6. THE AUTHOR’S VIEWPOINT SET FORTH

Any author must necessarily have a viewpoint. His opinions of his subject matter are bound to be visible to some degree, if only in the choice and treatment of the materials, though he reserves the direct expression of these for his summaries and conclusions.PFF1 14.1

This author is an evangelical Christian—a Protestant conservative—who believes first of all, and without reservation, in the divine inspiration of the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16), and the fundamental provisions of the gospel; second, that the “sure word of prophecy,” written by the prophets of old as they were “moved by the Holy Ghost,” was divinely given to man as “a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn” (2 Peter 1:19); and third, that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private [idios—independent, isolated, personal, solitary] interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).PFF1 14.2

The author believes, further, that according to His promise, “God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. He also believes that God has declared “the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand” (Isaiah 46:10); further, that the “path of the just” is designed of God to be “as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18); and finally, that prophecy has been given unto us to establish sound and substantial faith—that “when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29; cf. 13:19 and 16:4). Incidentally, the only direct command our Lord ever gave to understand the Word was directed to the understanding of the prophecy of Daniel. (Matthew 24:15.)PFF1 14.3

This, then, is the Biblical justification for the study of prophecy, and consequently of the propriety of man’s honest and reverent attempt to understand its meaning and to read its lesson.PFF1 14.4