A CHANGE of POLICY?-
The Bible gives, as I have attempted to demonstrate, clear evidence that at Christ's First Coming fulfillment and recognition were required in order to understand prophecy. Notwithstanding that this was the case at His First Coming, however, many Christians are certain that God clearly intends prophecies to lead them to Christ at His Second Coming. They will, in fact they are certain, accept Christ, and they will do so in a self-evident, overwhelming manner. This certainty is strikingly similar to that of the Jewish people at the First Coming (88:1)

God, it is true, is free to act in whatever way He wills. The fact that at His First Coming the prophecies could not be understood does not demand that this will be the case for the Second Coming. God is not bound to follow precedent. Whatever is His will, ours is to obey and accept it. If He intends that at His Return, people will have already understood how He should come, so be it (88:2)

But the fact that there is no evidence in the Bible or in the world today that the purpose of prophecy has changed cannot be taken lightly. While God can and does change His Ways of dealing with human beings, it is still the case that God is, more frequently, constant and regular in the Pattern of His dealings with mankind. Human beings, moreover, have shown a consistency of another sort - the notorious tendency, almost endlessly so, of repeating the same particularly grievous error: the error of assuming to know everything about scripture and the ways in which God will interact with humanity (88:3)

The assumption of many Christians that God made the prophecies of the New Testament about the Second Coming of Christ clear, and that they understand the meaning of these prophecies with a certitude that will enable them to recognize and accept Christ when He returns is all too similar to the assumption of the Jewish people that God made the prophecies of the Old Testament clear and that they would understand the meaning of those prophecies with such certitude that they would be able to recognize and accept Christ, the Messiah, at His First Coming. In the First Coming of Christ, the intention and wisdom of God's Will surpassed and confounded the wisdom and understanding of men; why is not the same Pattern likely to repeat itself in the Second Coming of Christ? (88:4)

Surely, the approach to scripture is most fruitful and correct when it is informed more by open inquiry and humble seeking than by dogmatic self-assurance and an inflexible refusal to even consider other viewpoints. The Jewish people were singularly dogmatic and inflexible in their refusal to consider the claims of Christ that He fulfilled their prophecies; they preferred their own confident and certain interpretations of the Old Testament prophecies. It is one thing to examine, patiently and conscientiously, all the evidence in a disputed case before reaching a decision, and quite another matter to cling to a preconceived interpretation, and then refuse to hear, or otherwise dismiss, in cursory fashion, all contrary evidence (88:5)

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