Practica Prophetica

Ellet J. Waggoner (1855-1916), a doctor and minister who labored in the late 1800′s, was given a special message to make clear the gospel promises and prophecies surrounding the return of Jesus Christ from heaven. Most of his life was devoted to exploring and explaining these events in a way that common people could understand.

This booklet was taken from the last chapters of a larger work, Prophetic Lights, but is complete in itself. It deals specifically with the promises concerning Israel, the land of promise, and the blessings surrounding the chosen nation.

Who comprises Israel? How will the promises be fulfilled? How will the throne of David be re-established? These, and other similar questions, are explored and the answers drawn from the Bible are surprising, inspiring, and uplifting. Download it here.

God’s character, and the revelation of it in contrast to Satan’s misrepresentation, is a key to gaining a proper understanding of Bible prophecy. The struggle between Christ and Satan is THE topic of the Bible, and that struggle is primarily a spiritual one. It is over the minds and hearts of men, regarding the justness and rightness of God’s character and ways. A misunderstanding of this key point spells disaster when interpreting prophecy.

God’s character is expressed in the word love:

God is love. 1 John 4:8

But His love is also defined in the principles of His law:

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. 1 John 5:3

The two great commandments are love to God and love to man:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40

The law, or love, can be summed up as selfless service, irrespective of the cost to myself. Love “seeketh not her own.” (1 Corinthians 13:5)

God’s kingdom is one in which the subjects (us) are to be like Him in character. He asks us to keep His law, because that is His very own character:

Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Leviticus 19:2

And how are we to be holy? By keeping His commandments!

Do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. Numbers 15:40

Unlike earthly kings, who make laws to keep their subjects in order, and which they are not bound to keep, God keeps His own law. Jesus said:

I delight to do your will, O my God, for your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

Satan’s rebellion in heaven and on earth, attacks both of these points: God’s character, and His law. You can see this very simply at the fall, when the serpent implied that God was holding back something good from man:

God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:3-5

Here Satan (through the serpent) presents the idea that the law is a restriction, imposed to keep us down. “God just doesn’t want you to be like Him, He wants to keep all the power and glory to Himself!” As well, Satan’s charge implies that God was lying to them, hence the attack on His character. “He can’t be trusted, He’s selfish!” Satan offered another way, a supposed improvement to God’s government.

How could God answer these charges? If He terminated Satan’s life, then everyone would think that maybe God was trying to hide the truth, and anyway, hurting those who disagree with you is not part of a kingdom of love. Therefore, it could not be a contest of mere physical strength.

Prophecy should never be an abstract, speculative, or fanatical branch of religion. It is only so when studied apart from the practical teachings of the gospel. This site is called Practica Prophetica because it will pursue this aim, of studying prophecy in the light of the gospel. The study of prophecy will then become a practical, life-changing power.

What is prophecy? It is the study of future events. It is the forward-looking eyes of the church, whereby she can perceive and prepare for what is coming. It is also an important evidence of the divine nature of God, for only He whose infinite mind can comprehend and calculate the effect of every force and action upon the earth, can predict how they will interact and work themselves out.

And what is the gospel? It is God’s great plan to heal the wounds that sin has made in the universe, and to restore a correct understanding of His character of beauty to all whose understanding has been darkened by rebellion, hypocrisy, tradition and false teaching. The church, when faithful, is God’s human agency on earth to cooperate in the accomplishment of that plan. Since God’s purposes are unfolded in prophecy, the church cannot cooperate with Him unless she has a good understanding of the same.

Whereas by history we can learn from what is behind, by prophecy we can learn about what is ahead. Both are needful and equally important in an education after the divine pattern. The prophetic events that reveal the work which Jesus will carry out in heaven and on earth in behalf of His people are equally as important to study as are the historical events of His life and death. Both branches stem from one united trunk. Both reveal God’s character, for both are a manifestation of Him.

By itself, the study of prophetic events can degenerate into speculation and human conjecture, which can be wearisome and confusing. But when studied in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, prophecy becomes a gleaming star of hope, a light of joy in an often dark world of sorrow and despair.

The wonderful combination of prophecy and gospel is what this website is dedicated to. And because the gospel is a great simplifier of life’s problems, it renders the explanation of prophecy simple enough that even a child may understand it.

A proper understanding of the role of God’s Law is essential to understanding prophecy. For in the original rebellion, Satan challenged God’s Law; at the tree of temptation he put forth the idea that God’s Law (which was reflected in the command not to eat of that one tree) was a burden and a restriction. This idea was accepted by Eve and the fall took place.

Prophecy is all about how God will restore what sin has taken away. He does this by giving back to His people a proper understanding of the righteousness and goodness of His Law. The very first prophecy in the Bible concerns this:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15

The serpent was to bruise the heel of the woman’s seed. This represented a wound to the humanity, just as a snake would strike the foot of a man. This was fulfilled when Jesus’ human flesh was wounded to death on the cross, by the enmity of Satan and those he could influence.

But the seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent’s head. This is a deadly wound, striking at the ideas, thoughts, and teachings of the serpent. Since his first teaching was to put aside God’s Law, the bruising of the serpent must involve restoring a right understanding and relationship to that same Law.

In the book of Revelation, the term “commandments” is used three times, and the last verse that uses it is this one:

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14

It was through breaking the Law that the fall of man took place, and those who enter back into eternal life will be distinguished by their law-keeping.

There is, however, in the Christian world today, also a great enmity against the Law of God. It is derided with such terms as “Old Covenant,” “yoke of bondage,” “impossible to keep,” “burdensome,” “legalism,” and so forth. This is an echo of the original teaching of Satan himself.

Therefore, in this short article, I will deal with a few principles of the Law, and some of the statements in the New Testament that seem to support this modern Christian teaching.

Prophetic Lights covers the foundational prophecies from the book of Daniel, as well as the promises to Israel, to show how the gospel plan is unfolding in the prophetic events.

The author, E.J. Waggoner, lived in the late 1800′s, and ministered in America and England. Of his conversion he wrote:

Many years ago, the writer sat in a tent one dismal, rainy afternoon, where a servant of the Lord was presenting the Gospel of His grace; not a word of the text or texts used, nor of what was said by the speaker, has remained with me, and I have never been conscious of having heard a word; but, in the midst of the discourse an experience came to me that was the turning point in my life. Suddenly a light shone about me, and the tent seemed illumined, as though the sun were shining; I saw Christ crucified for me, and to me was revealed for the first time in my life the fact that God loved me, and that Christ gave Himself for me personally. It was all for me. If I could describe my feelings, they would not be understood by those who have not had a similar experience, and to such no explanation is necessary.

I believed that the Bible is the word of God, penned by holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and I knew that this light that came to me was a revelation direct from heaven; therefore I knew that in the Bible I should find the message of God’s love for individual sinners, and I resolved that the rest of my life should be devoted to finding it there, and making it plain to others. The light that shone upon me that day from the cross of Christ, has been my guide in all my Bible study; wherever I have turned in the Sacred Book, I have found Christ set forth as the power of God, to the salvation of individuals, and I have never found anything else.

This version of Prophetic Lights includes the original illustrations. Download it here.