” (The author then goes on to quote Deuteronomy 28:1,2,15. Whenever an unfolding of events depends upon human choice, certain aspects of prophetic fulfillment are necessarily conditional. Conditional prophecy, or controlled uncertainty, is a biblical principle applied to the statements of a predictive nature that concern or involve the response of men and women. “The principle of conditionality is not a hermeneutical gimmick contrived by Seventh-day Adventists. But has the Word of the Lord failed? Never! It should be remembered that the promises and the threatenings of God are alike conditional.” 1 E.G. Our Saviour did not appear as soon as we hoped. It is true that time has continued longer than we expected in the early days of this message. “The angels of God in their messages to men represent time as very short.
Several commentators express this principle very clearly (emphasis added by column writer): It is conditional either because God changes his mind when circumstances change, or because people change the circumstances for which the prophecy was given. We must keep in mind the principle that all Bible prophecy, except prophecy directly related to salvation, is conditional. They are always living and speaking out their message in words that can be both clear and obtuse at the same time. At various times they may confront, cajole and exhort the people in their present day even as they predict events far in advance. Sometimes they are speaking to their day in vivid jeremiads other times they are looking far off into the future, their minds and prophetic eyes guided by the Spirit of God. One of these is the conditional nature of prophecy. As we travel through this intriguing book, several principles need to be kept in mind. Its poetic language whips back and forth between symbol and reality, its perspective at times jerking from present to future and back again like a midway roller coaster ride. Every verse of the sometimes psychedelic, Technicolor world of the book of Revelation seems to teem with creatures and terrain straight out of Tolkien.
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