The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

378 Pages·2013·3.67 MB·English

The ABIDING GIFT of
PROPHECY
A
The ABIDING GIFT
of
PROPHECY
by
ARTHUR GROSVENOR DANIELLS
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA
(cid:9) (cid:9)
OMAHA, NEBRASKA CRISTOBAL, CANAL ZONE PORTLAND, OREGON
COPYRIGHT, 1936, BY PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
'948
Author's Foreword
FOR a third of a century it has been my privilege to present,
with increasing fullness, certain of the evidences centering
in the theme of this book, "The Abiding Gift of Prophecy."
Particularly is this true of those features treated in the early
and latter sections, dealing, first, with the Biblical evidences
concerning the continuance of spiritual gifts, but more especially
of their latter-day bestowal upon the remnant church. For years,
ministerial groups and General Conference Councils have gone
on record asking that these studies be placed in book form. This
was duly promised by the author, and the work has been pursued
with much pleasure and satisfaction.
This volume deals with but one theme—The Abiding Gift
of Prophecy. That prophetic gift has been God's chosen method
of revealing Himself to the human race after man had been
ruined through sin. Before being estranged from God by this
blighting, alien curse, he had free and open access to the presence
of his Creator. But after the fall this open way was closed. Since
then, an obscuring veil has separated man from the presence
of God.
Only through men chosen and called by His sovereign will
has God clearly disclosed His purposes and fully revealed the
future. The bestowal of the prophetic gift upon an individual
has made that person a prophet. The operation of this gift,
therefore, is wholly planned and utilized by the Lord Himself.
Concerning those whom He calls to the prophetic office, He says :
"Hear now My words : If there be a prophet among you, I the
Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will
speak unto him in a dream." Num. 12 :6.
At the birth of John the Baptist, the prophetic power of the
Spirit came upon his father Zacharias. Being "filled with the
Holy Ghost," he "prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people." In the
midst of an outburst of joy over the advent of the long-expected
Messiah, "to give knowledge of salvation" by the remission of
sins through faith in His name, Zacharias testifies that God had
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6(cid:9) THE ABIDING GIFT OF PROPHECY
spoken "by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been
since the world began." Luke 1 :67-70. This most expressive
and significant statement of the early bestowal and continuance
of the prophetic gift was repeated by the apostle Peter, who
declared that God "hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began." Acts 3 :21.
This prophetic gift bestowed was to abide with the church
from Adam to the second advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, when He comes to take His redeemed people to Paradise.
It did not cease with the apostles, but is traceable through the
centuries to the last days of human history, just before the return
of our Lord. When that supreme event of the ages shall occur,
then—and not until then—shall come to pass that which is
spoken of by the apostle Paul:
"Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be
done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be
knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we' prophesy
in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall
be done away." 1 Cor. 13 : 8-10, A. R. V.
The tracing of the manifestations of this gracious gift through
the ages has been a fascinating and most enlightening study. As
may be surmised, it has required a vast amount of research. For
much of this, and for the critical reading and improvement of
the manuscript, I am greatly indebted to a number of my friends
who have been deeply interested in the production of this volume.
ARTHUR GROSVENOR DANIELLS.
Huntington Park, California,
March 3, 1935.
Contents
AUTHOR'S FOREWORD (cid:9) 5
INTRODUCTION (cid:9) 9
SECTION ONE : THE PATRIARCHAL. AGE
I. THE PROPHETIC GIFT BESTOWED (cid:9) 15
II. PROPHETIC TERMS DEFINED (cid:9) 22
III. THE GIFT IN THE PATRIARCHAL DISPENSATION .(cid:9) 36
SECTION TWO: THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION
V. MANIFEST FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN (cid:9) 49
V. FROM JOSHUA TO SAMUEL (cid:9) 56
VI. DURING THE REVOLT OF ISRAEL (cid:9) 67
VII. PROPHETIC GUIDANCE TO KINGS (cid:9) 76
V III. MINISTRY OF PROPHETS TO ISRAEL (cid:9) 82
IX. IN THE CRISES OVER HEATHENISM (cid:9) 90
X. PROPHETIC WORK OF ELISHA (cid:9) 106
XI. THE LAST PROPHETS OF ISRAEL (cid:9) 118
THE PROPHETS OF JUDAH (cid:9) 126
III. SEVEN PROPHETIC WRITERS (cid:9) 135
:IV. PROPHETS DURING THE CAPTIVITY (cid:9) 144
PROPHETS AFTER THE CAPTIVITY (cid:9) 150
SECTION THREE : THE APOSTOLIC PERIOD
:NI. IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE (cid:9) 163
SECTION FOUR: THE CHRISTIAN ERA
XVII. THE WITNESS OF THE SECOND CENTURY (cid:9) 175
XVIII. EVIDENCES IN THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES 189
XIX. SEPARATIONS FROM THE CHURCH (cid:9) 200
XX. LIGHT PENETRATES THE DARKNESS (cid:9) 214
XXI. REFORMATION AND POST-REFORMATION PERIOD(cid:9) . 220
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XXII. NEARING THE GREAT CONSUMMATION (cid:9) 229
XXIII. THE AWAKENING ADVENT HOPE (cid:9) 239
SECTION FIVE : THE REMNANT HOUR
XXIV. GIFT RENEWED IN THE REMNANT CHURCH (cid:9) 253
XXV. A SOUND BASIS FOR CONFIDENCE (cid:9) 264
XXVI. CLAIMS TESTED BY THE WORD (cid:9) 277
XXVII. CLAIMS TESTED BY THEIR FRUITS (cid:9) 293
XXVIII. ESTABLISHING THE AUSTRALASIAN MISSIONARY COLLEGE (cid:9) 308
XXIX. MEETING A PUBLISHING WORK CRISIS (cid:9) 322
XXX. DENOMINATION SAVED FROM PANTHEISTIC TEACHING • 330
XXXI. THE PROVIDENTIAL MOVE TO WASHINGTON, D. C. . . 343
XXXII. OUR MEDICAL SCHOOL AT LOMA LINDA (cid:9) 354
XXXIII. CONFIDENCE CONFIRMED BY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES(cid:9) 363
XXXIV. BELIEVE IN THE PROPHETIC GIFT (cid:9) 370
Introduction
L
ONG has the church awaited the coming of this volume, and
long has it been needed. Dealing, as it does, in a unique
and larger way with the divine provision for the abiding of the
gift of prophecy in God's true church in all ages and dispensa-
tions, it presents a full-rounded survey of the most misunder-
stood and maligned of the three great identifying marks of the
true church of the last days. These are "the commandments of
God," "the faith of Jesus," and "the spirit of prophecy." It is
this remnant church which completes the arrested Reformation
of the sixteenth century, which restores the fullness of apostolic
faith and practice, and which, significantly enough, is to have
as one of its distinguishing characteristics, the manifestation
of the promised gifts of the Spirit.
The church has greatly needed this book, not only for the
uniqueness and largeness of its concept, but for the• compre-
hensiveness and adequacy of its treatment. It has needed it for
the soundness and saneness of its conclusions, and for the rea-
sonableness and winsomeness of its approach. Serious miscon-
ceptions have obtained, in the minds of many, concerning all
spiritual gifts, but especially as regards the gift of prophecy.
Crude and distorted concepts have been formed and fostered by
others. Deceptive counterfeits have appeared to simulate and
harass the true bestowals, thus to bring the whole divine. pro-
vision into doubt and disrepute.
It is truly refreshing, therefore, to have a presentation so con-
spicuous for soundness and balance. These basic qualities have
been happily blended with unswerving loyalty to the word of
truth, and fidelity to the facts of record. Dignified, chaste, schol-
arly, and Biblical,— these are terms that may fitly describe this
presentation, destined, I believe, to be a classic in its field.
This volume lifts the gift of prophecy wholly above the
strange, weird, and fantastic, and presents it as God's chosen,
revealed, established, and uniform method of communicating
with the people of His choice on earth, separated as they have
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(cid:9)
10 THE ABIDING GIFT OF PROPHECY
been from His presence, since the fall of man, by that dreadful
thing — sin.
As the supreme claim to our acceptance of this gift, the author
presents the character and content of the prophetic messages
themselves. The internal evidence is set forth as the determining
factor, subject to definite and well-defined moral tests. Physical
phenomena—which may, or may not, accompany the giving of
visions and revelations from God—may serve at times to arrest
attention and to convince the beholder. These unquestionably
have their time and place in the manifestation of the gift to the
church, especially in the early exercise of the gift, before there
are written records or a body of literature prepared and author-
ized by the chosen instrument. But when such appear as the
fruitage of the gift, these then become, logically and inevitably,
the supreme test of validity, and the criteria of truth or falsity.
The material phenomena, Satan can and has duplicated in
connection with false prophets, to the harassing and bewilder-
ment of those who would judge chiefly by the physical tests. But
neither man nor devil can simulate the exalted purity, the truth,
and the consistency of the genuine, marked as it is by harmony
with historic and scientific fact, fidelity to the principles of truth,
the dictates of conscience, and the mandates of common sense,—
and, to crown all, insight into both the secrets of human hearts
and the wisdom and foreknowledge of God. The author has
given us satisfying evidence on the basis of these determining
factors, particularly as relates to the manifestation of this gift
in the last days.
It is this high concept that at once removes the gift in the
remnant church from the realm of something new and strange;
something heretofore unknown or inoperative, and therefore
difficult for the conservative and the incredulous to receive. Such
a comprehensive view takes away that instinctive and otherwise
inevitable hesitancy about presenting the evidence of the latter-
day manifestation of the gift to a materialistic and scoffing world.
It banishes that very natural inclination to keep it in the back-
ground because of the odium that commonly attaches to the