the grave - then, there is an end of all significance in language, and Scripture is wiped out as a definite

testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be

hardy enough to maintain; but if the second is literal, then so is the first, which in common with the whole

primitive church and many of the best modern expositors, I do maintain, and receive as an article of faith and

These are sane and weighty words, and there is no doubt that Dean Alford has the majority of sound scholars

with him. Hardly anywhere else is the futility of amillennial interpretation shown up more than in its handling of

Revelation chapter 20.

The amillennialist may call the pre-millennialist's views of the future `carnal' and `unscriptural', but he needs

reminding that spiritual things are not necessarily better than the material. There is such a thing as spiritual

wickedness (Eph. 6:12). When God put Adam and Eve into the garden of Eden, was this carnal because it was

material and on the earth? And when the earthly part of God's kingdom is realised and becomes like Eden again, is

this to be dubbed carnal? The literal material and earthly is not to be avoided per se for this savours of the Gnostic

abhorrence of the material, and any approach to this Satanic system of error, so prevalent in the early centuries of

Christianity, must be avoided at all costs. The basic and dispensational approach to the Scriptures, keeping these in

balance, will save us from this. Such a method of interpretation is sane and reverent, honours the Word of God and

allows it to speak with all its authority, and is in no sense a system foisted upon it.

We return to a point we have already stressed, because of its extreme importance. All Scriptural interpretation

must finally be Christological, in other words, the Lord Jesus Christ must be the centre and circumference of it all.

To get bogged down with interpretive, doctrinal or dispensational details and to miss Him is to miss everything. The

great redemptive purpose of the ages is centred in Him (Eph. 3:11), and the time is yet to be when every being in

heaven, and earth and under the earth will give Him His rightful place and acknowledge Him as Jehovah and Lord

(Phil. 2:9-11). Our main task is to preach Him (Gal. 1:15,16) as the only remedy for the needs of the individual, the

world and creation at large. We can only do this effectively when we handle the Word of God aright and have it

richly within us (Col. 3:16), and in His strength, grace and wisdom seek to make it known. A partial or faulty

understanding of the written Word can only lead to an imperfect knowledge of the living Word. That is why

hermeneutics, or the science of interpreting the Holy Scriptures, is of such great importance to every believer,

whether a leader or teacher or otherwise. We should not count it a labour, a bore, or as being too difficult to get to

know the principles which govern correct interpretation. Rather this should be something that is eagerly sought

after, and we trust that this study, in some measure, has helped towards this goal.

In conclusion, the honest interpreter will always keep a supreme regard for truth at all costs. Nor will he forget

the words of the Saviour: `... Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth' (John 17:17), nor His constant

reverence for the Holy Scriptures (Matt. 5:17,18; John 5:46,47; Luke 10:25-28; Matt. 22:29) whose primary aim is

to `make wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus' (2 Tim. 3:15). To interpret the Scriptures is a

high and holy task. God will not hold guiltless any who carelessly handle or tamper with His Word, substituting the

folly and error of man for His wisdom and His Truth.