Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PRINCIPLE GOVERNING THE USE OF UNFULFILLED CONDITIONAL PROPHECIES.

God wastes nothing: Jesus commands us to "gather up the fragments . . . that nothing be lost." John 6:12. Unfulfilled predictions are not to be regarded as useless words: God would not have useless matter in His Holy Word. While these unfulfilled predictions could have been retained in the Scriptures to show the promises God had made on condition of obedience, yet, that surely would not be sufficient reason for the inclusion of whole chapters if, otherwise, they were merely unprofitable words. As each part of the Scriptures "is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16, 17), the inclusion, in the Bible, of these unfulfilled prophecies means that they still have a purpose in the plan of God. We are to heed "every word" in the Bible. Matt. 4:4. In Matt. 21:41-43, Jesus taught that the church—God's spiritual nation (1 Pet. 2:9, etc.)—is heir to all the privileges and blessings which had been promised to Israel. This is the teaching of all the writers of the New Testament. God's servant has written: "Warning, admonition, promise, all are for us, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 6T. 410. "We are numbered with Israel. All the instruction given to the Israelites of old concerning the education and training of their children, all the promises of blessing through obedience, are for us." Min. of Healing, p. 405.

The promises of blessings to obedient Israel, of victory over their foes, etc., described in such prophecies as Ezek. 38, 39, 40-48; Joel 3; Zech. 14, etc., are thus promises of blessings for the true Israel of God in the last days. In their last-day application in relation to spiritual Israel these promises become pictures which, like parables, are to be understood in a general sense without undue emphasis upon the local details which would have been fulfilled in a national sense had they been fulfilled to national Israel in the literal land of Israel. As stated in my "What is Armageddon?" pp. 65, 66: "Certain local matters in those conditional prophecies drop from view in the world-wide application of those predictions in connection with the church. In an imagery, as in a parable, a meaning is not to be sought for in every detail, for the main purpose is to provide a general word-picture. Many illustrations could be given . . . Ezek. 38, 39 pictures an assault against Israel by a vast combined army. Through the intervention of God, the evil forces seeking the destruction of Israel are themselves destroyed. To complete this description of absolute victory for Israel, the latter are pictured as gathering their dead enemies and burying them. See Ezek. 39:11-15. This feature of the portrayal of the outcome of Armageddon is not to be taken literally—that would contradict Jer. 25:33, where we are informed that those slain in Armageddon, 'shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried, they shall be dung upon the ground.' Ezek. 38, 39 is an imagery, and, therefore, the local details (including the points of the compass) are not to be interpreted literally, but only as parts of a word-picture. Jer. 25:33 is a straight- out statement without imagery. Hence, while the two prophets speak of the same thing and appear to contradict each other, the apparent discrepancy is due to the fact that Ezekiel's vision is in the form of an imagery."

Referring to this vision of Ezekiel, Carlyle B. Haynes, in his "Blackout of Civilization," p. 80, says: "There he saw the countless foes o f God marshalling themselves to battle against Jehovah like the gathering of a great tempest." If we interpret this prophecy in terms of an imagery, or a general word-picture, setting forth the dramatic scenes in the final conflict of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, we employ it in the way God intended. The call to the fowls of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to come and eat the flesh of the enemies of Christ and His spiritual Israel (Ezek. 39:3-9, 17-23; Rev. 19:17, 18) is to be interpreted in the same manner, namely, as an imagery depicting the completeness and the final nature of the victory of Israel over her foes. As all life–except. the church—will be slain at Christ's coming (Zeph. 1:1, 2, 3; Jer. 4:25-27, etc.), no beasts or birds will be left upon the earth to eat the flesh of Israel's enemies, scattered as "dung upon the ground" (Jer. 25:33), throughout the whole earth. These details, and others, such as Israel for "seven months" (Ezek. 39:11-16) burying those slain in "the final conflict," and for "seven years" (Ezek. 39:9, 10) burning up the weapons of their adversaries, are not to be applied in a literal sense. Following "the final conflict," when the enemies of spiritual Israel will be destroyed, the earth will be desolate, without an inhabitant. Jer. 4:23-27; Zeph. 1:2, 3, etc. After the second advent, Israel will not be left on the earth for a moment—certainly not for "seven months" or "seven years." According to the principle of a day for a year, seven months equals 210 years, and seven years becomes a period of 2,520 years! It is impossible to apply the prophecy of Ezek. 38, 39 in a literal, Palestinian sense and make it harmonize with the rest of the Scriptures concerning the Third Angel's Message.

Those things which could have happened in the experience of literal Israel, had they been faithful, are no longer to be literally fulfilled, for the prophecy now applies spiritually in connection with spiritual Israel: those things which, because of their strictly local nature, pertained to national Israel in connection with certain localities, do not apply in detail to spiritual and world-wide Israel, but are merely included in the general picture of the imagery.

The principle governing the understanding of Biblical imagery (which is a form of parable, or pen picture) is similar to that governing the interpretation of parables. Writing concerning the proper understanding of parables, Norman L. D. Webster, B.A., says: "Speaking broadly, when Jesus told a parable it was to illustrate some one outstanding truth. To get the full benefit of the parable we need to grasp that one truth, and not to lead ourselves into a fog or a maze of bewilderment by trying to emphasise unimportant details and trying to get all sorts of absurd meanings out of these details."

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is used, by many, to teach the conscious state of the dead and the lake of fire and eternal torment. We know that such was not the purpose for which Christ gave the parable. His main objective was to point out by means of beliefs well known to the Jews, themselves, that at death our eternal destiny is fixed, and that after death, no one can cross the chasm from unpreparedness to readiness for heaven. The details of this parable should be seen merely as contributing to a general picture, by which Jesus taught the one solemn truth that death decides our eternal destiny: after death it is too late for the alteration of character.

The details of the story of the prodigal son were not given to teach that eating the "fatted calf" is God's ideal diet; or that men should wear rings, etc.

In His illustration of the suddenness of the close of probation and the coming of the day of the Lord, Jesus said He would come like a thief in the night. Obviously, if we endeavour to apply the details of this illustration, we have the incongruity that Jesus is coming to steal like a thief. No, He is not coming to steal; but He will come unexpectedly like a thief, Matt. 24: 42, 43. And so we could go on, pointing out that in illustrations, parables and imageries we look for the outstanding picture, being careful not to unduly emphasise the details. This principle applies in the conditional prophecies: the details which could have been fulfilled in connection with national Israel in Palestine are not to be unnecessarily enlarged, or dwelt upon. The spiritual application of conditional prophecies lifts them into the category of imagery and parable, which are given to provide general pictures teaching spiritual, worldwide truths. The unfulfilled conditional prophecies now apply spiritually in relation to the church.