Friday, April 28, 2023

PROPHECY

"Prophecy has been defined as "history written in advance." This
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