Col. 3:2
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10.) “To Him give all the prophets witness.” (Acts 10:43.) This is He “of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.” (John 1:45.) “All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.” (Luke 24:44.)
“Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;” and “the Spirit of Christ which was in them testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow.” (2 Peter 1:21; 1 Peter 1:11.)
Christ is the “Alpha and Omega” of the purposes of God, the centre toward which every line in the circle of revelation points.
Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.” (Col. 1:15-18.)
It is the purpose of God, “in the dispensation of the fulness of times to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.” (Eph. 1:10.) “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11.) To study the prophetic word, without the soul being led to Christ as the one object of which it testifies, is utterly to miss its import and design. If God speaks of the future of the church, it is only as the body of which Christ is the head, as the temple of which Christ is the foundation and the glory, as the wife whose husband and Lord is Christ. If He speaks of the future of Israel, Christ is their salvation, their righteousness, their strength, their glory, and their king. If He speaks of the future of the Gentile nations, it is to tell of Christ being King of kings, and Lord of lords, whom all the earth shall worship, and with whose glory all the earth shall be filled.
If He draws aside the veil, and points us to the throne, it is to see Jesus set at the right hand of the Majesty on high—Jesus the object of heaven’s adoring worship. And if in quick succession judgments and wrath are poured upon apostate man, it is to make His enemies His footstool, and to take the purchased inheritance, from the usurper’s power, for Him who is appointed “heir of all things.”
Had the true desire of those who have studied prophecy been “to behold the beauty of the Lord,” such enquiries had been more blessed, more fruitful in holiness and worship, and less the occasion of differences and divisions. Satan is well pleased to have us occupied with the letter, if so be that we miss the Spirit; to have us hold the shadow, if so be that we lose the substance. May the Spirit of truth the Comforter, as He shows us things to come, lead us evermore to Jesus.