IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT.

The great majority of the Church at the present day dismiss the doctrine of our Lord’s second advent from their attention as an unimportant, and, therefore, uninteresting subject. Of course this is owning to the fact that they have been taught not to expect Him for at least a thousand years hence; for if they really believed that He may come, and probably will come, during the present generation, they would at once see that it is a truth possessing momentous importance, and invested with profound interest to every soul. They affirm that practically He comes at each man’s death, and beyond this they do not care to push their investigations. The discussion of the question whether He will come before or after the Millennium, or whether He will come in person at all, they regard as of little consequence, since they think it can in no wise affect the duty nor change the destiny of those now living. Hence when they find one here and another there lifting the midnight cry, “Behold, He cometh,” they conclude that it is only the manifestation of fanatical tendencies, and the symptom of an unhealthy and disordered mind. Ministers of the gospel, and especially those who are not noted for the clearness with which they expound the Scriptures, nor for the fidelity with which they hold up the divine person and finished work of our Lord as their constant and animating theme, are apt to say that, for their part, they are content to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified; and precisely in proportion as they are confessedly ignorant of prophecy, do they confidently assert that the study of prophecy is most unprofitable, and even dangerous.

But surely they do not think of the grievous dishonor cast upon the word of God by this open contempt or boasted neglect of so large a part of the Sacred Scriptures. Surely they do not reflect that they are boldly and blasphemously impugning the love and wisdom of our heavenly Father in giving us a revelation of His will; for if we exclude prophecy from the field of our research in our perusal of His testimonies to man, the Bible becomes a meaningless and worthless book. The first promise made to our guilty parents in the Garden of Eden, casting the first ray of hope into the appalling darkness of the fall, was a prophecy. The bloody sacrifice of Abel and the acceptable offerings of the Patriarchs were presented through faith in the word of prophecy. The preaching of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was nothing but prophecy according to the statement of the Apostle Jude; and, doubtless, it was largely owing to his study of prophecy that he walked with God, and was not, for God took him. The Pentateuch is crowded with prophecy in type or in language. The service of the Tabernacle and the divinely appointed ritual of Israel are eloquent with the deep tones of prophecy. The historical books of the Old Testament are radiant with the light of prophecy. A very considerable proportion of the Psalms is entirely occupied with prophecy. The whole of the Scriptures from Isaiah to Malachi consists of prophecy. The ministry of John the Baptist was absorbed with prophecy. The discourses of our Lord are filled with prophecy. All the leading Epistles of the New Testament contain prophecy, and the last book of the Bible is prophecy throughout. Not only so, but the pledge of victory we are sure of achieving if called to meet the last enemy that is to be conquered we owe to prophecy. All we have been taught of the resurrection of the body we owe to prophecy. All we have learned of heaven we owe to prophecy. All our anticipations of enjoyment amid the unfading glories and thrilling raptures of the celestial city we owe to prophecy. All the promises of God’s word that remain to be fulfilled in our personal experience, and in the future of the Church, and in the history of the world, are prophecy and nothing but prophecy.

What then do these thoughtless persons mean by their inconsiderate objections to the study of prophecy? Do they not know that if they tear prophecy out of the Scriptures it is like tearing the warp out of the woof, and leaving only shapeless shreds of truth.? Do they not know that prophecy, expressed or implied, is found in almost every chapter of the Bible? Do they not know that their own expected Millennium without Christ, their universal kingdom without a personal King, is based entirely on their interpretation or rather misinterpretation of prophecy? If, therefore, the study of prophecy is profitable as furnishing a foundation for their favorite theory, is it not equally profitable in furnishing a foundation on which we can stand in “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ?” Is it nothing that our Father has kindly informed His dear children of the resurrection and of other honors awaiting them at the second advent of the Son of His love? Is it nothing that He has revealed to them the inevitable doom of the world which crucified that dear Son, as He revealed to the stranger and pilgrim patriarch the purposed destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, when He said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” Is His amazing condescension in admitting us into the sovereign counsels of His heart to be met with indifference, or returned with scorn? Is it respectful or reverent to say that He has given us a book, a very large portion of which it is unprofitable, and fanatical, and dangerous to study, and that it is of use only after the fulfillment of its predictions to confirm the truth of His word? Does His word, then, need to be confirmed by historical events, before we deem it worthy of our acceptance and belief? Alas! the objections commonly urged against the study of prophecy show where multitiides in the Church have drifted, and to what perils of infidelity they are exposed.

But as it is now, so it has been from the beginning, and so it will continue to be until the time of the end. Disdain of the prophetic word is the chief agency for hastening the world’s dread catastrophe. It is a favorite device of Satan by which he blinds the minds of the wicked to the approaching judgments that will overwhelm them, and by which he deludes the minds of vast numbers of Christians, so that they are perfectly contented with their own unfounded fancies, and do not even care to consult the plain teachings of God’s word to discover the real character of the future. Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, faithfully warned those who lived before the flood of the coming rain, and to the ear of faith the very sound of his hammer in rearing the ark would have been an alarming prophecy; but they laughed at his entreaties and despised his warnings. Was prophecy of no importance then.? But “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they, were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Luke xvii: 26, 27). If, as our Lord declares, it shall be at the close of the present dispensation as it was in the days of Noah, is prophecy of no importance now? When Jehovah in tender mercy would spare the erring Lot, and sent the angels to cry to him, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed,” was prophecy of no importance then? But “as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man shall be revealed.” (Luke xvii: 28-30). If, as our Lord declares, it shall be at the close of the present dispensation as it was in the days of Lot, is prophecy of no importance now?

Inspired men were commissioned to denounce the wrath of heaven against the apostate Israelites unless they turned from their wickedness; but the prediction of coming woe was thought to be of no importance, and its solemn messages were unheeded. As the result of their disregard of prophecy, we read, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can not be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them: but ye would not hear, saith the Lord.” (Jer. xxix: 17-19). Were the prophecies of no importance that predicted their partial restoration at the close of the Babylonian captivity, and their complete restoration at the close of the times of the Gentiles? Were the prophecies of no importance that promised the first advent of the Messiah who was to appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; and can it be possible that the prophecies are of no importance which promise that unto them who look for Him, shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation.?

We are at least certain that however unimportant the study of prophecy may be in the judgment of men, it is of very great importance in the judgment of the Holy Spirit, for it is written, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2 Pet. i: 19). Prophecy here is obviously to be taken in its ordinary sense as meaning the prediction of future events, and in the language of Wordsworth, “the Apostle compares Prophecy to a lamp which guides the footsteps of the wayfaring man in a gloomy, desolate place, where he is not likely to meet any one to direct him on his way; and serves as his guide in the night and the twilight, till the dawn appears, and he no longer needs the lamp.” The inspired writer does not say, as so many seem to think, that prophecy is a dark place which we do well to avoid, but it is a light that shineth in a dark place, whereunto we do well to take heed. If, then, we do well to take heed unto the sure word of prophecy, certainly we can not do well if we refuse to take heed unto it, and dismiss it from our minds with the flippant remark that it is of no importance. Again does the Holy Ghost say even of the book of Revelation, confessedly the most difficult of sound exposition of any portion of the Sacred Scriptures, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy.” ( Rev. i; 3). As if foreseeing its neglect at the hands of Christ’s professed disciples in modern times, He solemnly pronounces a blessing on every one who reads and hears the words of this prophecy. He does not say anything about understanding it, but only about hearing and reading it, and those who slight it, and turn away from it as an unimportant part of the word, can not receive the blessing.

Again it is written, “All Scripture 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, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. iii: 16, 17). There are multitudes of Christians who have been taught to believe that perhaps one-half of Scripture is not profitable, and all humble attempts to understand it are considered as so many proofs of disagreeable peculiarity or even of fanaticism; but the Holy Ghost declares that all Scripture is profitable. From thousands of pulpits a doctrine very prominently set forth in the word of God is rigidly excluded, on the plea that it is not important or practical; but here we are told that all Scripture, embracing of course the prophetical scriptures, is profitable. It was chiefly these prophetical scriptures which our Lord had in view when He said, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John v: 39). It will not be denied that the portion of the Old Testament which principally testified of Christ is contained in the prophecies; and yet that part of the Scripture which He commands us to search is precisely the part avoided by many of our teachers as leading to dangerous ground.

In the light of these plain testimonies of God’s word it is obviously our duty and privilege to receive and study all of that precious word, including its numerous statements concerning the second coming of our Lord. It is not uncommon to hear or read able and eloquent sermons on the text, “whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith,” (Rom. xii: 6), and yet in stating the truths to be presented to the people in due proportion, it is seldom that the slightest allusion is made to the duty of looking at the vast number of passages which predict the future appearing of Jesus. Nor can we excuse ourselves from the duty on the ground that the doctrine has been fearfully perverted by reckless men who have mounted it as a hobby, and by their rash predictions brought reproach upon the cause of Christ. It is a sufficient reply to the objection to say that every important truth of the Bible has been more or less perverted, and if the doctrine of Christ’s second coming is unworthy of study on this account, so is the doctrine of our Lord’s divinity, His atoning sacrifice on the cross, justification by faith in His name, and nearly every other prominent article of Christian belief. Because it has been perverted, there is the greater necessity for its careful examination and clear exposition by judicious teachers who have been set for the defense of the truth. If there have been unwise predictions uttered by those who are Pre-millennialists, it must be remembered that there have been equally unwise predictions uttered by Post-millennialists, but the mistakes of both alike only urge us to look more attentively and devoutly into the inspired word.

Nor can we avoid the duty of searching tire Scriptures on this subject because, as is commonly alleged, it is more difficult to understand prophecy than other portions of the Bible. Even if this were true, the Holy Spirit abides always with the Church and with the humblest believer in Jesus to teach us all things; and if we reverently look to Him for assistance, much that is now obscure will become plain. But it is not true. The language in which prophecy is written is as simple and easy to be understood as any other part of the Scriptures, and all we need in reading it is an obedient and submissive disposition, ready to take God at His word without any theories of our own to establish. Let a believer overcome his natural distaste for prophecy so far as to search the Scriptures prayerfully, with no preconceived opinions, and he will be surprised and delighted to discover the increasing interest with which he will push his investigations, and the increasing light breaking upon the pages of inspiration that for years, it may be, were dull and profitless reading. The Lord grant unto us all a more intimate acquaintance with His whole counsel, a clearer knowledge of all the glad tidings contained in the gospel, a greater and ever growing familiarity with every part of the holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation, that the grace of God which bringeth salvation may appear more and more attractive in our eyes, “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus ii: 12, 13).