Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE WORLD-WIDE SYMBOLIZED BY THE LOCAL.

"History repeats itself" —this oft-quoted statement contains truth deserving of our study. King Solomon uttered the same thought when he declared: "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been." Eccles. 3:15.

However, we are desirous of dealing with explicit facts and not with vague generalities, and so turn our attention to the Scriptures for definite instruction regarding the correct application to be made from the events of Biblical history.

Sin is a world-wide disease. Men may differ in nationality, may live in different countries, but one thing is common to all "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. Because of this inescapable fact it has been possible for God to illustrate His attitude towards all sin and righteousness by His dealings with His chosen nation and their enemies who opposed the working out of God's purpose in Israel. Observe the following statement from God's servant:

"The work of God in the earth presents, from age to age, a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are ever the same. The important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for our own time." GC. 343.

From the local events which occurred in Palestine we are instructed in the New Testament to discern world-wide happenings in the "church" period. This is the application made by the inspired writers of the New Testament—they took hold of the local things of ancient Israel and employed them as prophecies or as typical principles applicable to the world-wide church. The history of the struggle between the forces of right and wrong repeats itself in the church—spiritual Israel—as it did in national Israel. The principles involved are the same—God has not changed, and Satan still hates God and all who endeavour to obey the law of God—the only difference being that, in the days of the Palestinian Israel, God had a national people who had national enemies. Then things operated on a national basis centred in Palestine and, hence, in the very nature of that economy, were largely literal. Since God's rejection of the Jewish nation as His chosen people, and His calling of the church—spiritual Israel—to be His elect, the literal things of the national regime have been sublimated into the spiritual things of spiritual Israel.

The New Testament application of the Old Testament economy (sanctuary services, types, prophecies, etc.) does not refer to literal things in Palestine but to the spiritual in all the world-the application is based on the literal, national things of the old Palestinian regime, but they are lifted on to a spiritual, world-wide plane. Thus history repeats itself—"that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past." The past becomes the present—the past is a prophecy of the future—no longer restricted to the literal things of the Jewish nation or its country, but applying to the world-wide realms of the church; no longer limited to the visible kings and priests of the literal throne of David and the visible things of the literal sanctuary or temple, but applicable to the things of the invisible Lord—the spiritual kingdom and the heavenly sanctuary services on behalf of spiritual Israel in all the world.

In national Israel certain laws and principles of God's dealings with sin were represented by national types, but the application of these laws and principles in the spiritual realm is world-wide.

By observing this principle we can see why the different letters of instruction sent to different people and churches are included in the Bible and in the Testimonies of God's servant. Letters of instruction to the Romans, Galatians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Hebrews, Philippians, Ephesians, Corinthians, etc., or to individuals such as Philemon, Titus, Timothy were included in the Canon of Scripture because the counsel, principles, and the truths contained therein are suitable for the members of Christ's church in all parts of the world. The inspired writers were not parochial in their prophetic descriptions of the last days; they looked beyond the narrow confines of their national boundaries to the world field, though they gave vivid pictures of world events steeped in the atmosphere, customs and diction of their native land.

The Bible was not written for the benefit of one nation more than another—it is the world's Book. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. John pointed to Jesus and declared: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. "He is the propitiation of our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. The whole Bible is centred in Jesus and His church, and all that is written is related to the plan of redemption. "God is no respecter of persons." Acts 10:34. The New Testament makes it clear that, when God finally rejected the Jewish nation as His chosen people, He had no further use for any earthly, literal nation, land, city, temple, priest or sacrifice. The church is now the Israel of God—a spiritual, world-wide Israel—and the national things which belonged to the literal nation in the promised land are now applied by the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy to the church in a spiritual, world-wide sense.

The visions of the prophets, though couched in a local setting, broaden in their New Testament application to portray world-wide events. They have a two-fold application—a local during the days of national Israel, and a world-wide during the dispensation of the church—spiritual Israel. The land which God promised to Abraham and his seed (Gen. 12:1, 7; 13:15-17; 15:7, 18; 17:8) was a type of the world. Rom. 4:13. Many prophetic students fail to see this principle of interpretation because they are blinded by doctrines based upon the future literal, Palestinian fulfilments in reference to the literal Jewish people.

That misconception of prophetic interpretation prevents them from seeing the Third Angel's Message—thus the importance of adhering to the divinely—given laws of interpretation is fully demonstrated. In another chapter we have shown that the millennium is the dividing line between the dispensation when the things of Israel have their spiritual application, and the kingdom of glory when Israel will enter into her everlasting land. Those things which Israel will then enjoy as eternal realities are presented as spiritual possessions now in this "church" dispensation. Thus the promise of Palestine (see texts given above) will find its larger fulfilment in the world to come and also has a spiritual application now in this "dispensation of the Spirit." The promised land—Palestine—was a miniature world in which God illustrated His kingdom and His way of dealing with sin. "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary." Ps. 77:13. The sanctuary, also, was a miniature representation of something far greater—it was only a "shadow of heavenly things.' Heb. 8:5, etc. In the same way Jerusalem, the throne of David, the land, the people, and history and prophecy relating to Israel, were all "shadows of heavenly things." By this principle we can thus see world-wide events depicted in the records giving the history of literal Israel. The experiences of Israel—including the unfulfilled conditional prophecies—were recorded as "types," "figures" —local events typifying world-wide occurrences in the experiences of the church. See Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:6, 11, margins.