burden
of His ministry on earth was only peace.[12] And it is the burden of the
gospel still. God's attitude toward men is grace. "GRACE REIGNS." It is
not that there is grace for the penitent or the elect, but that grace is
the principle on which Christ now sits upon the throne of God. "Upon His
head are many crowns, but His pierced hand now holds the only scepter,"
for the Father has given Him the kingdom; all power is His in heaven and
on earth. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to
the Son"; (John 5:22; Compare 3:17; 12:47) but His mission to earth was
not to judge, but only to save. And He who is thus the only Judge is now
exalted to be a Savior, and the throne on which He sits is a throne of grace.
Grace is reigning, through righteousness, unto eternal life. (Romans 5:21)
"The light of this glorious gospel now shines unhindered upon earth. Blind
eyes may shut it out, but they cannot quench or lessen it. Impenitent hearts
may heap up wrath against the day of wrath, but they cannot darken this
day of mercy or mar the glory of the reign of grace."[13]
11. Compare Isaiah 63:4: "For the day of vengeance
is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."
12. "He came and preached peace" (Ephesians 2:17).
13. The Gospel and its Ministry, p. 136. True it is that the
great principles of God's moral government of the world remain unchanged,
and sin is thus ever working out its own punishment. But this must not
be confounded with immediate Divine action in judgment. "The Lord knoweth
how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgment, to be punished"
(2 Peter 2:9). Or, according to Romans 2:5, "After thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day
of wrath."
It will be in "the day of wrath" that the "seven last
plagues," wherein is "filled up the wrath of God," shall run their course;
and it is merely trifling with solemn and awful truths to talk of their
being now fulfilled. Whatever intermediate fulfillment the vision may be
now receiving, the full and final realization of it belongs to a future
time.
And these pages are not designed to deal with the primary and historical
fulfillment of the prophecies, or, as Lord Bacon terms it, their "springing
and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages." My subject is exclusively
the absolute and final fulfillment of the visions in that "one age" to which,
in their "height and fullness," they belong.
The Scripture itself affords many striking instances of such intermediate
or primary fulfillment; and in these the main outlines of the prophecy are
realized, but not the details. The prediction of Elijah's advent is an instance.[14]
In the plainest terms the Lord declared the Baptist's ministry to be within
the scope of that prophecy. In terms as clear He announced that it would
be fulfilled in days to come, by the reappearance upon earth of the
greatest of the prophets. (Matthew 11:14; 17:11, 12) St. Peter's words at
Pentecost afford another illustration. Joel's prophecy shall yet be realized
to the letter, but yet the baptism of the Holy Ghost was referred to it
by the inspired Apostle. (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21.)
14. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord" (Malachi. 4:5).
To speak of the fulfillment of these prophecies as
already past, is to use language at once unscriptural and false. Far more
unwarrantable still is the assertion of finality, so confidently made, of
the prophecies relating to the apostasy. There is not a single prophecy,
of which the fulfillment is recorded in Scripture, that was not realized
with absolute accuracy, and in every detail; and it is wholly unjustifiable
to assume that a new system of fulfillment was inaugurated after the sacred
canon closed.
Two thousand years ago who would have ventured to believe that the prophecies
of Messiah would receive a literal accomplishment!
- "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son." (Isaiah 7:14)
"Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
(Zechariah 9:9)
"They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver;" "And I took the
thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of
the Lord." (Zechariah 11:12, 13; Compare Matthew 27:5, 7)
"They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." (Psalm
22:18 Compare John 19:23, 24.)
"They pierced my hands and my feet." (Psalm 22:16)
"They gave me vinegar to drink." (Psalm 69:21)
"He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression
of my people was He stricken." (Isaiah 53:8)
To the prophets themselves, even, the meaning of such
words was a mystery. (1 Peter 1:10-12) For the most part, doubtless, men
regarded them as no more than poetry or legend. And yet these prophecies
of the advent and death of Christ received their fulfillment in every
jot and tittle of them. Literalness of fulfillment may therefore be accepted
as an axiom to guide us in the study of prophecy.
| | |
