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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

(4) Believe that prophecy can be understood just as it is without any changes or additions and that it is simply a record of things to happen at some time after its utterance. Prophecy should be understood to be as literal as history is. After all, history is simply a record of what has happened and prophecy is a record of what is going to happen. Both kinds of records are in the same everyday human language and both should be understood on the same basis. God expects us to understand both just as they are written, and He will judge us for not using our common intelligence to understand both as they are plainly written.

(5) Forget the idea that prophecy must be fulfilled before it can be understood. If prophecy must be fulfilled before it can be understood, then it has failed in its purpose of revealing to man beforehand what is to happen. Many authors apologize for their uncertainty concerning the things they write about and declare we cannot hope to fully understand prophecies until their final fulfillment. Such men had better not write at all than to be uncertain about what they are writing. If one has a definite "thus saith the Lord" for what he says, he does not need to apologize.

What we mean to emphasize by this point is that all true prophecy is clear in itself as to what is to happen, and it is just as clear before it happens as it is after it is fulfilled. Take the subject of modern inventions as being a fulfillment of prophecy. Men never dreamed of an automobile and never interpreted Nahum 2:3, 4 in connection with one until they were invented. Men never dreamed of airplanes, radios, locomotives, or any single invention and never interpreted any Scripture as definitely predicting them until after they were invented. After we got them, prophetical students soon claimed they found them in prophecy. Prior to 1945 Bible students never dreamed of atom bombs as being a subject of prophecy, but immediately after they were dropped in that year, not only did Japan wake up but prophetical sensationalists arose from their long slumber and ignorance and found them in prophecy. Thus, in such a short time nearly everyone in Christendom (if sensationalists are believed, knows that the atom bomb is a fulfillment of several prophecies and they also know now just how several other prophecies are going to be fulfilled. The world is coming to an end, and many other prophecies will be fulfilled by the atom bomb, so these men say.
The sooner that we all have our speculative, sensational, prophetical appendix removed, the better off all of us will be, and the sooner the good name of prophecy will be restored, and men will again respect true prophecy as stated by God. The fact is that no single invention is mentioned in particular in the Bible. The so-called automobile in Nahum 2:3, 4 refers to horse-drawn chariots of the king of Nineveh and those of Nebuchadnezzar in actual combat in the streets of Nineveh over the possession of the Assyrian Empire. This fact is made clear in Nahum 2:1-4, 13; 3:1-3, where we have mention of "the whip . . . rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses" and "the horsemen." The so-called locomotive of Job 41 is "king over all the children of pride," according to the last verse. The phrase "as birds flying" in Isa. 31:5 does not refer to the airplane but to the second coming of Christ as is proved in the passage itself. It states that "as birds flying" God, not airplanes, will come down to fight for Israel and at that time every man shall cast away his idols forever, and we all know that this did not happen in 1917 when General Allenby took Jerusalem from the Turks. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the armies of Heaven come with Jesus "as birds flying" as in Zech. 14:1-5; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Jude 14; Rev. 19:11-21; etc. And so it goes with any single invention that men have found in prophecy. The context proves that the subject of the passage is not some modern invention. Dan. 12:4 is the only verse in all the Bible that covers inventions of today. One can use this verse and preach on inventions and not be so sensational and foolish in preaching on prophecy by using passages that do not refer to inventions.

(6) Do not interpret God's own interpretation of any symbol or prophecy or change God's meaning from that which is plainly and obviously clear. God always interprets His own symbols as can be plainly seen in Dan. 2:38-44; 7:17, 23-26; 8:20-23; 9:20-27; 11:2-45; 12:1-13; Rev. 1:20; 12:9; 13:18; 17:8-18; etc. Plain literal prophecy needs no interpretation as it is simply history written before it happens. If God uses a word or a figure of speech or any other form of human expression in a different way from what is commonly understood, we have a right to expect Him to make due explanation. Otherwise take His Word as it is commonly used and understood. When there is no explanation of a symbol or a figure of speech it is to be taken for granted that it is not only clear in itself, but it is clear from its usage elsewhere in Scripture, and especially when it is harmonized with all other Scriptures on the same subject.

(7) Give only one meaning to a passage and that the plain literal meaning unless it is male clear that a double meaning should be understood. In order to understand certain prophecies there are two laws in prophecy that should be understood.

A. The law of double reference. In some passages two distinct persons are referred to, the visible person addressed and the invisible person who is using the visible one as a tool, as we have already explained in Lesson Seven, Point IV and Lesson Nine, Point VIII, 2, which see.

B. The law of prophetic perspective. This law is that of recording future events as if they were continuous and successive, but the fact is that there may be thousands of years between the events. For example, in Isa. 61:1-3, as recorded in Luke 4: 17-20, Christ stopped His reading in the prophecy at the words "the acceptable year of the Lord." He closed the book and said, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." If He had continued reading the prophecy and had said, "and the day of vengeance of our God," and had said this was fulfilled that day His statement would have been untrue, for "the day of vengeance" has not yet come. There has been already about two thousand years since "the acceptable year of the Lord." The day of vengeance has not yet come, and will not come until the tribulation of the future. Both events are in one verse in the prophecy and have only a comma between them, which would indicate that since both events were given together they would follow each other in succession, but they did not.

In other words, the prophets see things in the same vision as one would look at a distant range of mountain peaks where the valleys between them are not seen. One must learn to take each separate event in prophecy and collect together all that is said about it in all the Bible and see when it will be fulfilled in connection with the other events. This is rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15).
(8) The key to the interpretation of many prophecies is to regard the prophet primarily as a preacher of righteousness. A prophet was not only a foreteller but a forthteller. He was a speaker for God, to rebuke, to instruct, and to correct people in his day, as well as to foretell future events. He had powers of insight and foresight and he was more than a foreteller of future events. He was inspired to see conditions about him and the purposes of God in these things. The present was only a moment in the divine plan which was working toward the end of establishing the Kingdom of God again on Earth and ridding the Earth of all rebellion. Hence, the prophet was a teacher, a social reformer, and a statesman, as well as a herald of the future kingdom. Many of his utterances were really sermons preached as the occasion demanded. This is especially true of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets, although in their books there are many prophecies of the future. Daniel and John were mainly prophets for foretelling future events, although in their books there is the element of forthtelling as seen in Dan. 2, 4, 5, 6; etc., and Rev. 2,3.

(9) One main thing to keep in mind in all prophecy is the history of the writer and his times and the circumstances under which he wrote. One must understand the exact position of the writer as to the age in which he lived and the purpose of his predictions and the people to whom he wrote and the subject of his message. With a knowledge of the historical background, the manners and customs of the age and of people to whom he wrote, the peculiar idioms and human expressions of his times, and the purpose he had in view, there cannot possibly be any misunderstanding of one thing about which any one of them writes.

I found this article to be pretty interesting....

Messianic Prophecy is so dramatic today, because with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the reliability of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament (both of which have been proven to exist prior to the time Jesus walked on the earth) you can be assured that these prophecies were not “conspired” after-the-fact.

Messianic Prophecy: Fulfillment by Jesus Christ
Messianic prophecy was fulfilled by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Although many Jews did not accept Jesus as their Messiah, many did, and they became the Jewish sect later known as the Christians. Christianity, based in dramatic part on the fulfillment of historical prophecy, spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire of the 1st Century. Examine the prophecies yourself, and calculate the probability of one man fulfilling just a handful of the most specific ones, and you’ll be amazed.

"Jesus said to them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me." Luke 24:44 (KJV)

I think you have provided this one before Meknow....The Old Testament verses are the prophecy; the New Testament verses proclaim the fulfillment. Check them all out for yourself!

Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23)

A descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16)

Of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23, 33; Hebrews 7:14)

Of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1)

Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7)

Taken to Egypt (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14-15)

Herod´s killing of the infants (Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18)

Anointed by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Matthew 3:16-17)

Heralded by the messenger of the Lord (John the Baptist) (Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 3:1-3)

Would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6; Matthew 9:35)

Would preach good news (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:14-21)

Would minister in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1; Matthew 4:12-16) Would cleanse the Temple (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12-13)

Would first present Himself as King 173,880 days from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25; Matthew 21:4-11)

Would enter Jerusalem as a king on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:4-9)
Would be rejected by Jews (Psalm 118:22; I Peter 2:7)
Die a humiliating death (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53) involving:
rejection (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:10-11; 7:5,48)
betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Luke 22:3-4; John 13:18)
sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:14-15)
silence before His accusers (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 27:12-14)
being mocked (Psalm 22: 7-8; Matthew 27:31)
beaten (Isaiah 52:14; Matthew 27:26)
spit upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 27:30)
piercing His hands and feet (Psalm 22:16; Matthew 27:31)
being crucified with thieves (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38)
praying for His persecutors (Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34)
piercing His side (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34)
given gall and vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:21, Matthew 27:34, Luke 23:36)
no broken bones (Psalm 34:20; John 19:32-36)
buried in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60)
casting lots for His garments (Psalm 22:18; John 19:23-24)
Would rise from the dead!! (Psalm 16:10; Mark 16:6; Acts 2:31)
Ascend into Heaven (Psalm 68:18; Acts 1:9)
Would sit down at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1; Hebrews 1:3)