 So in the class, we are going to cover some basic, you see there in the outline, we're going to cover what is the Bible, then the tools that are needed to do biblical theology, exegetical tools, biblical theological tools, such as covenants, types, prophetic scriptures, then in weeks five and six we'll cover systematic tools that are needed in order to do biblical theology. Then in weeks seven to eleven we have creation, fall, love, sacrifice and promise, these key themes throughout the scriptures. And then in the end, in weeks twelve and thirteen we have the application of that. So let's go ahead and pray and then we'll get started. Dear Lord God, we commit this class to you and we commit our worship of you in this time. We pray that it would be edifying for your people. I pray that it would help them to know you and your word. I pray that it would create us a great love and a fervency for you as we understand the big picture. We understand what you have and what you want to communicate through your word as a whole. So please help us now to understand and grow in this class. Amen. Okay, so first thing to do in a class like this is to define biblical theology. Biblical theology is an interpretive perspective of the Bible authors. So biblical theology is the interpretive perspective of the biblical authors. In other words, how do the biblical authors interpret history? How do the biblical authors interpret history? It's a discipline just like systematic theology or like apologetics, like historical theology or practical theology. Biblical theology is another division of how to understand the Bible and God. Okay, so it's in the bottom line, it's how the biblical authors interpret history and learning to see the big scope of the Bible. How to understand this book in summary form. Think about some of the other disciplines of theology and then I'll try and hopefully make this clear to you. How would you define a systematic theology? Ben? Yes, so you take a topic and then you look at what does the Bible has to say about that as a whole. Okay, so you take salvation, redemption, you take the person and work of Christ, you take the church, you say what does the Bible have to say about angels, what does the Bible have to say about the end times and you begin to make them into categories, okay? So it helps you to understand the parts and pieces of the Bible. What is historical theology? Let's say Mr. Josh, can you handle that one? Historical theology? Yes, that's right. So historical theology sees that progression of the doctrine through the church, how the churches believe this particular doctrine throughout time. Okay, so you're seeing these different disciplines. Biblical theology incorporates and has interdependence on these things. In order to understand the Bible best, we employ systematic theology, we employ historical theology, practical theology and here biblical theology. So we're looking at it, biblical theology looks at a topic as the story, the story that the Bible is. If you look at the Bible as a whole, you're going to see that the Bible is one large story and it's seeing the story of the Bible as a whole and understanding the message as a whole. So that summarizes in the bottom line, and it's something you want to write down, how the biblical authors interpret history. It's how the biblical authors interpret history, what happened before them, what's happening, you know, the world from beginning to consummation, how they interpret the events. We want to think and see the world like the Bible authors think and see the world. That's biblical theology. We don't want to think about history, about the world in other ways, in secular ways. We don't want to do that from philosophy. Why wouldn't we want to do that from philosophy, Jack? Yeah, it's so subjective. Our minds are not going to be able to figure out the entire history of the world, Ben. Are you at the end of that? Yes, one of these goals, yes, from this biblical theology, it's exactly what I know I have written down here. So that's a perfect question. Yes, it gives you a biblical worldview. You understand the world around you when you understand how the Bible authors describe the history of the world. They describe the most important events in history. Weird, train ourselves to think that way. Think philosophically, just from simply laws of logic or scientifically, just thinking, okay, we're going to interpret the world by science. No, we're not going to think that way. We're going to think biblically. God is going to inform us how we see ourselves, how we see the world, how we think about these things as a whole. And all Christians want to know the bottom line message of the Bible. All Christians get excited and love when you understand the Bible, the summary of the Bible as a whole. Isn't it something that I'm very thankful when somebody explains something and it's very complicated and it's about God's word or I read a text and it's very complicated and I'm like, what does it mean? And it's kind of burdensome. What does it mean? And then somebody says it very clearly, bottom line, here's what it means. I'm like, oh, and that moment is very joyful to me because I've known what God has communicated. Biblical theology gives you that joy and gives you that excitement about something greater than yourself, about God's plan throughout history and to understand the big picture. Okay, if I were to tell you where is Angola, and I tell you the capital, if I knew the capital of Angola, and I'm assuming it's in Africa. If I tell you the capital of Angola and I tell you, okay, I'm going to meet you at the 7-11 on the corner of Angola between the Straw Hut and the 7-11, we're going to meet in the capital of Angola, whatever it is. What you're going to do is you're going to write that down, you're going to look it up on your smartphone, you're going to get Google Earth and you're going to find this location. You're going to understand this little point that seems insignificant at first and it's become significant because you're going to meet me there. It's going to become very practical to you and you're going to understand it by getting the big picture of Angola as a country in the continent of Africa. You're going to figure out how to get a flight to Africa. You're going to figure out this seemingly little insignificant thing in the broad picture. And here's the point, when you're on your deathbed and you think about your life, you think about your little insignificant spec in the broad picture of the story of the world, what is going to give you the ability to have joy and have the words of wisdom in your deathbed but biblical theology to understand what the Bible has to say as a whole and how you fit in and apart in that. I remember hearing a story about a guy dying and he said, and there was three boys there, a one-year-old and a three-year-old and a six-year-old of his friends and one of his pastors, their children of his pastor and the man was 81 years old and dying and he says, it's good that they're here, it's good that they're here and they could see this. And he's saying that in light of a biblical theology that he knows they're going to see my death and they're going to see the truth that God's word is real. God's word is real. So I'm trying to give you a vision to see and of what the Bible has to say as a whole should impact your life immensely and practically. Another example of that is to say, you know, who has an apple product here? Apple product, phone, Mac, raise your hand. I know there's more of you out there than, yeah, go ahead, raise your hands. Yeah, Demetrius, I saw you too. Okay, so you have a good idea of Steve Jobs is, right? He's the guy who starts Apple in a garage, right? Okay, so Steve Jobs is going to, he's going to steal one of the top executives from Pepsi. You know, he gets paid a lot at Pepsi. Money is not so much what he's going to, Steve Jobs is going to use to motivate him to steal this top executive. He wants this executive to work for him at Apple. He knows he's going to influence the company, help be a key help in the company. So what does Steve Jobs do? But he says to him, he motivates him by something else. He says to this executive at Pepsi, he says, look, do you want to sell sugar water to kids for the rest of your life? Or do you want to change the world? Do you want to sell sugar water to kids for the rest of your life? Or do you want to change the world? Okay, what about you? Do you want to be focused on your life? Or do you want to change the world? Do you want to understand how you can fit in the big picture of what God is doing through the world? Remember how Passion Mark was preaching if you're here for a service? He's preaching about a greater cause. There's the Marines. There's the one who's selfish, focused on himself. I'm going to see the world. And then there's another Marine who's like, I'm going to change the world. I'm going to change the world because there's a cause greater than myself. Biblical theology gives you an understanding of how you can fit into the grand scope, the great story of the world. And by the grace of God, you can be a part of how he's changing the world. It's greater, it's bigger than what happens in your own life, and greater and bigger than what happens here in our church. It's a bigger vision, a big understanding, okay? So, let's see how God changes the world in this class. Okay, so today, in order to introduce this class, I've given you an outline. Again, raise your hand if you've come in and you need an outline, and Josh will get you one. In order to follow the class, you're going to want an outline in your hands. So we've covered the introduction of what is biblical theology. And now we're going to look at two main points for today in the class. The character of divine revelation and the character of the Bible. In order to understand this book as a whole, we've got to say, okay, what is this book? What is this book? And one, it's divine revelation. And then two is what kind of revelation is it? What's the character of it? Okay, those are the two things we're going to cover today. So first, divine revelation. And in that, we're going to see the Bible is progressive, the Bible is historical, the Bible is organic, and the Bible is practical. Okay, so in order to understand the Bible as a whole, first, it's progressive. It's progressive. The story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is going to, is, does not come in simply one, one period of time to one person. The story is told over a period of 1,400 years to over 40 different authors, and a growing part is revealed throughout time. Think about another religious book, and let's think about how that compares in order to understand that thought progression. Give me another religious book, the Quran. Okay, how does Muhammad get the Quran? Supposedly, according to him, so he gets some kind of trance, maybe drugs, we won't... Go ahead, man. Yes, for the devil? Yes. Angel in a cave. So an angel comes to him in a cave, and it's like an angel of light. Hmm, that sounds like somebody in the scripture, right? Okay, the point is, however he puts the story, right? However he put the story, he's getting all the revelation and one time, bam, there you go. There's the Quran. All one time, and the Bible's not that way. The Bible is progressive throughout 1,400 years. God is revealing more and more and more and more and more, and it grows. So we understand the progression of the Bible by understanding the timeline of the Bible. So two, now, under the character of divine revelation, the revelation is fundamentally and irreducibly historical in character. It's historical in character. So the message of the Bible is events of history. We can base it on the truths of things that happened. There was a real Adam, a real Eve. Moses actually went on the Mount of Sinai and got the tablets of the Ten Commandments. He actually did that. The people of Israel actually walked through the Dead Sea. Samson actually tore off a huge gate, carried down his back, and threw it on a hill. Esther actually saved the people of Israel from Haman and the evil plot to destroy the people of Israel. Jesus Christ was actually born in a town in Bethlehem. Because of its historical nature, you can go there today and you can see where the events took place. It is an event of history. Now, compare that with another religious book. Let's think about Buddha. How do we get the teachings of Buddha, like in the Lotus? How do we get that? Is there any historical events that happen from established Buddhism? The devil? This is a Sunday school class and Ben has a Sunday school class answers. Jesus, the devil, and God. Yes, okay. Very good, very good. Josh? Yes. It is this teacher, this enlightened one who, through his own thinking and through his period of his life, he thinks great thoughts. Kind of like the Scarecrow, you know? I'll think great thoughts. What's the square root of a triangle? Right? And Buddha sits and he thinks great thoughts. The Bible is not that way. It's not someone sitting there thinking great thoughts about the world. The Bible is based on the historical events of the life and death of Jesus Christ. So we have a sure faith. It is based on reality. It's not based on conjecture. It's not based on somebody's thoughts. Okay, so to understand biblical theology we've got to understand this basis. The Bible is progressive, the Bible is historical, and then the Bible is organic. The Bible is organic. What we mean by organic is that it is like a great tree, a great oak tree, that started out as a seed. Okay? The message starts out like a seed and it grows to be a great oak tree. Organic is something, you know, like a tree, something that's natural. If you think about how the message of the Bible grows, okay, it starts out, the message of the Gospel starts out in Genesis 3.15 with the seed of the woman and the first time the Gospels preached that there's going to be one who crushes Satan's head and in turn his heel is bruised and that's speaking about our Lord. Next it progresses, it grows, this little seed comes out as a sapling and it comes out as a sapling with the promise to Abraham, the promise of Abraham that he would have a nation through his womb, the lamb, seed, and blessing. And we understand seed is, seed and Hebrew can, the word can be used just like seed is used today. Seed can be like I got a bag of seed, I got many, or I got seed, I got one. And it's the same in how the Bible can use it to describe the people of Israel that comes and the one seed to come, Jesus. That story, the tree grows from the promise to Abraham and it grows into the nation of Israel. In the nation of Israel, that our little seed grows from a sapling now to one of those little flimsy trees where you tie the ropes to it, you know what I'm talking about? So the wind doesn't blow it over. Okay, now the tree is, we're hearing about David and how the Messiah is going to come through the line of David, the savior of the world from Genesis 315. Now we know he's going to come from Judah, he's going to be in Israel, he's going to be a son of Abraham, and now he's going to come through specifically the family of David. And then we learn in the tree begins to grow now so much so that it can hold a little kid in it and not topple over. Now our tree is, we're hearing about the suffering servant in Isaiah and how the Messiah will die, will die and bear for sins. And then we see in Daniel about how he's the divine son of man. We're learning that the Messiah is more than just a man or just another prophet. The story grows and we see it cultivated and come to the point of a great tree with the incarnation, the death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus Christ. And we will one day enjoy the fruit to come from this great tree in his return. You understand how it's organic? How it grows? You understand the picture? Okay, in order to understand the Bible, in order to understand the Bible as a whole, that's what this class is about, understanding the Bible as a whole, you have to understand that the nature of Scripture and the nature of Scripture is practical. Biblical theology is practical. That we are to read the world from the Bible's perspective rather than reading the Bible from the world's. Okay? If you read the Bible from the world's perspective, that's how you get liberalism. Okay? And by liberalism, I mean I'm going to come to the Bible and I'm going to try and view the Bible scientifically. I'm going to try and view it objectively. That by my own intellect I'm going to figure out what's true and what's not. What's true and what's not? What happens if I, Oliver, if I try and do that with the Bible? Yeah, I'm going to make it say whatever it want. And so the message is no longer from God, the message is right from here, right? And who wants to hear about a message from, but what comes from in here? We want to know from what God has to say. We want to know God's message. And that is intensely practical because it's about a saving relationship that you can have with God. The story includes you. You get to be in the marriage supper of the Lamb if you're in Christ. You get to be in the praises of revelation in the glories of heaven. You get to be in the story. If that doesn't excite you, I don't know what will, that you're included in this, there's something greater than you. Okay, so now that we see the character of divine revelation, let's think about the character of the Bible, okay? First, that it's human. It's historical and human. Let's see, Cory, would you read to us 2 Peter 1, 19 to 21. You can read it nice and loud so Pete can hear you on the other side 2 Peter 1, 19 to 21. You understand the character of the Bible. Okay, so from the Scripture, where do you see the human element of the Scripture in there? So holy men of God are how we get the Bible. Men are going to be, and where is the divine element in the Scripture? Yes, so it's by the Holy Spirit. You see how it comes through both? And both are important if you're to understand the Bible as a whole. If you're to understand the human aspect, you want to understand who is this holy man who's writing the Scripture? Where's he from? Who's he writing to? What's his language? What's his culture? What's his setting? We need to see it from their perspective, not ours. What happens if you go to the Bible and you begin to think about it from your perspective? Don't we? Yes, you're putting yourself as an authority. You'll also be filled with misunderstanding. If you try and understand the Bible from a 21st century setting, you're going to say, let me see if you heard this before. Women can't teach? I mean, doesn't the apostle Paul know anything about women's liberation? Boy, it seems like the apostle Paul is a chauvinist. What does the Bible have to say about homosexuality? Only one truth? Only one way to God? Now, I'm sure you've never heard anything like that before, right? This is the first time. Okay, so you understand the Bible and biblical theology as a whole, you've got to understand the Bible from the setting, not from our setting today, but the setting from the people who wrote it and the time they wrote it to do. And you have to understand that it's from God. Okay, when you understand that it's human, that makes it close to you. That makes it, when you read a psalm, you can resonate with the author. You can see the same struggles in your life that the author has. You can see with the apostle Paul the same tears that he has for the church you have. The same persecutions he faces, you can face them too. It's a blessing that the Bible is written, not just from God from heaven, but it's written by God through men so it's intensely human and practical. It makes it close, but then it's divine. And that shows us that it's not merely musings about God, it's not somebody's thoughts about God, but it's what God has to say about God. Because of that it's infallible, it's inerrant. Because of that there is unity in the whole. You know, I often use this as an analogy in witnessing to just show about the history of the Bible where, or the unity of the Bible where you take, okay, take another topic under the sun. Give me a topic like medicine, okay? And take a medicine, the topic of medicine, and you say I'm going to pick out 40 different men from over a period of people, 40 different people over a period of 1,400 years and what they have to say about medicine. What are you going to hear? Okay, we go to 1,400 years in the past, say we'll pick Paris. Paris and the year 600. I don't even know if Paris was a city then. Okay, whoever's living in the region of Paris and you have a headache, what are they going to tell you? Maybe they'll bleed you? I think that's maybe a little farther down the line. Maybe instead, you know, who has, maybe you got a demon in you? Oh yes, bleeding was advanced, yes. That comes in, you know, 300 years ago. Yes, they'll put leeches on you, right? Okay, so we got, now okay, move forward 400 years and you pick another place and another time, another person and you got a headache. What are they going to tell you? Take this rock, hit your toe with it and you won't know that you have a headache. Yes, or boil this plant. There's going to be such a variety, there's not going to be a unity. But when the Bible, you know, what's more diverse than medicine is religion. What's more diverse than medicine is religion. You take religion over 40 different men, over a period of 1400 years, and of different countries, different places, different languages and what do they have to say? And we see the unity in the Bible and that shows us the one author. And the one author is what allows us to see the bottom line message throughout the whole book. So you see that God is orchestrating like a wonderful orchestra where the conductor is able to mix together all the sounds so that it's beautiful music. Okay, since the Bible is human and divine, another key factor is that it's a narrative. In order to understand the Bible, you understand it as a story. Fundamentally and basically it's a story. It's a story more than it is a book of law. It's a story more than it is about prophecy and telling the future. It's a story more than it is poetry. It's a story more than it is letters to churches and it's a story more than it is Gospels. The Bible as a whole is understood, the majority of it is narrative and the majority, and you understand it as a whole, is one story that God has told. And this story has authority over your life because it's not just written, it's not just a story to observe and like, oh, I like that, like a story about Winnie the Pooh or a story about Frodo and some rings or a story about Wizard of Oz. It's not for your entertainment. It is the story of history written by the king of the universe and it's the king of the universe about himself. So it bears great authority over your life and we understand that in the term a meta-narrative. A meta-narrative is a story that explains everything and, like Ben said, provides a world view. It explains everything and provides a world view. That's what the Bible does. It changes the way you look at the world. Okay, if you're understanding, you know, tell me if this is true in your own experience. You go to someone that's a family member or someone you work with and you go to look at something like you see someone who has unbelief. Okay? Someone who's an atheist and you're looking at that person and somebody who you're associated with, your friend is looking, your unconverted friend is looking at that person. The person who doesn't have the Bible, the meta-narrative, the story of the Bible to describe and understand all the world is going to look at that and say, unbelief is normal. Yeah, this is not a big deal. Unbelief is normal. What does the Bible tell us about unbelief? It's damning. What else? It's a sin. It's faithless. It's disobedience. Unbelief is a form of disobedience. So then when you see the unbelief through the biblical lens, you're not going to see it as something that's normal. Right? You're going to see it as something that's abnormal. That's something that's against God, contrary to God, contrary to the entire point of why we exist. What about when you see we come here as a result of chance? Yes, it's contradictory. And how do you know? Yes, because of what the word says. See how it creates a worldview where you see things radically different because of the reality, the true reality of the Bible. When someone says the Bible's not trustworthy, how do you know otherwise? The Word of God says so and the truth in it? The character and the nature of it is of God that only this book can be from God, telling the future. Okay, so we see, if you look on your outline, the character of the Bible is human. It is divine. It is a narrative. It is, and that's helpful to you because you understand the gospel as the key to understanding the Scripture as opposed to simply laws or as opposed to simply poetry, something that helps you feel better or something that's the message of God's glory through the salvation of men. Okay, it's structured by covenant. It's structured by covenant. The Bible itself outlines the post-marks of the direction signs for how to understand it. And it sets it up through various covenants. They're not merely promises or contracts, but they're relationships under sanction. That means they're relationships under the threat of penalty. To give you an idea that there is types of covenants that have greater kings and vassal kings. In other words, a Suzerain vassal treaty. A Suzerain is a greater king and a vassal is a lesser king. And some of the covenants in the Bible that do this or else this will happen. Like a greater king to a lesser king. And some of the covenants are covenants of grace. Like give me an example of a covenant in grace. The Noéa covenant. And how about the Abrahamic covenant where God himself is the one who cuts the animals in two pieces and he's the one who walks through it. And it's gonna happen. It's based on his own promise based on himself. So it's a covenant of grace. So all of this summarizes to say what's the bottom line? God's glory and salvation through judgment. God's glory and salvation through judgment. God's glory. God's gonna receive all the praise, all the honor. He's the one for which the world is made. The world is made and you exist for the glory of his grace. In salvation through judgment either you're gonna receive the salvation or you're gonna receive the judgment. You fit into this ultimate story for God's own glory for either through your salvation or your judgment. The world exists to the praise of the glory of his grace. You exist for the praise of the glory of his grace. You exist so that you can put on display how good and kind and gracious God is because you don't deserve it. You deserve wrath. But instead he is merciful to you to provide you with forgiveness of sins. The praise of the glory of his grace. Okay so to apply this to yourself biblical theology gets you gets your eyes off of yourself. You stop thinking about your own problems in your own little world you stop thinking about the problems that are here in the church as a whole or maybe even in the country the problems with homosexuality get your eyes off those little things those little things the apostasy of our nation little thing the what happens good or bad with us as a corporate community little thing what happens in your life pain, joy entertainment what you want little thing little thing what's the big thing that's happening what's the big thing that's happening yes building the kingdom of God which is God's glory to the praise of the glory of his grace if you understand this big picture beloved you'll have the joy to persevere if you understand this big picture you're gonna you're gonna have an endurance you're gonna have a joy you're gonna be able to trust in God your whole world could blow up your whole country could blow up little thing little thing shoot fly don't bother me shoot fly don't bother me there's a greater story happening and it includes you it includes you you're in this story and this story by God's grace he's brought you in it that should give you great joy and it should help you persevere through any trial it should help you to have an understanding of your own life your own death your own family your own existence these are the big things I love big things I love the bottom line because then I can understand every other detail in life does that make sense okay so let's continue before I close anyone have any questions I believe it's gonna be salvation either judgment on the Son of God or judgment on us so either we pay for our sins in how or Christ pays for them on the cross yes the judgment will happen it's just judgment will happen there will be punishment for every sin that has ever been committed there will not be a sin there will not be a verse word there will not be an attitude there will not be a bad attitude there will not be a any sin ever committed in the history of the world that will not be rightly judged that is an immense thought to think about either it's gonna be poor the judgment's gonna be poured out on Christ or it's poured out on the one who's guilty they'll face that punishment in hell yes that's what I mean by sanction yep that if you don't repent and believe okay any other questions okay next week if you look at your outline we're going to cover then in order to understand the Bible's whole the exegetical tools the exegesis and hermeneutics in order to understand the big picture of the Bible exegesis and hermeneutics okay let's go ahead and pray Dear Lord God we thank you for communicating to us we thank you for giving us your word we thank you that you've not left us in the dark we don't deserve your word we don't deserve to be included in the story of the world thank you so much that we exist for the praise of the glory of your grace help us to dwell on this thought help us to have our lives be changed by this thought help us to get our eyes off of ourselves and stop thinking about our little things and think about what you're doing in the history of the world Amen