 pray together and then we will get started. May I request somebody to lead us in prayer and then we will start. Can somebody pray with the class please. Holy Father, as we are gathered together this morning before you Lord to learn from you, open our hearts Lord to receive the things spoken through the serving form. That we may receive it from you and keep it and understand your scriptures rightfully and also do it and be a blessing in this world and be a blessing with it. Bless the possible Lord. Teach us Lord in Jesus' name in prayer. Amen. Amen. Alright Good morning everyone. Welcome. Hope you've been having a good week. So we're continuing now in our course on interpreting scripture and last week we just got started talking about interpreting prophetic scripture interpreting prophecy. Some things to keep in mind as we work with prophetic text or prophetic scriptures. So in both the Old and the New Testament there are many passages that are prophetic in nature that are speaking of things to come. They are foretelling. Of things to come. Now all of the Bible is prophetic in the sense that it's all inspired by God but we are talking specifically of scripture that is speaking in advance of things that are going to happen. What are some things to keep in mind as we study, as we try to understand and interpret our prophetic scripture. So we're going to pick up from where we paused last week. I'm going to share the PDF. Alright so the first thing we looked at is timeline. What we said was that in prophetic text sometimes in a single statement or even in a single paragraph there could be portions of the text that refer to different timelines or periods in time when those scriptures would be fulfilled. One example we took was Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 where it says you know unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulder. So it's just one sentence that prophet Isaiah is spoke and has written for us. Just one sentence but in that sentence there are two different time periods that are being referenced and literally there's 2000 plus years in between. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given that is referring to the birth of Christ which happened 2000 years ago and the government will be on his shoulder that means he's going to be in a place of authority governing ruling as a king on the earth. That's going to happen when he sets up his millennial kingdom on the earth physically revelation the 20th chapter verses four five six talk about it. So it's one sentence but there's a gap of about 2000 years or so in between those two things that he's prophesying about. So we should be mindful of that. That's just one example that in one sentence that could be a huge time gap. There are many many examples that we could pick up from scripture. Another example we looked at is in Isaiah 65 verses 17 to 24 verse 17 talks about I create a new heavens and the new earth and then verse 20 to 24 is talking about life in the millennium. So verses 17 to 19 and then verses 20 to 24 it's one paragraph but it's talking about two different time periods and the time periods are actually interchanged. 70 to 19 is talking about new heavens and a new earth 20 to 24 is referring to the millennium and correctly the millennium comes before new heavens and the new earth. How would we know that only when you read Revelation chapters 20, 21, 22 then you know that hey the millennium comes first then comes new heavens and the new earth. So therefore although Isaiah in chapter 65 is first speaking about new heavens, new earth and then he goes back to speaking about millennium we need to make that shift you know that okay this comes first and then comes new heavens, new earth based on what we see elsewhere in the Bible. So these are examples where you know we have to be very careful in dealing with prophetic scriptures and when we are interpreting prophecy, Bible prophecy we need to look at the timeline we understand as we look at other portions of scripture that are speaking about the same thing. So we have to look at the full picture and then we can be able to arrive at the correct timeline. Example in the case of Christ you know when you come into the New Testament then you realize oh Christ was born but he's going to rule in an earthly kingdom much later when he came the first time he didn't set up an earthly kingdom. So only when you look into the New Testament will you understand Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 correctly. So that has to do with timeline. So keep in mind a very important principle in interpreting Bible prophecy is look at it from the entirety of scripture. Now of course we do this for everything but especially in Bible prophecy if we want to get the timeline correct we have to look at it from the entirety of scripture you know what are the other passages about the same matter what do they say and then we will be able to arrive at a correct timeline. The second example we looked at which is where we stopped was about prophetic imagery or figurative language that is used you know images or figures or symbols and very often in Bible prophecy there are all these strange images or figures that we read about because somebody had you know Daniel would have seen it in a vision or in a dream or John was seeing things and God is revealing it to him using figures and symbols and many times when we read these figures and symbols it was very confusing you know what does this mean but what we said last week was many times when there are figures and images that are given in prophecy many times you will find that those figures and images are interpreted in the vicinity that means in some close by in as you continue reading God will himself or give the meaning of those images and the script you know things that are used and that is one and sometimes if you don't find the explanation within that same chapter or in the nearby scriptures then you look at okay maybe somewhere else in the Bible that image is explained for us and so we looked at Revelation 12 1 to 6 as an example where John saw a woman the sun the moon the 12 stars and he saw the woman who gave birth to a man child or a male child and there was this dragon a red dragon that had taken a third of the stars with him you know so obviously saying like hey what are all these images representing you know who is the woman who is the male child sorry who is this red dragon and then what we pointed out from Revelation 12 is like if you just read on in the scriptures you'll in the passage you'll find out right there in chapter 12 little further down it says and the dragon satan the old serpent the serpent of old so it's interpreted there for us or it's explained for us right there that this red dragon is referring to the devil satan so we shouldn't just say red dragon or that represents China you know in the passage chapter 12 itself it's explaining to us that the red the dragon is satan then we say okay who's a male child well the male child again it talks about the male child who will rule the nations with the rod of iron and he was caught up to God oh that that speaks so much about Jesus and then we know if Revelation 19 Jesus himself is referred to as the one who rules the nations with the rod of iron so it's very clear so both in the same chapter and by cross referencing other chapter we can easily conclude the male child is talking about Jesus Christ and he was the one who was caught up to the father then we say okay now who's the woman you know because the woman gave birth to the male child well that's one clue in the sense who did Jesus come out of he came out of the nation of Israel one clue but who is this woman then we see okay in Revelation 12 verse 1 he says the woman there was the sun the moon the 12 stars who's the woman oh when you go back to the Old Testament to Genesis and we see this in Genesis 37 where when Joseph has his dream he sees his father his mother the son the moon and the 11 stars that means he sees the nation of Israel being represented by the son the moon and the 12 stars so we can conclude both by the fact that it was Jesus Jesus came out of the nation of Israel and by this comparison the son the moon the 12 stars with the Old Testament that the woman is referring to the nation of Israel and then also if you read on in chapter 12 it talks about the dragon persecuting the woman again it becomes clear it's the nation of Israel so when when we read about these figures and symbols we try to interpret them just using the text that the information given in the text or in related scripture passages okay let's let's look at one more example then we will take any questions on that if you go with me to Revelation chapter 17 or Revelation 17 and if you look at verses 1 and 15 and I want you to answer the question what are the many waters so Revelation chapter 17 verse 1 and 15 I'm going to look in the chat what do the waters represent Revelation 17 verse 1 Revelation 17 verse 1 you know one of the angels is showing John a great harlot who is sitting on many waters what are these waters you can either speak it out or you can type it in the chat but the question is what do waters represent in Revelation 17 1 look at Revelation 17 1 and also look at verse 15 what do waters represent nation yep so the waters are representing as it says in verse 15 yeah Nicholson's yeah I see your I see the messenger the waters represents people's multitudes nations and languages so Revelation 17 1 he sees this great harlot which is mystery Babylon the great harlot we will explain you know who the great harlot is the great harlot represents a world religious system but he sees this great harlot sitting on many waters that means like on a on sea you know on an ocean so the question was what does the waters represent and the answer is given to us in verse 15 the waters the seas the oceans right you have a picture of this big vast expanse of water the water represents people's multitudes nations language meaning the nations of the world peoples of all the nations so we learned something in bible typology or in prophetic typology waters seas oceans represent god uses that to represent nations peoples multitudes you know peoples of all nations he never uses that right so now we know water in the bible can be used for many things or eternal life you know is represented by water holy spirit is represented by water the word of god is represented by water but here when we see seas vast expanse of water that represents in bible typology it represents nations peoples multitudes languages and it's explained for us right there in chapter 17 verse 15 so here's another example where a figure or a picture is given and the meaning of what is seen in the picture is explained in the chapter itself right so we shouldn't go off and you know give it another meaning no no no the meaning is given right there in the chapter waters represents peoples nations languages multitudes represents so that's what and this great harlot you know represents a world religious system which we can understand you know from reading the world chapter 17 and also when we see the sequence of events in the book of revelation there is the false prophet who establishes a world religious system that many people subscribe to to worship the antichrist you know so that's the background of you know when you read through revelation you know what the great harlot represents so the main thing is this in interpreting bible prophecy when you're seeing this typology read along in the scripture and in the scripture itself as you read along you will find many times you'll find the meaning given to us so we stay with that meaning don't give it some other meaning you know don't say okay you know waters here the great harlot is sitting on the waters the waters represents the church and so there is a big deception that is going to come on the church no don't do that you know don't don't go off and say the waters represent the church and that would be wrong because you know right here in revelations 1715 it's telling us very clearly the waters represents the multitudes the nations okay now so that's that's very important and like this when we study the book of daniel when we study revelation you know coming up in the future in the in the third year we're going to study revelation verse by verse and daniel verse by verse when we study that we will see a lot of images being used especially in daniel you know but we shouldn't get alarmed by those strange images because just read on just read on and in the text those images the meaning of those images are given and we just stay with that this is what the interpretation of those images mean and that's how we study bible prophecy that's how we interpret bible prophecy and sometimes if the meaning of the images are not given in that adjoining text then we look in the other parts of the bible what is that what does that mean and we interpret it based on related portions of scripture in other places in the bible the third aspect any questions so far are you all with me yes okay great so the third aspect of interpreting bible prophecy sorry which we must let me just share my screen share the pdf of which we must keep in mind has to do with timing okay so this again is a big big challenge right so you're reading something some prophet you know anyone in the old estimate or new estimate is writing and saying this and this is going to happen then obviously our question is okay when is it going to happen what is the timing right when is it going to when will it happen now this is a big challenge because in many cases many there is no year given or this will happen in the year 2022 there's nothing like that in the bible so of course we want to know the timing when will it happen you say it's going to happen you're saying that they will come and it'll happen question is when will it happen timing now in some places in prophecy bible prophecy the actual year years are given example way back when God spoke to Abraham God told very clearly your descendants will be slaves in Egypt for 400 years very clear time has given 400 years now he didn't say which year to which year but he said 400 years so okay we understand 400 years or when God spoke to Jeremiah and even Isaiah they prophesied very clearly the people of God they will be captives in Babylon for 70 years 70 years that's very clear 70 years so in some places the duration of prophecy is given so when it's given a 70 years we take it literally 400 years is 400 literal years you know we don't say oh one day is a thousand years a thousand years is one day so 400 years means 400 times thousand or whatever we don't do those things right when it's given literally we take it literally don't try to change it if it says seven years seven years 70 years 70 years like that now sometimes God may talk about years figuratively and that makes it quite difficult you know so if he tells you literally 40 years 40 years is understandable 400 years 400 years understand 70 years are 70 years but if he's speaking about years figuratively that is a little difficult okay in some cases even the figurative speaking may be easy to understand example you know when Potiphar had this dream he saw seven fatted cows or cows or cows coming then after that he saw seven lean the cows coming and the lean cows ate up the fat cows okay now God gives Joseph the interpretation and he says now see how God is speaking right it's very strange he's using cows and each cow represents one year it's kind of funny but God is using figurative language and fat cow means years of plenty lean cows means years of famine but God is giving the interpretation to Joseph and in this prophetic image every cow represents one year so that's pretty okay straightforward there'll be seven years of plenty represented by each one of seven fat cows there'll be seven years of famine represented by seven of each of the lean cows okay this is what is going to happen seven years of plenty seven years of famine understood but in this case very funnily or very interestingly God is using cows to represent years where will you get that meaning it is only the it was only God who gives that understanding right hey every cow represents one year so it's it's a revelation it's understanding God is giving but he's using imagery he's using prophetic images to communicate that message okay but this is straightforward this is okay you can understand it but now sometimes things get a little complicated and one example of something quite difficult is in Daniel chapter nine so let's go and read it now we will be studying Daniel chapter nine and all that in detail you know in our third year but let's go and look at Daniel nine right now as an example where God is using figurative language to talk about time but but this this this interpretation is a little difficult okay Daniel chapter nine if you go with me and and let's read let's go here yeah Daniel nine versus 24 to 27 Daniel nine 24 to 27 can somebody please read that for us Daniel nine 24 to 27 somebody can read it sure um 77s are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression to put to put an end to sin to atonement of wickedness to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy and to annoy the most holy place that's 25 know and understand this from the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one the ruler comes there will be seven sevens and 62 sevens it will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble that's 26 after the 62 sevens the anointed one will be put to death and will have nothing the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary the end will look like a flood war will continue until the end and desolations have been decreed verse 27 he will confirm a covenant with many for one seven in the middle of this seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering and at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him so this is this passage is one of the most accurate prophecies you know one of the main Daniel the book of Daniel is actually very amazing because and many many people even non-christians are amazed at the book of Daniel in the way he had Daniel so correctly prophesied about coming world empires and also for accurate timing given people are amazed book of Daniel and this was one of the passages where the timing is so accurate but yet it is given to us in such a difficult language the difficult actually it looks difficult but once you understand it it is plain and simple right so what is the difficulty now if you look at me if you just follow with me in this passage in verse 24 he talks about seventy sevens now for those of us who are using the king James or new king James it would be seventy weeks right the word the Hebrew word weeks can also be just simply translated sevens so that's why some versions would have seventy sevens and some versions will have seventy weeks a week just represents seven seven days right so in verse 24 the angel Gabriel is speaking to Daniel and he's saying Daniel seventy sevens are determined for your people and your holy city that means what i'm going to tell you has to do with seventy sevens with the time time period that is represented by seventy sevens concerning you concerning your people that is a Jewish people and Jerusalem holy city is Jerusalem now we have to figure out what is seventy sevens okay seventy times seven is four hundred and ninety now four hundred and ninety what four hundred and ninety is he talking about four ninety days or is he talking about four hundred and ninety years it's of course it has to do with time so what is that seventy sevens which that mathematically seventy times seven is four ninety we know but what is he talking about so we see so this is where we have to think and see okay is there anywhere else where seven is used in relation to time now when we understand Old Testament scripture we understand when we we know that in their context Bible times Old Testament this sevens or this week was used to represent years example would be if you if you look in Genesis 29 when if you just turn with me to Genesis 29 and you look at you know what happened between Laban and Jacob in Genesis 29 verse 27 can somebody read that please Genesis 29 verses 27 and 28 Genesis chapter 29 verses 27 28 can somebody read it 27 full pill her week and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years then Jacob did so and full pill her week so he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also thank you so here's one example where it's the same word a week or seven where it is used to represent a period of seven years so Laban tells Jacob full full her seven full full her week that means another seven years or now we see that in Bible times in Old Testament scripture this seven or this week was used to represent a period of seven years okay so therefore when you go back to Daniel 9 24 70 weeks or 77s 490 years because a week represents seven years okay makes sense and what's going to happen in 490 years well he's saying in 490 years there will be these two things happening two sets of things happening in verse 24 there'll be end of transgression make end of sins make reconciliation for sin so that means sin is going to be dealt with then everlasting righteousness will be brought in vision and prophecy will be fulfilled and the most holy place will be anointed to two sets of things he's talking about 490 years but then he breaks it down he says in verse 25 no one understand from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the prince there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks that means that there's a total of seven plus 62 which is 69 weeks from the time to rebuild Jerusalem that is King Cyrus gave the issue order go and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah until Jesus comes there'll be 69 weeks what is 69 weeks 69 times seven 483 years and this was fulfilled exactly exactly right from the time King Cyrus told the people go and rebuild Jerusalem to the time when Jesus came 483 years was fulfilled and this is what angel Gabriel told Daniel so he says I've come to talk to you about 70 years 77 which is 490 years and in this period that I'm going to talk to you about two things are going to happen one is sin will be atoned for sin will be dealt with secondly the eternal righteousness will be ushered in and the most holy place will be anointed then he says the first 483 years happens like this from the time to go and rebuild Jerusalem till the Messiah comes it'll be 483 years so timing right timing is given but timing has been given in a very difficult way in the sense you know you talk about 77s but once you understand what that seven means or the weeks mean then it begins to make sense but in this passage we have the same timeline map issue that we had addressed earlier because after he talks about 483 years he skips a lot of time and then he jumps to the last seven years so he talked about totally 490 years 483 plus seven so 483 years from the time King Cyrus gives the issue to go and rebuild Jerusalem till Jesus Christ comes he came he made atonement for sin he died so it says then verse 26 after the 62 weeks that is 62 plus seven that's after 62 weeks Messiah will be cut off that is Messiah will be crucified and so on and the city will be destroyed the saints will be which happened the temple was the city of Jerusalem temple was destroyed right after that then verse 27 he's jumping 2000 years almost and he's going straight to the last seven years the last seven years in Daniel 927 is the seven years of tribulation and we know that because you know he has already spoken of it earlier in Daniel chapter 7 and 8 and we read about it in you know in Revelation chapter 11 and 12 and 13 you know this this this repeated in many places so based on all that scripture we know Daniel 927 is talking about the last seven years of tribulation and here in Daniel 927 he says then he now this he is referring to the Antichrist whom he has spoken of in Daniel chapter 7 so he says he will confirm a covenant with many for one week what is that one week one week represents seven years but in the middle of the week that means 33 and a half years middle of the week middle of seven years three and a half years he will stop the sacrifices so if you look at this passage actually the timing is very precise 483 years seven years middle of the seven years that is three and a half years all these things given in great detail but he's using figurative language he's talking about 70 weeks and that if you crack that that means if you understand that the rest of the timing given in this passage becomes very clear and in fact what was fulfilled the 483 years was exact was precise and that's what astounds people how could somebody prophesy in such accuracy on what was going to happen but it has been fulfilled so what i wanted to get across is you know understanding timing in bible prophecy sometimes it's straightforward you know he says he says 400 years 70 years this so many years okay straight it's given literally sometimes it's given figuratively by that figuratively it's also easy to understand in the sense of seven you know like we saw seven cows seven fat cows seven lean cows okay understand sometimes it takes a little bit of effort because like we saw here when he talks about 70 weeks so what is that then you understand from another place in scripture that a week represents seven years oh he's talking about 490 years okay then everything else that you interpret in the remaining verses has to be you know translated like 62 plus seven makes 69 week 69 weeks which is actually 483 years and then when he talks about one week that actually represents seven years then everything makes sense is it okay did you all understand it was very complicated right with me after why he stated seven weeks and 62 weeks that seven weeks represent the time for building a temple in Jerusalem now yeah so he just he just breaks it down into seven plus 62 there is no specific thing we can say on why he broke it down into seven plus 62 yeah there is no because when they when they went to rebuild the so when they went back to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and you know the walls of the city this happened here during time of Ezra and Amire it didn't happen exactly like you know in seven weeks seven years no it actually they did work and then they paused for I think they paused they took I think about 13 years for it to be fully rebuilt if I remember correctly so it doesn't have a correlation with at least to my knowledge let me just look it up it doesn't have a correlation to exactly or when they rebuilt the temple let me just look at the Ezra Ezra yeah Ezra I'm looking at Ezra five three Ezra chapter three talks about them laying the foundation for the temple and five thirty six BC and no it doesn't it doesn't say that they just they rebuilt it in seven years they discontinued it for some time and then they started the work again and the temple was rebuilt and so the elders they rebuilt it and they finished it in end of chapter six Ezra six okay so to answer your question as far as I I can tell they doesn't match like you know doesn't match that seven years is the time they took to rebuild the temple at least from what I know so I wouldn't stress on it I would just say he just broke it down into seven plus 62 so we just added up 69 weeks which is 483 years okay thank you yeah okay so is this clear when you talk about timing um that uh yeah we we sometimes it's pretty straightforward sometimes it's a little you know we have to really put in a little effort to understand it but it is understandable I mean you can't figure it out you can't understand it and when you understand it it's quite amazing wow you know the number of years that were spoken were very precise uh pastor in verse 26 uh end of the the end of it shall be with a flood um so is this also figurative or um you know we know that there would be a war towards the end I think it is also mentioned the next verse so the flood here does it mean war or could be a natural flood yeah so he talks about you know the the principle the people the principle come will destroy the city and the sanctuary that so that happened in AD 17 okay um so the sanctuary was destroyed um this was the roman emperor titus who destroyed the city and the sanctuary that was fulfilled right after Jesus was crucified AD 17 Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed then he says the end of it will be with a flood until the end the war and desolations are determined so we know that there was no flood in the sense of a water flood destroying the city of Jerusalem so we would just say that from uh the destroying of the sanctuary till the end desolations are determined and this flood would be figurative of problems and troubles and trials uh that are from from the time that is AD 17 up until the tribulation the city of Jerusalem the people and the city of Jerusalem are going to continuously face a lot of difficulty in desolations and wars which is true right it's still going on so the flood there will not be uh literal flood but more of representing troubles and difficulties and things that are going to continue till the beginning of the tribulation okay so yeah yeah okay so uh that has to do with timing so we just saw okay so three things when you're studying bible prophecy we talk about timeline we talk about interpreting the the images that we are seeing and thirdly we talk about trying to understand timing right now um I just want to say one thing and then we'll go for a break when we don't know the timing for sure we should avoid trying to make our own predictions for example Jesus said you know the hour in which he is going to come nobody knows right we can have we can look at the signs of the times and say okay this is when Jesus is going to come getting close to when he's going to come but we shouldn't try to put time or dates to it right just leave that to God right so we shouldn't say oh Jesus is coming in the year 2027 no we shouldn't do those kinds of things because he clearly said of that day you know that hour no one knows you know nobody can precisely say when Christ is going to come so when when God says don't worry about it don't worry about it just understand the signs of the times that means we're getting close we're getting close we're getting close but let's not try to put a day and a time two things that God said don't don't do that okay so what we'll do now is we'll take a quick break and then we'll come back and just go through some other guidelines here on how we work with Bible prophecy we'll finish that and then we'll see if we can get into the next chapter which is Old Testament and New Testament how the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament and how we should handle it when we see those quotations and references through the Old Testament in the New Testament okay so we'll take a quick break and we'll be back in 10 minutes thank you