Earlier text: Promises of Our GodHigher Criticism
By Earle Albert Rowell
IV. Higher Criticism and Inspiration
Since we have found that the Higher Critics’ theories are so completely contrary to the Bible teaching, we need not be surprised if their views of inspiration are also unscriptural. Since they cut the Bible up according to their individual caprice, one would naturally expect their ideas of the sacredness and inspiration of the Holy Writ to be anything but high. And such we shall find to be the truth. “Reason for the rational, conscience for the right—these are the sole organs for appreciating the last claims upon us, the courts of last appeal, whose verdict it is not only weakness, but treason, to resist.”—Martineau, “Seat of Authority,” page 129. Further he says: “We have not simply to take, but always to choose.”—Page 297. It is self-evident that in such a view there can be no room for a belief that God’s Word is inspired; for no one who believed that the words of the Bible are really the inspired words of God, would have the impious presumption to reject some and accept others. As McIntosh puts it: “It boldly declares that the seat of authority in religion, as in everything else, is not in any Book or Person outside of man, but in man himself; not in Scripture or in Christ, but in reason and conscience; not in revelation or in God, but in intuition and consciousness, in experiment and observation, in science and philosophy.” How delusive, therefore, is the claim of Higher Critics that they are giving us a better view of inspiration. Higher Critics make inspiration an impossibility, for they claim that mistakes are necessary, otherwise “the writers were lifted above opinions and were not allowed to think.”—Id., page 360. What strange logic: The more mistakes a man makes, the better thinker he is! It is such reasoning as this that Higher Criticism is driven to in defense of its baseless and absurd theories. Even the words of Christ are not considered inspired. “The authority and finality which they deny to the New Testament in general, they deny to Him in particular,” says another of the Higher Critics, McFadyen, “Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church,” page 11. In fact they talk and write learnedly of “the mistakes of Christ.” Nothing is sacred or inspired to them. Another reason for their denial of the real inspiration of the Bible, is found in the fact that Higher Criticism ignores where it does not deny the supernatural. To get rid of the miracles, the inspiration of their accounts must be denied. As McFadyen says, “Its watchword is evolution, and it has no place for miracle.” Since inspiration itself is supernatural, its existence can not be allowed. Discarding the inspiration of the Bible takes out of the history of Israel all that makes it distinctive. “A non-miraculous Old Testament history will issue in a non-miraculous Jesus; and then Christianity will be, in the famous phrase of Kuenen, ‘but one of the principal world religions, nothing less and nothing more.’”—Id., page 12. Dr. Kuenen, in “Prophets and Prophecy in Israel,” takes all of its six hundred ample pages to show that the prophets were not moved to speak by God, but that their utterances were all their own. On page 585 he gives voice to the views of Higher Critics in general and his own in particular: “So long as we derive a separate part of Israel’s religious life directly from God, and allow the supernatural or immediate revelation to intervene in EVEN ONE SINGLE POINT, so long also our view of the whole continues to be incorrect, and we see ourselves here and there necessitated to do violence to the well-authenticated contents of the historical documents. It is the supposition of a NATURAL DEVELOPMENT ALONE which accounts for ALL of the phenomena!” “And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord.” Num. 33:2. Not so, say the Critics, for in the first place Moses never wrote a word of the Bible, and in the next those who did write the books accredited to Moses, composed them out of their imagination for purposes of fraud. As for being inspired of God, nothing is further from the Critical theory, or more utterly contrary to its flimsy assumptions and presumptuous unbelief. “The most that we can claim for them [the Bible writers] is that they were inspired by God in their work, so that they were guided into truth and preserved from error as to all matters of religion, faith, and morals.”—Briggs, “Study of Holy Scripture,” page 331. But he says that they err in religion (page 643), and “they err in their morals. But errors in moral precept were such as were necessary in order to educate Israel for a nobler time.”—Id., page 644. So we see that even tho the most that Higher Critics say can be claimed for inspiration is meager and unsatisfactory, they make no secret of the fact that even this is discarded, and they boast that Bible errors “are innumerable, and the erroneousness indefinite and indefinable, and the untrustworthiness unlimited and illimitable.” Since the authority of the Bible must be derived from its inspiration, its trustworthiness, and this authority has been ruthlessly torn away, the Bible is shorn of its power, deprived of its comfort, and its readers are left to darkness and despair. The Theory of Inspiration
The most prevalent theory of inspiration among Higher Critics is that entertained by Dr. G. A. Smith in his “Isaiah.” “Isaiah prophesied and predicted all he did from, loyalty to two simple truths, which he tells us he received from God Himself: that sin must be punished, and that the people of God must be saved. This simple faith, acting along with a wonderful knowledge of human nature and ceaseless vigilance of affairs, constituted inspiration for Isaiah.”—Page 373. With reference to prophets in general he says, “By a faith differing in degree, but not in kind, from ours, these men became prophets of God.”—Page 372. And then he consistently illustrates his meaning by telling us that men of science, “by their knowledge of laws and principles of nature,” or some great generals by their “taking for granted” that the sun will rise, or patriots like Mazzini, whom he classes as a prophet like Isaiah, all had “the same divine movement on their natures,” and are as much inspired as any writer of the Bible. The writings of Browning, of Carlyle, of Ruskin, of Gladstone, are on this theory as much inspired as those of Paul or Isaiah. In fact the Higher Critics go so far as to claim that even infidels are as much inspired as the Bible writers, for we are told that infidels like “Hume, Strauss, and Voltaire were guided in their attacks on the Bible by God!”—Briggs, “Study of Holy Scriptures,” page 80. Thus we have arrived by the Higher Critical route to the conclusion that even the worst infidels the world ever saw were as much inspired in their attacks on the Bible as was John, or Paul, or Peter, in writing it! How such patent absurdity and glaring contradiction can be gravely preached by the leading theological teachers of the world is beyond my comprehension. They who believe such things certainly strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Higher Criticism was born of rationalism, cradled in skepticism, nursed by infidelity, and is now baptized and adopted by the church. Strange blindness! Woful infatuation! Terrible will be the awakening, awful the penalty, when those who now so flippantly discard the most sacred writings as no better than the infidel ravings of Hume or Voltaire, meet “the Word I have spoken,” for “the same shall judge him in the last days.” John 12:48. These Higher Critics may be presidents of theological colleges, or the pastors of influential churches; but the humble child of God knows that “if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. The Christian can never be moved who stands firmly upon the fact that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16. The Soldier and the Captain
The soldier who executes his captain's commands is no less valuable than the captain who gave the order.—Cervantes. Measure by God's Standards
MEASURE things not by human standards, but by God's standards. Before depending upon your conscience, see that it is regulated by God's law. “Have Faith in God”
By Percival J. Laird
These words of Jesus, tho oft-times repeated, invariably bring with them a fresh inspiration. How man needs to know of a solid resting-place, a power greater than his own or what he can see around him in the midst of Chinese heathenism. But unless those who profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ, can show that as such they possess this sure power, how can the agnostic, who says God is unknowable, or the atheist, who denies God, be convinced of his strange idea? God desires us to be “living epistles,” and has made provision for us to become the same. Our God is gracious, loving, merciful, a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God. He is ever faithful in the heat of earthly strife, even tho all seems lost. Just look at the marginal note a moment: “the faith of God”—more than our own weak faith. The Holy Spirit here teaches us to place implicit trust in the Word of God; not continually to be looking within to see if faith is growing, but looking to Him as He stands revealed in His Word, and testing His faithful promises. Then will our faith be strengthened. God has never failed the weakest, either temporally or spiritually. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” “Tho we believe not, yet He abideth faithful.” A beautiful story is related of a widow in Scotland, who had been reduced to her last morsel of meal; this she ate. Next morning she lit the fire, got ready the water, and then sank on her knees to make her needs known to God. Ere she had finished her petition, her granddaughter arrived from a distance bringing a sack of meal. As she handed it to her grandmother, she told her she ought to be much obliged to her for bringing it such a long way. The old lady thanked her, and dropping on her knees, said, “Hear my song of praise to the faithfulness of God.” We must have faith in His faithfulness altho we may not always understand His workings. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Peter was greatly surprised when he saw the fig-tree which Christ had cursed, dried up, this because it had “nothing but leaves.” And as he was also alarmed, Christ gave him a word of encouragement: “Whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.” Let us have faith in God when He deals with us as He dealt with this tree. God calls for confession as well as profession. However God may try us, punish, discipline, and wither us, under solemn judgment let us still have faith in God. Perhaps we are self-willed, or it may be we are fruitless for God. The Word of the Lord can bring life from that dead soul. Hold to His faithfulness; He can and will bless you and make you a blessing. Christ’s word to Peter was, “Say unto this mountain, Be thou removed.” “He is faithful that promised,” and “also will do it.” We are so apt to make more of the mountain than of God. When we think of “the end,” and consequently the evangelization “of the world in this generation,” and look at the scanty supply of men and means, we may well say, “It can not be done.” But let us have faith in God, who CAN remove mountains of difficulty, so that they shall flow down at His presence, not ours; we can not overthrow them, but we may say, “Praise the Lord, here is a fresh opportunity for trusting God’s faithfulness.” Praising God fosters trusting. Put God in His right place, and then we shall be in our own. Why do we sometimes find it is not easy to trust God and forgive some injury caused? Is it not because we do not live the real prayer-life, one of the chief links to God? In order to emphasize this, let us divide the prayer-life into three parts: 1. Desire. We want something. We know what it is we want. Do we desire to be holy? to live a consecrated life? to be bold and brave to win souls? to be a blessing wherever we go? Then let us pray, tell God exactly what we feel our position to be. True, He knows it already; but He has given us the privilege of telling Him all our trials and difficulties, in short, our mountains. Because He can not misunderstand you, pour out your heart to Him. 2. Believe. It is not faith in prayer—it is prayer offered in “the faith of God.” Do we really, as we offer prayer to God, believe that what He has promised He will, He must perform? 3. Receive. How beautiful it is in the orchard at fruit-picking time, to see little children hold out their aprons to catch the ripe fruit as it is dropped to them. Should we really ask God for anything unless we are willing to receive it? It might, under such circumstances, be a hindrance to us if our prayer were answered. As we pray for the fulness of the Holy Spirit, let us open our hearts and receive Him. God answers prayer the moment He hears in heaven. Yet we often keep Him waiting for the fulfilment in our hearts and lives. He does not wish to keep us waiting. We ask, and do not receive, because we do not take. He says: “Believe that ye have received, . . . and ye shall have.” Therefore “have faith in God.” The Saints’ Reward
By John Francis Olmsted
THE groaning earth is growing old
Beneath her load of woe;
With bended form and visage worn
She waits some change below. Six thousand years have onward sped
And left their lines of care,
The hopes of men are often spurned
And shattered everywhere. But He who rules in heavens high,
And hears His children call,
Will never leave the faithful here,
But shield and shelter all. And then a land of endless song,
Where sin shall never sway,
Awaits the ones who overcome
Temptations day by day. It is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth. It is a guide-book for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, a balm for every wound. Rob us of our Bible, and our sky has lost its sun, and in the best of other books, we have naught but the glimmer of twinkling stars. It is the wealth of the poor, blessing poverty with the contentment which makes it rich. It is the shield of wealth, protecting the few that are rich against the many that are poor. It may be compared to the skies, which hold at once the most blessed and the most baneful elements—soft dews to bathe the opening rose, and bolts that rend the oak asunder.— Guthrie. Harmony of the Bible
By Dr. J. P. Thompson
As when you see wheels, shafts, pins, bands, lying apart, each finished in itself, yet each adapted to others, you know that some machine is contemplated by the founder, tho you may not see how to put it together; but when you see the machine put together and in action, you perceive new fitness in every part, and the grand combination of all for one end; so in the several books of the Bible you discover an adaptation to the same end, but in the completed volume you behold the grand harmony of all the books in one object—the restoration of a sinful race to its Paradise in God! The mind that conceived such a plan, and slowly unfolding it, part by part, through the ages, brought it together finished in this book, must be divine. —Dr. J. P. Thompson. 1. The people of the world, the nations and governments, need not be blinded or ignorant of what is to come upon the earth: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19. 2. As an illustration of God’s warning a nation (and there are many such warnings), take the following concerning Egypt, uttered when Egypt was in her power and glory: “And the land of Egypt shall be DESOLATE AND WASTE; and they shall know that I am the Lord.” “It shall be THE BASEST OF THE KINGDOMS; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I WILL DIMINISH THEM, that they shall NO MORE RULE over the nations.” Eze. 29: 9, 15. “And I will make THE RIVERS DRY, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: . . . I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause THEIR IMAGES TO CEASE out of Noph; and there shall be NO MORE A PRINCE OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.” Eze. 30:12, 13. NOTE.—All this has been remarkably fulfilled. That power which at one time was the greatest in the world, has been counted for years the very lowest and basest of all the kingdoms. Many of its ancient rivers and canals are known only by their dry beds. Once among the most idolatrous kingdoms, all the images of wood and stone are now banished. Its rulers have been multiplied, but for centuries none of these have been one of the natives of Egypt. 3. As an illustration concerning cities, note the following prophecy written one hundred and fifty years before the doomed city met her fate; for the very site of Babylon was for a long time in dispute, and has been only recently identified: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, SHALL BE AS WHEN GOD OVERTHREW SODOM AND GOMORRAH. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there; . . . and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.” Isa. 13:19-22. 4. Note the following prophecy among very many others, concerning God’s chosen people—the Jews: “And the Lord shall SCATTER THEE AMONG ALL PEOPLE, from the one end of the earth even unto the other. . . And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind.” Deut. 28: 64, 65. NOTE.—There is not a nation on the face of the earth where the Jew has not been. Go where one will and the Jew has gone before him. One prophecy declares that they “shall not be reckoned among the nations;” and that is true. The Jew does not intermarry save with those who are proselytes to his own religion. Even in the freest land on earth, America, he is forbidden place oftentimes in the best hotels. The truth of the prophecies concerning the Jewish nation is continually before the world in the Jew. 5. There is an instance of another prophecy concerning the cities of Jerusalem; a prophecy which the Roman emperor Julian, “the Apostate,” endeavored to frustrate and prove false, but in which he deplorably failed. It is given by our Lord Jesus Christ concerning Jerusalem: “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall LAY THEE EVEN WITH THE GROUND, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” See Luke 19: 41-44. 6. As all these prophecies have been literally fulfilled, may we not just as truly expect that what God has said concerning the nations and cities of earth at the present time, in the same Word, will be as literally fulfilled? “In the days of these kings [the present kingdoms of earth] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but IT SHALL BREAK IN PIECES AND CONSUME ALL THESE KINGDOMS, AND IT SHALL STAND FOREVER.” Dan. 2: 44. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ARE BECOME THE KINGDOMS OF OUR LORD, AND OF HIS CHRIST; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15. 7. In view of these multiplied warnings which God has given us throughout all the centuries, we may well take home to our heart the following scripture concerning these days: “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but THE WISE SHALL UNDERSTAND.” Dan. 12: 9, 10. WHAT is the Bible good for if it is not practical? What is the Christian religion good for if it will not do what it promises? It is not God’s design that His Book should be considered a bundle of facts, but a great body of related and interrelated truths. It is not His purpose that men should use these truths to establish theories or to crystallize them into formal creeds; but God’s truths—really one truth—should be received as warm, living, character-molding principles, creating new men and women in Christ Jesus. God’s Book is not composed of dead words, limited by the human agent through whom they came; but “the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. So make it your own, and let it work out in you God’s character. With these simple yet sublime words the Book of books opens. It does not begin with an apology. It offers no introduction as an excuse for the revelation. It presents no preface as an argument that the book is given to meet a “long-felt want.” The Bible does not stop to argue about the beginning. Man can not comprehend it; it is beyond human comprehension. All the theories, fancies, dreams, hypotheses, present no solution of the subject. They may hark back to imagined unknown eons of oblivion, but before that was the beginning. With sublime simplicity and clear directness the Bible goes to the beginning and reveals its Author—“In the beginning God.” The universe is not a meaningless chaos or a cosmos which evolved from chaos to drift back again to the same condition. God is in its beginning; God is in its upholding; God has charge all the way. But not for a disquisition on science or theology did we use the text. It has a deeper, better meaning than that. It is a suggestion, nay, more, an invitation, to bring God into the life, into the beginning of every day, every plan, every purpose, every scheme, every bargain, every deal, every enterprise, every transaction. Let Him be first. Make room for Him on the council board. Many a legal entanglement would have been saved if God had been first. Many a good reputation would not have been ruined if God had been consulted. Many a sad ending would not have resulted if God had been in its beginning. Then plead we with our busy business men to make God first. It is wisdom, it is economy, it is safety; but more than these, it is righteousness, it is character, it is life forevermore. “In the beginning God.” The inhabitants of the South Sea Islands were much rejoiced when copies of the Bible were first given to them. One old native preacher held up his Bible before the whole congregation, and said: “My brethren and sisters, this is my resolve: The dust shall never cover my Bible, the moth shall never eat it, the mildew shall never rot it. My light! My joy!” “Grace and Peace Be Multiplied”
THEN Christ gives increasing peace even as He gives increasing grace. The world can give peace only in the midst of quiet. But God gives peace in tribulation, in persecution, in trial. The stream of life, righteousness, and peace, which floweth “as a river” (Isa. 48:18), “which passeth all understanding” (Phil. 4:7), is from above, and its mighty current can be cut off only by our own unbelief; it can not be turned aside by the world. In Christ we have peace; in the world, tribulation. John 16:33. Before He went away He said: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27. The strife and turmoil of the world need not destroy the peace of him who has cast all into the great, loving arms of an infinite Saviour. The world may even end our present life; it can not destroy us. He is Lord of life and death. He can save us from it if He will. He can save us out of it and in spite of it, if that pleases Him best. Men may wrong us; we may rest in the assurance that God will make all things right. “Let us have peace in Him, perfect peace;” for “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee.” Isa. 26:3. This is the assurance of the Christian; this is what God will do. How can God change a sinner into a saint? How can He make a drunkard a sober man? How can He make the covetous man generous? Never mind the how; accept the great fact. He can do it; for He has done it. You may not be able to understand just how the mighty power of God can change a heart that loves sin to one that hates sin; from one that does evil to one that does righteousness. Yet is He able. You can not tell why and how one seed brings forth large, gorgeous, red flowers, and how a very similar seed in appearance, planted in the same soil, warmed by the same sun, watered by the same rain, will bring forth a tiny white flower. It is the power and wisdom of God which thus transmutes soil to flower. So God will take you, all unlovely as you are in His sight, and make you “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isa. 55:7. He will create anew the heart, and make new men and women in Christ Jesus. O soul, will you not let Him do the work? Is Spiritualism Christ’s Coming?
A GREAT movement which has swept over the earth with marvelous rapidity during the last half century is what is called “Modern Spiritualism.” One of its prominent beginnings was with the Fox sisters in Hydesville, near Rochester, Western New York, in 1848. There were, however, manifestations before that of table levitations, responsive rappings, etc. But these had been confined to private circles, and never came before the public as did the “Rochester knockings,” the term used to designate the Fox sisters’ manifestations. Since then the movement has been laughed at, ridiculed, counterfeited. Yet more and more has it been connecting with it the interest and influence of men prominent in political, educational, scientific, and religious circles. Great claims are made for the future of the movement, and men declare that by it the immortality of the soul is demonstrated, and in various ways is it put in the place of Christ. In fact, some of its devotees look upon it as fulfilling the promise of Christ’s second coming, of opening up to mankind a great world of light and glory, and demonstrating the reality and blessing of the life beyond. That the testimony of Spiritism is not true concerning the dead is easily proved by the Bible, which declares: “Put not your trust in princes,
Nor in the son of man, in whom there is
no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to
his earth;
In that very day his THOUGHTS PERISH.”
Ps. 146: 3, 4. “His sons come to honor, and he knoweth
it not;
And they are brought low, but he per-
ceiveth it not of them.” Job 14:21. More than this, God has expressly forbidden the seeking of information from such source: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek
unto them that have familiar spirits . . .
should not a people seek unto their God? on
behalf of the living should they seek unto
the dead? To the law and to the testimony!
if they speak not according to this word,
surely there is no morning for them.” Isa.
8:19, 20. Again: we are told by our Lord that in the last days men will declare that His coming is after the very manner of Spiritistic manifestations: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo,
here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. For
there shall arise false christs. . . . If
therefore they shall say unto you, . . .
Behold, He is in the inner [secret] chambers;
believe it not.” Matt. 24:23-26. How will Christ come? The very heavens will be ablaze with His glory; “as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matt. 24:27. In no secret chamber, in no medium’s cabinet, under no human limitations will Christ come the second time. In all the transcendent, immortal glory of eternal righteousness will He come, “and every eye shall see Him.” Schedule for Week Ending June 11
| Day |
Date |
Reading |
|---|
| Sunday |
June 5 |
Hosea 8-14 |
| Monday |
“ 6 |
Isaiah 1-4 |
| Tuesday |
“ 7 |
“ 5-8 |
| Wednesday |
“ 8 |
“ 9-12 |
| Thursday |
“ 9 |
“ 13-17 |
| Friday |
“ 10 |
“ 18-22 |
| Sabbath |
“ 11 |
“ 23-27 |
Our last lesson closed with Hosea 7. There are wonderful lessons in the fourteen short chapters of Hosea. Mighty appeals God makes to His backslidden children who had mixed themselves among the people; who by their shallow, unconsecrated work had begotten to themselves “strange children,” that fell before the temptations as the dew passes before the morning sun; who instead of feeding upon God, fed on wind; to whom God had multiplied prophets and visions, and prophets were unheeded, and visions disregarded. Yet He pleads with them to come. “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.” Their roots should again strike deep down into the earth, and they would grow as the cedars of Lebanon, and blossom as the lily. The last verse should be memorized. It contains wonderful truth. “The ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.” We begin the second day of the week with Isaiah, closing with the 27th chapter. The beginning of these prophecies were spoken about 760 B. C. Isaiah’s time of prophesying is clearly shown in the first verse of his prophecy: “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Those were stormy times in which the prophet lived. The condition of God’s people is shown in the first chapter, in which also is God’s wonderful plea to them to return and find mercy and cleansing. We also have visions of the last days set forth in these prophecies. The times then would be like the times of the last days. The false prophets then would be like the false prophets of the last days. Sins then would be similar to sins of the last times; consequently the warnings needed then are warnings needed now, and the same One mighty to save then is the same One mighty to save now. How clearly we have predicted in the second chapter of Isaiah the false peace cry which sounds throughout the world. Note that it is not the Lord who raises the cry of peace; He tells us the “many nations” will do that. But we have already learned in Joel just what the truth will be concerning that very time; instead of men beating their swords into plowshares, they will beat plowshares into swords, and all nations shall prepare for war. It is utterly impossible to give anything like an explanation or extended suggestion even in the study of these wonderful chapters. With remarkable vividness the prophet points out the signs of the times in which he lives, and warns against the sure destruction which awaits; and yet he also points forward to the Gospel days when similar conditions would exist. He constantly holds before His readers the great fact that God will surely punish sin. A remarkable vision is given, in chapter 6, of the one whom God will send on His missions,—those who are consecrated, and whose lives have been cleansed by Him. Prophecies of Babylon are used as a type of the prophecies of the last days, and the originator of sin is presented before us as the fallen Lucifer, son of the morning. From Israel the prophet turns at times to the nations who were proud and arrogant before God, and rejoiced in the oppression of Israel. The desolation of the earth is presented in chapter 24, and the wonderful deliverance of God’s people in that same connection.