PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION
It is clear
that each of the millennial views has been held and at the present time is
held by men concerning whose sincerity and loyalty to the evangelical faith
there can be no doubt. That believing Christians through the ages, using the
same Bible and acknowledging it to be authoritative, have arrived at quite
different conclusions appears to be due primarily to different methods of
interpretation. Premillennialists place strong emphasis on literal
interpretation and pride themselves on taking Scripture just as it is
written. Post- and Ami1lennialists on the other hand, mindful of the fact
that much of both the Old and New Testament unquestionably is given in
figurative or symbolical language, have no objection on principle against
figurative interpretation and readily accept that if the evidence indicates
that it is preferable. This causes Premillennialists to charge that Post- and
Amillennialists explain away or reject parts of the Bible. One premillennial
writer says:
"Premillennialists
insist that one general rule of interpretation should be applied to all areas
of theology and that prophecy does not require spiritualization any more than
other aspects of truth... History is history, not allegory. Facts are facts.
Prophesied future events are just what they are prophesied" (Dr. John F.
Walvoord, Bibliotheca Sacra, July-Sept., l951, p. 272).
Another says:
"Premillenarians hold to a literal interpretation of the sacred Scriptures,
believing that the teachings of Christ and the Apostles are to be understood
in a literal sense except in certain places where some other meaning is
designated" (Jesse F. Silver, The Lord's Return, p. 204).
This general
principle of interpretation has been expressed as, "Literal wherever possible"
( H. Bonar ), or "Literal unless absurd" (Govett). One does not have to read
far in the Bible to discover that not everything can be taken literally.
Silver refers to "certain places" where some "other meaning" is designated.
But he gives no rule by which those certain places are to be recognized. We
find no labels in the Scripture itself telling us, "Take this literally," or
"Take that figuratively." Evidently the individual reader must use his own
judgment, backed by as much experience and common sense as he can muster. And
that, of course, will vary endlessly from individual to individual.
As an example
of what he means by literal interpretation Silver says: "Every prophecy
pointing to the first advent of Christ was literally fulfilled to the letter
in every detail" (p. 209). That statement has been made in substance by
various other Premillennialists. But it simply is not so. The very first
Messianic prophecy in Scripture is found in Genesis 3:15, where, in
pronouncing the curse upon the serpent God said, "He shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel." Now that prophecy certainly was not fulfilled
literally by a man crushing the head of a snake, or by a snake biting the heel
of a man. Rather it was fulfilled in a highly figurative sense when Christ
gained a complete victory and triumphed over the Devil and all his forces of
evil at the cross. The last prophecy in the Old Testament is found in Malachi
4;5, and reads as follows: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the great and terrible day of Jehovah come." That prophecy likewise was not
fulfilled literally. Christ Himself said that it was fulfilled in the person
of John the Baptist (Matt. 11:14), who came in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Again, we
have the prophecy of Isaiah: "The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the
wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain: and the
glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for
the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it" (Is. 40:3-5). This certainly was not
fulfilled by a highway building program in Palestine, but rather in the work
of John the Baptist who prepared the way for the public ministry of Jesus.
John himself said, "For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the
prophet, saying...", and then proceeded to quote these verses (Matt. 3:1-3;
Luke 3:3-6).
The words of
Isaiah 9:1,2, regarding the people of Zebulun and Naphtali, "The people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the
shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined," are fulfilled figuratively
in the ministry of Jesus. For Matthew says: "Now when he heard that John was
delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and
dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the border of Zebulun, and
Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet,
saying,
The land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles, The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light, And to
them that sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring
up" (Matt. 4:15,16).
In these
words Isaiah clearly was speaking of the spiritual darkness that exists
wherever sin rules, and of the spiritual light that would be brought to those
lands when the Messiah came.
And when
Balaam attempted to pronounce a curse upon the people of Israel he pronounced
instead a blessing, and said:
"There
shall come forth a star out of Jacob, And a sceptre shall rise out of
Israel, And shall smite through all the corners of Moab And break down all
the sons of tumult" (Nu. 24:17).
These words
are commonly understood as embodying a Messianic prophecy, and as having had
their fulfillment in the coming of Christ, who arose like a star out of
Israel, and whose kingdom eventually is to embrace the whole world.
Many other
Old Testament prophecies in figurative language might be cited, but surely
these are sufficient to show that it simply is not true that "Every prophecy
pointing to the first advent of Christ was literally fulfilled to the letter
in every detail."
That a great
deal of the Bible is given in figurative or symbolical language which by no
stretch of the imagination can be taken literally should be apparent to every
one. We spiritualize these statements because we regard this as the only way
in which their true meaning can be brought out. To cite only a few further
examples: In the midst of a very prosaic historical account of the deliverance
of the children of Israel from Egypt the providential and protective power of
God is set forth in these words: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Ex. 19:4).
Palestine is described as "a land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. 3:8). Read
the 23rd or 91st Psalm and note the almost continuous use of figurative
language.
The New
Testament follows the same practice. To his disciples Jesus said, "Ye are the
salt of the earth... Ye are the light of the world... Even so let your light
shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:13-16). When instituting the Lord's Supper He said:
"This is my body... This is my blood" (Matt. 26:26, 28). The writer recently
heard a Roman Catholic priest argue quite convincingly that these words prove
that in the Mass the bread and wine actually are changed into the flesh and
blood of Christ. From the standpoint of literalism it would be impossible to
refute that doctrine. Speaking to the elders of the Church in Ephesus Paul
said: "I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among
you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). To the Philippians he wrote: "Beware
of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision" (3:2). And
to the Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I
that live, but Christ liveth in me" (2:20). The word "blood" is used
repeatedly in a figurative sense with reference to the suffering and death of
Christ through which salvation was purchased on Calvary, e.g., "...in whom we
have our redemption through his blood" (Eph. 1:7); "...the blood of an eternal
covenant" (Heb. 13:20); "...and they washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb" ( Rev. 7:14; etc.). In spiritualizing certain Old
Testament prophecies we are in good company, for the New Testament writers
often do the same. In his discourse on the day of Pentecost Peter
spiritualized the rather extended prophecy of Joel (Acts 2:16-21). James'
discourse at the Jerusalem Conference spiritualized the prophecy of Amos (Acts
15;14-18). Literally thousands of such figurative and symbolic expressions are
found throughout the Bible, usually without explanation. It is assumed that
the reader will understand. Furthermore, foot washing is clearly commanded by
Jesus ( John 13:14), and is commended by Paul (I Tim. 5:10); and five times we
have the command, "Salute one another with a holy kiss" (Rom. 16:16; I Cor.
16:20; II Cor. 13:12; I Thess. 5:28; and I Peter 5:14). Yet only a very few
people take these literally.
To
spiritualize certain prophecies or other statements does not mean that we
explain them away. Sometimes their true meaning is to be found only in the
unseen spiritual world. Premillennialists often materialize and literalize
the prophecies to such an extent that they keep them on an earthly level and
miss their true and deeper meaning. That is exactly what the Jews did in
their interpretation of Messianic prophecy. They looked for literal
fulfillments with an earthly kingdom and a political ruler, and the result was
that they missed the redemptive element so completely that when the Messiah
came they did not recognize Him but instead rejected and crucified Him. The
fearful consequences of literalistic interpretation as it related to the first
coming should put us on guard against making the same mistake in regard to the
second coming.
The general
principle of rigid literal interpretation leads to the conclusion that when
Christ comes again He will re-establish the throne of David in the city of
Jerusalem, and that He will reign in an earthly political kingdom of Jewish
supremacy for one thousand years. According to that view the Jews are again to
possess all of Palestine and the surrounding areas and are to live there, the
temple is to be rebuilt, and the priesthood, temple ritual, animal sacrifices,
feasts and fasts are to be reinstituted.
Premillennialists encounter real difficulty, however, and are forced to
abandon their literalism when they come to the prophecies which predict that
in the new kingdom all the nations of the earth are to go up to Jerusalem
every year, and indeed every Sabbath; "And it shall come to pass that every
one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up
from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast
of tabernacles" (Zech. 14:16); "It shall come to pass, that from one new moon
to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship
before me, saith Jehovah" (Is. 66:23); and, 'Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, No
foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into
my sanctuary, of any foreigners that are among the children of Israel" (Ezek.
44:9).
It soon
becomes evident that such startling literalism goes a great deal farther than
its advocates are willing, or indeed, able to carry it. Taken literally these
predictions mean that the whole earth is to become one great Israelitish
nation and Church, with but one temple, one form of worship, and one common
law. Premillennialists do not want to acknowledge that weekly pilgrimages or
universal circumcision is to become the rule during the Millennium. Since they
cannot go through with the literal interpretation of their own millennial
passages it becomes evident that their principle of literal interpretation is
basically wrong.
Premillennialists also encounter difficulty with the Messianic and kingdom
prophecies which involve the restoration of the historical conditions of
Israel's national life, including her national enemies, not only the great
powers of Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon, but the smaller nations of Moab, Ammon,
Edom and Philistia, nations that have long since vanished from history without
possibility of recall. Note especially: Micah 5:5,6 (following the prediction
that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, vs. 2): "And this man [Messiah]
shall be our peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he
shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise up against him seven
shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria
with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: and he shall
deliver us from the Assyrian." Similar references are found relating to Egypt,
in Joel 3:19, and to Babylon in Revelation l8:1-24. In the Messianic prophecy
found in Isaiah ll regarding the relationship of the future kingdom to the
smaller surrounding nations we read: "And they shall fly down upon the
shoulders of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the
children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and
the children of Ammon shall obey them" (vs. 14).
It would
require a miracle of raising from the dead the nations referred to if these
verses are to be literally fulfilled. We believe that George B. Fletcher gives
the true interpretation when he says: "These verses are a prophecy of the
conversion of the Gentiles (vs. 10), and of the return of the remnant
according to the election of grace from among the Jews, that is, their return
to God in Christ (vss. 11:16). This prophecy began to be fulfilled on the Day
of Pentecost when 'Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven,' were
evangelized by the apostle Peter, and returned home to God in Christ, the
mighty God. Under a figure of speech these Hebrew preachers are represented as
flying from Jerusalem with eager activity upon Philistia to convert it; as an
eagle pounces upon the shoulders of a sheep or other animal, its prey (see
Acts 8:26-40, Philip's preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch; and 9:32-43, Peter's
mission to Joppa)" -- Pamphlet, The Millennium, p. 30. This one point alone,
that the nations referred to have disappeared from the face of the earth and
so could play no part in a future restoration of Israel, should be sufficient
proof that the literalistic method of interpretation cannot be defended.
Rejecting the
clearly enunciated Scripture principle that the Church has been established as
the instrument through which Christ makes a spiritual conquest of the world --
He is to sit at the right hand of God where He now is, the position of power
and influence, until His enemies have been made the footstool of His feet
(Mark 12:36; 16:19; Heb. 1:13) -- Premillennialism substitutes the view that
until He comes again the world is to grow progressively worse, and that at His
coming He is to conquer the world and overthrow His enemies in the most
gigantic and spectacular and sudden military conquest of all time. He is
pictured as using overwhelming force in this conquest in that He rains fire
and brimstone from heaven upon His enemies and thus utterly defeats Antichrist
and all his hosts. Premillennialism seriously misunderstands the genius of Old
Testament predictive prophecy in that it interprets in a literal,
materialistic sense those foreviews of the Messianic age which can only be
understood in a figurative sense.
In the
following passage material objects and familiar ideas of the Old Testament era
are used to set forth spiritual truth and to describe an era that had not yet
dawned and which therefore could be described intelligently only in the
thought-forms and language with which the people were familiar. "And it shall
come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be
established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills;
and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem"
(Is. 2:2,3).
These words
are fulfilled in that the Gospel took its course out from- Jerusalem as the
disciples went under orders to evangelize all the world, with the Church over
the centuries gradually coming into a position of world-wide prominence,
gradually increasing in power and becoming more influential in the lives of
men throughout the world until it stands out like a mountain on a plain. The
attempt to assign specific meaning to each figure of the landscape not only
mars the beauty of the picture but obscures the real meaning of the prophecy.
When God says, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," let
not the reader absurdly imagine that He had in mind only that insignificant
elevation called Zion, in the southeast corner of the city of Jerusalem.
"God's holy mountain," which at that time was the site of the temple and the
center of the true religion, is the familiar and endeared name for the Church
or Kingdom in the present Messianic age.
When we are
told that God will "create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy" (Is.
65:18), Jerusalem, the center of the theocracy and symbol of Old Testament
Israel, is used to represent the New Testament Church. The writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews spiritualizes these passages and shows that their true
fulfillment is found in the Christian Church when he says of believers: "For
ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with
fire... but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels and to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven" (12:18-23);
"Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God" (4:14); and, "We have such a high priest, who sat down on the
right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the
sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man"
(8:1,2). Paul, too, spiritualizes the term Jerusalem when he says that, 'The
Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother" (Gal. 4:26).
Isaiah says:
"He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked" (11:4). Similar language is found in
Revelation 19:11-21, where Christ is pictured as the rider on the white horse,
who slays His enemies with a sharp sword that proceeds "out of his mouth,"
that is, by the spoken word, the Gospel which is preached by His followers all
over the world, and by which He makes a thorough conquest of His enemies.
Isaiah says: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning-hooks" (2:4) -- fulfilled in the gradual elimination of wars as
the world is Christianized and the energies and resources of the people are
devoted to peaceful purposes. Again, he says: "And the wolf shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the
young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them... And
the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall
be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea" (11:6-9) --
that is, forces naturally antagonistic and at enmity with each other shall be
gradually subdued and reconciled with each other in a new relationship so that
they cooperate harmoniously in Messiah's Kingdom. A fitting example of the
wolf dwelling with the lamb is seen in the change that came over the vicious
persecutor Saul of Tarsus, who was a wolf ravening and destroying, but who was
so transformed by the Gospel of Christ that he became a lamb. After his
conversion he lost his hatred for the Christians, and became instead their
humble friend, confidant, defender. The lion eats straw like the ox when
men who formerly were strong and cruel and wild by nature are so changed by
the Gospel that they become gentle, meek, humble, and feed on the word of life
along with those who are members of Christ's Church.
One writer
has this to say about Isaiah's prophecy: "Since we have here a description of
Christ's kingdom which is not composed of beasts, wolves, serpents, lions,
etc., but of men, we must understand that 'in all My (God's) holy mountain,'
that is, the Church of Christ ('Zion'), the peace that is to reign is of such
a nature that those people who formerly were like wolves, bloodthirsty lions,
insidious adders will by the grace of God put off their old nature, cease to
harm one another, and peacefully dwell together as the lambs of Christ and
feed on the green pasture of the Gospel. Of this change of nature St. Paul
speaks in plain words (II Cor. 5:17), 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' Not
only the ferocious persecutor Saul who became the Gospel-preaching,
soul-seeking Paul is an example (I Tim. 1:13), but the entire history of
Christian missions abounds with such examples" (L. A. Heerboth, booklet, The
Millennium and the Bible, p. 12).
When Ezekiel
says that Israel is to be restored to her land forever (37:24 -- 28), he
indicates clearly that those words are not to be taken literally. He says:
"And my servant David shall be king over them... David my servant shall be
their prince for ever" (vss. 24,25). Jeremiah likewise says that David is to
be their king (30:9). If we take that literally, then David must be raised
from the dead to be the millennial king in Palestine,-- David, and not Christ.
The literalists say that David is here used as a symbol for Christ. But that
is not what the Bible says. To take David as a symbol for Christ would be to
"spiritualize" the prophecy away. If the other parts of the prophecy are
literal this must be too.
To take these
descriptions literally is to miss their real beauty and their great spiritual
import. The literalistic premillennial interpretation of many Old Testament
passages is, as Rutgers points out, "even beneath the level of certain
passages in the Old Testament itself, which transcend the particular, local
color and open up the higher spiritual, ethical and universal. These carnal,
materialistic notions," he very appropriately adds, "are (but) the 'swaddling
clothes' of Judaism" (Premillennialism in America, p. 255).
We have
indicated earlier that one of the errors of Premillennialism is that it fails
to understand that the Church is New Testament Israel. It
persists in thinking of "Israel" as composed only of the physical descendants
of Abraham. Dispensationalism carries this principle to an almost
unprecedented extreme, and insists that in all cases Israel must mean fleshly
Israel, or the Jews, that it can never mean the Church, and that the kingdom
prophecies of the Old Testament must be fulfilled to the Jews literally. And
since some of these were not fulfilled before the nation of Israel passed out
of existence, they tell us that Israel must be re-established in Palestine and
these fulfilled in a future age.
But the fact
of the matter is that the spiritual relationship is more important than, and
takes precedence over, the physical. Paul stated that quite clearly when he
said: "Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of
Abraham"; and again, "If ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs
according to promise" (Gal. 3:7,29). And Christ himself placed the spiritual
above the physical when he said, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who
is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt. 12:50). The
Epistle to the Hebrews is one sustained argument that the old forms and
ceremonies and relationships have passed away forever, and that all nations
and races now stand as equals before God.
