The Importance of A Literal Interpretation of Scripture

WorldWithoutEnd

Well-Known Member
My Pastor shared this study with me and I found it excellent and of utmost importance...

Thought I would share. God bless.

About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition-- Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

What I protest against is, the habit of allegorizing plain sayings of the Word of God concerning the future history of the nation of Israel, and explaining away the fullness of the contents in order to accommodate them to the Gentile Church. I believe the habit to be unwarranted by anything in Scripture, and to draw after it a long train of evil consequences. [J. C. Ryle,
Are You Ready For The End Of Time? (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus,
2001) p. 1 07-1 08; reprint of Coming Events and Present Duties.]

Jerusalem will be rebuilt in more than her former splendor; the Jews will be restored to their own land; and Messiah will reign as a prince of the house of David. We cannot understand many portions of Scripture except upon this belief ... I clearly see in Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ will come ... personally to reign upon this earth. At His coming it appears clear to me that He will gather together the Jewish people, that Jerusalem shall become the metropolis of the new empire which shall then extend from pole to pole. [Charles Spurgeon, from a sermon preached on Zechariah 11:1-5 when Mr. Spurgeon was about thirty years of age]

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/dispen/litconsist.htm
 

WorldWithoutEnd

Well-Known Member
Brother Chris, if this study is pleasing to you, I hope that you'll make this one a sticky, as it is very good in clearing some things up amongst all the confusion that's out there. I just don't want it to get lost among all the threads. I pray you'll consider it.

Till we meet in glory!
Your fellow servant...God bless.
 

WorldWithoutEnd

Well-Known Member
Excellent excerpt from the study...

Ryle then envisions a situation where a Christian is witnessing to a Jew. The Christian tells his Jewish friend how the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah (such as Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Micah 5:2, etc.) were literally fulfilled by Christ. He then continues:

But suppose the Jew asks you if you take all the prophecies of the Old Testament in their simple literal meaning. Suppose he asks you if you believe in a literal personal advent of Messiah to reign over the earth in glory, a literal restoration of Judah and Israel to Palestine, a literal rebuilding and restoration of Zion and Jerusalem. Suppose the unconverted Jew puts these questions to you, what answer are you prepared to make? Will you dare to tell him that Old Testament prophecies of this kind are not to be taken in their plain literal sense? Will you dare to tell him that the words Zion, Jerusalem, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim, Israel, do not mean what they seem to mean, but mean theChurch of Christ? Will you dare to tell him that the glorious kingdom and future blessedness of Zion, so often dwelt upon in prophecy, mean nothing more than the gradual Christianizing of the world by missionaries and gospel preaching? Will you dare to tell him that you think it "carnal" to expect a literal rebuilding of Jerusalem, "carnal" to expect a literal coming of Messiah to reign? Oh, reader, if you are a man of this mind, take care what you are doing! I say again, take care. [J. C. Ryle, Are You Ready For The End Of Time? (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001) p. 47; reprint of Coming Events and Present Duties.]

Ryle continues to plead for a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies:

It is high time for Christians to interpret unfulfilled prophecy by the light of prophecies already fulfilled. The curses of the Jews were brought to pass literally; so also will be the blessings. The scattering was literal; so also will be the gathering. The pulling down of Zion was literal; so also will be the building up. The rejection of Israel was literal; so also will be the restoration. [J. C. Ryle, Are You Ready For The End Of Time? (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001) p. 49; reprint of Coming Events and Present Duties.]

What I protest against is, the habit of allegorizing plain sayings of the Word of God concerning the future history of the nation of Israel, and explaining away the fullness of the contents in order to accommodate them to the Gentile Church. I believe the habit to be unwarranted by anything in Scripture, and to draw after it a long train of evil consequences. [J. C. Ryle, Are You Ready For The End Of Time? (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001) p. 107-108; reprint of Coming Events and Present Duties.]

J. C. Ryle had some concluding words about the importance of literal interpretation:

Cultivate the habit of reading prophecy with a single eye to the literal meaning of its proper names. Cast aside the old traditional idea that Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, and Jerusalem, and Zion must always mean the Gentile Church, and that predictions about the second Advent are to be taken spiritually, and first Advent predictions literally. Be just, and honest, and fair. If you expect the Jews to take the 53rd of Isaiah literally, be sure you take the 54th and 60th and 62nd literally also. The Protestant Reformers were not perfect. On no point, I venture to say, were they so much in the wrong as in the interpretation of Old Testament prophecy. [J. C. Ryle, Are You Ready For The End Of Time?(Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001) p. 157-159; reprint of Coming Events and Present Duties.]
 

WorldWithoutEnd

Well-Known Member
Will you dare to tell him that the glorious kingdom and future blessedness of Zion, so often dwelt upon in prophecy, mean nothing more than the gradual Christianizing of the world by missionaries and gospel preaching? Will you dare to tell him that you think it "carnal" to expect a literal rebuilding of Jerusalem, "carnal" to expect a literal coming of Messiah to reign? Oh, reader, if you are a man of this mind, take care what you are doing! I say again, take care.
To this I say Amen! Jn 15:4-6, Rom 11:18-22
 
Back
Top