I. INTRODUCTORY

The harmony which exists throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is one of the strongest arguments for the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. The unity which we find here is supernatural; it is divine. The inspired writers of the Bible cover a period of almost two thousand years, living in so many different ages and under different circumstances, yet all agree perfectly, and there is no clash of opinions. Such unity is a miracle. No human genius could produce it. There is nothing like it in all the literary products of men, and there will be nothing like it in the future. God spake at sundry times and in divers manners (Heb 1:1), and therefore all in this precious Book being Godbreathed (2Ti 3:16), must be a perfect, infallible whole. What an awful sin to criticise the Bible, to deny its inspiration, to put the Word of God which He has exalted above all His Name upon the same level with profane literature. Yet this is the common drift of our times.

Because the Bible is the Word of God and the same Spirit of God spoke in and through the different instruments, therefore its Divine unity. This unity is not confined to matters pertaining to salvation, but it also exists throughout the prophetic Word. Indeed, we shall see that nowhere is the Divine unity of the Scriptures so evident as in Prophecy.

In the first and second Epistles of Peter we find two passages which speak of the importance and the content of the prophetic Word. These two Epistles are certainly the right place for such statements, for they are addressed to the sojourners in the dispersion, and believers are viewed in them as pilgrims and strangers.

We turn first to the second Epistle of Peter:

"And we have the prophetic Word made surer, to which ye do well taking heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that the scope of no prophecy of Scripture is had from its own particular interpretation, for prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit." (2Pe 1:19-21.)

We remember that Peter mentions in the first chapter of his second Epistle the transfiguration of our Lord, and speaks of it as manifesting the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That scene on the holy mountain of which he had been eyewitness was a foreshadowing of the return of the Lord, visibly and gloriously, to the earth. The entire Old Testament prophecy speaks of this great event, the visible coming and manifestation of Jehovah, therefore the transfiguration of our Lord is a confirmation of Old Testament prophetic predictions, and more than that, the earnest of their final and complete fulfilment. In this sense we have the prophetic Word as found in the Old Testament made surer, for in the transfiguration we see precisely that which prophet after prophet had declared. In the above passage we also read the comparison which is made between the prophetic Word and a lamp, and we are exhorted to take heed to it. This God-given lamp shone out from the beginning. Its light was kindled by Jehovah in the garden, its first ray fell upon the guilty pair and brought them hope and cheer, as well as guidance through the dark night outside of Eden. It continued its blessed shining; new oil was constantly added to it. By its light generation after generation by taking heed to it found joy and comfort as faith looked on towards the future. And this lamp, the prophetic Word, is still shining, and we are, like all believers before us, to take heed to it. The "dark place" is the present age, still an evil age. But the lamp will not shine for ever. When the morning comes we blow out our lamps; they are needed no longer. The day will dawn, the Sun of Righteousness will rise, and then the lamp will shine no more, for what the mouth of all His holy prophets declared, the blessed Kingdom has come. Before the day dawn comes the rising of the Morning star, which is Christ Himself, coming for His saints. This precedes the day dawn.

Furthermore, notice this passage teaches that no prophecy explains itself as such, none stands for itself. God's purposes are revealed in it progressively from beginning to end. Holy men of God spake, and each of them and all of them were moved by the same Spirit; therefore the entire prophetic Word must be harmonious, and it must be studied as a whole, comparing Scripture with Scripture.

Another striking passage is found in the first Epistle of Peter:

"Concerning which salvation prophets who have prophesied of the grace towards you sought out and searched out; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these. To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which angels desire to look into." (1Pe 1:10-12.)

The prophets were visited by the Spirit of Christ, and He prophesied through them. After they had written down their prophecies they began to read them, and were not able to understand them fully. Not one of the Old Testament prophets had the knowledge of God's purposes and the things to come which we as believers in Christ may have, for we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But the main thought in these words is the content of the entire prophetic Word. The Spirit of Christ in them pointed out and testified before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these.

This makes it very clear that the prophetic Word contains two great sections—the sufferings and the glories, and the centre, Christ. The person of Christ, His sufferings in humiliation, the glories which are His in the future exaltation are the great themes of Old Testament prophecy. How truly He said Himself concerning the Scriptures, "They testify of Me" (Joh 5:30). They testify of the cross and the crown, the first coming and the second coming, the humiliation and the exaltation.

It is not our intention to trace the prophecies which relate to the sufferings. This has often been done before. They are past, Christ suffered once. They were minutely foretold. The whole path of the Messiah from His birth in Bethlehem to the sufferings on the cross, His humiliation and rejection, was made known through the prophets; all these predictions have found in our Lord their literal fulfilment. The literal fulfilment of prophecies relating to the humiliation of the Christ is a warrant for the literal fulfilment of the prophecies relating to the glories of the same Lord and Christ. How inconsequent are many interpreters of the prophetic Word in their defence of the literal fulfilment of the sufferings of Christ and the spiritualizing of the prophecies which speak of the glories to come. The sufferings were literal, the glories are literal also. The New Testament gives no reason whatever for the spiritualizing of the Old Testament predictions of the coming glories. It indorses the literal fulfilment of unfilled Old Testament prophecy.