Editorial February 23, 1963 Issue

The Value of Spiritual Prophecy

Ralph E. Wagers

Spiritual prophecy may foretell a particular event, but its activity is timeless; it is not confined to the temporal. This may be why the foresight of spiritually-minded prophets is somewhat bewildering to merely historically oriented students of the Bible. But those in whom the spiritual idea is unfolding its eternal message—those who are becoming spiritually-minded —are often able to accurately project the significance of the prophetical vision into the present.

As an example, when Isaiah used the word "Lucifer" in referring to the rise and fall of an oppressive Babylonian king, he did more than foretell the doom of a particular monarch. He foretold the doom of the evil that would induce a person, a nation, or a system to exercise despotic control over the minds of men. This evil has many aliases in the Bible. Among them are serpent, dragon, devil, Satan, carnal mind.

Isaiah foresaw the bold attempt of Lucifer to "ascend above the heights of the clouds"; to "be like the most High" (14:14). But he foresaw also that this impostor would "be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit," declaring, "They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying. Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?"

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