Prophecy can be no more separated from faith than it can be separated from love. The same approach must be made to the study of prophecy as when studying matters pertaining to faith. Most, if not all, of what faith reaches out after has been mentioned in the prophecies, and is the essence of prophecy.
It takes faith to accept what is revealed in the prophecies, just as it requires love to be in harmony with the prophetic revelations. “The sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:11) were all outlined in the prophetic word, and require “the Spirit of Christ” to understand them, just as without the Spirit of Christ no one can catch the vision of faith.
In Acts 13:27 Paul declared, “For all they that dwell at
Without faith in Christ as Lord and Savior the prophecies will not, can not, be understood. “The natural man receives not the things of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). “Only those who love and fear God can understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (PK. 516).
Thus the Jews were not able to understand the true significance of the prophecy of Daniel concerning the coming of the Messiah. As stated by the Lord’s servant: “It was well known that the seventy weeks of Daniel’s prophecy, covering the Messiah’s advent, were nearly ended; and all were eager to share in the era of national glory which was then expected” (DA. 133). They knew that the time was at hand for the fulfillment of this prophecy, but that portion of the prophecy which required a deeper spiritual under standing of the Messiah’s character and kingdom, they failed to discern.
The same is true today. It is well known that such prophecies as the "drying up of the waters of the Euphrates" are about to be fulfilled, but through misinterpreting these prophecies in connection with military/political events, many fail to discern their deeper spiritual import in connection with the Savior’s work of delivering His remnant people and of self-destruction of those who choose to be their enemies.
Those who desire a knowledge of the significance of these prophecies may be encouraged to believe that the Lord will answer the prayers of all who earnestly seek Him. The Lord promises: “Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knows not.” (Jeremiah 33:3). “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant- (PS. 25:14). “The meek will He guide In judgment: and the meek will He teach His way.” (v.9).
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments.” (Psalm 119: 10). Concerning the understanding of the last-day prophecies, the prophecy and the promise is given: “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:11). The necessity of having our hearts right with God when we endeavor to seek out the meaning of the prophecies is further shown by the following statements from the pen of God’s servant:
“The perception and appreciation of truth, He [Jesus] said, depends less upon the mind than upon the heart. Truth must be received into the soul ... its reception depends upon the renunciation of every sin that the Spirit of God reveals” (DA. 455). “The Bible should never be studied without prayer. The Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the importance of those things easily understood, or prevent us from wresting truths difficult of comprehension” (GC. 599).
Every prophecy in the Bible can be understood only in the light of the work of Jesus in His salvation of His saints, or in His letting go of the control of the protection from Satan for sinners, by their own decisions. It was because the Jewish nation refused to yield to Christ’s Spirit as He strove to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, that caused them to misunderstand them. As stated by the servant of the Lord:
“While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no true conception of His mission. They did not seek redemption from sin, but deliverance from the Romans. They looked for the Messiah to come as a conqueror, to break the oppressor’s power, and exalt
Again the Spirit of Prophecy declares: “The Jewish leaders had studied the teachings of the prophets concerning the kingdom of the Messiah; but they had done this, not with a sincere desire to know the truth, but with the purpose of finding evidence to sustain their ambitious hopes” (DA. 212).
Thus we observe that a right understanding of the prophecies depends upon having the Spirit of Christ in our hearts revealing to our souls the work of Jesus. “To Christ give all the prophets witness”. It was “because they knew Him not” that they misinterpreted “the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day”. They rejected Christ because they refused to interpret all the prophecies in the light of the redemptive work of Jesus.
And the reason why some of the prophecies are misinterpreted by even good Christians is that they do not study those misinterpreted prophecies in the light of Christ’s redemptive work. Once we lose sight of the loving character of Jesus in our study of the prophecies we cannot do anything else but misinterpret them.
No Christian would dream of robbing Jesus of any glory revealed concerning Him in the prophecies, and yet this is what some do; and also rob themselves of the comfort and joy which is obtained from knowing Christ’s messages of love revealed in unfulfilled prophecies. The reason some declare that certain prophecies are unimportant or cannot be understood until they are fulfilled, is because they do not interpret them in relation to the work of Jesus - His saving and keeping power over His church.
