When we come to consider prophecy and its interpretation we realise we are face to face with a difficult subject,

and one where a great cleavage of opinion exists among believers. Is this really necessary? Prophecy, we are told,

is a light that shines in a dark place, to which we should take heed (2 Pet. 1:19), but if we cannot know for certain

what it means, it ceases to be either a light or a guide; neither can we take heed to something of which we cannot be

sure. It is evident that, from the stand-point of the Scriptures, prophecy was not given to puzzle or confuse, but to

guide and direct the Christian, especially in times of darkness and declension, and to hide future truth from the

enemies of God and the merely curious. It is in such times as these that we should be able to approach Biblical

prophecy, which is only God writing history in advance, and see the glorious goal that He has planned and will most

assuredly attain, and this can give us confidence, strength and full assurance of hope.

The interpretation of prophecy is confessedly difficult even if every sound guiding principle is kept. Yet we

cannot help feeling that this subject has been clouded and confused by the various schools of interpretation, by

tradition, by fanciful and grotesque ideas, for nowhere can the imagination more run riot and go to greater extremes

than in the consideration of prophecy.

We believe we can be greatly helped by putting into practice the guiding principles of historico-grammatical

interpretation which we have already considered. Some evangelical expositors use these principles till they come to

the study of prophecy and then they throw them away. Why? Because they are not convenient to their views?

These principles are not just relevant to a part of the Bible, but to the whole of it, and we are convinced that if they

are carried out with relation to prophecy, quite a number of the difficulties vanish. To get a correct understanding

of a prophetical passage, we must take note of:

(a) the context, near and remote,

(b) note figurative and symbolic elements, and ascertain if these are explained in the passage or in other parallel

parts of Scripture. For instance, a number of the symbols in the Revelation are explained (Rev. 1:20), and we must

be ready to accept these as Divine explanations and not seek to re-interpret them according to our ideas,

(c) the historical background of the passage should be ascertained, noting of whom and to whom the prophecy

relates. Is it Gentile nations or the people of Israel, or the Messiah Himself?

(d) Scripture must be compared with Scripture. The book of the Revelation has well over 200 references to the Old

Testament, which fact makes it very evident that the last book in the Bible can never be understood apart from a

knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, in fact it is an insult to the Divine Author to try and interpret it with

the Old Testament shut. While the Revelation is a New Testament Book, it is Old Testament in much of its outlook.

In fact, if we found it in our Bibles next to the prophecy of Daniel it would not be incongruous.

(e) We must decide whether the prophetical passage we are considering is conditional or unconditional and,

(f) whether it has been fulfilled or not, bearing in mind there is such a thing as multiple or double fulfilment which is

not the same as multiple sense; the prophecy may be fulfilled in more than one stage.

(g) As we stressed before, we must take the literal meaning of the prophecy as a controlling guide. This does not

mean a dry, wooden, excessive literalism, which disregards poetic imagery, figures of speech and symbols. In the

Old Testament we have prophecies relating to Messiah's first coming and also to His second coming. As far as the

Old Testament is concerned, both of these events were future, but for us those relating to the first coming are now

history, while only those looking forward to His Second Advent are future. In other words, in the Scriptures we

have examples of definite predictions which have been fulfilled, and as we study them, we can see without a shadow

of doubt how they have been fulfilled, that is, whether literally or spiritually.