where he contrasts "the old time" when "holy men spake by the Holy Ghost" with our time when we have the "sure word of prophecy"; or, as it may be translated, "the word of prophecy confirmed [to us]." Thus God now reveals His will, not by direct theophanies, as in the first dispensation; not by inspired men, as in the second; but by the written word which liveth and abideth for ever (as opposed to the desultory manifestations of God, and the noncontinuance in life of the prophets, under the two former dispensations respectively, 1Pe 1:23; 2Pe 3:2, 16). The next form shall be the return of the theophanic manifestations on earth, in a more perfect and abiding form than in the first age (Re 21:3).

Copyright 2006 Patrick Chu