Has prophecy any place in the message of salvation and in the preaching of the gospel? Some, not a few perhaps, may answer this with a blunt "No." There are those who are afraid of prophecy. It causes trouble, they say. It confuses the minds of simple hearers. It is hard to understand; even able Bible students cannot agree on prophetic teaching. It is apt to cause differences and division among brethren. And after all it is not essential to salvation. People can be saved without it. Let us be content to preach Christ and Him crucified (they say), and the way of salvation, and the practical things about Christian life and worship. That is enough.

      These are arguments which one often hears against the study and teaching of the prophetic portions of the Word of God. And it must be admitted that such an attitude is not just complimentary to the wisdom of the great Author of the Bible. About one third of the Book, roughly speaking, is of prophetic nature; and the rest is more or less permeated by prophetic teaching. Did God make a mistake when He put so much of prophecy into His Word? Or did He put it there to be shunned as a snare and a pitfall? Did God overload the good old Bible with superfluous material which really is not only useless but dangerous? Have brethren who argue so ever thought into this matter? Or at the bottom, may it be that they are afraid and just unwilling to be disturbed out of the comfortable rut of accepted beliefs? Really there [102] is not a truth of God's revelation against which just such or such like arguments have not been brought at one time or another. Yea, the whole Bible has once and again been marked as perilous reading for average folk., since it has led to no end of differences of views, and (horribile dictu) has even caused people to break away from the thraldoms of spiritual overlordship.

      Others not quite so radical admit that prophetic teachings have a place in the gospel proclamation, but only a very limited place--not constituting any real part of the body and substance of the Christian faith, but as mere indicentals, like trimmings or accessories, or the little side-dishes of a dinner-meal. If preached at all it should be rarely, and then not to babes but only to advanced and mature Christians.

      Such are some of the views and attitudes taken toward the teaching of prophecy. Turning now from the views and opinions of men concerning this question, let us go directly to the inspired record, and see for ourselves just what place, if any, the Holy Spirit gave to prophecy in the original proclamation of the gospel.

      Let us examine the facts. The great cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith are five:

      (1) The Incarnation:--the fact that the Word was flesh; which involves the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.

      (2) The Atonement:--the fact the Christ died for our sins, and that He bore our sins in His body on the tree.

      (3) The Resurrection:--that the Christ who was crucified and buried, rose from the dead. [103]

      (4) The Exaltation:--that He ascended into heaven and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, all authority in heaven and on earth having been given unto Him.

      (5) His Return from Heaven:--that Jesus is coming again.

      Each of these fundamental truths has its witness and testimony in the Word of Prophecy, which told before of the One who was to come centuries before Christ came. The first four come under the head of fulfilled prophecy; the fifth, with all that is revealed as pertaining to it, is the theme of prophecy as yet unfulfilled. We see at once that the whole scope of gospel-teaching is vitally connected with the prophetic word.

      The gospel-story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in each case opens with reference to prophecy (Matt. 1; Mark 1:1-4; Luke 1, 2; John 1). And all along throughout the record of Christ's ministry and death and resurrection there is a constant appeal to the prophetic word. The apostles' preaching and teaching also is marked by constant reference to prophecy, fulfilled and unfulfilled. Thus, Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) begins with a lengthy quotation from the prophetic book of Joel, explaining the strange phenomena of the Holy Spirit's descent on that day, and pointing forward to the events preceding and including the great and terrible Day of the Lord, which is yet to come. In, the body of his sermon, he quotes at length from the 16th Psalm in proof that the Christ was to rise from the dead; and from the 110th Psalm, the prophecy of' Christ's exaltation to the right hand of God. In his second [104] recorded sermon Peter shows that the rejection of Christ was foretold by the prophets, and calls on Israel to repent, "that your sins may be blotted out, that there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus; whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old." (Acts 3:18-21.) He concludes with a reference to Moses' prophecy concerning the great Prophet who was to come. In his later preaching, and in his epistles, Peter makes frequent reference to fulfilled and unfulfilled prophecy (Acts 10:42, 43; I Peter 1:5-12: 2:6-8, 22-25; 4:7; 5:4, 10; II Peter 1:19-21, and chapter 3).

      Paul's preaching is especially rich in prophetic doctrine. His epistles to the Thessalonians, the Philippians, the Corinthians are not only full of prophetic reference to Christ's return and "eschatological" teaching (i. e. doctrine of the "last things") that they bear plain evidence of what his preaching among the Gentiles must have been--how much of Prophecy was in his gospel message. If the idolaters of Thessalonica "turned unto God from idols to serve the true and living God, and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come" (I Thess. 1:9, 10)--what a wealth of foregone prophetic teaching is implied in this simple statement alone! Clearly Paul, during his short sojourn at Thessalonica had taught those Thessalonians about the true God and of Jesus Christ His Son; of Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven; and emphatically of His [105] promised return--for "they turned to God.  . . to wait for His Son from heaven." He had told them of the coming Day of Wrath also, and that Christ, returning, would deliver His own from that "wrath to come;" also (as we learn later) he had even told them that the Man of sin must come before that Day of the Lord. (II Thess. 2:5.) Both the Thessalonian epistles are replete with prophetic teaching.

      In Corinth Paul had preached "the gospel" (I Cor. 15:1-4) with special emphasis on "the word of the cross." (I Cor. 1:17-22.) But that did not exclude, but it included, the teaching of Christ's return and the hope connected with it (1:7, 8); the solemn accounting as to the Christian's works (3:12-14; 4:5); the knowledge also that they were destined to judge the world and angels (6:2, 3). All of 1 Cor. 15 is devoted to the great future events that are to take place at Christ's coming.

      To the Philippians Paul had evidently borne the same testimony. In his letter to them he reminded them of the fact that their citizenship was in heaven, and that from thence they were to wait for the Savior who would fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory. (Phil. 3:20, 21.) The Colossians who had heard of the hope of the gospel through Epaphras, held the same hope and teaching. God had made them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, Paul tells them; and "when Christ, who is our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory." (Col. 1:12; 3:4.) To the Romans he writes of the surpassing glory that shall be revealed to usward, and that all creation is waiting [106] for he revealing of the Sons of God, which for creation, as for us, will bring on the promised day of deliverance. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together even until now; and not only so but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves. waiting for our adoption, to wit the redemption of our body - -" (Rom. 8:18-25). This future salvation, (he tells them) was then nearer to them than when they first believed. It was high time to awake out of sleep. The night was far spent, the day was at hand. (Rom. 13:11-14.) To the Ephesians he speaks of the day when the Lord will present the church to Himself, perfect, and complete, without spot or wrinkle, to be joined to Him in eternal wedlock (Eph. 5:27; comp. Rev. 19:6-8), and so on. For time and space would fail to mention in particular all the prophetic teaching in other epistles, as in First and Second Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, in James also, and in I John, and Jude. All this shows what a vast place prophetic teaching had in the original proclamation of the gospel; and that it constituted a vital part of the teaching, not of mature Christians only, but to babes, yea, and outsiders as well.

      The great prophetic book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation is specifically addressed to "the seven churches that are in Asia" (1:11) and to all the churches (22:16) and to every individual Christian, and to whoever may have ears to hear. (1:7, 11, 17, etc.) It is urged upon the attention of Christians everywhere as is no other book of the New Testament. As if the Holy Spirit had sought to forestall the [107] attitude of neglect and indifference (not to say contempt) which He foresaw, that some men would take, a special beatitude is pronounced upon everyone that would read this book, hear it, and keep its words (Rev. 1:3). And lest anyone should be tempted on account of the symbolic character of some of its portions to think it dark and meaningless, He assures us again and again that these words are "true words of God." (Rev. 19:9; 21:5; 22:6.) Whatever may be the worth and excellency, whatever the power and blessing that belongs to the Word of God--it all belongs in full measure to the book of Revelation. This surely no one can or will deny.

      We have seen, therefore, that the word of Prophecy, fulfilled and unfulfilled, had a very great and prominent place in the original proclamation of the gospel, and in the faith and doctrine of New Testament Christians. It would surely be strange if in this late day we should have to decide that the first inspired preachers and teachers of the word of God blundered in this matter and that sinners are to be saved and Christians are to be fed on a message which is--like some modern foods, robbed of natural vitamins--a doctrine deprived of God's prophetic teachings. It needs to be pointed out again and again that we have the word of prophecy made more sure, and that it is not "a dark place in Scripture, which we do well to avoid," but a lamp shining in a dark place "to which we do well to give heed." (II Peter 1:19.) [108]

[LM 102-108]