Inventors of elaborate schemes of prophecy
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
Information as to the future in Scripture, is generally very indistinct in arrangement, and though many attempts have been made to form a consistent scheme of prophecy, not one has been even moderately successful. There are in the Word of God, many clear testimonies as to distinct events in the future, but these cannot easily be arranged in order so as to harmonize with other events; neither will the most accurate observer ever make a consistent series of them, so as to map them down. They are perfectly consistent, and their order is divine--but we shall need the actual fulfillment to make the plan clear.
So intricate is the architecture of future history, that the Architect himself alone knows where this stone, and that stone, and the other stone, are ordained to stand. It is not for us to fling any one of the stones away, or censure it as poorly shaped.
We are but children, and our little plans of house-building, like children with their toy bricks, are very simple and elementary indeed. But God's architecture is of a high class, and we cannot, therefore, conjecture where this event will come in, or where that marvel will find its place. But that each one will follow in an orderly manner upon the other, we may rest quite assured. Instead of puzzling our brains over how all the prophecies fit together, we may be quite satisfied to take each of the prophecies separately as we find them, believingly expect them, and above all, deduce from them their legitimate practical conclusions.
The right way of knowing anything, is to know how to act in consequence of it. In spiritual things, a man knows nothing until he lives what he knows. If you and I know the truths with regard to the future, each one as we find them in Scripture, and then live consistent to the inferences fairly to be drawn from them--we shall be wiser men, than if we became inventors of elaborate schemes of prophecy.
2 Peter 1:20–21, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
We have posted an insightful section from Spurgeon which is must reading for all parents: A parent's greatest joy!