 Good morning. So we missed our last class. We have we've had a little bit of a long gap. We will do a little bit for summary of what we covered before we in our last class and then we'll go into today's content. But before we begin will someone pray for us, please? Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for this new morning. Lord, thank you for this new one, Lord. I pray, Lord, as we will learn your word, Lord, help us and open our hearts. Lord, give us your more revelation, Lord, that we will understand you more and more, Lord. And we want to grow, Lord, in your word more and more, Lord, just help us and, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit will teach us, Lord. I give to our faculties also in your hand, Lord. Give her also your strength, your power, and all your wisdom. Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Thank you. So the last time we had looked at prophecy, I believe. So we'll just looking at prophetic scriptures and how do we interpret them? Is that right? Just to make sure that we are covering the right content. This is two weeks back. Yeah. Okay. I think that's what we did last. So we'll just cover the main points in this and then we'll go on from there. So some of the key principles when we're looking at biblical prophecy is to look at timeline. So to recognize that the timelines in biblical prophecy are not specific fixed times that are given in consecutive order. So sometimes it may be something that's supposed to happen later, will happen earlier, something that is going to happen many, many, many years later, thousands of years later even maybe recorded right after a specific event. So they may give one event. And then in the same verse, like we have this example here, Isaiah 9 6 and 7, there's actually a 2000 year, more than a 2000 year gap between in that same verse because it's prophesying about the birth of Jesus. And then the later part of that verse talks about Christ's millennial reign. Right. So there's more than 2000 years in that one verse. So recognizing that that may be the case in prophetic scripture. We also looked at prophetic imagery. And that is more of how pictures used in biblical prophecy. So a lot of the pictures mean something else rather than what they actually say. So we saw the use of the word dragon. We see us see the use of the sorry, the harlot, all of these things that represent something else. So they're not talking specifically about a prostitute, rather about Babylon. Right. So how do we look at those pictures and understand who those pictures actually are referring to? The third is timing. So sometimes prophetic scriptures will be very clear in their timing. They'll give you the exact number of days or months or years. And sometimes it'll be a little more figurative and you have to interpret it. So these in all of these interpretations, there are certain principles that we take into mind. Okay. So these are a few of those principles. First is we will always take into consideration what is the history, what was happening in that time. We take into consideration the grammar. So all of the things we've already looked at in independent historical context at grammar, at literally how do we how do we take passages literally? And only if there is a problem with taking the literal translation, for example, the dragon understanding it literally as a dragon would not make sense. Right. It's obvious that that is not the wagon with 10 horns, those kinds of things. So in those cases, then we understand those things to be figurative rather than literal. Then we looked at the most prophecy points to Christ as messiah. And we also looked at the principle of foreshortening that is that things may happen. Let's just look at this one Peter one 10 and 11 if someone can read that for us, please. One Peter one versus 10 and 11 of this salvation, the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified before and the sufferings of Christ and the glorious that would follow. Thank you. So just taking this verse into consideration, we understand that the prophets themselves, even though they are giving these prophetic revelations, they themselves don't know, they don't understand the full picture. They're just writing down whatever they have has been revealed to them. And so sometimes they'll have just a few pieces of the puzzle. They don't have all the pieces of the puzzle. So we look at other passages, other prophetic scriptures to kind of help us put the whole picture together. So all of the other prophetic scriptures will help us understand what is to come in the end times or what was the prophecy about. So in that regard, we compare parallel passages. We also understand that there is a spiritual fulfillment of prophecy. There's a literal fulfillment. So a spiritual fulfillment is what was prophesied about Israel in the Old Testament has already in many cases been fulfilled in the church today. But we also look forward to a future literal fulfillment for the nation of Israel. So that's the spiritual as well as the literal fulfillment. There's also a dual fulfillment where something may have happened immediately. But there's also a future aspect to that prophecy that still is yet to be fulfilled. So that was some of the main principles of interpreting prophetic scriptures. With that, we'll go into our today. We'll try and cover the last three chapters in your textbook. And then we have at the end of the textbook, some questions from different scripture passages that have been raised kind of difficult passages. So we look at that next week and maybe the week after if we need two weeks. But we'll cover these three chapters if possible today. So we're looking at how the the New Testament uses the Old Testament. Now, very often you'll hear a lot of people who don't read the Old Testament. Lots of people just avoid the Old Testament because it's very confusing. They just think it's too far, far away. Too many thousands of years ago doesn't have any relevance. All of these different reasons culturally, it's so different. But the New Testament is fully based on the Old Testament. New Testament is the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament points to. And so it's very important for us to understand the Old Testament in order to fully understand what Christ came to do, what Christ fulfilled. And so we want to look at how the New Testament uses the Old Testament. What ways does it refer to the Old Testament? And how can we, when we are looking at passages in the New Testament, rightly interpret these kinds of passages where the Old Testament is referenced. So in the New Testament, we see about 250 to 300 quotations of the New Testament. Some of them will be literal quotations where even in your Bible, when you're reading it, you give you the reference for the Old Testament passage. But sometimes it's more like a summary of what the Old Testament teaches about. There's no specific verse from the Old Testament that we can point to. So we'll look at one of those examples, John 7, 37b, 238. If someone can read that for us, please. John 7, the second part of verse 37 and into 38. Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. OK, thank you. So here it's we can see an Old Testament reference for the first part of this quotation. It's taken from Isaiah 551. If someone can read that for us, Isaiah 551. Isaiah 55 verse 1. Come, everyone who thirst, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by and eat. Come by wine and milk without money and without price. Thank you. So we see that invitation. Come all you who are thirsty, right? So that's the same thing as what is in John 37, John 7, 37. But the second part, John 7, 38, which says, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. There's no clear passage in the Old Testament for that verse. So there are a few different verses that may be it's pointing to these verses, but it's not an exact quotation. So we'll just read these three verses. Proverbs 18, 4, Zechariah 14, 8 and Psalm 78, 12 to 16. Proverbs 18, 4, the words of a man's mouth are deep waters. The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. Anyone can go ahead and read. Proverbs 18, 4, the words of a man's mouth are deep waters. The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. Zechariah 14, 8. And in that day, it shall be that living water shall flow from Jerusalem. Half of them towards the eastern sea and half of them towards the western sea. In both summer and winter, it shall occur. Psalm 78, 12 to 16. Marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through. And he made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime also, he lit them with the cloud and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Thank you. So we see here, these passages are not literally saying that living waters are going to flow from within a person. But they're pointing to the fact that God causes this water to flow from within. That is one thing that we read in Psalm 78. Proverbs 18, 4 talks about waters coming from deep inside a person. Zechariah 14, 8 talks about Jerusalem being a source of so if we're taking that spiritually, we say the church being a place through which the waters flow. So these are just some general principles we've seen in the Old Testament. That may be what was quoted in the New Testament. So this is where we don't have an exact reference. But thankfully, we have a lot of resources online that will help us kind of look at what Old Testament passages may be referenced and what it is that this New Testament passage is trying to point to. So that is one thing. One aspect is, do we know the exact place from the Old Testament where the New Testament is quoting from? Once we know that, the second part of it is, how do we understand it in the New Testament? So that's what we're going to look at here. The first is the Old Testament quotations can be used in multiple ways. So what is what ways it being used in? The first is, is it being used to show that an Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled? Like we've seen the Gospels multiple times, the writers say this was done. To fulfill the prophecy that was spoken saying this, this, this, this, right? So sometimes it's to show that a prophecy was fulfilled. Sometimes it's to show that what is happening in the New Testament is in agreement with something that was spoken about in the Old Testament. So one example is Acts 1515, when the Gentiles start to believe in the Gospel. There's a quotation from Amos. Let's just look at Amos 9, 11 and 12. Someone can read that for us. Amos chapter 9 verse 11, on the day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and build it as in the days of Old verse 12, that they may possess the remnant of Adam. And all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord, who does things, was certain, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. When the flowman shall overtake the reaper and the trader of grapes, him who sow seed, the mountain shall trip with the sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. Thank you. Did you, you may have read one extra verse as well, I think. Is it 11 and 12? Okay. So Acts 1515 quotes this exact passage. I'll just read Acts 1515 for us. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this as it is written. After this, I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. It's ruins, I will rebuild and I will restore it, but the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name says the Lord, who does these things, things known from long ago. So we see here this quotation and this quotation is actually given by James in the book of Acts. So Peter comes back and he's talking about how Cornelius had called him, had had this vision. At first, the church is very opposed because, opposed to what Peter did because he entered a Gentiles home, right? But then once Peter tells them about what has happened, James responds with this quotation to say that, yes, we see this in the Old Testament. And now this is happening in the New Testament. So we know that it is truly something that God himself is doing. Okay. So this is where we are pointing, looking back to the Old Testament to see is what is happening in the New Testament in agreement with what is happening in the Old Testament. So that's what we do when we say we are also interpreting scripture. We always want to interpret so that scripture agrees. The rest of scripture agrees with what we are interpreting, right? So when we say we want to make sure our interpretation is correct, it must be in agreement with all of scripture. So that's the same way here. James is using that passage. He's using this to say, is this in agreement with what has been said in our scriptures? What is happening here? Is it in agreement with what has happened, what has been said in the scriptures? Okay. So that is one way in which Old Testament passages are used. Another way is to explain something that's given in the Old Testament. All of us are familiar with the Pentecost when the spirit is poured out and Peter responds from Joel to saying, this is a fulfillment of what the prophet Joel said that the Holy Spirit will be, God will pour out his Holy Spirit. Your young men will dream dreams, your old men will have visions. All of these things are a fulfillment of what was prophesied in Joel. So here he's explaining what is happening in the New Testament based on what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Okay. Another way is to support something that is being said in the New Testament. We can look at Matthew 22 32 and then Exodus 3 6. Matthew chapter 22 was 32. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Thank you. And Exodus 3 6. Exodus chapter 3 verse 6. Morever he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. Thank you. So we see here Matthew 22. The Sadducees come to Jesus. They are questioning him about the resurrection. Right. Is there if a man marries a wife, she doesn't have children. He dies. The next person marries his brother marries her. And that continues on. What happens when they die and they are raised up? Whose wife is she? That's the question that they ask. And so Jesus is teaching on. Yes, the resurrection is a reality. It is promised in scripture. And then he points to this passage in Exodus 3 6 that God is the God of the living, right? So he's talking about God coming to Moses in the burning bush and revealing himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as a God of there of Abraham's ancestors. But he says, I am the God of these people. He's not a God who is God over the dead, but he is God over those who are alive. Right. So God, Jesus is using that passage to say that the resurrection is something that is true based on an Old Testament passage. What God has said about himself or what God has revealed about himself. We're using that from the Old Testament to say that the resurrection is something that is taught about in the Old Testament itself. Okay. So here where Jesus or whoever in the New Testament supports what they are saying in the New Testament based on Old Testament passages. Okay. Makes sense. Yes. Okay. We will continue to look at a few other ways. So sometimes it's used to illustrate a New Testament truth. So something that is being taught about in the New Testament will use an Old Testament passage to say, this is still true. Whatever was said in the Old Testament is still true today. So one example is in Romans 10 16 where it's talking about the unbelief of people. Right. God has revealed himself to all people, but still people have chosen to ignore the things, the signs that God has provided. In Romans 10 16, it's talking about nature and Isaiah talks about who has believed our message. The message has gone out to the Jews, but who has believed our message. So Romans is using that to say that the message has already gone out to the Jews, but they have still rejected that message of Jesus Christ. Okay. So that is one way where Romans is saying this is in agreement with this truth still continues to be true even now, what was said in the Old Testament. Another way is to apply the Old Testament to a New Testament incident or truth. Let's just look at Romans 9 15 and Exodus 33 19. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. Exodus chapter 33 verse 19. Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Thank you. So we see here in Exodus, God revealing himself to Moses, he says, I'm going to come for you. Moses says, I want to see your glory and God says, I will come before you and I will reveal who I am to you. And one of those things is that I am a God who has compassion on those whom I will have compassion on, I will have mercy on those whom I will have mercy on. Now, Romans 9 is using that to talk about the fact that we are people who are chosen by God. And God chooses to have mercy. He chooses to have compassion on us and quoting the passage from Exodus to prove what is being said in Romans. So Paul uses this Old Testament passage. So he's explaining how God chooses people, but he's using something else from he's using the character of God as revealed in the Old Testament to show how God is acting now in the midst of the people. How is he choosing people to come to him, to come to Jesus? So that is where an Old Testament truth is used to explain what is happening in the New Testament. It may be used to summarize an OT concept. There isn't an example here and I was trying to find examples. But so sometimes something that is shown in the Old Testament in obscurity may be more better explained in the New Testament. If I find an example, I'll come back to this later. We also see the use of OT terminology, so Old Testament terminology. We look at Romans 10, 18 and Psalm 19, 1 and 4. Romans 10, 18, but I say, have we not heard? Yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Thank you. Psalm 19, 1, 4. In Job, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day, utter speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Okay, so actually if we look back in verse 16 of Romans 10 is what we covered earlier. That question of Lord who has believed our message and that is a quotation from Isaiah. So here Paul is combining two different passages, right? He's combined the passage from Isaiah to say, Lord who has believed our message. And then he's gone to Psalm to say that everyone has a witness because nature itself points to God. This is something that Romans talks about earlier, right at the beginning of Romans. He talks about how all of nature reveals who God is. And so there is no excuse for anyone to reject God. Now that is being applied specifically to the Israelites. The Israelites have the witness, not only do they have the witness of the Old Testament, which Isaiah 53 talks about, but they also have that witness of all of nature. But they have not received the message that God is who he is. From scriptures or from how nature itself reveals who God is. So this is where Old Testament passages are used to further explain something that is being said in the New Testament. But they're using many passages from different parts of the Old Testament to explain what they are saying in the New Testament. The second last one to draw parallel with an OT incident. We look at that one and then the last one to relate an OT situation to Christ. That is, we all know this passage, Jesus comes back from out of Egypt and so it's related back to the story of Israel coming out of Egypt. So I called my son Israel out of Egypt being used as Jesus pointing to Jesus coming out of Egypt itself. So this can be sort of like an illustration like we looked at, right? There are illustrations in the Old Testament that point to Christ. This would be an example of an illustration where Israel is the illustration and Jesus is sort of the picture that that illustration points to. So we'll just look at this last one parallel between an Old Testament incident and a New Testament incident. Romans 11, 7 to 8, Isaiah 29, 10 and Deuteronomy 29, 4. What then? Romans 11, 7 to 8. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks but the elect have obtained it and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stripper eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear to this very day. Isaiah 29, 10. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, namely the prophets, and He has covered your heads, namely the seers, delivered to one who is literally saying, read this please. Deuteronomy 29, 4. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very day. So this is where something that happened in the Old Testament is being shown as continuing in the New Testament. So in the Old Testament, the Deuteronomy 29, 4 is talking about the Israelites. They've come out of Egypt, they've seen all of the miracles of God yet they do not recognize God's power. And so in Romans 11, 7, 8 it's saying, just like you were at that time, your ancestors were at that time, you are like that now where Jesus has come and Jesus has done all of these miracles but the Jews have still rejected Him even though they've seen His power, even though they've seen His glory revealed. So this is a parallel between something that's in the Old Testament, something that's in the New Testament, and they both are similar so they are compared to each other. So these are different ways in which the Old Testament can be used in the New Testament. And that is one of the things we'll take into consideration when we are interpreting a passage and looking at it in the Old Testament. So if it has an Old Testament quotation, how do we interpret that passage in the New Testament? These are just five steps that the textbook covers. One is we will read the full context in both the New Testament and the Old Testament. We need to understand why is this passage being quoted here? Okay, so like we were looking at just now, we're looking at what happened before, why did the New Testament writers say this in the middle of what they were saying and how does it connect to what they were trying to communicate? So we're looking at context, the whole passage in which that Old Testament passage is quoted. The second thing is we go back to the Old Testament and we look at the whole passage in the Old Testament as well to understand how is that verse that was quoted in the New Testament? What does it mean within the context of the Old Testament? Because the writer will be taking that whole context into perspective. They're not going to only take the passage or that verse by itself. They are also taking what was happening in that passage, what was the writer saying there and they're taking just that verse to point back to what the writer was saying as a whole in the Old Testament. Does those two points make sense? So this is very important for us to rightly understand what was the New Testament writer trying to say. Another second principle is we will not read the Old Testament passage from the perspective of the New Testament because the Old Testament writer didn't have all of the revelation that we have. So when we are interpreting the Old Testament passage, we want to recognize that that writer wrote with a specific purpose and a specific perspective. They didn't know about Jesus. They didn't know about the cross. So what were they trying to say in this passage? How much did they know and what were they trying to communicate? And we'll interpret it just in light of that revelation that the writer had. Only then we'll take it into the New Testament. So we don't take New Testament revelation and try to put meaning to the Old Testament passage that the writer didn't intend. That's clear. The third is look at any differences. So sometimes the quotation, although they've used a quotation from the Old Testament passage, it may, there may be differences in what was trying, what the writer in the Old Testament was saying, what the writer in the New Testament was saying. So we will consider those differences and see was the New Testament writer trying to say exactly the same thing that the Old Testament writer was saying, or are they taking that to mean something else slightly different from what the Old Testament writer said. The fourth is how was this passage being used? So this is where we look at those 10 points we covered. Is it being used to explain something? Is it being used to compare something, to contrast something, to help us better understand something? Is it pointing to Jesus? Is it used as an illustration? Is it used as a type? All of those things is where we're going to say why did he use an Old Testament passage and what was the purpose of using that passage. And then we come to our conclusions on what does this passage mean. Okay, so those are the steps to interpret a passage where an Old Testament verse is quoted. So we have a few minutes. What we'll do is maybe we'll just look at these two examples and then we'll take our break. Matthew 8, 16 and 17. Someone can read that for us please. Matthew 8, 16 and 17. When evening had come, they brought to him many who were demon possessed and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying he himself took our informities and bore our sicknesses. Thank you. And Isaiah 53, 4. Isaiah 53 verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed high, taken, smitted by God and afflicted. Thank you. So in Matthew 8, it's talking about Jesus's ministry. So Jesus has not yet gone to the cross, but he is already healing people. He's already bringing freedom to people who are possessed by demons. And it's pointing back to a prophecy in Isaiah. So Isaiah 53, 4. But the passage in Isaiah 53, 4 is talking about the cross. So why are they using a passage about the cross to talk about Jesus's ministry when Jesus has not yet gone to the cross? That is one thing. The second thing is if we look at that passage, sometimes how those words are translated Isaiah 53, 4, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows is one very common translation. But if we look at the original Hebrew words, the words griefs and sorrows can be understood as pain, sickness, suffering. So this writer has taken that passage, Matthew has taken that passage and applied it to the physical healing that Jesus was ministering to people and the freedom from demonic oppression. So if we read just Isaiah 53, 4 by itself, we would not understand that that kind of healing is promised in the cross. We would think of griefs, sorrows, suffering as more emotional things. But because of how the writer has used it in the New Testament, we can go back to the Old Testament and look at what was the meaning of the words in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew, because it's referring to sickness, it's referring to pain, it's referring to suffering, we can understand that okay, this is also a physical aspect. There's also a physical aspect of healing that is promised in the cross. That is one aspect. What kind of healing was promised on the cross? The second is that Jesus was ministering based on what he was going to fulfill. He was going to go to the cross and he was going to accomplish this. But in his ministry, he was already forgiving sins. He was already healing people based on that work that he was about to do. So although he had not yet gone to the cross, his ministry was pointing to what was going to be accomplished on the cross. And he was already able to exercise that authority in his ministry before he actually fulfilled it on the cross. This is how we can look at the Old Testament passage. Look at the context of the Old Testament passage where Isaiah is actually talking about the cross. Look at the context of the New Testament where it's talking about Jesus' ministry before going to the cross. And then we look at okay, how is this Old Testament passage being used in the New Testament? He's using it to say that Jesus was fulfilling what was prophesied about in the Old Testament. But the way Jesus is fulfilling it is not as we would expect. If we just read that Old Testament passage, what is being done in the New Testament is quite different from what we would expect based on that passage. And so this New Testament passage is bringing additional meaning or additional revelation to what Isaiah was talking about. So this is one example of how the New Testament will help us better understand or will bring a deeper meaning or more light to Old Testament passages. Okay, this last one maybe if we have time we'll cover it in the second hour and maybe we can do it more in a like y'all can discuss it among yourselves. But we'll just start off just on the next chapter and then break for a 10 minute break. We'll just take a small break. So the next chapter is on understanding literary styles. So this is very, it's mostly theory. So once you actually are dealing with the passage of scripture, you'll have to discern which kind of literary style the author is using. So we've divided it into very broad categories. Even within these categories, they can be further divided into different types of depending on what the author was trying to accomplish through his writing. Okay, so there's a narrative style poetry or wisdom style and prose or discourse. A narrative is more of a story. So where stories are being told or where events are being collected. This is the most common type of writing in the Bible. Okay, so 43% of all of scripture is written in narrative style. So examples of this would be the Gospels where it's talking about the life of Jesus. So it's narrating things that he did his events from his life. It's a biographical narrative. So there are also historical narratives. There are also parables. Parables are also narrative form because it's telling a story. And usually these narratives are put in a specific order to communicate a specific message that the writer wants to communicate. So like we looked at in the different Gospels, different writers arranged the stories within the Gospel based on what was important to them, what was the message they were trying to communicate. So that's one example of how narratives can be arranged in different ways to communicate a specific message or for a specific purpose. Okay, so we'll stop here. We'll take a break and we'll come back for the next stage.