Page 5 - Watchman- What of the Night

missing, are more to be pitied than blamed. And when one of these ―prophetic

teachers‖ makes a particularly bold and specific prognostication ―on the sure authority
of the Word of God‖ and, as always, it comes to naught, the world laughs loud and
long, and the God-breathed Word is further discredited.
How lamentable is all this, dear Christian! Of what sore punishment will he be

found worthy who has put the immutable Word of God into the balances against his
arrogant guesses? And are not those periodicals which have published such false
dogma to be held equally guilty?
Prophecy is not popular, and cannot be popularized. Neither is it so simple nor the

order so clearly defined that the events can be listed like a high school
commencement program. And yet it has about come to that in the ―prophetic union,‖
and anyone who questions the ―program‖ is found guilty of ―non-union conduct‖ and
expelled.

It is because our attitudes, as set forth above, have been out of sympathy with the
popular current, and because we feel that matters of faith and obedience, the heavenly
walk of the believer, the nature and function of the Church which is His Body,
transcend and precede the study of prophecy, we have refrained from discussing it in

any detailed manner.
―For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.‖ Prophecy came to ―holy men of old
moved by the Holy Ghost‖ in the first place, and we are persuaded that only holy men,

humble men, obedient men, yielded men are going to receive it or apprehend it now,
and by the same Spirit! May we repeat that prophecy is so voluminous, intricate and
complex that it cannot be a popular course, but must be a highly specialized study. A
vast deal of prophecy is already fulfilled, and where fulfillment has already occurred

it constitutes a tremendous proof of the prescience and wisdom of God. This can only
be appreciated as the history and chronology of the inspired text are mastered, and is
further enhanced by familiar acquaintance with parallel secular history. The outlines
of fulfilled prophecy stand out with great clarity, and can be tested and proven beyond

reasonable doubt to show the immutability of the Word. But even here, where the
results are in hand, there must be accurate and painstaking application.
Unfulfilled prediction is designedly less clear than that which is complete. If we
see the latter quite plainly we can see the former only in the manner of ―men as trees

walking.‖ Its general contours can be discerned and as the events draw closer, the
lines are more clearly defined, though the details remain obscure. The course of
events convinces us that our redemption draweth nigh, yet the day and the hour
knoweth no man, and the prophecies are always elastic enough that we cannot

dogmatically apply them to any specific person or event.

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