“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.” Micah 4:1.
10. A Vision is a revelation from God, supernaturally presented. Future events are made to pass before the mind of the seer, as if actually transpiring. Examples.—See the prophecies of Isaiah, Amos, Obadiah, &c.
11. A Symbolic Vision is where the future events, instead of being presented to the mind of the prophet, are represented by analogous objects. Examples.—The prophecies of Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and John, are of this kind.
12. A Literal Prophecy is where the prediction is given in words used according to their primary and natural import. Examples.—Num. 14:21-35; Jer. 25:1-33.
13. Prophecy is figurative when it abounds in tropes, as in much of Isaiah and the minor prophets; and it is symbolic, when symbols instead of the objects themselves are presented—as in Daniel and John.
14. Poetry is writing thus constituted by the metrical or rhythmical structure of its sentences; and is not necessarily any more figurative or obscure than prose writing. It is, also, a term sometimes applied to the language of excited imagination and feeling.
The Poetry of the Bible consists in Hebrew parallelisms, where the idea of the preceding line is repeated, or contrasted, in the succeeding one. Examples.—The Psalms, Isaiah, and other prophets.
15. Highly Figurative, or Symbolic Prophecies—the [pg 010] laws and use of Tropes and Symbols being understood are not necessarily more equivocal, enigmatical or obscure, than those which are literal.
16. Literal Fulfilment of prophecy is prophecy fulfilled in accordance with the grammatical interpretation of its language.
17. Literal Interpretation, when technically applied to the interpretation of prophecy, is not opposed to tropes or figures of speech, but to spiritual interpretation. It interprets the language of the Scriptures, as similar language would be interpreted in all other writings.