The Moral Value of Prophecy

God does not speak to satisfy our curiosity; prophecy was given to meet our deepest needs.
This world, with its neglect of God, its sin and confusion, is a dark place, but to the godly, the prophetic word is a lamp shining in the darkness. 
World statesmen are in doubt and darkness. They talk of the possibility of atomic warfare destroying our present civilization. We who know the Lord and have the light of prophecy, know that a time of fearful trouble is in store for this wicked world. 
We are in the night, but we have light in our hearts, and we watch for the Morning Star—Christ coming for His own, before the Sun of Righteousness rises upon the world in power and glory. 
It will help us greatly to understand prophecy if we discern its moral purpose. God has not spoken to satisfy man's curiosity. He speaks to meet man's deepest need. If we neglect this vital truth, we may miss entirely the real meaning of God's promises. Let us review briefly some outstanding prophecies to see clearly how the moral value clarifies the meaning of the Word. 
The Woman's Seed (Gen. 3: 9-21). 
The first prophetic word was spoken by God in Eden, after the moral fall of our first parents. Can we imagine the fear and distress of those first sinners as they cringed before their Maker and answered the searching questions of their Judge? They acknowledged their transgression and heard the Divine sentences of toil and sweat and ultimate death. Then the word of hope was spoken to the Serpent concerning the woman's Seed. “He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." 
What are the moral values of this first prophecy? First, the confession, repentance, and submission of sinners before their God. Then the faith and hope of salvation through the promised Deliverer—the Seed of the woman. The doom of the tempter was pronounced. 
That the hope planted in our first parents' hearts was an imminent and practical hope is shown by the name, Eve gave her firstborn son. "Cain" means "Acquired of Jehovah." This is an expression of faith. Eve thought that her firstborn was the promised Seed that should bring deliverance. 
Who can estimate the value of that living hope to Adam and Eve to comfort and cheer their faith in a coming Redeemer? God had not told them when He should come; it was not for them to know. Neither had He told them of a long delay. That would have crushed their hope. In the dark hour, God had given them a lamp of hope to shine until Jesus came. 
Enoch's Prophecy. 
As centuries passed, ungodliness grew apace. Only a few were walking with God. Enoch was one of these distressed by the ungodliness of the world about him. Amid the prevailing darkness, God gave him a new word of prophecy, a word of Divine interference by judgment. 
This word, like a lamp in the darkness, Enoch proclaimed to his generation. "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14, 15). 
What are the moral values here? First, a revelation from God to comfort the godly with the promise that the corruption of ungodliness would be halted by divine judgment. Second, a solemn warning to the ungodly to repent of their ungodliness and so escape the judgment to come. Third, the constant expectation of Divine interference for both of these moral purposes, caused by the imminence of judgment impending, with the time of the stroke unknown. 
We know that God swept away the ungodly of Enoch's day by the Flood, fulfilling Enoch's prophecy; but we also know that a greater fulfillment will take place when the Lord of lords shall come with the armies of Heaven to tread the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God (Rev. 19: 11-16). 
This is one of the many examples of multiple fulfillments of prophecy. Failure to see this causes many errors, such as the error of amillenarians in stating that Joel's prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit was exhausted at Pentecost (Acts 2: 16-21). The greater fulfillment awaits our Lord's earthly kingdom when every detail shall be gloriously fulfilled. 
Enoch evidently expected the Lord's advent in his day. It is interesting to observe that as God's plans were otherwise, Enoch's faith was rewarded by his being caught away to Heaven to be with his expected Lord. It is clear that this rapture was private or secret, for the record says: He "was not found, because God had translated him" (Heb. 11: 5). Men searched for missing Enoch, not knowing what had happened to him.
Enoch's rapture, we believe, is a precious type of the rapture of the Church to Heaven before the wrath of God and of the Lamb falls on a world filled with violence and corruption. 
A heavenly man was caught away to Heaven before the Flood came, while Noah was preserved by the ark through the Flood to become the seed of the renewed earth. Just so, God's heavenly people will be caught away to Heaven before the wrath comes, while God's earthly remnant will be sealed and preserved by Divine providences to become the seed of the millennial kingdom. 
The Prophetic Word to Noah. 
"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood" (Gen. 6: 13, 14). 
This word of God was a lamp in a dark place. To Noah, it was a word of deliverance from an evil generation and of preservation for the world to come. To the ungodly, it was a word of warning to flee from the wrath to come. 
After destroying the ungodly, as foretold to Enoch and Noah, God established a covenant with Noah and his seed, of which the bow was the sign. God established government in the earth in the person of Noah, to control the wicked. This is a clear foreview of the righteous rule of Christ in His earthly kingdom, after the earth has been purified by the judgments of God's wrath on the ungodly. 
God's Prophetic Words to Abraham. 
God called Abram from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of promise. It was a dark place in Chaldea where idolatry prevailed, but God's lamp of prophecy was heeded and obeyed by Abram (Gen. 12: 1-4). 
At each step of Abram's faith and obedience, God gave him a larger and clearer view of His purposes of blessing. The culmination of Abraham's faith was the offering up of his only son, at which time, Jehovah repeated the twofold promise. "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Gen. 22: 17, 18). 
The promises to Abraham were both earthly and heavenly. The earth had a partial fulfillment in the days of David and Solomon but were cut short because of sin and rebellion against Jehovah. The final and great earthly fulfillment awaits the return of David's greater Son, who shall rule the nations with a rod of iron and fill the earth with His glory. 
Abraham did not himself receive the promises, but his soul embraced them, and he patiently awaited God's time for their fulfillment. The Spirit of God has described the moral value of the promises in Abraham's life: "For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God . . . they all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. . . . But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city" (Heb. 11: 10-16, R.V.). 
Christ's Two Comings. 
The major and minor prophets spoke in the dark days of the kingdom and the exile. They carried the lamp of Jehovah to the kings and the people. Each appeal had moral urgency to obey the word of Jehovah, and each carried a warning of judgment on disobedience. 
Some of the prophets presented the bright hope of the coming of Messiah-Immanuel. A few, comparatively, spoke of His sufferings, but all predicted the final glory of His kingdom. 
These prophetic words kept the hope of Israel before the hearts of the godly. Expectancy was in the hearts of the righteous and devout "looking for the consolidation of Israel" (Luke 2: 25). Then Jesus came. 
It would be delightful to meditate on the wonderful fulfillments of prophecy by our Lord at His first advent, but our subject at this time is prophecy whose fulfillment is yet future. 
Suffice it to say that, in the words of Matthew, "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up" (Matt. 4: 16). 
In our Lord's incarnation, His ministry, His sufferings, death, and resurrection, many marvelous prophecies were fulfilled. In the virgin birth, the first prophecy of the “woman’s seed” was realized. Immanuel, God with us, was accomplished. In Jesus, a child was born, a son was given. In His miracles and ministry, God Himself was among men to save and bless.
But the infinite values of our Saviour’s first advent lay in His sufferings, His atoning death, His resurrection, and exaltation at the right hand of God as Head of the new creation. 
This mighty work of the Son of God has given eternal moral value and glory to every word of prophecy which has been fulfilled and sheds its Divine light on every prophecy yet to be fulfilled. 
We have Divine assurance that every word of prophecy concerning things to come will be fulfilled in its appointed time, with the same precision and finality as characterized our Lord's first advent. 
It is undeniable that our Lord's disciples expected Him to establish an earthly kingdom. The mother of James and John asked Jesus that her two sons might sit, one on His right hand and one on His left in His kingdom. Our Lord replied that this honor was not His to give, but for whom it was prepared of His Father (Matt. 20: 20-23). 
Our Lord never denied His earthly kingdom but confirmed it many times. After His death and resurrection, the disciples asked Him, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" The reply again confirmed the future earthly kingdom of Messiah but placed its fulfillment at a time determined by God the Father (Acts 1: 6, 7). With such plain teaching, it is astonishing that there should be any question of the reality of our Lord's future earthly kingdom. 
So occupied were the disciples with the expectation of a glorious earthly kingdom that they could not believe our Lord's statements that He would be betrayed, spit upon, and crucified by the rulers, and the third day rise again. So our Lord found it necessary to tell them in unmistakable words of His imminent departure from them. "Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14: 1-3, R.V.). 
The shock and sorrow of Christ's departure was alleviated by the assurance that His absence was only temporary. He would come again personally and take them to Himself to be in the Father's house where there would be no more parting. 
It is clear that this is a personal return for His own, totally different from His appearing in glory with the armies of Heaven to judge the world. The Lord left the world amid His own in blessing. The world was ignorant of the event, and we have the angelic promise that He would so return in the same manner as they had seen Him go. 
The disciples had their hearts set on an immediate earthly kingdom and had left all they held dear to follow Jesus. Would He disappoint their faith? Not He! Jesus had provided for their entire future in ways more wonderful than they had imagined. These precious prospects were four in number: 
1. On the third day He would rise again to displace their sorrow of parting with the joy of reunion. 
2. For the little while of His absence, He would give them another Comforter, the Holy Spirit. 
3. While absent, He would prepare many abodes in His Father’s house, and He would personally return to take them there. 
4. The ultimate glory of the earthly kingdom was still theirs and they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 
What a divinely full and perfect answer to all their needs. This was the reason Jesus had allowed them to forsake all and follow Him. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” 
Again, we see the lamp of Divine prophecy shining in the dark hour of Jesus’ suffering and death to comfort the hearts of His own. 
The Moral Values of the Blessed Hope. 
The expectation of the Lord from Heaven changes the whole outlook and life of a Christian. First of all, it is a constant comfort. “Let not your heart be troubled”; “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 
Then it is a purifying hope. He that hath this hope in Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure. 
Third, the hope gives patience in trial and suffering. “Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord . . . Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5: 7, 8). The plain sense of all these promises is that the Lord may come at any moment. 
The tremendous value of this hope is testified to by many of God’s most useful servants. The book, 100 World-Known Witnesses to the Second Coming of Christ, is very illuminating in this matter. I quote from only two witnesses. 
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan says: “To me the second coming is the perpetual light on the path which makes the present bearable. I never lay my head on the pillow without thinking that maybe before the morning breaks, the final morning may have dawned! I never begin my work without thinking that perhaps He may interrupt my work and begin His own! This is now His Word to all believing souls, ‘Till I come.’ We are not looking for death, we are looking for Him! . . . If He should come ere the day is done, will there be any we have won for Him? In the hour of the advent, not the amount of this world’s goods amassed, not the name we have won for ourselves, but the souls won will count. Christ’s second coming will be pre-millennial. It is imminent. We wait for the advent, according to His will, by living, by serving, by loving, by hoping, by persevering.” 
Dr. Howard A. Kelly, M.D., LL.D. says: “One master word covers the attitude of Christians in relation to this expectation of the coming of the Bridegroom to claim His Bride, and that word is ‘imminent.’ Ever since our Lord passed beyond the confines of this earth into the heavens, the hour of His return, all unknown, has been imminent; and our right attitude, therefore, is one of constant expectancy, with hearts fully prepared to give our Lord His fitting, royal welcome, when He appears, no longer as Sin-bearer, but with the holy angels and in His heavenly glory.” 
Untold numbers of souls have been brought to accept Christ by the truth that the time of the Lord’s return is hidden from us and may occur at any moment. My wife, when a young girl, made her decision for Christ for this reason, and many have told me that they did the same. Various evangelists have said that their greatest soul-winning messages have been those on the Lord’s coming and the warning to enter the door of salvation before it is forever too late. It is a sad day for an evangelist when he does not preach as our Lord did. 
“Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13: 35-37, R.V.). 
Our Lord is not alone in warning men to flee from the wrath to come. Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John all join in warning the ungodly that the judgment is about to fall. 
An Alternative View. 
Contrast this faithful preaching of the imminence of our Lord’s return and the judgment that this introduces, with the idea that Christ cannot come just now, for any reason, such as the idea that the Church is to pass through the tribulation. 
Mark the solemn warning of our Lord: “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers” (Luke 12: 45, 46). 
The post-tribulation rapture theory does not recognize the “Day of Christ” and makes no time allowance for the Judgment Seat of Christ, or the marriage of the Lamb, or marriage supper. The idea of the saints being caught up to meet Christ at the end of the tribulation and at the same moment descend with Him to the earth seems to us to have no scriptural support. 
God would not be so unrighteous as to allow His Church to have tribulation in the world through all her history because of her witness for Christ, and then to leave her in the world to suffer with the world when the world is visited with His wrath. No indeed, Christ has promised to take His Church home to the Father’s house for the great marriage ceremony and supper before He brings her to rule with Him over the earth. 
It seems to me that the books which have recently caused debate and denial of this cherished truth of the imminency of the Lord’s return are destructive criticism, with nothing to offer in place of what they seek to destroy. It is easy to go about with a hammer to break windows, but it is sorry business, and does not have the moral value that constructive building has. 
These writers try to discredit dispensational truth that has brought to light the perfect order of God’s ways with men through the ages. They enlarge on minor differences in the writings they criticize, but these critics are themselves in hopeless and major disagreements. Some attack dispensational teaching entirely. Others accept some dispensations. Some teach amillennialism—denying any future earthly kingdom. Others accept the kingdom. Some deny that the Body of Christ characterizes a new dispensation of God begun at Pentecost. Various views are held as to the rapture of the Church—some denying it altogether, some putting it at the same time as the appearing, and others at the middle of the tribulation period. 
I suppose all understand that when we say that our Lord’s return for His Church is imminent, we do not mean that we know that He will return this day, or this year, or even in this century; but we do mean that He may return today. There is nothing in the prophetic word to say that some event must take place before He returns for His Church. The entire New Testament is unmistakable in its insistence on our constant readiness to meet the Lord. 
“But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth . . . those that buy, as those they possessed not; and those that use the world, as not using it to the full: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would save you to be free from cares” (I Cor. 7: 29-32). “Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour” (I John 2: 18). 
The moral value of a genuine expectancy of the Lord at any time is tremendous. It is fatal to worldliness. I have seen many lives utterly changed when this hope came in. The attractions and temptations of the world lost their power, and the joys and rewards of Heaven took their place. Sorrows and bereavements lose their sting when we believe that the Lord is near, even at the door. 
This expectancy gives new urgency to the winning of souls, saving them from wrath to come; and lives controlled by this hope take on an other-worldly character.
“Moody Monthly” Aug. 1948