 All right. Good. So let's take a moment to pray and then we'll get started. Maybe I'll just, I'll just just a little bit, bring it down so that the ceiling is okay. All right, let's pray when we'll get started. Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you for a new week and a new day in our lives. Father, as we spend time in your word and as we learn how to study and interpret your word, we pray that the Holy Spirit will give us understanding, will help us learn the things that we need to learn to rightly divide your word of truth. We pray that each of us, God, those present in the class here and those online, those who will be watching on eLearning, that we will be good students on the word and be ministers to handle your word. Right. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. We are continuing in our journey here on learning how to interpret scripture. And last class, we talked a little bit about avoiding allegorizing, which we've emphasized quite a bit. And then we also started talking about how to interpret prophetic scriptures. So that's kind of where we started and we stopped, you know, just about when we got things going. So I'm just going to quickly review a few things and then we will move forward. Let me go ahead and share the PDF that's been put out. So we had lesson number 10 on avoiding allegorizing. So basically, in this whole aspect of allegorizing, when we try to put in meaning into the scriptures, which was not intended by the Holy Spirit through the original authors who wrote the scriptures, then we are allegorizing. We are assigning a meaning. We are putting meaning into the text, which was not part of the original context. And we should avoid doing that. However, like we said earlier, there are two things that we can do. One is to recognize types and shadows that are in the scripture. The scriptures already point to each other, like the New Testament points to the Old Testament. That was a type, that was a shadow, here's the reality, the New Testament. So that we can do. And we can also use the scripture as an illustration. So you take a story, you take a person's life, you take a passage, you use that to illustrate spiritual truth. That's fine. We're not adding to what is there. We're only explaining what is there. We're bringing out insight from that story. The other thing we talked about was parables. Parables are real stories from our worlds, but are used as illustrations to teach us spiritual things. So even today, we can use illustrations from our world to explain spiritual things. That is fine. Now, we started talking about Bible prophecy and how to interpret Bible prophecy. This is not a complete lesson on interpreting Bible prophecy because there's a lot. There's a lot, especially when you study Daniel or you go through the book of Revelation. It has a lot of images, a lot of things that we have to look into. But I'm just giving a few pointers, a few tips how to work with Bible prophecy. Now, when we go into our second year, that time we will get into some amount of Bible prophecy. In third year, we will actually read Daniel and Revelation in depth and we will study that. So first thing we said is to understand timeline or timing in Bible prophecy. We must keep in mind that in a single sentence, there could be various time periods being addressed in a single sentence. We shouldn't assume that just because it was part of the same sentence, everything will happen at the same time. Not so. In a single sentence, some things will happen then, something different time. So we gave one or two examples. We used the classic one from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 where it talks about the birth of Jesus unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulder. So it is just one sentence, but there is a time period of almost 2000 years, 2000 plus years in that one sentence. The child is born, but when is he going to be king? Well, the government will be on his shoulder when he comes and establishes his kingdom during the millennium. So there's almost 2000 years in that one sentence. And then Isaiah 65, that passage there from Isaiah 65 verses 17 through 24. We saw how the timeline, the time period is actually interchanged. What comes last is mentioned before, and then what was before is mentioned last. He begins by talking about, behold, like create new heavens and the new earth. He says a few things about the new city of Jerusalem. And then the prophet starts talking about the millennium. So actually the millennium comes before the new heavens and the new earth. But in that prophetic passage, he's first talking about new heavens and the new earth, then he's talking about millennium. So we said that the way we will understand timing in interpreting scripture is we have to match it up with the rest of scripture. What else does the Bible say? Right? So that's how we will be able to cut this. Oh, this comes before that. You look up. So for instance, when you read the book of Revelation, it's very clear. Revelation chapter 20 talks about the millennium 1000 year reign of Christ. Then chapter 21 and 22 talk about new heavens and the new earth. So it's very clear. Millennium comes before the new heavens and the new earth. So that's how we know. Okay. So we have to understand Isaiah 65 in that sequence, that order. So like that, we have to understand timeline by looking at other portions of scripture and understanding it. The next part is prophetic imagery. That means, and this is where we're going to start today, that when God is speaking in prophetic texts, he got often uses images. We call it prophetic imagery. Right? So if you turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 12. And if we look at verses one through six, and this is just an example. And like this, there are just numerous chapters in the Bible where prophetic utterances are given using images. And sometimes the images are strange when you read it. So what is all this? Right? So let's go Revelation 12, one through six. See, rather you're looking very lost today. Revelation 12, one through six. So it says here, follow with me in Revelation 12, one through six. In verse one, John is saying, a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a head on, on her head, a garland of 12 stars. So when you read that, what is he talking? Woman, sun, moon, 12 stars. What is this? Right? So that image, you're trying to imagine in your mind, what is he talking about? And it looks very strange. Right? But what you will notice about prophetic scripture, and this is something very simple. Many times the interpretation is given in the Bible itself. Many times. And you look at Daniel's prophetic scriptures, you read Daniel 7, 8, 9. You read those chapters, or Daniel chapter 2. The interpretation is given many times in the chapter itself. So what do you have to do? You read the whole chapter, and then you put the pieces together. Right? So that's what we will do here. Same thing in Revelation 12. When you read verse one, it looks very strange. So woman, sun, moon, stars, 12 stars. Then you read on, then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. So now he's talking about this woman giving birth. Even more strange. Right? And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon. Oh, red dragon. What is that? Having seven heads, ten horns, seven diadems on its head. Now even more confusing. Dragon, seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns on those heads. That means each head had a crown. Trying hard to imagine this. What is he saying? Right? Very strange. But this is, God is speaking, God is showing vision. So let's read on. His tail, the dragon's tail, drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God. That they should feed her there 1,260 days. Now 1,260 days is basically three and a half years or 42 months. Okay. So again, three and a half years. So now he's giving us some information here. The dragon was waiting to kill the child, which the woman was going to bear. Because the child was to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So whom do you know is going to rule the nations with a rod of iron? Jesus. Right? He's the one who's going to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So we can cross reference that, of course. If you keep your hand in Revelation 12, you go to Revelation 19 and you'll get verse 15. It's very clear here. Revelation 19 verse 15, it's talking about Jesus. And now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword. That with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with the rod of iron. One mystery we cracked. Who's the child? He's cracked, right? Because we know from Scripture, cross reference. Who is going to rule the nations with a rod of iron? Jesus. So who's this child? Jesus. Plus it also says going back to Revelation 12, her child was caught up to God and is thrown. That means he ascended. That's clearly Jesus. So two clues. See, we play hide and seek. He give one clue here, one clue here. Then you put the clues together. It's the two clues. One, this child will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Two, he was caught up to the throne of God. Jesus ascended. So both these are pointing to Jesus. So now, how do we find who the woman is? There are two things about this woman in this passage. Sun, moon, 12 stars. One clue. Second, she gave birth to Jesus. Question. Did the church give birth to Jesus or did Jesus form the church? Jesus formed the church. So this woman cannot be the church. Cut. So who is this woman then? Sun, moon, 12 stars. Who had the Old Testament? Joseph had a dream. Sun, moon, stars bowing down to him. Who was the sun and the moon? His parents? Jacob? Who's Jacob? Israel. So who is this woman? Israel. So two clues. One is using an Old Testament picture. Joseph's dream, right? Joseph had this dream. This is in Genesis 37, verse 9. He had this dream. He saw the sun, the moon. That means his father, Jacob, mother, son, moon and his brothers. So if he added himself there, he would be 12. But he saw sun, moon, 11 stars, excluding himself. But here they're saying 12 stars, including all the brothers. But it clearly is talking about Jacob or Israel. And Jesus was born through this woman. Who was Israel? Be clear. So two clues. Crack the code. Who is the woman? Israel. Witness, right? Because both counts, it's correct. Sun, moon, 12 stars, points to Jacob, Israel. Jesus was born through Israel. The Jewish people. Both are correct, right? And who is the dragon? Red dragon. Does that represent China? See, sometimes we can say, hey, red dragon. They like, red, they like, they all have big dragons and all. So it must be China. No. Don't come to that conclusion. You read on some more in the same chapter. So I'm skipping a few verses here, because if you go to verse nine, it tells us directly. So the great dragon, verse nine, was cast out. Who is the dragon? That great serpent of old called the devil and Satan. So who's the dragon? Red dragon. Very clear. Satan. It's given here. So it tells us here. Dragon is eight. Then you say why he has seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. So again, we have to understand the bigger picture. And I'll just mention it to you. Number seven is used often in the book of Revelation. Seven stands for perfection. That means perfect. So he's been given the dragon at that time was having authority, full authority on our perfect authority in the sense to do what he was going to do during that time. Ten horns. We would see a parallel to this in Daniel chapter two, ten toes. Daniel chapter seven and eight is talking about ten horns. There you see very clearly the ten horns representing ten leaders. So there's a bigger picture to this. And then there's a little horn that is the Antichrist who comes and he overpowers three of these ten horns, ten leaders. So in that context of that bigger picture, this dragon has ten horns. It's all connected. So we have to understand that ten horns in that context. There's a bigger picture there. There's meaning to that ten horns. But if you just read this passage, you know, that time he said why seven heads, seven crowns? It just means he's been given dominion at that time. And he has, there are these ten leaders who emerge from that region, which Daniel talks about, the Roman Empire, the former Roman Empire. And from there, you know, the things of the end times, things unfold. We will study that in detail later. But what I want to point out is this. We saw this image woman, child, dragon. When you read it, it looks very, who's this? But actually the meaning is there. Right there in the chapter and you cross reference other scriptures. Okay. Very clear. This is who it is. Yeah. So the one thousand two sixty days is that three and a half year period. That's the second half of the tribulation. So all of that has meaning. We won't go into it now, but I just wanted to illustrate the fact that in prophetic scriptures, there is there are a lot of images that are being used. But many times the meaning of the image would be given within the same chapter or definitely within the scriptures somewhere else. Like here we saw you go to Genesis, you go to Revelation, you'll get the meaning. Sometimes it's in the same chapter itself. It's given. Right. So we can interpret those prophetic images by just reading further and understanding. So let me give you a little quiz. You don't need to do Revelation chapter 17. We'll read verse one. Revelation chapter 17 verse one. Now John is seeing something again strange, very strange. He says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. So now two images, one is a great harlot or like the word harlot means a prostitute. So you see he's a great prostitute and this prostitute, great harlot is sitting on many waters. So I will ask a simple question. So two images, great harlot, many waters. So what is this? It looks very strange. But actually the meaning is given in this chapter. I want you to crack the code. What are the waters? In this chapter itself it's given. What are the waters? What do the waters represent? I've given you one clue. I said look at verse 15. Otherwise you'll take time to read the whole chapter. Just jump to verse 15. What are the waters? Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Atlantic Ocean, nations. See it's given there itself. So he sees a harlot sitting on the waters. Now we shouldn't say, oh waters, where is John? He's in Patmos. So waters means Mediterranean Sea. We shouldn't make those conclusions. Just read the chapter. Read further on. In the same chapter he's telling us what do the waters represent? The nations, people, multitudes, people of all nations. That means what does it mean for the harlot to be sitting on the nations? What does it mean? She has influence. Her influence covers globally. It's a global influence. She's having influence over all the nations, peoples, all tribes, all kinds of people. That's the picture. Now the harlot, if you read this text and you look at what's happening there, we can come to the conclusion. I'm not going to force you to do that. But we can come to the conclusion that this harlot represents a world religious system. A world religious system. The reason we say that is if you tie that into Revelation 13, in Revelation 13 we read about the beast and the false prophets. So the beast represents the Antichrist. He introduces a world financial system. And the false prophet introduces a world religious system. So keeping that in mind as you read through and you come to chapter 17, it's easy to conclude that this mystery Babylon, and by what happens, what this mystery Babylon, this woman is doing, you look at she's persecuting the saints and all of that. We conclude, very easy to conclude that this is a world religious system where people are made to worship the beast. Okay, Revelation 13. But we're not going to go into that. I just wanted you to look at waters. What does waters mean? Meaning is given right there. So like this, when you first read prophetic scriptures and you read all these images, it seems very confusing. What is this mystery Babylon? What is this great city Babylon, the great city that's chapter 18? It looks very confusing, but actually it's very simple because the meaning is given in the Bible itself. Very often, maybe even in the same chapter, the meaning is given. So we should look for that. So keeping that thought in mind, I want to emphasize that when we are interpreting prophetic scriptures, always stay with the meaning given by the scriptures. If you don't stay with the meaning given by the scriptures, then we will come up with all kinds of ideas. Example, I tell you Revelation 12 verses 1 through 6, we read. Now, I think the year was 2019, if I'm not mistaken. In 2019, NASA, the American Space Agency, they put out information saying, hey, in the heavens, the stars are aligning together, some formation, and it looks just like a woman. All the Christians got excited because Revelation 12, in the heavens, I saw sun, moon, 12 stars like a woman. So emails are going everywhere. People were preaching sermons. Revelation 12, 1 to 6 is happening. NASA has put up, there's a star formation, it looks like the woman. Even I got the email and they give the date. I think it was sometime in September, I forget the actual date. I think it was September 19th or something. That's the day Jesus will come because NASA put out all this information. Christians took it. So I got an email from somebody saying, please tell all your church people to be in prayer on September 19th, whatever the date was. That's the day Jesus is coming. It is the fulfillment of Revelation 12, 1 through 6. NASA has put out the picture, they send the picture, all these links to online. What nonsense? Because Revelation 12 is the meaning should be taken from the Bible. I can't use something happening here, something happening there, until I try to interpret it in the Bible by using something outside the Bible. But this was actually happened. 2019 means we're talking about four years ago. So we should be careful. If the Bible is pointing to like the sun, the moon, the moon will be dark and the sun will become blurred and the sun will be dark. You read that two times, Revelation 6 and Revelation 8, also in Joel 2. These are signs in the heavens, but they are part of judgments. Part of God's judgment during the tribulation. It's telling these are things that will happen. Okay, earthquakes, pestilences, those are things outside. But the Bible is saying those things will happen. So you look and say, yeah, it is happening. But here it is clearly telling us this woman gave birth to Jesus. Then why are we looking at the stars as that gave birth to Jesus? It's not pointing to something outside Scripture. It's pointing to something that was actually happened in Scripture. So if we don't interpret prophetic images, imagery, using Scripture, then we will come up with all these kinds of funny ideas. Everybody will get excited. September came and when nothing happened, all these people went quiet. So these kinds of things happen. The third part of interpreting prophetic. Okay, any questions? Let me just see if there are any questions from online class. Any? Okay, Samuel, you have a question. Please go ahead. Sorry, Pastor, by mistake. Samuel, one minute. I can't hear you. Let me just hold on, Samuel, one minute. I can't hear. Okay, Samuel, please speak, maybe. Sorry, Pastor, by mistake. Okay, fine. No problem. Thank you. Anyone has any questions online class? You're following? Fine. Any questions? Okay. Let's move on. Just one more thought there on interpreting prophetic text. So one more important thing is about timing. That means when will the prophecy be fulfilled? Prophetic text. When. So one was timeline. That means which time period is this concerning? The other was images. The third one is time. When will it happen? Or what time period it's talking about? Those kinds of things. Okay. Now again, what we find in prophetic scriptures is sometimes time is given literally. For example, we read in Revelation 12, when we look at verse six, he says clearly 1,260 days. He's given that 1,260 days. But if you'll miss it in the same chapter, if you go and look at verse 14, if you look at Revelation 12, 14, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time. Now he is speaking in a different language. Time times half a time. So how can I have half a watch? I have only one full watch. What is half a watch? Time times half a time. How will you... So if you read this, Revelation 12, 14, time times half a time, it looks very confusing. But he's talking about the same thing. He's talking about the same thing in Revelation 12, verse six. He's saying the same thing, right? In verse six, he says the woman goes to the wilderness and she's kept there for 1,260 days. Revelation 12, 14, same thing. The woman is going to the wilderness. She's preserved there for time times half a time. Then you say, ah, this is not very difficult. 1,260 days and time times half a time should mean the same thing. So what is time times half a time? One plus two plus half is how much? One plus two plus half. Three and a half. Three and a half is same as 1,260 days. Same as 42 months. Equal. So he's talking about the same thing. You got it. So therefore time times half a time is three and a half years. So a time means one year. Times means two years. Half a time means half a year. That is 1,260 days. That is 42 months, three and a half years. It's the same thing. So like that, when you match scripture, you will be able to find out, understand timing or what is he talking about? So this phrase time times half a time is used in Daniel also. Book of Daniel also it's used. But now we know what it means. We know it means three and a half years. We know it means 42 months, 1,260 days. So we know that. So we will keep that time times half time. Three and a half years is what he's talking about. So like that, we can interpret times. Example, if you look at Daniel, Joseph had a dream. Sorry, who was the one who had a dream? Pharaoh had a dream. Yeah, Pharaoh had a dream. He saw seven fat cows. He saw seven lean cows in that dream. So God is speaking prophetically to Pharaoh. Giving him a dream. But then when Joseph interprets it, he says, seven fat cows represent seven good years. Seven lean cows represent seven years of famine. So each cow representing one year. Right. So how did Joseph get that? It came through by Holy Spirit. We'll give him wisdom saying, hey, this is what it means. Right. So in dreams, I mean separate dreams, prophetic dreams, then okay, that is through a word of wisdom. The Holy Spirit gives you when Daniel, if you go to Daniel chapter nine verse 24, when Daniel sees a vision or rather the angel comes to Daniel, then angel Gabriel is speaking to Daniel. Daniel nine 24. He uses weeks. Daniel nine 24. He says 70 weeks are determined for your people. So he's saying, Daniel, I have come to speak to you about 70 weeks that are concerning your people, your people, meaning the Jewish people, Israel. 70 weeks. Now, if you just take it literally, oh, we're talking about 70 weeks, one year, 52 weeks. So this is a little more than one year, a year and 20 weeks. You may think like that, but in scripture, the term week is used to represent a period of seven years. Seven years. One week means seven years. Like just how in order for his dream, one cow represented seven years. Here a week represents seven years. So how do we know that? Well, again, if you go to the book of Genesis in Genesis 29, 27 and 28. Genesis 29, 27 and 28. There we see an example where week is used to represent a year. Genesis 29, 27 where Laban tells Jacob, you work for your wife for one week. One week very easy. Only seven days. He meant seven years. You work for your wife for seven years. But the language is used, it's a week. But the week represents seven years. You understand it? So in Hebrew language, in Hebrew understanding, going back to Daniel 9, 24, 70 weeks. Each week represents seven years. So how many years total? Seven times 70, 490 years. So he's not referring to one year and 20 weeks, one and a half years almost. He's not referring to one and a half years. He's not referring to 490 years. So he's saying, Daniel, I come to talk to you about these 490 years concerning your people. Now, how do we know that our interpretation is correct? I'll just give you one thing. We can study this later. But if you look at verse 25, he says, know therefore and understand Daniel 9, 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. What is seven plus 62? South plus 62, seven plus 62 is 69. So he says from the going forth of the command to build Jerusalem until Messiah there will be 69 weeks. 69 weeks, 69 plus seven is 400 times seven is 483 years. That means from the time the command was given, Cyrus the king of Persia, he gave the command, go and rebuild Jerusalem. From the time he gave the command till the time Jesus came was 483 years. Correct. Historically, correct. Okay, now historians, meaning people who tell us about the time of the past, they can only estimate times in that period of time. So they say, oh, King Cyrus probably was there around this time and then this happened, this happened, estimate it. We don't know for sure. So any dates put out by historians are estimates. They're not accurate. Only in recent history, we have accurate dates because you have birth record, birth certificate, all that we have. But this is talking about before Christ. You're talking about more than 2000 years before. So we only have estimates, but this prophecy is correct. Gabriel said, Daniel, there will be 483 years between the time King Cyrus comes and gives the decree to go and rebuild Jerusalem till Jesus Christ comes. And that happens. Even the estimated time is roughly there, maybe a little bit more. But remember, their historians are estimating dates. But Gabriel said correctly, 69 weeks, 69 times 7 is 483 years. And that is historically factual. You're understanding, right? So in prophetic scripture, sometimes time will be given literally, 1,000 to 60 days. Sometimes it will be given figuratively, time times half a time. Don't get confused. Just if you read the scriptures, you'll be able to know there's a clue there. Oh, that's what it means, right? Or like 70 weeks. Oh, what are 70 weeks? Well, you understand Old Testament weeks meant seven years. Oh, 70 weeks. That means 70 times 7, 490 years. And he gives us one more clue or one more statement. The time from King Cyrus to Jesus Christ will be 69 weeks, 483 years. Historically correct. Oh, so that means every week represents seven years. Okay. So let's sum up and then we will go for a break. What can we say? Follow normal principles, historical, grammatical, literary. I'll take words of prophecy in their grammatical sense. Consider the literary elements and when there is symbolic content, or always see if the literal makes sense. If the literal doesn't make sense, then, you know, use language and interpret it within the Bible itself. And look at prophecy as focusing on Jesus and his reign or not. That means ultimately that's all it's pointing to, pointing all prophecies, speaking forward to pointing to Jesus. So prophetic foreshortening means that the Old Testament prophets, when the Old Testament prophets prophesy, they did not understand everything about timing. Now they spoke as the Holy Spirit showed them. And they spoke as God was moving. When God told them, hey, hurry up, I'm coming quickly. They said, Lord is saying he's coming quickly. But in our time quickly is 2000 years. I mean, it seems very long, but for God is very short. Because 2000 years very short. So Jesus telling John, John, tell the church I'm coming quickly. So John is saying, Jesus is coming quickly 2000 years. But he was saying what the Lord was saying. He wrote it down. Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me. We are saying 2000 years. So it's a long time. But for Jesus is nothing. He's living outside time. So they're communicating the way God put it in their hearts. Number six, look for built-in interpretations. Like we said in the chapter or in the book itself, the meanings are given. Compare parallel passages. So it is always good when you're studying Bible prophecy to put everything together. Don't take something in isolation. If you take something in isolation, you can make mistakes. But if you look at all of Bible prophecy together, study it alongside, then you get a clear picture. So that's important. Also understand, and maybe I didn't say this. Okay, let me explain this point number eight. Let's go for a break. I'll come back and explain it. It'll take a little bit of time. So let's go for a break. We'll come back in about 10 minutes and then I'll pick up with point number eight because that needs some explanation. Okay, let's go for a break and back. Thanks.