000 - Preface

Preface

I have long regarded Mr. Fry’s book as an excellent manual - indeed, the best that I know - for those who wish to begin the study of prophecy, and especially for such of them as can bestow but scanty time upon it. So much valuable information is deftly packed into the little volume, and it is presented to the reader in so orderly and concise a manner, that it can scarcely fail to endow him with a clear knowledge of God’s plan in the Bible.

When, therefore, Mr. Fry wished to issue a third edition of his book, and asked me to revise and bring it up to date, so far as my own investigations would enable me to do so, I deemed it a simple duty to comply with his request.

Consequently, the book has been examined as carefully as the time at my disposal would permit whatever in it appeared superfluous or uncertain has been omitted; while, if anything seemed obscure, an attempt has been made to render it clear. Moreover, in a few passages in which the events of recent years, or an advance in knowledge, called for alterations or additions, these have been made. But there is no change in the general scheme and character of the book; and, I am glad to say, no increase in its bulk.

Mr. Fry’s method of interpretation is that of accepting every word of prophecy in its natural and literal sense, save in obvious cases of figure, and of explaining Scripture by Scripture. And there is, certainly, no other reasonable way of understanding God’s revelations, which, since He gave them to men, are, of course, expressed in terms easily intelligible to those for whom they were intended. We must not forget, that the element of mystery was introduced into Christianity by those who professed Christ in order that they might corrupt His doctrine, and assimilate it to that of Apollo and the universally worshipped Goddess of Nature.* The Most High God deals plainly and intelligibly with His creatures: it is Satan who excites their curiosity, and deceives them, by means of mystery and darkness.

[*The popular names of these deities when they began to affect Christianity were Mithras and Isis.] The chief aim of this little book, as its title, indicates, is to exhibit, in slight but connected outline, the plan which God has revealed for the redemption of our world. And scarcely any work could be more practically useful than this - to those, at least, who are already believers in "the Scripture of Truth." For the Bible - strange as it may seem - is rarely studied with that reasonable attention which is usually given to uninspired books. Instead of striving to get a comprehensive grasp of its whole contents, and to understand the relation to each other of its disclosures and principles, the majority of its readers are accustomed to cull a verse, a paragraph, or at most a chapter, from this book and from that, and to draw from them whatever consolation, hope, moral teaching, or precept of holiness, they may seem to afford. And this is usually done without any reference to the context, or to God’s general scheme of action; and, not seldom, even without notice of the Dispensation to which the cited passage belongs.

What but the direst confusion could possibly follow such a procedure; and that especially if the passages thus isolated be prophetic? For it is impossible to arrive at a full understanding of any Divine prediction, unless one has some comprehension of the general scheme of prophecy, and knows where the particular utterance must be fitted in.

Yet there are very many students and would-be interpreters who do not trouble to expend thought upon such matters. On the contrary, they eagerly seize upon any words which seem to suit some preconceived system, or can, in their judgment, be connected with a passing event or tendency. And these they use for their own purposes; while they altogether ignore the necessity of harmonizing their interpretation with other Scriptures, and with what ought to be known of God’s plan as a whole. A conspicuous instance of this kind of exposition, and, also, of its consequences, may be found in a very frequent mode of treating the prophecy of the Seventy Sevens, the simple meaning of which is indicated in the present volume. For many insist, that there is no interval, no "monstrous gap", as they delight to style it, between the Sixty-ninth and the Seventieth Seven; and that the prophecy ends with the death of the Lord and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

Now, when we examine the first of these two statements, we quickly perceive that a very little knowledge of Scripture should have been sufficient to expose its untruth.

For, first of all, Daniel himself placed events between the Sixty-ninth and the Seventieth Seven, namely, the death of the Lord Jesus, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple forty years later, and a continuance of war "until the end" of the age. And it is only after the words, "until the end," that he has introduced the Last Seven. Thus he clearly intimated, that there would be an interval between the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth Sevens, and that it would be protracted until the time of the end.

Then, secondly, in each of the great prophecies of Moses - Leviticus 26:1-46.; Deuteronomy 28:1-68, Deuteronomy 30:1-20, and Deuteronomy 32:1-52. - it was predicted, that the Jews must be driven out of their country, and scattered among all nations for a long exile, during which God would suspend His dealings with them as His people. And this period of non-recognition is manifestly the same as the interval between the Sixty-ninth and the Seventieth Seven, for which, it furnishes us with a satisfactory explanation.

Lastly; from the solution, given in the book before us, of the apparent discrepancy between 1 Kings 6:2, and Acts 8:17-22, it is clear, that, in reckoning the periods of His dealings with Israel, God ignores the time, or times, during which He has chastised them by delivering them into the hands of their foes. In "The Great Prophecies of the Centuries," I have gone still further, and have shown, that the Bible seems to divide the whole period of Israel’s probation into three epochs, each containing Seventy Sevens, or Four Hundred and Ninety Years, these epochs being calculated by the omission from the ordinary chronology of the times of non-recognition.

And, while such times will be found to amount to ninety-three years in the first epoch and seventy in the second, they comprehend, in the third, the whole lapse of centuries from the day on which the Lord gave up the City and Sanctuary to destruction - just before He entered into Jerusalem as the King of the Daughter of Zion - until the day when the Jews shall once more be recognized as a nation in their own land. This time has already (1904) been extended to some eighteen hundred and seventy-five years; but, at last, the Jews are manifestly returning to Palestine, and the time of their restoration must be near. By a consideration of these three points, students, who are seeking the truth in sincerity, will readily perceive, that God’s way of computing the Seventy Sevens has been expounded to us with great clearness in the Bible itself. The second mistake, that the Seventy Sevens end with the death of the Lord Jesus, ought never to have been possible to those who had read the earlier part of the chapter in which the prophecy occurs. For all the circumstances connected with that utterance prove, that it is concerned exclusively with Daniel’s "people" and "Holy City," that is, with the Jews and Jerusalem, or, with the Jews at times when they are in possession of Jerusalem.

Thus a large class of expositors are putting forth an interpretation, the very conception of which is erroneous. For they explain the prophecy from an altogether Christian point of view, and insert into it the hopes and aspirations of the heavenly people; while they absolutely ignore the yearnings of Daniel’s heart as expressed in the prayer to which the prophecy is a direct answer, and assume that God cared not for the affliction and desires of His earthly people [the Jews]. And yet, the prophecy is found in the Old Testament: it is written in Hebrew, and must, from its circumstances, be understood to refer to Hebrews. Moreover, it was communicated to a Hebrew prophet and patriot, who earnestly longed to know when his people and his holy city would be finally and for ever reconciled to God.

Fervently does he pray:-

"0 Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, let Thine anger and Thy fury, I pray Thee, be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are round about us."

Now, was this desired consummation, in all its particulars as expressed in the first verse of the prophecy, fulfilled at the First Advent? Was there, at that time, a full end, and a sealing up for ever, of Jewish transgression and sin? Was the remnant of the people then reconciled to God; were all the survivors of the nation born in a day; and did they and their descendants forthwith become everlastingly righteous? Was all that the prophets had predicted fulfilled eighteen centuries ago, and did the Messiah then build and sanctify His glorious Millennial Temple?

Nay, we know that none of these things have even yet happened; and, what is more, Zechariah tells us that they never can happen until the Lord has appeared for the second time, and the Jews, as they look upon Him, recognize the Holy One Whom they pierced, and, at last, fall prostrate before Him. Then, and not until then, will there be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness; that is, it will be opened to Jews as Jews; for by that time the Church-period will have passed by.

Those, then, who will have it that the Four Hundred and Ninety Years were completed at the First Advent, can maintain their assertion only by disregarding the context and every circumstance connected with the prophecy. Still worse, their interpretation turns the Lord’s gracious answer into an absolute mockery of the prophet’s prayers and tears. For, if their conclusions be true, then, instead of consoling Daniel with hope for the latter end of his people, God did but hint at the fearful culmination of their sin, and led him no further than to the threshold of their severest and most protracted trial.

It is, however, impossible that such could have been the case: if an answer of any kind was to he vouchsafed to Daniel’s supplications, then, as soon as the Four Hundred and Ninety Years have run their course, the final restoration of Israel, and the dawn of the Millennial glory, must immediately follow. And this, as the reader will presently see, is the true meaning of Gabriel’s message to the prophet.

I have entered somewhat fully into this question because of its great importance as a clue to the scheme of all Divine prophecies, but, nevertheless, cannot conclude without a few words of caution. While we prayerfully strive to understand the revelations of God, let us not for a moment allow their practical and sanctifying virtue to be merged in a mere intellectual study. They are intended to serve as "a lamp shining in a squalid place,"* by means of which we may see the filth that is everywhere around us, and so may avoid soiling our garments. For Divine prophecy sets before us God’s view of the social, moral, and religious phenomena of these Last Days, in order that we may be warned to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and free from the influence of those who prophesy falsely under Satanic inspiration. Let us, then, not forget the admonition in the opening verses of the Apocalypse:-

"Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein."

[* 2 Peter 1:19. Both of our versions have, "in a dark place"; but I can neither find nor hear of any instance of the use of [the Greek] translated literally. "murky.") in such a sense. The only established significations of that word are "dry," "dirty," or "squalid." And in the Bible, as, indeed, in all other books, we must draw our interpretation of every sentence from the proved meaning of its words, and not alter that meaning to suit our own view of the passage.]

Finally, and above all, Divine prophecy reveals to us the mysteries of our incarnate Lord, and the glory which He will presently assume. Let us eagerly drink in its every word; it will show us the very thoughts and feelings of our suffering and dying Saviour: it will teach us in what manner He, Whom not having seen we love, because He first loved us and gave Himself for us, will shortly return to this earth in the power and glory of His Father, and be adored by all His saints, and by all the angels of God. And it will make us rejoice to know, that our weak and sinful flesh will not shrink with terror from the brightness of His appearing; for that, in one moment, in the twinkling of an eye, He will change the bodies of our humiliation into the likeness of His Body of Glory, according to that mighty "working whereby He is able to subdue even all things unto Himself." So will He raise the poor out of the dust, and lift up the needy from the dunghill, to make them sit with princes, and, inherit the throne of glory.

"Unto Him that sitteth on the Throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honour, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever. Amen"

G. H. Pember

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