for you expressly tuti...

How to Interpret Prophecy

Before taking up a study of prophecy let us first learn how to interpret it. Thousands of preachers and teachers of the Bible constantly make the statement that prophecy is hard to understand. It is true that it is hard to understand if one has to harmonize all the many foolish speculations and interpretations of men on the subject. But thank God it is not hard to understand if one will follow the few common-sense rules below:

(1) Give the same meaning to the words of prophecy that are given to words of history; that is, give the same meaning to the words of the entire Bible that are given to the same words outside the Bible. The common theory that just because a word is found in prophecy, or because it is in the Bible, it automatically has a mystical meaning and cannot be understood in the literal sense is entirely wrong. For example, the word year is generally taken to mean a day and a day to mean a year just because it is prophecy. This is entirely wrong, as we have seen in Lesson Fifteen, Point VIII, which see.

(2) Do not change the literal to a spiritual or symbolic meaning.
One modern writer in his book of lectures on Revelation is a fair example of the modern trend of changing words and statements from the literal meaning to any meaning that suits one's fancy. He interprets the word "earthquake" of the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17) to be the breaking up of society instead of a literal earthquake, the sun darkened to be a type of Christ rejected and God dethroned, the moon turned to blood to be the destruction of derived authority, the stars falling to be the downfall and apostasy of religious leaders in the ecclesiastical heavens (whatever they are), and the heavens departing as a scroll to be that all organized Christianity will be destroyed.

This same writer says concerning the trumpet judgments, that they are not literal. The grass of the first trumpet (Rev. 8:7) means the common people and the trees mean the dignity of man, so instead of the grass and one third of the trees being literally burned, as is plainly stated, all common men and one third of the dignity of man will be burned.

Instead of a third of the sea being turned to blood, one third of the creatures dying, and one third of the ships being destroyed in the second trumpet (Rev. 8:8,9), the burning mountain causing this, he says, means spiritual Babylon cast into the sea of nations and destroyed by the people.

Instead of the drinking waters being made bitter by a star falling from Heaven causing the death of many men as in the third trumpet (Rev. 8:10,11), he says, the star falling from Heaven means the pope of Rome or some religious dignitary. But how could the pope fall from Heaven into the waters and poison them? How will he ever get to Heaven to fall from Heaven in the tribulation? How could he poison the drinking waters if he did fall in them?

The darkening of a third of the sun, moon, and stars as in the fourth trumpet (Rev. 8:12), he says, means spiritual darkness instead of the literal darkening of part of the
This writer explains the fifth trumpet (Rev. 9:1-12) thus, "the star that falls f row Heaven with the key to the Abyss is the pope or the apostate religious leader of the third trumpet. (This would make the pope fall from Heaven twice, once under the third trumpet and once again under the fifth trumpet.) The key is the system that opens the Abyss. The smoke of the pit is the blotting out of the true light in man's spiritual sky by demon powers, when false religions are dominant after the Holy Spirit is taken out of the world. The locusts are not literal but they symbolize these false religions spreading like locusts. The torment of the stings of these creatures is the torment that these religions will bring. The faces of men that these creatures have means intelligence and reason (but since they are not real creatures how are they to exercise these faculties?). Their hair like women means an unholy life and the iron breastplates mean that the conscience is destroyed. The grass and the trees are not symbolical as they are in the first trumpet. The five months these creatures torment men are not literal and it is not explained what they mean. Thus nothing in Revelation is literal if we believe this method of interpretation.

The sixth trumpet (Rev. 9:13-21), he says, is not literal, but the 200,000,000 creatures refer to Asiatic hordes that overran Europe and Palestine through many centuries.

This writer says the two witnesses are not two men, but are symbolical of the witnessing Jewish remnant. He also says the manchild is Christ; the woman is Israel; the sun is the glory of the New Testaments; the moon the glory of the Old Testament; the twelve stars the twelve tribes; the 1,260 days of Rev. 12:6 mean the first part of Daniel's Seventieth Week when the woman flees, or Israel is scattered among the nations; the "times" of Rev. 12:14 refer to the last half of the Week; and the water the dragon casts out of his mouth is evil teaching but Israel will escape these teachings and be the only testimony for God.
He says the beast of Rev. 13 is the Revived Roman Empire, the seven heads are seven nulls on which the city of Rome is built, the head wounded to death is imperial Rome Revived, but how could one of these literal hills be imperial Rome to be revived if it is part of the ground on which Rome is built?

He says the seven vials (Rev. 16:2-21) are not literal except the fourth and fifth ones, but who is he to decide for us that these are the only judgments of the seals, trumpets, and vials that are literal? He explains the sores of the first vial as a spiritual plague, the second and third vials are the drying up of the source of life (whatever that means), and are not the sea and rivers literally turned to blood as it reads. The sixth vial is the destruction of the Turkish Empire instead of the literal drying up of the river Euphrates, but why not give this river the same meaning as in Gen. 2:14; 15:18; Jer. 13:4-7; 46:2-10; 51:63; Rev. 9:14, and see how ridiculous it would be? He says that the "earthquake" of the seventh vial that destroys the city of Babylon and many cities of the nations is not literal. It means the destruction of every religious institution and civilization as we now know it today.

This method of interpretation of Revelation really should be called how not to interpret prophecy, for it does away with the literal meaning of God's own revelation and substitutes man's theories instead. If these ideas are really what God wanted revealed as going to happen, could not God have made this clear when He gave the Revelation instead of giving us what He did reveal? Would He have to wait until this man lived to finally get to us what He was really intending to convey?

(3) Do not seek to find hidden meanings to the words of Scripture, or add to Scripture. Be satisfied with what God has seen fit to reveal and never read between the lines or add to Scripture in order to understand it. For example, men of recent years have chosen about thirty-five men in past history and some that are still alive and have transliterated their names into Greek to see if their names equal "666" and to see if they could possibly be the Antichrist. When the name of any man equals this number men conclude that that man must be the Antichrist referred to in Rev. 13:18. Forget it! This is all foolish speculation and proves nothing concerning the mark or the name of the Antichrist, as we shall see.
Others find the United States in prophecy by taking the letters U. S. A. out of the name Jer-USA-lem. If this is the only way we can find the United States in prophecy, it would be best to leave her out. The fact is that the United States is not once mentioned in prophecy anywhere. Isa. 18 refers to the inhabitants of the Sudan "which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" and it does not refer to the United States. The white horse rider of Rev. 6 and the false prophet of Rev. 13:11-18; 19:20; 20:10, do not refer to the United States, as we shall see in future lessons.

Still others find the mark of the beast in the faces on the American dime, in keeping Sunday as the sabbath, in union cards, in social security numbers, in rationing, and many other theories that are ridiculous. These and many other foolish theories are constantly preached to the ignorant masses who take them up and scatter such ideas world-wide while truth is getting on its boots. The more a man pronounces foolish and sensational theories and the more he finds so-called hidden meanings to Scriptures the more intelligent he is heralded by men who should know better. The devil stands back and laughs at such foolish speculation and distortion of God's Word, for he knows that such silly interpretations disgust intelligent men and cause many to discard prophecy and become skeptical about the real truth when they do hear