Christ the Theme of Prophecy.
I. The words of our text were addressed by an angel to the Evangelist John. They are very large and general; there is no exception made. Whatever the subject matter of prediction, the text claims it as a witness for Him; whosoever the prophet, he is to be reckoned amongst those who bore testimony to Jesus. The words may, indeed, with equal fairness, be inverted, and their meaning will be still more apparent: "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." According to this reading, prophecy, however variable and whatever its immediate topic, has but one object: that of giving testimony to Christ. Thus also St. Peter, in his address to Cornelius, says of the Redeemer, "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him should receive remission of sins." And yet undoubtedly there are many predictions of the Bible in which we cannot profess to find a strict testimony to Christ; and if we were referred to each prophet to find an express prediction accomplished in Christ, we should probably be somewhat at a loss. The writings, for example, of Nahum and Zephaniah seem to contain nothing that amounts to a distinct prophecy of the Messiah. There are undoubtedly allusions to the times of the Gospel, but there is no prophetic declaration of which we are bound to say that it expressly belongs to the person and work of the Mediator. And yet it is evident from our text that something may be drawn from these prophets, as well as from Isaiah, who sketches with such wonderful accuracy whatever should befall the Messiah. Let us see, then, how this is to be met. Let us take in our hands the prophets of the Old Testament, and let us examine whether in one way or another they do not give such testimony to Jesus as would bear out the assertion, "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." If prophecy contributed to the introducing and upholding of a dispensation which rendered the Jews the great heralds to the world of a Deliverer to be born in the fulness of time, there can be nothing clearer than that, in delineating national prophecies, the prophets performed the part of witnesses for Christ, so that, whether they spoke of what should come to pass in Jerusalem or poured forth their strains in descriptions of the victories and defeats of heathen nations, they were effecting the mighty result that a whole people through many generations should stand out as a harbinger of the Redeemer of man, and therefore were they furnishing by their every announcement the material for verifying the assertion of our text: "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." The immediate theme of prophecy may, indeed, be the siege of a city or the overthrow of a state; but to ourselves, at least, who are privileged with the whole of revelation, it is evident that the besieged city or the overthrown state represents yet mightier conquests and more stupendous victories. In the ruins of Babylon we are taught to behold the defeat of antichrist; so that as ancient prophets pass through the lands which were inhabited by the enemies of Israel, and announce the vengeance by which they should be speedily overthrown, we hearken to strains which tell of deliverances to be vouchsafed to Christ's people and effected by Christ's interference. What then? Centuries may have gone by since the prophets swept the chords to the story of battle and of conquest. The notes of their strains may have told of nothing to the listeners in Jerusalem but the march and defeat of some monarch at whose power they trembled; but we hear in their every effusion the resistless advance of the Lord our Redeemer, and knowing that it is the Captain of our salvation appearing at the last as the Deliverer of His Church whom they hail as "coming from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah," we give in our assent to the accuracy of the description, "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus."
II. The true idea of prophecy an idea which should be kept steadily in view whilst you peruse the predictions of Scripture is derivable from this truth: "that in all the prophets" Christ found the things concerning Himself. Men are apt to assume as the sole purpose of a prophecy the giving men notice of some coming event. They do not look to any ulterior purpose, and they are therefore surprised if the prophecy seem obscure when the event has occurred, or if the correspondence between the two be not every way accurate; and certainly the predictions of Scripture will not always answer to the tests which men think it fair to impose. Many of these prophecies remain mysterious, though we know their accomplishment; and the events to which others are referred are scarcely commensurate with the terms in which they are announced. But all this is to be explained by the fact that "the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." If it had been the business of a prophet simply to tell men beforehand the issue of a siege or a battle, it might have been expected, and we should probably have found, that all obscurity in description would have been removed by the occurrence, and that the two would have corresponded in every particular; but if, on the other hand, it be the object of prophecy to tell men indeed beforehand of the siege or the battle, but so to shape the prediction that it shall also bear witness for Christ, you may fairly expect that, whilst the historical event is sufficiently indicated, much will be introduced which arises solely from the ulterior testimony. Indeed, there is much to excite our admiration when we study the events predicted, and compare them with events in which they find their fulfilment. To be able, as we are in a variety of instances, to read the fortunes of nations in both prophecy and history this supplies Christianity with a standing miracle, and places us on as fine a vantage ground in our combats with infidelity as though we could appeal to wonder-working power yet possessed in the Church.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 2687.