05.02.05 - Prediction and Fulfilment
(5) Prediction and Fulfilment
Prophecy is not the writing of history before the event, in which the incident still to happen must be described with exactitude. The criteria by which to judge of prediction and fulfilment are not the minutiae of incident in agreement, or the accuracy of historical detail, but rather (a) that the prophet claims to speak in the name of God; (b) that the message is in character and essence according to the mind of God; (c) that it conforms in method and outline to the prophetic ideal; (d) that it comes to pass according to the plan and purpose of God. The conception that “ prediction is the history of events before they come to pass,” has not only led men to look for fulfilment in the minutest detail, but likewise to reject the idea of prediction and fulfilment on the ground of the non-literal fulfilment, and to question all cases of alleged prediction and fulfilment.
“ Prophecy, regarded as prediction,” says Professor H. Rogers, “ on this ground, can always be questioned, since it may be alleged to be either too plain or too obscure; if too plain it was written after the event, and is history and not prophecy; if obscure, then its reference is uncertain, and we cannot be sure that it is prophecy”: 1 a solvent well-calculated to discharge all colour from prediction whenever men choose to apply it. The prophets did not write to satisfy a morbid curiosity as to the future, nor to exhibit their fulness of knowledge and the Divine prescience of detail, neither did they parade their 1 “ Superhuman Origin of the Bible,” p. 436, wisdom and knowledge of things and claim confidence and trust on these grounds. They knew their business too well for that, and were too well assured of the reality and importance of their message and mission to care for detail; hence in some instances the details are not given, while principles and facts, rewards and judgments, are faithfully declared.
Moreover, the type and setting of the prediction are not always of importance, nor even of the essence and nature of the prediction, and can have no place in the fulfilment, while the thing typified and symbolised, the inner sense and meaning, is the all in all. So with prophetic periods of time numbers of days, weeks, and years mentioned. Time limits are not necessarily of primal importance in the prophecy, but the event, the fact itself, the prophetic “ day “ is an indefinite period seeing “One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one clay.” So when events are spoken of as “at hand,” or as “afar off,” they do not always refer to time, but to certainty: the thing that is sure and certain is “ near,” “ at hand,” because it is as clear and real to the mind of the writer as if already accomplished. Predictions are sometimes conditional, and their fulfilment, postponement, or nonexecution, is determined by the repentance or the impenitence of a nation or individual; by the perverseness and ingratitude, or by the humiliation and submission of a people; or the opportunities, privileges, and circumstances pertaining to time, occasion, and threatening. It is not that God is fickle, changeable, or “slack as some men count slackness “; it is not either that God has forgotten or failed, or that the prophet was mistaken, or spoke without knowledge, nor yet that prophecy is unutterable fate, but rather that God acts reasonably, considerately, and morally with men, has regard to circumstances and conditions, is forbearing and merciful, and does not act arbitrarily and unjustly. “ He remembers us in our low estate, for His mercy endureth forever.”
God reserves to Himself freedom of action, has regard to the facts, purposes, and ends of prediction, rather than to details, and this while it baffles human invention and imposition in bringing together prediction and event to make a fulfilment emphasises the moral and religious element as the important factor in all prediction.