The Harmony of the Prophetic Word

Having had the privUege of reading advance sheets of the present book, it is both a pleasure and a privilege to commend it to all who are interested in the study of “the prophetic Word made surer” (2 Peter i: 19). All students of prophecy are sure to be interested in a presentation of the chief contents of the prophetic Scriptures which is so original in scope and method.

But I would more especially bespeak for this book the attention of those who are not students of prophecy. Unfortunately this class includes the enormous majority of present-day believers. No fact is at once more patent or more lamentable than that the writings of the prophets are little read and less comprehended.

Doubtless there are many reasons for this condition. The characteristic of the present age is a reckless and unreasoning optimism. On every hand we are assured that the church is “marching grandly on to the conquest of the world,” and that despite the fact that after one hundred years of missions there are 200,000,000 more heathen to convert than at the beginning of that century. But prophecy, grandly optimistic in its ultimate view, presents anything but a flattering picture of the end of this age Apostasy, heading up in the man of sin, and the utter destruction of the present imposing world-system by a crushing blow, is the testimony of the prophets. This is an unwelcome message, and therefore is not heeded. It is pleasanter to listen to the self-sent prophets who prophesy “smooth things.’’

Another reason for the neglect of prophecy is found in the undeniable difficulties which encounter the binner in that study. A bewildering number of new phrases and formulae are encountered, and it is not all at once, nor indeed without long application, that this seeming confusion falls into its truly majestic order.

It is precisely at this point that” The Harmony of the Prophetic Word’’ seems to me supremely helpful. What the beginner could not do at all, nor even the most persevering student for many months, is here done for him by an expert student of the prophetic writings.

The method, as will be seen by an examination of the book, is to take up the great prophetic epochs and events, and bring together from the whole body of prophecy the testimony concerning them. This, indeed, thoroughly as the author has done his work, will not be found available as a substitute for personal study of these great subjects — nor was such substitution any part of the thought of the author — but what the present book does do is to present the great subjects concerning which Gk)d has re-

6 vealed the future, and so to assemble and analyse that revelation that any reader of the book will find himself fully introduced to these great and important themes.

The final effect of such a S3mthesis is to leave the mind overwhelmingly impressed with the divine origin and authorship of these ancient oracles. Writing in widely separated ages, under wholly different circumstances, of necessity often ignorant of each other’s writings, the production of one continuous, harmoniously developed testimony is proof unan-. swerable that, though He employed many penmen, God alone is the Author of the prophetic testimony.

c. i. scofield.

East Ncsthfield, Mass.

The harmony which exists throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is one of the strongest arguments for the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. The unity which we find here is supernatural; it is divine. The inspired writers of the Bible cover a period of almost two thousand years, living in so many different ages and under different circumstances, yet all agree perfectly, and there is no clash of opinions. Such unity is a miracle. No human genius could produce it. There is nothing like it in all the literary products of men, and there will be nothing like it in the future. God spake at sundry times and in divers manners (Heb. i: i), and therefore all in this precious Book being God-breathed (2 Tim. 3 :16), must be a perfect, infallible whole. What an awful sin to criticise the Bible, to deny its inspiration, to put the Word of God which He has exalted above all His Name upon the same level with profane literature. Yet this is the common drift of our times.

Because the Bible is the Word of God and the same Spirit of God spoke in and through the different instruments, therefore its Divine unity. This

11 unity IS not confined to matters pertaining to salvation, but it also exists throughout the prophetic Word. Indeed, we shall see that nowhere is the Divine unity of the Scriptures so evident as in Prophecy.

In the first and second Epistles of Peter we find two passages which speak of the importance and the content of the prophetic Word. These two Epistles are certainly the right place for such statements, for they are addressed to the sojourners in the dispersion, and believers are viewed in them as pilgrims and strangers.

We turn first to the second Epistle of Peter:

“And we have the prophetic Word made surer, to which ye do well taking heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that the scope of no prophecy of Scripture is had from its own particular interpretation, for prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet 1: 19-21.)

We remember that Peter mentions in the first chapter of his second Epistle the transfiguration of our Lord, and speaks of it as manifesting the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That scene on the holy mountain of which he had been eyewitness was a foreshadowing of the return of the Lord, visibly and gloriously, to the earth. The entire Old Testament prophecy speaks of this geat event, the visible coming and manifestation of Jehovah, therefore the transfiguration of our Lord is

12 a confirmation of Old Testament prophetic predictions, and more than that, the earnest of their final and complete fulfiknent In this sense we have the prophetic Word as found in the Old Testament made surer, for in the transfiguration we see precisely that which prophet after prophet had declared. In the above passage we also read the comparison which is made between the prophetic Word and a lamp, and we are exhorted to take heed to it This God-given lamp shone out from the beginning. Its light was kindled by Jehovah in the garden, its first ray fell upon the guilty pair and brought them hope and cheer, as well as guidance through the dark night outside of Eden. It continued its blessed shining; new oil was constantly added to it. By its light generation after generation by taking heed to it found joy and comfort as faith looked on towards the future. And this lamp, the prophetic Word, is still shining, and we are, like all believers before us, to take heed to it The “dark place” is the present age, still an evil age. But the lamp will not shine for ever. When the morning comes we blow out our lamps; they are needed no longer. The day will dawn, the Sun of Righteousness will rise, and then the lamp will shine no more, for what the mouth of all His holy prophets declared, the blessed Kingdom has come. Before the day dawn comes the rising of the Morning star, which is Christ Himself, coming for His saints. This precedes the day dawn.

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