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INTERPRETING BIBLICAL PROPHECY
By Henry Jaegers
Historically? Prophetically? Symbolically?
Which Is Correct?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RDxMqlfzS_eMkpa2mEHJ0uEUAhkJTOMI/view?usp=sharing
After my first attempt at putting together my first book on Revelation, I was now ready to start a study in the book of Daniel. After all, I was told, that both are needed to understand the other. I was quite proud of my first attempt to actually write a book on Revelation. I even spent a lot of money, publishing that book. The problem was, that I could not afford to purchase copies for myself.
So, I found another publisher who was more professional in their work, and after paying a huge sum of money to put together a more attractive cover, I still had to purchase my books at a higher price than I could afford, and I had to purchase a minimum of ten in order to lower my individual cost.
Now you are probably wondering why I am telling this. I had to go through these various trials and errors in order to discover how and where to publish my book. Looking back, I regret having had to go through all of this to arrive at the point now, where I can publish my books professionally without having to go into debt, to publish a book that nobody would read. Sometimes the learning stage is more costly, and I guess it was necessary for me to learn how to do it better. And so, that is what writing a book is all about. (So I discovered.)
When I began to put together my book on Daniel, I asked my mentor, former teacher, and pastor, Dr. T. S. Rendall, what was the best book to study on the subject of Biblical Prophecy. (I use a commentary to write my first book on Revelation.) He recommended G. H. Lang, one of the foremost writers on prophecy at that time. After reading his book, on Daniel, I decided to purchase his book on Revelation, and that is when I discovered my confused interpretation of Revelation. It was a hard pill to swallow, so I began studying Revelation and had to make changes in chapter four and chapter twelve of Revelation.
Looking back, I feel that I have made the right choice by reading g.h. langs books. He taught me some major principles in interpreting biblical prophecy, that the commentaries did not give to me. And He was teaching Biblical prophecy at a time when controversies were almost non-existent.
One of the things that He taught was most of the visions mentioned in Daniel must be interpreted prophetically, as opposed to Historically. That is very important because the books that I previously read, interpreted some of Daniel''s prophecies as historical.
Many years have passed since my first attempt at writing on biblical prophecy, and one of the things that I am discovering is the importance of being able to distinguish what is historical, what is prophetical, and what is symbolic. At some point, they are all important, but we must discern “What makes the best sense, without causing confusion, and that is the approach that I want to use.
When studying prophecy, there is no doubt that there are historical elements involved and many symbolisms. That is where the problem begins. In the attempt to be as literal as possible, we run into some snags that cannot be understood logically, no matter how hard we try to make them fit into our intended interpretation. So, in order to avoid the hard part of thinking and research, we manufacture some idea that seems logical to us and present them as logical conclusions.
One of the joys of studying prophecy without preconceived theories that we have picked up from the writings of others is to discover truths that the commentators have missed. Do not assume that people who write commentaries on the Bible are infallible. Some of the things that they teach they have learned from other imperfect men like themselves. And because they write books, and claim a doctorate in theology, they are still men. The only infallible guide to truth is not the majority opinion but the infallible word of God. When we understand God's word, it is not hard to discover those who hardly read it at all, but use other people's writing to understand the scripture. The word of God as found in the Bible should always be our main source of truth. I am not saying that we should ignore the teachings of others, but we must be informed well enough in the scriptures to detect if a writer is giving us truth or their opinion of what truth is. Always check out the context of the verses that they are quoting to be certain that they are properly understanding the verses that they use.
I have a few select writers whom I trust, but sometimes they get hung up on a particular subject and arrive at conclusions that are not provable by scripture. I include myself in all of this. I have discovered when writing on Biblical prophecy, it is important to hold our interpretations in an open hand with an open mind. Because they are prophecies, they are yet future, and sometimes as time progresses, we may have to change our minds if we are concerned with understanding the truth. I preface a lot of my statements with the words. "According to my present understanding."
But back to our main topic, There is some history. For example, Many of the things found in Daniel have been fulfilled historically, and we know that if we study church history and scripture. But To Daniel, they were all prophecy. Some of the visions have both historical and prophetical applications, and in some cases like in the subject of the seventy weeks found in Daniel chapter nine, there is both historical and prophetical truth found in both. But I will save that subject for discussion in another chapter.
So, in this chapter, I am treating this subject as more of an overview. And when it comes to symbolic interpretation, that is where things become more challenging and essential. I have presented this chapter to warn people about how studying Biblical prophecy is so challenging. It is interesting how people are always interested in reading about prophecy, but many pastors avoid teaching on the subject or writers writing on the subject.
I have written at least seven books on Revelation, and I hoped that my last book was my last. But there is some lingering thought that tells me that I might, someday have to write another. I hope that is not true. I placed as a subtitle on my last book on Revelation ": Tying up the Loose Ends." I hope that I did that well enough. I will tell you more as we progress.
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