PROPHECY: LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE?
By DAVID VAUGHN ELLIOTT
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DOES THE BIBLE mean what it says? Should we to take it at face value? Should we interpret it literally? Or, should we understand it figuratively? Few questions are more important for the study of Bible prophecy.
Not "Either-Or"
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Is the Bible history, or poetry? Both! Do Bible laws apply to us today, or not? Both! Does the Bible contain the word of God, or the word of the devil? Both! (Not sound right? See Luke 4:6.) Is the Bible easy to understand, or hard? Both! 

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Many things in life cannot be forced into an "either-or" situation. So it is with Bible interpretation. Should we understand Bible prophecy literally or figuratively? The answer can be given in one word: both!
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Much of the Bible is Literal
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The Bible is a book of real people. Many of them are known to secular history: Ahab, Jehu, Hezekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Pontius Pilate, the Herods, Caesar Augustus, John the Baptist, James the Lord’s brother, to name a few.

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The Bible is a book of real places. It tells of Babylon, Egypt, Samaria, Syria, Edom, Rome, and more. It takes us to the Euphrates and Jordan Rivers, the Red Sea and the Sea of Galilee. 

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Real people in real places: a true, literal history of God’s dealings with mankind. Since the Bible is solidly set in history, Bible interpretation should begin with the literal meaning.

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Many prophecies of the Bible are likewise to be literally understood. When Abraham’s visitors told him that Sarah would shortly have a son, Sarah laughed. She laughed because it was impossible; she was past menopause. But with God all things are possible. He fulfilled it literally (Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-7).

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God foretold that if the children of Israel disobeyed him, they would experience miserable sieges of their cities. They would go to the extreme of eating their own children! That was literally fulfilled (Deuteronomy 28:45-57; 2 Kings 6:24-29).

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Centuries before Christ, Isaiah prophesied that a voice would one day cry out in a wilderness. Such was the unusual literal location of John the Baptist’s ministry (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:1-5). Zechariah prophesied that the King of the Jews would enter Jerusalem on a donkey. It was literally fulfilled (Zechariah 9:9; John 12:12-16).

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Bible prophecy, like other portions of the Bible, should often be understood literally.
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Much of the Bible is Figurative
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The problem among Bible believers today is not if we should understand much of the Bible literally. Believers accept that. But some talk as if all the Bible should be taken literally. However, it takes little Bible reading to discover figurative language.

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For a quick start, consider Jesus’ parables. The sower, the net, the ten virgins, the vineyard, the pearl of great price. Who can doubt that they must all be interpreted figuratively?

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The Psalms declare that God is our rock, our shield, our fortress. Who does not understand that these are figures of speech? Paul said: "I fed you with milk and not with solid food." "I planted, Apollos watered." No one believes that Paul was literally a nursemaid or a farmer. 

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The real question is not whether the Bible---and it’s prophecy---should be taken literally or figuratively. The question is how much is literal and how much is figurative. The question for the believer is not whether or not we should start with the literal. We should! The question is this: How can we tell when certain words, phrases or verses are to be understood figuratively?
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COMMON SENSE
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Why not start with every-day-common sense? Daily conversation is filled with figurative language. Dad says, "You kids quit raising the roof." What do you think would happen to the youngster who replied, "Dad, come take a look. The roof hasn’t been raised one inch"? 
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"I’m up to my neck in debt." "Don’t be a pig." "We were flying down the highway." "I had butterflies in my stomach." Common sense. No one has to explain these figures to anyone---except to a small child. Ever notice how often small children are confused because grown-ups speak figuratively and the child takes it literally? But as children grow up, they catch on.

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What is "common sense," anyway? It’s the sense you would expect common folk to have. A person of normal intelligence. A person with a reasonable amount of knowledge about life. 

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Then, what is "common sense" in relation to literal and figurative language? Take "raising the roof," for example. A person of common intelligence and experience knows that kids can not lift a roof by yelling. It is impossible. Therefore, the expression must be figurative. When words, taken literally, involve self-contradiction, absurdity or unreality, then it is time to consider a figurative meaning.
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Common Sense and the Bible
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Jesus spoke of two men, one with a speck in his eye, the other with a plank in his eye. But it is not literally possible to have a plank in the eye. Conclusion? Jesus was speaking figuratively.

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"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out," Jesus said (Matthew 5:29). Ever hear of anybody who sinned with just one eye? "I’ll cover my left eye and lust on this woman with just my right eye." Absurd? Yes. It must be figurative language.

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God’s first command to man included figurative speech. God said of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17). However, Adam and Eve did not literally die the day they ate. Since God does not lie, we are forced to consider a figurative interpretation.
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Common Sense and Prophecy
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Turning to prophecy, it is important to note that nobody interprets all prophecy literally, not even the very people who claim it is all literal. Common sense is part of the reason. 

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Everybody agrees that the beasts of Revelation 13 and 17 are symbolic. With a big imagination, maybe a literal beast could have seven heads (13:1) and maybe even talk (13:5). But no adult imagination is big enough to accept 13:7 as referring to a literal beast. "It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation." Imagination fails. Common sense says the beasts represent some human power(s).

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Prophecies often mention stars. For example, Revelation 6:13 says, "And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind." In verses 15 and 16, the earth and its people still exist. This is literally impossible. Stars are huge. If just one star collided with the earth, the earth would be obliterated but the star hardly affected. Thus, the student must look for a figurative explanation. 

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Common sense, of course, has its limits. It can often tell us something is not literal; but by itself it may not explain the figurative meaning.
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THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO
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"Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells me so." In like manner, many times we can say, "The text is figurative this I know, for the Bible tells me so." What surer ground than to let the Bible interpret itself!
Simile: "Like," "As"
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Formal language classes sometimes explore figures of speech. Some of the examples already given are called "metaphors." In a metaphor something is said to be something else. It was more forceful for Jesus to say, "I am the door," than to say "I am like a door." This latter figure of speech is a "simile." A simile uses "like" and "as." To recognize a metaphor, one must use common sense. The simile, on the other hand, plainly declares itself to be a figure of speech.

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Genesis 22:17: "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore." As the stars; as the sand. Mat- thew 23:27 reads: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside are full of dead men's bones." Like whitewashed tombs. 

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Another figure of speech, the parable, may be defined as an "extended simile." "The kingdom of heaven is like..." The entire account that follows "like" is figurative language.
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Interpretation Given
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Often the Bible does more than simply say that certain language is figurative. It interprets the figure. Parables are like that. Some are only identified as parables, leaving it to the disciple to discern the meaning. In other cases, the meaning of the various figures is explained.

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Matthew 13:37-38: "He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one’."

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God’s first command to man includes a figure (Genesis 2:17); but the figure is not explained. The New Testament provides insight. "Let the dead bury their own dead" (Matthew 8:22). Common sense says the first "dead" is figurative; the second, literal. Ephesians 2:1-3 explains this figurative death: "dead in trespasses and sins... fulfilling the desires of the flesh." Dead while living! Dead in sin. With such insight, it is easy to conclude that Adam and Eve died spiritually on the day they ate.

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Revelation opens with a vision of Christ. He is standing amidst seven lampstands and has seven stars in his hand. Literal or figurative? He himself answers in 1:20: "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches." The identity of these "angels" is not clear, but there is no question about the seven churches. They are identified in 1:11. The Bible has explained the figure. 
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