August 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
377
Prophetic Pictures in the Bible B y R ev . W. H. P ik e
In this article we. have the Introduction to a new Corres pondence Course now being prepared by Rev. W. H. Pike, Sec- retary o f the Evening School of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. has for many years been an ardent student of Biblical Prophecy and is known throughout the country for his sane and practical conclusions upon this most important and timely subject. Some of the most fascinating lessons to be found m this course are as follows: Definitions, Divisions and Importance of Prophecy Differ ent Forms of Prophecy; Fulfilled.Prophecy ; Messianic Proph ecies Unfulfilled; Cosmic Ages; Dispensations Past and Future * Covenants Fulfilled and Covenants Unfulfilled; Mysteries. This' course will b q known as Course .No. 11 of the fifteen systematic, comprehensive and inexpensive courses offered b\ the Correspondence School of the Bible Institute. It is expected to have this new course in print by October first. N the universe we find three great books, the Book of Nature, the Book of History, and the Book of Revelation which we call the Bible. The Book of Nature tells us of the past and the present of this earth. The Book of History portrays the past experience of men upon this earth. In the Book of Divine Revelation alone do we find a forecast of the future. The Book of Nature reveals the works of God in cre ation. The Book of History relates the works of man. The Book of Revelation goes farther. It gives us an ac count of the work of God in creation and redemption. It tells us of^ the past, present, and future dealing of God with mankind in both creation and redemption. Outside the Bible we look in vain for anything about future events in the different realms of literature. His tory, mathematics, psychology, philosophy, metaphysics, and all science reveal nothing of the future. Even most of the false religions are silent on prophecy. The Bible is the only Book that has an authoritative prophetic voice. This alone makes the Bible a unique Book. It sets it apart from all other books as a divine revelation. Dr. A. T. Pierson used to say that “predictive prophecy” is the foremost proof to which the Word of God appeals in its own behalf. It was the standing mir acle by which God challenged faith in His inspired Word, defying all the worshipers of other gods and their sages and seers to produce any such proofs that their gods were worthy of worship or their prophets true representatives of a divine revelation. As Isaiah has said in 41 :21-23, Revised Version : “Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King o f Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us what shall happen : declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end o f them; or show us things to come. Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods.” From the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation the Bible is a Book of prophecy. The Bible portrays a universe that has a future. It also tells of a human being living on this earth that we call Llan. He also has a future. This Bible also reveals a God, the Creator of man and the universe, and He is portrayed as the everlasting God. His future is eternal. This eternal God has revealed the future of this human
being upon this earth. Where else can we find a prophetic picture of mankind and his dwelling place? In writing this we are conscious of the guesses of his torians as they try to forecast what will be from what has been. We also are mindful of the fanciful dreamings of those who have imagined some beautiful future conditions for man and the earth; like Plato’s “Republic,” Cam- panella’s “City of the Sun,” Sir Thomas More’s “Utopia,”' Bacon’s “New Atlantis,” and Harrington’s “Oceana.” And some of the poets have written some remarkable sentences which seem to be fulfilled in our day, like Ten nyson’s lovely verse in his “Locksley Hall,” written in 1842, where he says: ro r i dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, c W a, vlflon world and all the wonder that would be } saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Filots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales. Ê I S the poem of Mother Shipton, who died at Clifton Yorkshire, England, in 1449 A. D. :
A carriage without horse shall go, Disaster fill the world with woe; In London Primrose Hill shall be, Its center hold a Bishop’s See.' Around the world men’s thoughts shall Quick as the twinkling of an eye. Beneath the water men shall walk; Shall ride, shall sleep, and even talk; And in the air men shall be seen, In white, in black, as well as green. A great man then shall come and go, For prophecy declares it so.
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With all due respect to the illumination of poets and dreamers, their writings are not authoritative statements of future events like those found in the Bible. How dif ferent does this sound from their writings. It is Jesus speaking: “And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress o f nations, in per plexity for the roaring o f the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers o f the heavens shall_be shaken. And then shall they see the Son o f man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth niah” (Luke 2 1 :25-28). An Indian’s Discovery An old Indian chief was told of the Saviour, but he said: “The Jesus road is good, but I have followed the old Indian road all my life, and I will follow it to the end.” A year later he was on the border of the shadow of death. As he was seeking a pathway through the darkness, he said to the missionary: “Can I turn to the Jesus road now? My road stops here. It has no path through the valley.”— Selected.
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