The Spirit of Prophecy - 1 - First Principles

It is a principle of Scripture that "prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1.21) Although the prophecies of the Bible have been openly derided by sceptics and too often quietly passed over by some Christians, this truth remains. Unless these passages are accepted as definite predictions of future events a great deal of the Bible is meaningless and much that would be encouraging and instructive in the study of the Divine plan is worse than useless.

It is sometimes suggested that there is no need to do other than accept the prophecies and to believe them, leaving out of consideration the questions as to how such predictions can be made and recorded in advance of the events to which they refer. The prophecies should be received, it is said, in faith, and God is pleased with such faith. This is true so far as it goes, but it is also true that those who would be "watchers on the walls of Zion" know how the Scriptures bid them be ready always to give "a reason of the hope that is in you" (1 Pet.3.15). When all that can be said and written on the subject of prophecy has been said and written, there is and will always remain much scope for the exercise of faith. Its laws and its principles touch things that are certainly far too deep for the human mind to comprehend. At the same time, it is as well to gain a hold of what the Scriptures do reveal, and what everyday human experience has to show of the true nature of this marvellous power of foreseeing future events. Thus it is possible to answer with assurance those who say "Prophecy? Whoever heard of such a thing?"

Divine foreknowledge, predestination and election and the relationship of these to the will of the individual, are among the deepest of Scriptural themes. An understanding of the principles of prophecy is valuable in the study of these doctrines and indeed the two subjects are closely connected.

It is impossible to read the Bible without observing the prominent place that is occupied by prophecy (using the term not in its general sense of teaching but in its specialised sense of foretelling). The earliest prophet, according to the apocryphal books, was Enoch, for he is said to have foretold the Deluge and the doom of the fallen angels. Although the book that bears his name is not in the Bible and is not classed as canonical, Jude, in his epistle, quotes from it. In fact it is a prophecy that he quotes: "Behold the Lord comes, with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all…" (Jude 14; 1 Enoch 1.9). It is an interesting fact that what is probably the earliest prophecy in human history to be recorded, is one relating to the coming of Messiah, the representative of God, in the glory of the Kingdom, manifest to all men.

The first strictly Biblical prophecy is the vision of Abraham at the making of the covenant (Gen 15). Abraham had laid out the covenant sacrifice and was keeping vigil beside it when he beheld a flaming light hovering over the offering. He entered into a trance-like condition ("an horror of great darkness") and received the supernatural message that told him of the coming Egyptian bondage of his descendants and their eventual restoration to their own land "in the fourth generation". That is the earliest Biblical example of what may be called the 'prophetic consciousness' and it is the nature of that prophetic consciousness and the varieties of its operation which it is proposed to examine.

Dreams, visions, direct revelation, inspired utterances are all manifestations of the spirit of prophecy. They crowd the sacred pages from the history of Abraham onward and the chain ends only with the last survivor of the twelve apostles, and the last book of the Bible, the majestic allegory called the Book of Revelation, the most sublime of them all.

"All Scripture" wrote St. Paul,"is God-breathed" (2 Tim.3.16 NIV) and it is thus that His knowledge of things yet to come is communicated to those whose hearts and minds are right before Him. That "in-breathing" is the Holy Spirit, dispensing to every man "severally as he will" (1 Cor.12.11) but only to any man in proportion as he is consecrated to the service of God. David was one such man, and David said of himself "the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue." (2 Sam.23.2). It is to such that "the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secrets to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3.7).

Jesus Himself stresses the need of attention to these things. "You search the Scriptures," He said to the Pharisees, "because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me" (John 5. 39 RSV). He interpreted the Old Testament prophecies to the disciples. "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24.27 RSV). "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein" says John in the Revelation (1.3). It should be clear, then, that the study of prophecy should by no means be ignored, but find its place in every Christian life.

The prophecies of the Bible seem to divide themselves naturally into four main classes. The first class is that to which can be given the name prediction, that is the plain and straightforward foretelling of events yet future. An example of this is the utterance of Zacharias, recorded in Luke 1.76-79. In this he foretold the future career of his son, the boy who became known in after years as John the Baptist. At about the same time the aged Simeon, taking the child Jesus into his arms, predicted the child's future (Luke 2.26-32). A generation later Agabus, a Christian convert, foretold the coming arrest and imprisonment of Paul (Acts 21.10-11). At the other end of the Bible, Balaam, fourteen centuries before Christ, beheld the host of Israel pouring into the land and predicted Israel's final triumph at the end of this present Age. (Num. 24. 15-20)

It is to be noted that those who utter such predictions are themselves already men of God devoted to His service, with minds continually dwelling upon the things of God. They are 'consecrated' men. Hence their minds are already, as it were, 'tuned in' to the spiritual world. To some extent at least they have regained that ability of direct communion with God that man in his primeval perfection possessed but which was lost at the Fall, when man came under the dominion of sin. Through such channels the Holy Spirit is able to work with greater freedom and hence it is, that such men become the recipients of an understanding of the future that is denied to others. The New Testament shows that there were many in the Early Church who possessed this spirit of prophecy but from early Christian literature it would seem that it was rapidly lost after the generation which had known the Apostles passed away.

The second class of prophecy, the one that includes by far the greater part of the prophetic Scriptures, is that which may be called prevision, that is, seeing a representation of a future event before it has happened. Such a sight may be vouchsafed by means of a dream or a vision. It may be a true-to-life view of the event to which it relates or it may be a symbolic representation that needs to be interpreted. The well-known dreams of Joseph and Pharaoh, and of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar are examples of symbolic pre-vision. A true-to-life drama, depicting things as they actually afterward occurred, might well be hinted at in the impassioned plea of Pilate's wife "Have nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered much over him today in a dream" (Matt.27.19). What strange glimpse of the future could it have been that moved the granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus Caesar so to entreat her husband? Whatever it was it seems to have filled her pagan heart with terror and to have shown her something of the consequences of Christ's crucifixion.

The true nature of the visions so often described in Scripture is not fully understood. It is probable that the 'appearance' was an impression made on the visual organs by the power of the Holy Spirit without there being any objective reality. There would be no real shape or form before the observer, so that other men might be in the company of the recipient of the vision and yet see nothing themselves. Prophecies given by means of vision and in symbolic form include the visions seen by John and described in the Book of Revelation and the great Temple with its River and Trees of Life seen by Ezekiel. An instance of this, where the vision affords a true picture of future things is surely the one in which Paul was "caught into the paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not possible for a man to speak" (2 Cor.12.4 Marshall interlinear). In this case it seems that Paul received a clear sight of conditions in the third epoch of world history. This is the one that is to succeed this present Age, and in which evil will be destroyed and its effects undone. This is the time when Christ's Kingdom on earth and in heaven will be in full operation. Another example may be that view of the future which enabled Jesus to predict the precise manner of Peter's death (John 21. 18).

The third class of prophecy is that which is based, at least in part, upon the prophet's own observation of the world around him and his realisation from his knowledge of the Divine principles and plans, of the inevitable outcome of the forces which he can see at work. This can be termed "Prophetic foresight". Such a man must be a keen observer of world events and maintain an intelligent contact with the affairs of his fellow men besides being a reverent and whole-hearted servant of God. He needs the guidance of the Holy Spirit but he needs also knowledge of the ways of men. Isaiah and Jeremiah were men of this type and many of Jeremiah's prophecies are clearly based upon his knowledge of the result that must follow the course his countrymen were pursuing. In chapter 44 of his book, he assured the Jews that by remaining in Judah they would live safely, but that if they fled into Egypt they would never return, but would die there at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. He was voicing a conviction that must first have come to him in consequence of his study of the political signs and portents. It was a conviction that was confirmed for him by the working of the Holy Spirit in his mind. Jesus, too, when giving His 'end of the age' prophecy as recorded in Luke 21, viewed the world of his day and the temper of men, and spoke as He did speak, knowing that no other ending to a world built upon such principles, was possible.

The fourth class of prophecy is best designated 'Revelation' for it deals with those communications which are made by God directly to His servants, and usually by means of a 'revealing angel'. Of this class is the noteworthy revelation of world history recorded in the 11^th and 12^th chapters of Daniel, a vivid narrative given to the prophet, and recorded by him, in the sixth century BC, so strikingly true to subsequent history that scholars not prepared to admit the Divine origin have been hard put to it to offer a rational explanation of its existence.

We are still witnessing the progressive fulfilment of that amazing account. It is clear that such a revelation of future things, expressed in such definite terms, could have come only from God Himself. He knows the end from the beginning, and it is in prophecies of this type therefore, that the allied subject of Divine foreknowledge comes more prominently to the front.

Behind every manifestation of prophecy there is the mind of God. He who dwells in eternity, outside the limits of time and space as those terms are understood by men, sends His thoughts into the time and space confines of our world and our lives by means of His Holy Spirit. He communicates those thoughts to men whose minds have been made receptive. From His standpoint in eternity God views the forward vista of human history. He tells men of what is yet to be, "declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my good pleasure' " (Isa.46.10). Does God predestinate? The Scriptures declare that he does! Has man a free will? The Scriptures maintain that He has! We should not rest content until in the pursuit of our studies we begin to see how these things both can be. Paul declares in Romans 9 that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he might refuse to let Israel go, nay, more, that even for this very purpose He had raised him up, that His glory and power might be shown by means of him. And who can resist God's will, asks Paul (Rom.9.19). And yet … to what extent, if any, was the masterful, ruthless Amenhotep II, Pharoah of all Egypt in the fifteenth century BC, the victim of a compelling force not of himself leading him on to oppress the Israelites in his land? To what extent can he be relieved of moral responsibility for what happened? These, and may similar questions can at least be partly answered when we have attained a clear view of the nature of Scriptural prophecy.