Chart of the Month # 1 - "The Mountain Peaks of Prophecy"

Click to enlarge

At first glance, the Mountain Peaks of Prophesy has none of the signature qualities of a Larkin chart: it is an annotated pictorial representation in true perspective, and not in the flat-plane, technical blueprint style or influenced in any obvious way by the modernism of Larkin’s time, as might be said of Larkin’s eschatological flow-charts.  In this picture an archetype figure, the Old Testament Prophet, stands at the lowest point in the left foreground, looking to the right into the distance across the peaks of three large hills or mountains.  His sight-line can be followed from hill to hill, picking up on the first Christ’s birth, his crucifixion, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and on the peak of the next the Antichrist and the Sun of Righteousness described in Malachi 4:3.  In the valley between the two hills, concealed from the Prophet’s view-point, lies the Church.

Unlike plan diagrams which are used to show all parts of an object or a process un-obscured, employing true perspective allows Larkin to use form to demonstrate and reinforce his central message of opposites: hill and valley, light and shade, and particularly revelation, and concealment. The visual metaphor shows key eschatological events and concepts located in a Biblical landscape, with the mountains and plains of Judea providing the backdrop. The chart is intended to explain why the Old Testament prophets were unable to distinguish between the First and Second Comings, because the foreshortening effect of their position in the line of time made peaks separated by a significant distance appear to be the peaks of one great mountain. The secondary message concerns the dual covenant, giving full legitimacy to the Old Testament Prophet’s position representing the covenant with Israel, and at the same time emphasizing the difficulties faced by the Church mired in the valley, able to see backward and forward but unable to see what the Prophet can, beyond the second peak. Because the Old Testament Prophet’s vision, whilst being flawed by perspective in relation to distance between, nonetheless includes the ultimate end-point in the New Heavens and the New Earth.  

Interestingly, the Prophet can also see the Millennial Kingdom, which Larkin has shown in projected view because at the time when the chart is intended to be in use it lies in the historic future. But how can the Prophet see into the Millennial Valley, the lowest point between the second and third peaks, from where he is standing?   Probably because, as described in Micah 4:1-2:- …it shall come to pass in the end of days that the mountains of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills. The inset picture shows the temple on top of a new mountain in future time, where it has risen above the descending Sun that both heals and burns on the second peak, and into the Prophet’s line of sight. 

Larkin’s deceptively simple picture also contains a subliminal message about an aspect of the God of Israel, called the God of the hills but who nonetheless came to the aid of his people on the plains.  The Mountain Peaks of Prophesy allows the viewer a visionary moment, stepping back from both the Prophet and the Church and see the bigger picture. In doing so, the chart describes high and low states with simple lines and a lightness of narrative, giving us hills and plains, vision and short-sightedness, lifted up and brought down, the Heavens and the Earth, to contemplate in a single scene.

NEXT MONTH'S CHART: "The Failure of Man"