CHAPTER FIVE
FURTHER FUTURISTIC FALLACIES
Adherence to the principle that prophecies which are couched in
terminology pertaining to "Israel" must be fulfilled literally
in relation to the literal Jews postpones fulfillment to some time in
the future. Thus Futurists, because these prophecies cannot be regarded
as having yet been fulfilled or as being capable of fulfillment in this
present age, refer their fulfillment after the "rapture" of
the church. It is beyond the scope of this necessarily limited outline
to discuss the subject in its many details. However, we point out that
Futurists teach that Jewish peculiarities will be revived: animal
sacrifices will again be offered. Scofield has endeavored to solve the
difficulty confronted by numerous New Testament texts which explicitly
teach that the Mosaic ritual of sacrifices and the Aaronic priesthood
have been abolished, and that the Old Testament typical system of
expiation finds its fulfillment in the high priestly atonement and
mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Scofield says: "Doubtless these
offerings will be memorial, looking back to the cross, as the offerings
under the old covenant were anticipatory, looking forward to the
cross" (p. 890). In this, as in so many other illustrations that
could be given, we see the sad result of following a system of
interpretation which demands that the things pertaining to
"Israel" must be literally fulfilled.
It is a sufficiently damning indictment of Futurism that it relegates
to the future the fulfillment of such prophecies as Zech. 13:1 ("In
that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness"), and Dan.
9:24. The Futuristic comment is: "The day is yet future when
a fountain shall be opened for the iniquity of Daniel's people (Zech.
13:1), and righteousness shall be ushered in for them."
It is a principle employed by Bible prophets to speak of world-wide
events in the language which, at first glance, seems to indicate that
Palestine is to be the place of fulfillment. But a closer study reveals
that the whole story of salvation is couched in similar phraseology.
Thus the whole of the literal local things in the Mosaic economy
foreshadowed world-wide events in connection with the Christian church.
(See 1 Cor. 10:6, 11 margins.) This has been the belief of Protestant
interpreters for hundreds of years, as may be seen in the headings of
the King James' Version. Though couched in phraseology indicating that
the fountain for cleansing would be literally in Jerusalem, yet most
Christians have applied this verse as refer- ring to the crimson stream
which has flowed from the Saviour by His death on Calvary. We may all
symbolically, or by faith, plunge into that precious fountain wherever
we are literally located on earth. Cowper's familiar hymn, "There
is a fountain filled with blood," owes its beautiful though painful
imagery to this verse. Comparing Zech. 14:8 and Ezek. 47:1-12, we see
the thought in Zech. 13:1 that water is the symbol of cleansing and
purification. (See also Ezek. 36:25; Rev. 7:14, etc.) The refusal to see
the symbolical import of the Scriptures employed by the Holy Spirit to
convey spiritual truths is the foundation of the errors of Roman
Catholicism. |
