Beginning with the apostles, serious Christians have wrestled with the meaning of prophetic writings appearing in Scripture. Prognostications from other literature we treat separately. There is a range of prophecies from serious to silly that reflects on all prophetic messages, with too little attention on substance and too much on speculation. We hear more from secular observers about Nostradamus than we do about Isaiah. Isaac Newton, the genius of calculus, was much taken with Revelation, the last book of the Bible. In England, in mid seventeenth century, Lodowie Muggleton and John Reeve declared themselves to be the two witnesses of the Revelation. One was the prophet of blessing and the other of cursing. They gained some followers, the Muggletonians. At length they were tried for false claims such as declaring they knew who would be damned to hell and who would be saved to heaven. Reeve died before punishment could be meted out. Muggleton had to stand for ridicule and was fined 500 pounds, then a large sum. Remaining Muggletonians drifted away.
During my lifetime, there have been a number of groups, large and small, who have taken on the burden of futurism, even turning their ideas into bizarre conduct. One caravan of a hundred or so persons left Los Angeles during a late decade in the 1900s, and moved to Spokane, Washington – to escape an earthquake that would cause devastating floods in southern California. The story of the group, during that time when I followed the story, was tragic. The leader of the group died shortly after arriving in Spokane. Disillusionment took some, property losses were registered, and jobs lost. The prophecy of nature’s holocaust came to nothing. During the summer, 1940, a traveling evangelist by the name of Swain put up his tent in Akron, Ohio, and drew crowds. I went out to hear him one evening. I was seventeen years of age, preparing to enter college in the fall. Swain lined up the future for us. Hitler would conquer England, completing the ten toes of Daniel’s great idol – and so the story proceeded. Five years later Swain must have been forced to trash a number of dramatic sermons. The stories of such folly are lengthy. Not all were those of unsophisticated and misled persons. At the turn of the 21st Century, an educated and intelligent theologian announced, that in spite of his advanced years, he did not expect to die until Jesus returned as promised. A leading and influential gentleman, well known to me, announced the coming of Jesus based on his literal chronological calculations. He adjusted the date when the first one failed. He became an international news item. The second prediction also failed. He rightly apologized, but damage had been done, both inside and outside the Church.
What then is the careful person of faith to do with the significant prophecy of Scripture? He does not speculate, does not load the passages with more than they teach, and remembers the words of Jesus that the times are reserved to the Father. The prophecies are given to reflect the large truths of evil and good, of consequence and judgment, of hope and despair, of heaven and hell. The wise person uses the whole to gain a verdict or reserve. To be more definitive might assure sabotage of the purpose of the prophecy. The story of future history is, and ought to be, veiled. It is highly dependent on God’s mercy, grace, and his uses of time factors to meaning. Prophecy informs skeptical societies that there is a God, that he is involved in the course of creation’s story, and that the choices of persons make a difference in the effects of the prophecy. Those choosing to follow in God directed faith/conduct gain benefit. Those choosing some other, experience loss. That is the message of prophecy from God that we need for interpretation. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020