The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: A Summary of the Evidence

I. Third Period of Pre-eminence of Prophetic Interpretation

A quick summary of the vicissitudes of prophetic interpretation through the centuries will give the setting of the nineteenth-century situation. The dawning of the nineteenth century marked the beginning of the third and final era, or period, characterized by general interest and emphasis upon prophecy. The first era of the dominance of prophecy spanned the first three or four centuries of the Christian Era. But it was sub merged under the impact of direct attack upon the integrity of the actual books of Daniel and the Apocalypse, and of a flanking attack by the Latin Apostasy upon the five great determining factors in the exposition of prophecy. ¹ PFF3 738.1

Those five factors were: (1) the literal resurrection of the righteous at the second advent; (2) the millennium, bounded by the two resurrections and introduced by the second advent; (3) the outline prophecies, reaching their climax at the second advent; (4) the Antichrist, emerging from the ruins of Rome, dominant during its own allotted era and destroyed at the second advent; and (5) the kingdom of God, established by divine inter position through the second advent. PFF3 738.2

Following the collapse of the initial epoch of prophetic interpretation, brought about during the fourth and fifth centuries, came the dreary Dark Ages, when men stumbled blindly in darkness without the guiding light of prophecy. Under the play of false concepts all five factors were distorted into a spiritual resurrection, a present millennium with Satan already hound, a mysticized view of the prophecies, an individual Jewish Antichrist in the future, and a carnalized kingdom of God in the form of the reigning Catholic Church. This was effected by the great Latin apostasy. PFF3 738.3

The second era of the ascendancy, or dominance, of prophecy was during the Protestant Reformation- -the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries-introduced by pre-Reformation repudiators of the Dark Age misconceptions. Again, the exposition of the great outline prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse, as reaching their climax at the second advent, came into ascendancy, marked with far greater understanding. The Anti christ was almost universally recognized as the great papal apostasy, and the time of its doom believed to be drawing on, for the 1260 years were recognized as well advanced. The kingdom of God, to be established by divine interposition at the advent, was again declared. And finally, the millennium was once more properly placed in the future, to be introduced by the second advent and the literal resurrection of the dead. PFF3 739.1

But no sooner were these truths re-established than the great Catholic Counter Reformation, with its shrewd counter-systems of interpretation, struck at the militant prophetic exposition of the Reformation. One scheme pushed the prophecies of Antichrist back into the early centuries, with the little horn as some despotic Roman emperor, and its allotted period only literal time. The kingdom was nought but Roman Catholic Christendom, and the millennium the medieval church concept introduced by Augustine. PFF3 739.2

Tragically enough, through Protestant acceptance, these concepts began to undermine the Reformation platform. There came a weakening and then, in the eighteenth century, a second collapse, this time of the strong Protestant stand on prophetic exposition. And along with it appeared a captivating post-millennialism, introduced by the Protestant Whitby. This blighting theory swept ruthlessly over Protestantism, premised on a spiritual resurrection and world conversion concept that introduced the millennium without divine intervention and put the second advent a thousand years into the future. PFF3 739.3

Such was the situation when the 1260-year era of the papal Little Horn ended in the time of the French Revolution. Then began the “time of the end,” and with it the third great emphasis upon prophecy, and upon the now imminent second advent. Previously Daniel 7 had been the line of advancing study and emphasis-the four empires, with Rome the fourth; next, Rome’s divisions; then the identification of the Little Horn as Antichrist; and finally the ending of its time period in the French Revolution. PFF3 740.1

Now the spotlight of interest and concern passes to that last judgment-scene phase of Daniel 7 and to the particular study of Daniel 8. Emphasis shifts from the ending of the 1260 years to the approaching close of the 2300-year period of Daniel 8:14, and its synchronous beginning with the seventy weeks of years of Daniel 9. With this was coupled the heralding of God’s judgment-hour message of Revelation 14. And both of these were centered in the approaching second advent, which would raise the dead, bind the devil for the millennial period, end the great outline and time prophecies, destroy both the Papacy and Mohammedanism, and establish God’s everlasting kingdom. All five factors were again ascendant. Prophetic interpretation was once more pre-eminent to a degree heretofore unknown. PFF3 740.2

Simultaneously in the different countries of the Old World, though at first centering most prominently in Great Britain- the advent message was given, the judgment hour stressed, the ending of the longest prophetic time period heralded, along with the approaching cleansing of the sanctuary. A voluminous body of literature was produced; organizations were formed for the study and proclamation of the particular message of prophecy then due. Periodicals were established, and important conferences held. Missionary travelers like Wolff hastened afar with the urgent message. There was even a stir within the ranks of Catholicism. PFF3 740.3

But alas, certain inherent weaknesses and differences developed that intensified with the years. There was tragic failure to secure unity of view and of testimony. And along with the odium brought upon the advent cause by the outbreak of the “tongues” manifestation in Irving’s church, came the accentuation of differences in prophetic interpretation, the infiltration of the Catholic-born Futurist and Preterist theories, and the postponing effect of “continuationism.” The proclamation of the fair and lovely advent message in the Old World began to wane, to lapse into generalities, and then into silence. PFF3 741.1

Meantime the torch that was now bedimmed in the Old World was uplifted in the New, and the message that was dying out in Britain began to swell into a mighty cry in far-off America. But that climactic development is left for the next volume of The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers to portray. Such is the over all picture of the transitions of the centuries. PFF3 741.2