his part in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). X. The Study of Prophecy Enables Us to Understand the Jew, the Enigma of History. There, near you, stands the Jew. He is a living memorial to the Prophetic Oracles of God; a marvel of preservation, though a member of a race more persecuted, harassed, and driven about than any other in earth’s history. How is it that, though placed under cruel bon dage by the taskmasters of Egyptian Pharaohs; though ground under the heels of Assyrian kings; exiled in Babylon; crushed in turn by Persia, Greece, and Rome; branded with shame as the Shylock of medieval Europe; harried and tortured and brutally treated in France, Poland, the Balkans, Italy, and, worst of all, Germany, under Hitler’s Nazi regime, where they were herded and butchered as cattle, and baked in material ovens of heat, as in metaphorical ovens of hatred; how is it, I ask, that the Jew has survived the brutality of the ages? There is only one answer: it is a part of God’s plan. God’s coven ant with Abraham promised that the Jews would al ways be a people, and so they have been. They have been mixed in the kettle of the world’s nations and cul tures, but they have never been assimilated nor amah gamated; they have defied the melting pot. How do we explain the fact that Gentile nations have persecuted the Jew with a hatred nothing short of an obsession? Only God’s prophetic Word has the answer, although many inadequate explanations have been offer ed, and excuses conjured by those who cannot compre hend their own vehemence. The divine explanation, both of the Dispersion and the sufferings unsurpassed, lies in the fact that they have rebelled against their God, and have forsaken His ways (Deut. 28:63-68). Why have the nations fallen that have persecuted the Jew? Again, prophecy speaks in a voice loud and clear to all who will listen: God has declared that He will bless those who bless the sons of Jacob, and curse those who curse them (Gen. 27:29). The prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 are an example of how such curses can and will be carried out in the last days. History sees strewn the wrecks of na tions that have hated the Jew. How can one explain the partially realized dream of Zionism—the formation of Israel and the beginning of a mass return to the Land? Surely it is a preliminary to the complete fulfillment of the word of the prophet in Ezekiel 11:17: “ Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” By serious consideration of the prophetic Word, we are given an intelligent and sympathetic view of Jewish evangelism. The fact that God is not through with the Jew, but will yet make the godly Jewish remnant the basis of blessing to the world, offers grounds for a friend ly approach to the Jewish person we would win for Christ. Yet, we do not expect the Jews to turn to Christ en masse as yet, since a temporary vail of spiritual blindness hangs over their eyes (II Cor. 3:14-16). But some day, thank God, this vail will be removed (Rom. 11:25-26), and Israel shall look with the mourning of repentance upon the Messiah whom they have pierced (Zech. 12:10). Is the study of prophecy important? It is no less than vital to those who would obey God, and find His perspective for past, present, and future; to those who would be balanced in their comprehension of God’s Word; who would know how to pray and what to look for; in short, to those who would have the only true orientation in life. — Mr. Nevin is an alumnus of Talbot Theological Seminary
R E A SO N S FOR S T U D Y IN G P R O P H E C Y (Concluded) Satan was judged and condemned at the cross, but his sentence is to be executed in successive stages. If one studies the doctrine 6f soteriology, or salvation, prophecy tells him that redeemed man will receive a glorified body, and that he will reign with Christ, rendering the worship and service due His name. If one is occupying himself with hamartiology, the doctrine of sin, he knows from the predictive portions of his Bible that sin and its resultant curses upon the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms will be done away. If the doctrine of eccle- siology, the Church, is contemplated, the Christian may look forward with joyous anticipation to the blessed THE CRUTCH A crutch seems such a useless thing, no power to work or move, No fancy carvings, jew el stars or furnishings of gold, But what a comfort one can bring when injury or pain, A broken bone, a nasty bruise afflicts our fellowmen. I’m useless too just like a crutch, I’ve lost my power to fight, In battle lines where danger lies and men are met at night. But Lord perhaps when one would fall from poisoned arrow darts Or suffer from the fow ler’s snare, 1 y et may play a part. Just like the crutch, help me to be by life, by faith, by prayer, An instrument of usefulness when suffering men must bear. The world is sick, the strife is long and men wounded from the fray, Now I can’t fight, but fight I would, make me a crutch, I pray. hope of the rapture, after which he shall “ ever be with the Lord.” Nothing is complete without its end, and this is no less true of Bible study than of any other fact in life. It is both sobering and satisfying to know how matters will turn out at the last. IX. The Study of Prophecy Orients the Christian in His Prayer Life. One of the conditions for anwered prayer is that the petitioner ask within the will of God. As the Apostle John teaches, “ This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us” (I John 5:14). But how is the Christian to know whether or not his request is within that often mysterious sphere of the divine will? The only unfailing method is to be saturated with the teachings of the Book. God’s Word to man contains His will for man. If we know in what direction God is moving, we can tread that providential pathway in our prayer life. The in formed Christian, like John of old, will pray for the soon return of Christ, for he knows that this is a part of God’s program (Rev. 22:20). He will pray, too, for the peace of Jerusalem, since he is assured that Christ will one day bring peace to that oft-besieged city, battered by the battles of centuries. He will realize that the pray er, “Thy kingdom come,” is actually a plea for Christ the King to establish His visible kingdom upon earth. He will not pray for God to save the Antichrist, as he is assured from the Word that the Antichrist will have
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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