being the case, and the prophecy proceeding from the divine mind -from One having power to foresee the future -the events of the real history would most surely fit the prophecy.
We may learn from the words of Christ to the apostles one object of the
Lord in giving prophecy.
Speaking of the things that would take place in
the career of Judas, He said, "I tell you before it come, that, when it
is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He." (John 13:19).
The uninformed say they are unlearned, and, therefore, can not
understand the prophecies. On the other hand, many of the educated, and
some of them even among the ministry, say: "The prophecies are sealed,
and can not be understood. We all know that the book of Revelation is a
sealed book."
In the Revelation, the beloved John was told positively not to seal the
book, (Rev. 22:10) and, also, in this book a blessing is pronounced upon
those that "hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein." (Rev. 1:3)
Q: How could the things contained in
a sealed book be kept, -things 
which were not, and could not be,
understood?
That the Lord designed the prophecies of Daniel to be understood is
evident from His words to His disciples respecting the same: "When ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand);" (Matt. 24:15) that virtually says, Understand Daniel the
prophet. Had the people to whom the prophet refers followed the sure word of
prophecy, they need not have drifted away from God's law, and
substituted for His precepts the commandments of men.
It is not because prophecy has some deep, hidden, mysterious meaning,
that a failure is made in understanding it. The apostle Peter has said
of it, and of understanding it: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of
the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:20,21)
It is plainly implied from the above language that what is most
essential to an understanding of prophecy is the reception of the Spirit
that spoke through the prophets. Of that Spirit, promised to all who
seek it, it is said, "He will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13)." J. N. Loughborough
