's prophecy of the outpouring of
the Spirit in the last days upon all flesh, with the mighty accompanying
judgments (chap. 2: 28-32), and Amos' prediction of the raising up of
David's fallen tabernacle (chap. 9:11, 12), had both their _initial_
fulfilment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
and the triumphs of the gospel that followed. Acts 2:16-21; 15:16, 17.
But the blessings which they promised were not exhausted in the
apostolic age. The church has had rich instalments of them, but richer
still are reserved for the future of millennial glory. A large part of
the prophecies of the Old Testament indicate in their very structure
that they are not to be understood of particular events, but of the
development of God's kingdom from age to age. The reader may take, as a
single example among many others, the prediction of Isaiah and Micah
concerning the establishment of the Lord's house in the last days in the
top of the mountains, the resort of all nations to it, and the universal
peace that shall follow. Isa. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4. That particularism
which seeks for the fulfilment of every prophecy in some one specific
event of history must go widely astray in its interpretation of
Scripture.

IV. THE QUESTION OF LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE MEANING.

11. On this question expositors are, as is well known, much divided; one
class adopting, as far as possible, the literal meaning of the prophetic
announcements, the other freely employing the principle of figurative
interpretation. A full discussion of the claims of these two methods of
interpretation, on which so many volumes have been written, would far
exceed the limits of the present work. All that can be done is, to
indicate some well-established principles which may help to guide the
biblical student in the study of prophecy.

12. We begin by calling attention to the _representative use_ which the
Old Testament prophets make of the events of the _past history of
Israel_; that is, to their habit of representing the future under the
imagery of this history. When Israel journeyed from Egypt to Palestine
through the wilderness of Arabia, God dried up the tongue of the
Egyptian sea before the people, guided them miraculously by the cloudy
pillar, fed them with manna, made streams of water to burst forth from
the rock for their refreshment, and finally divided the waters of the
Jordan to give them a passage into the promised land. This primitive
history