i8 7 4] THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY 259 



becoming full of spiritual meaning. For there is not in 

 the Old Testament one particle of Manichseism. Jahveh s 

 sovereignty over the earth is so absolutely supreme that 

 the shifting phases of material creation are essentially 

 an expression of His good pleasure or wrath towards men. 

 If at present the temporal experiences of God s people, 

 at least of individuals, cannot entirely be explained by 

 this principle and that this is, indeed, the case the Book 

 of Job shows yet this darkening of the essential trans 

 parency of the earthly organisation by which Jahveh is 

 constantly acting on men is temporary only. In the 

 Messianic age there shall be full harmony between heaven 

 and earth. The regenerated theocracy is also blessed 

 with earthly glory and (for here is the critical point) on 

 the whole with just such earthly glory as in a lower degree 

 has already been attained at every time when the nation 

 walked mindfully of its covenant relations. The glorious 

 times of David s kingdom are the type of the glories of the 

 Messianic days. 



Now, then, given so much as to the prophetic hopes as 

 matter of general agreement, to what extent can we assume 

 that the theocratic forms and principles which to the 

 prophets appeared eternal really are so ? How far is the 

 constitution of Christ s kingdom identical with, and how 

 far merely analogous to, the constitution of David s 

 kingdom ? In how far have the elements of the Old 

 Testament theocracy found their realisation in New 

 Testament times, or in how far may we still expect to see 

 them realised ? Or, on the other hand, in what measure 

 is the New Testament dispensation not merely an eleva 

 tion an idealisation of the Old Testament, but some 

 thing really and qualitatively new, which the Old Testa 

 ment only shadowed forth without presenting essential 

 identity or even such an identity that the one can flow 

 from the other by mere regular growth ? 



This is the real problem of the interpretation of Old 

 Testament prophecy ; but it is also the really critical 



