CHAPTER XI. Back
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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:
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]
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?
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]
"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]
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.
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!
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]
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.)
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!
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.