God alone understands the future. During the ages past he has not left his own work without the witness of prophecy. We may rest assured, therefore, that in the prophecy of the divine Word he has given us an outline of the history of his church. So I shall ask the reader to patiently follow me through a brief sketch of ecclesiastical events as described in the prophecies of the Revelation. Such an examination will throw a large amount of additional light on the subjects I have already treated historically, and will also give us a divinely drawn picture of the church of the future. Such will enable us to understand better the real character and extent of THE LAST REFORMATION. PART III The Church in Prophecy CHAPTER X INTERPRETATION OF PROPHETIC SYMBOLS [Sidenote: Value of prophecy] The value of prophecy in establishing the religion of the Bible as the religion, of God has been generally recognized. Its value, however, is not limited to the proof of the divinity of Biblical truth which it furnishes: it serves a definite and most important purpose in the life and work of God's believing children in all ages. By it we are better able to understand God's own plan and purposes in human history, and by it we are made conscious of our own whereabouts along the pathway of time. The movements of God in the history of the past that were predicted by earlier prophets have received their chief inspiration from the conscious knowledge the leaders had of the prophetic character of their work. It was Daniel's study of prophecy that stirred his soul for the restoration of Israel to the favor of God and to their own land (Dan. 9:2), and at the same time opened his own heart for the wonderful revelation concerning future events. It was the consciousness of prophetic fulfilment that gave John the Baptist his inspiration for work (John 1:23); and in establishing the truths of the gospel of Christ, the apostles placed leading emphasis on the fact that these things were written in the law and in the prophets. The love and care that Christ had for his people did not cease in the beginning of the gospel dispensation; for he gave the promise, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." It is altogether reasonable, then, that we should receive "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to _show unto his servants_ things which must shortly come to pass" (Rev. 1:1). Through the varying conditions of time, Christ leads his people on to certain victory. Since the mission of the church was to be world-wide and perpetual, it is fitting that the church should be described prophetically in order that we might have definite information concerning the operations of the divine hand in working out the great problem of the church's destiny after the close of the sacred canon. [Sidenote: Prophetic symbols]