Can we understand a prophecy before it is fulfilled?

      We should answer, yes, if we will. We could not otherwise know whether a prophecy has been fulfilled or not. We may not know all about it. We will not be able to exhaust its truth, nor can we do that even after its fulfillment any more than we can exhaust a lesson so easy as the twelfth of Romans, but we can learn and believe the words of the prophecy, fulfilled or unfulfilled. The scribes informed the wise men from prophecy that Christ should be born in Bethlehem. They understood it not from a knowledge of its fulfillment, but from the prophet's words. David read the words of Jeremiah and understood, not in the light of fulfillment, but by faith in the prophets' words that Judah's captivity would last seventy years. A careful reading of those prophetic utterances which the Bible discloses to be fulfilled will show that the prophecy and the account of its fulfillment read alike, except as to tense, the one being future and the other past.

      In Jesus' prophecy on the mount He said of the temple: "There shall not, be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." No fulfillment is necessary to the understanding of that prophecy. When He prophesied of the Jews that they should be "led captive into all the nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled," all we need is to believe His words. When, therefore, it is written that the saints shall "meet the Lord in the air" and be forever with Him, all we need to do is to believe it that we may not be rebuked for being "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Again, when it is written that the Lord Jesus will come "with all His saints" (which could not be until they "all" had gone to Him) and again "all the nations shall come and worship before thee" all we need is faith to believe it. To understand the how and the why of certain things is another matter entirely.

      How may we know whether a given prophecy is fulfilled or not?

      First, understand well what the prophet says. Then, expect [13] the fulfillment to correspond. Do not guess that a prophecy has been fulfilled and then speculate on likely historical events as the fulfillment thereof. Unless you can by thorough investigation find positive evidence of fulfillment, as, for example, in the case of the destruction of the temple and the treading down of Jerusalem just hold that prophecy for a future fulfillment as clear and positive as that, of the temple and Jerusalem. Don't guess.

      Take Daniel for example again. He knew he was in captivity. He remembered Jeremiah had written something concerning it. He turned and read that it was to he for seventy years. He knew new that they were nearing the end of the seventy years and therefore nearing the time of their return.

      How much of the Book of Revelation has been fulfilled?

      By the above rule we should say a very small portion of it. We may know that John's experiences on Patmos, the seeing and recording of the things he saw (Part I) and "the things that are" (Part II) are behind us. The sending of the letters to the seven churches and their heeding or neglecting the instructions given with the results locally are all in the past. Though those churches as such long since ceased to exist, their characteristic conditions have ever lived on, and the letters to them serve a far greater purpose to-day than in the day they were written. There was a time when Smyrna conditions prevailed over the whole church. Then followed a time during, which Pergamos conditions prevailed, which, in turn, was followed by it prevalence of Thyatirian conditions. In the letters to Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea the Lord makes reference to His coming. A mixture of Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicean conditions exist at the present time and will when Jesus comes for His own to save them from the hour of trial (Rev. 3:10) to stand before Him (Luke 21:36).

      Beginning with chapter four, Part III of Revelation deals with "things which must come to pass hereafter," that is, "after these things." Here we may draw a line as beyond which the things foretold await positive proof of fulfillment. Until something more than guesses and assertions are offered we shall deny that the seals have been opened or the trumpets sounded or the vials of wrath poured out Nor shall we agree that the battle of Armageddon is being fought upon the soil of Europe [14] when historic Armageddon is a geographical point as well as the Argonne.

      Bad as the present war is, it does not approach the terrible "time of trouble," depicted by John in chapters six to nineteen, that "hour of trial that shall come upon the whole world to try all them that dwell upon the earth."

      Systems and movements political and religious now on foot may speedily grow and develop into the very thing John foresees. Just what he depicts is the maturity of a preceding infancy and youth-hood. The wheat and the tares are both growing, but the harvest is the time John describes from chapter four. Just as in the boy we see the man, so in history and present conditions we may see some likeness to what John describes, but the man is yet to be manifested. That for which we are to be looking is our Lord. Nothing revealed intervenes between us and that event. It is imminent. Other unfulfilled events will follow that. Are you ready?

["Some Questions on Revelation." Word and Work 8 (October 1915): 13-15.]

      The electronic version of Stanford Chambers' "Some Questions on Revelation" has been produced from microfilm of Word and Work for 1915.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained; however, corrections have been offered for misspellings and other accidental corruptions. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 14:     Philadelphia and Lao- dcea [ Philadelphia and Laodicea
            or the viols [ or the vials
            battle of Armagedon [ battle of Armageddon
 p. 15:     when historic Armagedon [ when historic Armageddon
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 19 February 2002.
Updated 28 June 2003.