THE KEY TO PROPHECY

Rev. Bertrand L. Comparet, A.B., J.D.

   Today, we easily see how each of the great events of the Old Testament days was prophesied long in advance ‑‑‑yet the people were strangely blind to it when the events were coming upon them. Today, it is the same: the prophe­cies concerning the end of the Age are being fulfilled ‑‑‑yet the people in most churches "cannot make head or tail of it", and wait expectantly for the silliest things to happen, meanwhile being blind to what is actually happening to them. This is because they don't know to WHOM THE PROPHECIES APPLY so they look to the wrong people, in the wrong places, for their fulfillment.

   God did not prophesy indiscriminately about everything and everybody. The great empires of China and India, and the Inca, Maya and Aztec nations of South and Central America, were never noticed In the Bible, for they had noth­ing to do with God's people nor His religion. To understand prophecy, you must know TO WHOM THE PROPHECY IS ADDRESSED. Bible prophecies are grouped into cer­tain “Main Lines of Prophecy,” each with its own subject.

THESE MAIN LINES OF PROPHECY ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

THE FIRST: THE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES CONCERNING JESUS CHRIST. They fore­told His virgin birth, the place He would be born, many details of His ministry, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and all the details of His betra­yal and crucifixion, His resurrection on the third day, etc. Obviously, only Jesus Christ could fulfill these, and if you waited for someone else, you could reach only doubt and confusion. But all the other main lines of prophecy are also directed specifically to some one subject, and cannot be fulfilled by any­one but the people concerning whom they were written.

THE SECOND:  PROPHECIES CONCERNING ALL OF GOD'S PEOPLE.  The whole twelve Tribes, usually called "THE HOUSE OF Jacob". As we know this split into two nations upon the death of Solomon, in 975 B.C., and the two nations then had their separate histories and different destinies to fulfill. Prophecies relating to the whole House of JACOB cannot be fulfilled by either one alone of the two nations it became; and of course, not by any Gentile people.

THE THIRD: CONCERNING THE TWO TRIBED NATION OR HOUSE OF JUDAH. The “House of Judah” is made up of the two remaining tribes when the ten‑tribed ISRAEL split away from it. These pro­phecies deal with this short‑lived nation, foretelling its captivity in Babylon for 70 years, the return of a remnant to build the "70 weeks" nation foretold by Daniel, which would fulfill and outlive its purposes in 490 years. It was to provide the "sanctuary" for Jesus Christ's first coming and His sacrifice for us on the cross: after that, it served no further purpose, and within one genera­tion it disappeared from history. Just as it is obvious that China or Rome or Argentina could not fulfill any of these prophecies, neither could the House of JUDAH fulfill prophecies that do not concern her.

THE FOURTH:  PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.  Beginning as the ten‑tribed nation which broke away from JUDAH. This had its separate destiny. It was to be God's DOMINION: it must become a great nation AND a com­pany of nations; it must be God's battleaxe and weapons of war, with which He broke up the evil, pagan nations of the earth; it must become great sea‑faring peoples, from the Norse Vikings of the several centuries following the decay of the Roman Empire, down through the mighty navies of Britain and the United States; its people must multiply "like the stars of heaven" in number; they must receive the New Covenant and become Christians; they must possess and develop the lands which other peoples had allowed to remain desolate; and they must bring God's religion and civilization to many lands, to show forth His praise in the earth. All these prophecies concern the House of ISRAEL only; and nobody but the Anglo‑Saxon, Scandinavian and Germanic nations have fulfilled them; and these we know to be the living generations of God's People ISRAEL. If you watch for fulfillment of these prophecies by Egypt or the Congo, Russia or China, India or South America, you not only waste your time in vain: while watching the empty ring, you overlook the performance going on in the active one.

THE FIFTH:  PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE JEWS:  Here willful blind­ness of most churches has utterly confused their religion. They persist in applying God's prophecies about ISRAEL to THE JEWS. Since the JEWS never did and never could fulfill any of these, such churches have to make excuses for the apparent failure of prophecy, and their faith Is badly weakened; and they must pretend that the time has not yet come for fulfillment of any of these prophecies, so that THE JEWS can do these, things in some indefinite future‑‑­and this blinds them to the fact that these prophecies have already been ful­filled by the real ISRAEL, so far that nothing is left to watch for but the Chinese Communist attack and then the second coming of Jesus Christ, for which they are NOT prepared. There is a line of prophecies concerning THE JEWS, which have been fulfilled by them. To THE JEWS, God said, "Ye shall leave Your name for a curse to My chosen, for the Lord shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name" (Isaiah 65:15); God said that THE JEWS would become "a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them" (Jeremiah 24:9); God prophesied that they would be recognized by their faces: "The show of their countenance doth witness  against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not ."  (Isaiah 3:9) They would be scattered as wanderers, and their conduct would keep them under attack, saying, "A third part of thee shall die with pestilence and with famine shall be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part unto all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them" (Ezekiel 5:11‑12). All these have happened, but this has been overlooked by those who were watching only for that which THE JEWS couldn't do because God had foretold that only ISRAEL could do it.

THE SIXTH:  PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE HOUSE AND THRONE OF DAVID. In these, God promises that the throne of David will always rule over at least part of His people, and that the house of David will never lack a descendant to sit upon that throne; and that finally, Jesus Christ (who is born of the House of David) will return to rule all the world from that Throne. We know that the royal families of Britain and the Scandinavian countries are descended from David. In all these centuries, these prophecies have never failed for even one day; and the final fulfillment in Jesus Christ is drawing near.