Just as a stream starts in the bosom of the hills, gathering strength and volume as it receives tributary after tributary on it’s way to the mighty ocean, so Bible prophecies concerning the coming Christ add item to item by prophet after prophet foretelling future events, as one witty divine put it, “without collusion or collision,” that is, they did not arrange among themselves how to frame the picture in prophecy of the coming Messiah, and though unknown to each other no one pen contradicted another.
And, if the range of prophecies is miraculous and God-given, what shall be said of the fulfilment of many of them, indeed all that have had time to be fulfilled? Their fulfilment needed the combination of events spreading over the centuries and the activity of thousands of individuals. For instance—“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1). Why? In order that an obscure couple living in Nazareth should be compelled, at a time when a woman would naturally seek the seclusion and shelter of her own home, to travel to Bethlehem, where, according to Micah, writing seven centuries before, might be fulfilled the prophecy that the Saviour of the world should be born. Thousands of persons moved to bring about this one prophecy.
An apt illustration this, as showing the utter impossibility of a number of prophecies being fulfilled as the outcome of a series of extraordinary coincidences. No other book in the world has attempted a series of prophecies on the scale that the Bible has. Wherever this has been attempted, it has ever recoiled on the head of the would be prophet, blasting his reputation, and leaving him either pitied or execrated. But not so the Bible. Here is the Book that can stand the supreme test.
If only young Christians would consider the wonderful place of prophecies and their fulfilment, they would know that the Book must be inspired of God. Of course there are other proofs of inspiration, but in the very essence of our belief in these matters, FAITH is a necessity. One might have thought that in the matter of creation SIGHT would have been a sufficient proof. Yet we read, “Through FAITH we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God” (Heb. 11:3). We must get behind the material, and it is faith that believes it was the bare word of the mighty Creator that brought out of nothing the wonderful universe we see.
So with the Word of God. God may graciously come down to our level, and give us proofs of inspiration in the fulfilment of prophecy, proofs as to the Christ in the arresting stream of miracles that marked His earthly ministry, but in the very last resort of things our only resource is FAITH—the only source of knowledge being by DIVINE REVELATION.
We can say with the Apostle Peter, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables,” though we have to take the proof of which he was an eyewitness on his testimony and that of others. Now Peter tells us that there are two great lines of Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming Christ—“The sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (1 Peter 1:11). The former have all been fulfilled; the latter await fulfilment. Just as surely as the one has been fulfilled, so surely will the other be fulfilled.
Now Peter was a personal witness of the sufferings of Christ. His was indeed a painful experience in denying His Lord at the moment when the stream of opposition ran high. But he was a witness of His suffering, His resurrection, and His ascension.
He could not be a witness of His glory, for the glory of the kingdom lay through a suffering Messiah, but he had a rehearsal of it some time before he was a witness of His sufferings. How helpful must this vision have been! We read that the Lord took Peter, James, and John up into an high mountain, and there He was transfigured before them, His face shining as the sun, and His raiment white as the light. With Him were Moses and Elias. Their conversation was about His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.
What an arresting scene! How did Moses get there? He failed to get into the promised land on earth. The lawgiver himself broke down, and came under the lash of the commandments that he promulgated at the bidding of Jehovah. He failed to get entrance into the land flowing with milk and honey. We repeat, how did Moses get there? He was at home in that scene, unearthly in its splendour.
Elias was there. He was a man “subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17). He quailed before the threat of a woman, the notorious Jezebel, and handed in his resignation to the Lord as he lay under the juniper tree in the wilderness. He prayed for death, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers” (1 Kings 19:4). We ask, how did Elias arrive at that wonderful scene of transfiguration, where the glory of the kingdom blazed out for a moment?
Moses and Elias were there, and at home with the Lord. His face might shine as the sun, but they were not affrighted. The theme of their conversation gives us the answer to our question. They “spake of His DECEASE which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). They had learned on earth that the way to the glory was through the suffering.
What meant all the sacrifices on Jewish altars, which Moses instructed the children of Israel to observe? Did he himself not learn the lesson he sought to teach others at the bidding of the Lord? Again, was it for nothing that Elijah challenged the priests of Baal, “The God that answers by fire, let Him be God” (1 Kings 18:24)? What meant his building the altar of twelve stones in sight of the wicked Ahab, and the prophets of Baal, the spiritists of that day, if he did not realize that the only way to the glory lay through the suffering?
It was the grand mistake of Israel in fastening upon the glory as their expectation, to fail to realize that the only way to that glory lay through the suffering. The glory appealed to the natural man, a glory which they materialized, not understanding its nature, the glory of God, a glory founded on the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it cannot be over-emphasized that the suffering is an ATONING suffering, a SUBSTITUTIONARY suffering.
But what a wonderful help to the faith of Peter, James, and John to see the outburst of glory for the moment before they witnessed the sufferings of the Lord, when outwardly everything looked like defeat and shame.
“By weakness and defeat
He won the meed and crown.”
Peter blundered in his forwardness. How much we have gained in the way of Peter’s mistakes! He wanted to make three tabernacles, one for the Lord, one for Moses, one for Elias. In a moment Moses and Elias disappeared in the bright Shekinah cloud, and Jesus was left alone.
Peter made two mistakes. First, he wanted to perpetuate the scene. Three tabernacles spoke of permanence. How could the glory be established publicly before it was reached through the suffering? The Saviour Himself said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24). These were memorable words! There could have been no Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration, no Peter, James, and John, save in view of the decease to be accomplished at Jerusalem, unless as the blessed corn of wheat He fell into the ground and died, and in rising should bear much fruit.
The second mistake was in putting the Lord on a level with Moses and Elias. He must ever be not only supreme, but alone the Saviour and the Object of adoring worship. But a beautiful thing happened. These two disappeared in the Shekinah glory cloud, lost in the brightness of the divine Presence, and a voice was heard, “This is My beloved Son hear HIM.” “And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.” How touching that just on the ground of the sufferings of the Lord these two men were to be found in the glory, and it is just this that touches our hearts, that it will be solely on the ground of the atoning sufferings of our Lord that we, unworthy sinners, will be found in the glory, unafraid and at home.
But we repeat how confirmatory to these chosen witnesses of the outburst of glory to have seen it with their eyes before they witnessed the suffering. No wonder Peter could write, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were EYEWITNESSES of His glory” (2 Peter 1:16).
How uplifting to us to have this testimony as we remember the Lord in His sufferings week by week, and wait for the glory that is surely to come! How soon we may be ushered into it! And at will be all of pure sovereign grace.