What’s Past Is Prologue
We have heard it said that “Experience is the best teacher” to which I add, “especially when it is someone else’s experience.” That is, we need not repeat the mistakes of others, and can benefit from their accomplishments, if we wisely learn from those who have gone before. In addition to the “experience” adage we have also heard the warning about repeating history:
Variations on the repeating-history theme appear alongside debates about attribution. Many misquote Irish statesman Edmund Burke, who is supposed to have said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Likewise, many credit Spanish philosopher George Santayana with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”1
It is a sad fact that, our culture largely neglects the study of history. As a result, we lose the many advantages of a thorough grasp of history including:
First, historical inquiry creates a sense of stability. One of the many dangers of our fast-paced society is the loss of historical moorings. The resultant make-it-up-as-we-go approach creates uncertainty about whether such untested methods are indeed best.
Second, a recognition that our current blessings are an inheritance from previous generations should result in humility. The antidote to the iconoclasm and arrogance of our individualistic culture is a realization that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.
Third, in the light of God’s providential work in history, we ought to come away from its study with a renewed sense of responsibility. The sovereign God has placed us in this moment of history. It is our awesome privilege and responsibility to pass the baton to the next generation.
But another important benefit of knowing history is that it develops an ability to anticipate trends before they happen. Historical events occur in a pendulumatic fashion, that is, people tend to behave in reaction to current events. So, the oft-cited maxim, “History repeats itself” is rightly accepted as true. This understanding allows one possessing a working knowledge of history to recognize that we have been here before and react accordingly.
You see, for the person who is ignorant of history, everything is a first. And if everything is a first it is unprecedented. And if it is all unprecedented then we have no idea how it will turn out, so it gives rise to fear, often unwarranted fear.
Just a cursory review of our relatively recent political history would assuage unfounded fears. I heard the word “Marxism” more times in the last presidential election cycle than I had in all the years since college when I actually took a class on Marxism. Now only ten months into a new administration it should be clear that revolutions are hard to pull off, no? Up to just a few weeks ago, a Democratic controlled Congress was grappling since spring with trying to pass spending bills, though vastly reduced in size from what the few real socialists in Congress had originally proposed. I’m not commenting on the desirability of the legislation as the same could be said for massive tax cuts on the conservative side. Huge changes are hard to make but when they finally go through, they trigger a huge response.
When Lyndon Johnson ushered the “Great Society” programs through a Democratic Congress it helped elect Richard Nixon a few years later, and ultimately led to Ronald Reagan in 1980. When George W. Bush took on a war in Iraq, supported by John McCain, it helped Barrack Obama defeat McCain handily in 2008. When Obama’s first legislative act was to persuade Congress to pass the enormous Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) by a single vote in the House of Representatives, it led to the formation of the Tea Party movement, and the loss of control of Congress later that year. And the, shall we say, eccentricities of President Trump made “Sleepy Joe” (Trump’s name for our current president) a welcome change for many.
Likewise, social changes prompt reaction, and huge social changes result in huge response. Social theorists and radicals can and will seek to experiment with children in classrooms, but not without a fierce reaction from parents of children affected. Recently in Virginia, a former and popular Democratic governor there lost his attempt at a comeback in part because he said in debate, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” And making bathrooms available based on declared gender is a winning issue … for those who oppose it!
Still, the cycles of history are advancing linearly. We see repetition and reaction, but it’s moving toward God’s appointed end, someday. Things will not go on as they have, forever, for God will intervene. But even what happens then has happened before, as Peter reminds us:
Scoffers will … say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that … the world … was deluged and destroyed [and] … the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:3-7)
Shakespeare’s “What’s past is prologue” is true in that what we see has already been seen. Knowledge of the cycles of history should offer a measure of reassurance. But our ultimate security comes from knowing that what God has done in the past He will do in the future, and all that happens now is moving toward His deliberate end. In the meantime, Peter says to take advantage of the interlude. It exists because, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.