Handout - Western Christadelphian Bible School

Australia won the first match, New Zealand the second and the scores were equal right down
to the last minute of the third. The park was packed with thousands of spectators. The
tension was electric. In the last few seconds of the game, the New Zealand half-back
snatched the ball out of the scrum and dived over the line, giving New Zealand the edge
needed to win the match - and the series. It was a great moment.
At the precise instant when the winning “try” was scored, several hundred cameras recorded
the event - all from different points of view. The next day, one of New Zealand’s national
daily papers – The Dominion - devoted a double page spread to a selection of perhaps 12 or
15 of these photos. There were no captions; only the headline: “That Moment!”
The effect was interesting and instructive. There was a general similarity between the
pictures - they were obviously about some aspect of sport, probably rugby. But at a casual
glance it was by no means obvious that they were all taken of the same event and at the same
time. One showed the event from a point which was very close to the critical action - a great
deal of detail could be seen of a very limited part of the whole scene. Another showed the
view from the top of the grandstand - much of the action could be seen, but not much detail.
Another was taken from the sideline. It showed the disposition of the teams, together with a
glimpse of the real action. A fourth photo was taken from a helicopter hovering high over
the park. In this shot the whole of the park could be seen; the action was visible as a
collection of small black dots in one corner of the field, with other black dots scattered here
and there over the field. And so on. No two photos seemed to be of the same event, until
they were carefully studied and mentally reorientated so that common factors could be
recognised.
This is the way that Bible parallelism works, especially in the field of prophecy. There are
many “snapshots” of the quite limited field of prophetic interest. The student has to
recognise that they really are of the same relatively restricted period of time. He can do this
by identifying the common features shared by each and by recognising the underlying
structural elements (see Session 4). Then each prophecy adds to the developing picture of
the total theme. One treatment gives a detailed, “close-up view” of a very limited part of the
overall structure, another, as though taken from a helicopter, gives a broad over-view with
practically no detail. Others show events which are taking place “on the side-lines” so to
speak. Taken together, they all give the total of what may be known of what the Lord
intends to do.
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