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Listen to Part 2
The Prophets of the Bible
Glance now at the general character of the prophets of
the Bible and their testimonies. A rather remarkable fact is
that the prophets, with few exceptions, were not of the
priestly class; and that in their day their prophecies were
generally repugnant to the degenerating and time-serving
priesthood, as well as to the idolatrously inclined people.
The burden of their messages from God to the people was
generally reproof for sin, coupled with warnings of coming
punishments, intertwined with which we find occasional
promises of future blessings, after they should be cleansed
from sin and should return to favor with the Lord. Their
experiences, for the most part, were far from enviable: they
were generally reviled, many of them being imprisoned and
put to violent deaths. See 1 Kings 18:4,10,17,18; 19:10;
Jer. 38:6; Heb. 11:32-38. In some instances it was
years after
their death before their true character as God's prophets
was recognized. But we speak thus of the prophetic writers
whose utterances claim to be the direct inspiration of Jehovah.
It is well in this connection that we should remember
that in the giving of the law to Israel there was no priestly
intervention: it was given by God to the people by the hand
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of Moses. (Exod. 19:17-25; Deut. 5:1-5) And,
furthermore,
it was made the duty of every man seeing a violation of the
law to reprove the sinner. (Lev. 19:17) Thus all had the
authority
to teach and reprove; but since, as in our own day,
the majority were absorbed in the cares of business, and became
indifferent and irreligious, the few comparatively fulfilled
this requirement by reproving sin and exhorting to
godliness; and these preachers are termed "prophets" in
both the Old and New Testaments. The term prophet, as
generally used, signifies public expounder, and the public
teachers of idolatry were also so called; for instance, "the
prophets of Baal," etc. See 1 Cor. 14:1-6; 2 Pet. 2:1;
Matt. 7:15; 14:5; Neh. 6:7; 1 Kings 18:40; Titus 1:12.
Prophesying, in the ordinary sense of teaching, afterward
became popular with a certain class, and degenerated into
Phariseeism--teaching, instead of God's commandments,
the traditions of the ancients, thereby opposing the truth
and becoming false prophets, or false teachers. Matt. 15:2-9
Out of the large class called prophets, Jehovah at various
times made choice of some whom he specially commissioned
to deliver messages, relating sometimes to things
then at hand, at other times to future events. It is to the
writings of this class, who spoke and wrote as they were
moved by the holy Spirit, that we are now giving attention.
They might with propriety be designated
Divinely Commissioned Prophets or Seers.
When it is remembered that these prophets were mainly
laymen, drawing no support from the tithes of the priestly
tribe, and when, added to this, is the fact that they were
frequently not only the reprovers of kings and judges, but
also of priests (though they reproved not the office, but the
personal sins of the men who filled it), it becomes evident
that we could not reasonably decide that these prophets
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were parties to any league of priests, or others, to fabricate
falsehood in the name of God. Reason in the light of facts
contradicts such a suspicion.
If, then, we find no reason to impeach the motives of the
various writers of the Bible, but find that the spirit of its
various parts is righteousness and truth, let us next proceed
to inquire whether there exists any link, or bond of union,
between the records of Moses, those of the other prophets,
and those of the New Testament writers. If we shall find one
common line of thought interwoven throughout the Law
and the Prophets and the New Testament writings, which
cover a period of fifteen hundred years, this, taken in connection
with the character of the writers, will be a good reason
for admitting their claim--that they are divinely inspired
--particularly if the theme common to all of them is a
grand and noble one, comporting well with what sanctified
common sense teaches regarding the character and attributes
of God.
This we do find: One plan, spirit, aim and purpose pervades
the entire book. Its opening pages record the creation
and fall of man; its closing pages tell of man's recovery from
that fall; and its intervening pages show the successive steps
of the plan of God for the accomplishment of this purpose.
The harmony, yet contrast, of the first three and the last
three chapters of the Bible is striking. The one describes the
first creation, the other the renewed or restored creation,
with sin and its penal-curse removed; the one shows Satan
and evil entering the world to deceive and destroy, the
other shows his work undone, the destroyed ones restored,
evil extinguished and Satan destroyed; the one shows the
dominion lost by Adam, the other shows it restored and forever
established by Christ, and God's will done in earth as
in heaven; the one shows sin the producing cause of degradation,
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shame and death, the other shows the reward of
righteousness to be glory, honor and life.
Though written by many pens, at various times, under
different circumstances, the Bible is not merely a collection
of moral precepts, wise maxims and words of comfort. It is
more: it is a reasonable, philosophical and harmonious
statement of the causes of present evil in the world, its only
remedy and the final results as seen by divine wisdom,
which saw the end of the plan from before its beginning,
marking as well the pathway of God's people, and upholding
and strengthening them with exceeding great and precious
promises to be realized in due time.
The teaching of Genesis, that man was tried in a state of
original perfection in one representative, that he failed, and
that the present imperfection, sickness and death are the results,
but that God has not forsaken him, and will ultimately
recover him through a redeemer, born of a woman
(Gen. 3:15), is kept up and elaborated all the way through.
The necessity of the death of a redeemer as a sacrifice for
sins, and of his righteousness as a covering for our sin, is
pointed out in the clothing of skins for Adam and Eve; in
the acceptance of Abel's offerings; in Isaac on the altar; in
the death of the various sacrifices by which the patriarchs
had access to God, and of those instituted under the law
and perpetuated throughout the Jewish age. The prophets,
though credited with understanding but slightly the significance
of some of their utterances (1 Pet. 1:12), mention the
laying of the sins upon a person instead of a dumb animal,
and in prophetic vision they see him who is to redeem and
to deliver the race led "as a lamb to the slaughter," that
"the chastisement of our peace was upon him," and that
"by his stripes we are healed." They pictured him as "despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
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with grief," and declared that "The Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:3-6) They told
where this deliverer would be born (Micah 5:2), and when
he should die, assuring us that it would be "not for himself."
(Dan. 9:26) They mention various peculiarities concerning
him--that he would be "righteous," and free from
"deceit," "violence," or any just cause of death (Isa. 53:8,9,11);
that he would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver
(Zech. 11:12); that he would be numbered among transgressors
in his death (Isa. 53:12); that not a bone of him
should be broken (Psa. 34:20; John 19:36); and that
though he should die and be buried, his flesh would not corrupt,
neither would he remain in the grave. Psa. 16:10;
Acts 2:31
The New Testament writers clearly and forcibly, yet simply,
record the fulfilment of all these predictions in Jesus of
Nazareth, and by logical reasonings show that such a ransom
price as he gave was needful, as already predicted in the
Law and the Prophets, before the sins of the world could be
blotted out. (Isa. 1:18) They trace the entire plan in a most
logical and forcible manner, appealing neither to the prejudices
nor to the passions of their hearers, but to their
enlightened reason alone, furnishing some of the most
remarkably close and cogent reasoning to be found anywhere
on any subject. See Rom. 5:17-19, and onward to
the 12th chapter.
Moses, in the Law, pointed not alone to a sacrifice, but
also to a blotting out of sins and a blessing of the people
under this great deliverer, whose power and authority he
declares shall vastly exceed his own, though it should be
"like unto" it. (Deut. 18:15,19) The promised deliverer
is to
bless not only Israel, but through Israel "all the families of
the earth." (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4) And
notwithstanding
the prejudices of the Jewish people to the contrary,
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the prophets continue the same strain, declaring that
Messiah shall be also "for a light to lighten the Gentiles"
(Isa. 49:6; Luke 2:32); that the Gentiles should
come to him
"from the ends of the earth" (Jer. 16:19); that his name
"shall be great among the Gentiles" (Mal. 1:11); and
that
"the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall
see it together." Isa. 40:5. See also Isa. 42:1-7.
The New Testament writers claim a divine anointing
which enabled them to realize the fulfilment of the prophecies
concerning the sacrifice of Christ. They, though prejudiced
as Jews to think of every blessing as limited to their
own people (Acts 11:1-18), were enabled to see that while
their nation would be blessed, all the families of the earth
should be blessed also, with and through them. They saw
also that, before the blessing of either Israel or the world, a
selection would be made of a "little flock" from both Jews
and Gentiles, who, being tried, would be found worthy to
be made joint-heirs of the glory and honor of the Great Deliverer,
and sharers with him of the honor of blessing Israel
and all the nations. Rom. 8:17
These writers point out the harmony of this view with
what is written in the Law and the Prophets; and the grandeur
and breadth of the plan they present more than meets
the most exalted conception of what it purports to be--
"Good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people."
The thought of Messiah as a ruler of not only Israel, but
also of the world, suggested in the books of Moses, is the
theme of all the prophets. The thought of the kingdom was
uppermost also in the teaching of the apostles; and Jesus
taught that we should pray, "Thy Kingdom come," and
promised those a share in it who would first suffer for the
truth, and thus prove themselves worthy.
This hope of the coming glorious kingdom gave all the
faithful ones courage to endure persecution and to suffer
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reproach, deprivation and loss, even unto death. And in the
grand allegorical prophecy which closes the New Testament,
the worthy "Lamb that was slain" (Rev. 5:12), the
worthy "overcomers" whom he will make kings and priests
in his kingdom, and the trials and obstacles which they
must overcome to be worthy to share that kingdom, are all
faithfully portrayed. Then are introduced symbolic representations
of the blessings to accrue to the world under that
Millennial reign, when Satan shall be bound and Adamic
death and sorrow wiped out, and when all the nations of
earth shall walk in the light of the heavenly kingdom--the
new Jerusalem.
The Bible, from first to last, holds out a doctrine found
nowhere else, and in opposition to the theories of all the
heathen religions--that a future life for the dead will come
through a RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. All the inspired
writers expressed their confidence in a redeemer, and one
declares that "in the morning," when God shall call them
from the tomb, and they shall come forth, the wicked shall
no longer hold the rulership of earth; for "The upright shall
have dominion over them, in the morning." (Psa. 49:14)
The resurrection of the dead is taught by the prophets; and
the writers of the New Testament base all their hopes of future
life and blessing upon it. Paul expresses it thus: "If
there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen;
and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and
your faith is also vain;...then they which are fallen asleep
in Christ are perished. But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept;...for as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
1 Cor. 15:13-22
Like a watch, whose many wheels might at first seem superfluous,
but whose slowest moving wheels are essential, so
the Bible, composed of many parts, and prepared by many
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pens, is one complete and harmonious whole. Not a single
part is superfluous, and though some parts take a more active
and prominent place than others, all are useful and
necessary. It is becoming popular among the so-called "advanced
thinkers" and "great theologians" of the present
day to treat lightly, or to ignore if they do not deny, many
of the "miracles" of the Old Testament, calling them "old
wives' fables." Of these are the accounts of Jonah and the
great fish, Noah and the ark, Eve and the serpent, the
standing still of the sun at the command of Joshua, and Balaam's
speaking ass. Seemingly these wise men overlook the
fact that the Bible is so interwoven and united in its various
parts that to tear from it these miracles, or to discredit
them, is to destroy or discredit the whole. For if the original
accounts are false, those who repeated them were either falsifiers
or dupes, and in either case it would be impossible for
us to accept their testimony as divinely inspired. To eliminate
from the Bible the miracles mentioned would invalidate
the testimony of its principal writers, besides that
of our Lord Jesus. The story of the fall is attested by Paul
(Rom. 5:17); also Eve's beguilement by the serpent (2 Cor. 11:3;
1 Tim. 2:14). See also our Lord's reference to the latter
in Rev. 12:9 and 20:2. The standing of the sun at the
overthrow of the Amorites, as an evidence of the Lord's
power, was evidently typical of the power to be displayed in
the future, in "the day of the Lord," at the hand of him
whom Joshua typified. This is attested by three prophets.
(Isa. 28:21; Habak. 2:1-3,13,14 and 3:2-11;
Zech. 14:1,6,7)
The account of the speaking ass is confirmed by Jude (verse 11),
and by Peter (2 Pet. 2:16). And the great
teacher, Jesus, confirms the narratives of Jonah and the
great fish and of Noah and the flood. (Matt. 12:40; 24:38,39;
Luke 17:26. See also 1 Pet. 3:20.) Really these
are no
greater miracles than those performed by Jesus and the
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apostles, such as the turning of water into wine, the healing
of diseases, etc.; and as a miracle, the awakening of the
dead is most wonderful of all.
These miracles, not common to our experience, find parallels
about us every day, which, being more common, are
passed by unnoticed. The reproduction of living organisms,
either animal or vegetable, is beyond our comprehension, as well
as beyond our power--hence miraculous. We can see the
exercise of life principle, but can neither understand nor
produce it. We plant two seeds side by side; the conditions,
air, water, and soil, are alike; they grow, we cannot tell how,
nor can the wisest philosopher explain this miracle. These
seeds develop organisms of opposite tendencies; one creeps,
the other stands erect; form, flower, coloring, everything
differs, though the conditions were the same. Such miracles
grow common to us, and we cease to remember them as
such as we leave the wonderment of childhood; yet they
manifest a power as much beyond our own, and beyond
our limited intelligence, as the few miracles recorded in the
Bible for special purposes, and as intended illustrations of
omnipotence, and of the ability of the great Creator to
overcome every obstacle and to accomplish all his will,
even to our promised resurrection from the dead, the
extermination of evil, and the ultimate reign of everlasting
righteousness.
Here we rest the case. Every step has been tested by reason.
We have found that there is a God, a supreme, intelligent
Creator, in whom wisdom, justice, love and power
exist in perfect harmony. We have found it reasonable to
expect a revelation of his plans to his creatures capable of
appreciating and having an interest in them. We have
found the Bible, claiming to be that revelation, worthy of
consideration. We have examined its writers, and their possible
objects, in the light of what they taught; we have been
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astonished; and our reason has told us that such wisdom,
combined with such purity of motive, was not the cunning
device of crafty men for selfish ends. Reason has urged that
it is far more probable that such righteous and benevolent
sentiments and laws must be of God and not of men, and
has insisted that they could not be the work of knavish
priests. We have seen the harmony of testimony concerning
Jesus, his ransom-sacrifice, and the resurrection and blessing
of all as the outcome, in his glorious kingdom to come;
and reason has told us that a scheme so grand and comprehensive,
beyond all we could otherwise have reason to expect,
yet built upon such reasonable deductions, must be
the plan of God for which we seek. It cannot be the mere
device of men, for even when revealed, it is almost too
grand to be believed by men.
When Columbus discovered the Orinoco river, some one
said he had found an island. He replied: "No such river as
that flows from an island. That mighty torrent must drain
the waters of a continent." So the depth and power and wisdom
and scope of the Bible's testimony convince us that not
man, but the Almighty God, is the author of its plans and
revelations. We have taken but a hasty glance at the surface
claims of the Scriptures to be of divine origin, and have
found them reasonable. Succeeding chapters will unfold
the various parts of the plan of God, and will, we trust, give
ample evidence to every candid mind that the Bible is a
divinely inspired revelation, and that the length and
breadth and height and depth of the plan it unfolds gloriously
reflect the divine character, hitherto but dimly comprehended,
but now more clearly seen in the light of the
dawning Millennial Day.
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Truth Most Precious
Great truths are dearly bought. The common truth,
Such as men give and take from day to day,
Comes in the common walk of easy life,
Blown by the careless wind across our way.
Great truths are dearly won; not found by chance,
Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.
Sometimes, 'mid conflict, turmoil, fear and grief,
When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,
Ploughs up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,
It brings some buried truth-seeds to the light.
Not in the general mart, 'mid corn and wine;
Not in the merchandise of gold and gems;
Not in the world's gay hall of midnight mirth,
Nor 'mid the blaze of regal diadems;
Not in the general clash of human creeds,
Nor in the merchandise 'twixt church and world,
Is truth's fair treasure found, 'mongst tares and weeds;
Nor her fair banner in their midst unfurled.
Truth springs like harvest from the well-ploughed fields,
Rewarding patient toil, and faith and zeal.
To those thus seeking her, she ever yields
Her richest treasures for their lasting weal.
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