Anchor School of Theology: Prophetic Principles

The Letter and the Spirit

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Stephen Bohr

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Series Code: ASTPP

Program Code: ASTPP000019


00:15 Greetings, it's good to have you here at Anchor Bible school.
00:19 Have you been having a good time?
00:21 Praise the Lord.
00:22 It's wonderful to study the Word of God.
00:24 And we're thankful that you're here to take this class,
00:27 this very important class on how to study Bible prophecy.
00:32 Now what we're going to do today as we begin
00:35 is finish what we left unfinished in the last session.
00:40 We were talking about the ending point of the
00:42 prophecy of the 70 weeks.
00:45 And so we want to finish this particular study
00:49 on the stoning of Stephen.
00:51 Because basically what we said is that the stoning of Stephen
00:54 in the year 34 is what ends the prophecy of the 70 weeks.
01:00 Now we were at the place where the material says,
01:04 The Stoning of Stephen, The Last Straw.
01:07 So go with me there and we're going to finish studying
01:11 this ending point for the prophecy of the 70 weeks.
01:15 Now we must examine more closely the trial
01:19 and condemnation of Stephen.
01:24 As we have already seen, God undertook
01:27 many covenant lawsuits.
01:29 You remember we studied the covenant lawsuits;
01:30 the structure, the way that they functioned in Israel?
01:35 And there were many covenant lawsuits
01:37 throughout the Old Testament against Israel.
01:42 But an examination of these lawsuits reveals
01:46 that they were not final.
01:48 They were not definitive and irrevocable.
01:51 In fact, the prophets usually called Israel to repentance
01:56 so that God, in His mercy, could drop His lawsuit against them.
02:02 But in the case of Stephen, this is different.
02:05 There is a sense of finality when it comes
02:09 to the experience of Stephen that is lacking in the previous
02:13 covenant lawsuits that God brought against Israel.
02:17 Stephen was taken before the Sanhedrin,
02:20 the highest earthly authority of the Jewish nation.
02:25 It was the final court of appeal.
02:28 The Supreme Court, if you please.
02:31 There in fine prophetic fashion, and in harmony with the covenant
02:36 lawsuit pattern, Stephen presented his defense
02:41 by appealing to the history of Israel
02:44 from the time of Abraham till the coming of the Just One.
02:48 Is he doing the same thing as the covenant lawsuits
02:50 in the Old Testament?
02:52 He most certainly is.
02:54 He's telling the story of God's benevolent acts
02:57 towards Israel.
02:59 Now it's interesting that at the end of his discourse,
03:03 the accused becomes the accuser.
03:06 The Sanhedrin presumed to indict Stephen,
03:11 but he ended up indicting them.
03:14 I want us to read the denunciation of Stephen
03:17 to the Sanhedrin.
03:18 It's found in Acts chapter 7 and verses 51 to 53.
03:23 Notice that he is the accused, but now he is going to
03:26 become the accuser.
03:28 He's God's lawyer in a court of law.
03:30 And he's bringing this covenant lawsuit against Israel.
03:35 This is what he says.
03:36 "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
03:41 ye do always resist the Holy Ghost:
03:45 as your fathers did, so do ye.
03:48 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
03:53 And they have slain them which shewed before
03:56 the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have
03:59 now become the betrayers and murderers,
04:03 who have received the law by the disposition
04:05 of angels, and have not kept it."
04:08 Are you noticing the number of times that he says,
04:11 "ye," "your," "ye," "your."
04:15 In other words, he is God's lawyer in court and he is
04:18 accusing them of violating the covenant
04:23 in spite of all of the benevolent acts of God.
04:27 Now significantly, up to this point in his discourse,
04:31 Stephen has spoken of the fathers
04:34 in terms of, "our fathers."
04:36 Now you can read verses 11, 19, 38, 44, and 45
04:41 in Acts chapter 7.
04:43 And it's interesting that Stephen, when he refers
04:46 to the fathers, he says, "our fathers."
04:48 But after these verses where he refers to, "our fathers,"
04:54 he suddenly begins saying, "your fathers."
04:59 I want you to notice.
05:01 In good prophetic fashion, at first he includes himself
05:05 as part of the historical patrimony of Israel.
05:08 As did Daniel.
05:10 You know, remember Daniel said, "We have sinned,"
05:12 in Daniel chapter 9.
05:13 He included himself in the problem.
05:16 But at the conclusion of his speech,
05:18 Stephen disassociates himself from them
05:22 by saying, "your fathers."
05:25 Notice also that Jesus made the same statement
05:29 in Matthew 23 verse 32.
05:31 Jesus also spoke to the Jewish leaders when He indicted them
05:35 by saying, "your fathers."
05:37 In other words, Stephen could no longer
05:40 in good conscience be in solidarity with literal Israel.
05:45 In other words, he was distancing himself
05:48 from the patrimony of literal Israel because he knew
05:52 that after they killed him, they would no longer be God's people.
05:57 The theocracy would have come to an ignominious end.
06:01 Are you understanding this point?
06:04 Also of great importance is the fact that Stephen,
06:08 unlike the prophets before him,
06:10 did not make a call to repentance.
06:13 See, there's all kinds of interesting details
06:16 in this episode in Acts 7 about the stoning of Stephen
06:19 different from previous covenant lawsuits.
06:22 He did not make a call to repentance.
06:25 This would seem to indicate that the Jewish leaders
06:28 were beyond the point of repentance.
06:31 They had made their final and irrevocable
06:34 decision to reject the Messiah.
06:38 This is indicated by the expressions that Stephen used
06:42 in his indictment, as well as the reaction of the Sanhedrin
06:46 to his words.
06:48 Notice that he called them stiff-necked
06:51 and uncircumcised in hearts and ears,
06:54 and accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit.
06:58 He also accused them of betraying and murdering Jesus
07:02 and breaking the covenant.
07:04 There is no mention of future messengers or opportunities.
07:09 The reaction of the leaders of the Sanhedrin is important
07:13 because it reveals their incurable rejection
07:16 of the Messiah.
07:18 Instead of receiving the message of Stephen,
07:21 who spoke with the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit,
07:25 with uncontrollable rage they gnashed on him with their teeth,
07:30 and cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears,
07:33 and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him
07:36 out of the city, and stoned him.
07:38 This is Acts 7 verse 54, and also verses 57 and 58.
07:43 Notice that the verdict was unanimous.
07:46 The Sanhedrin, the governing body of Israel,
07:50 was unanimous without a dissenting vote.
07:54 They were all of one accord.
07:57 The apostles were one accord on the side of Christ.
08:00 And the Sanhedrin was of one accord against Christ.
08:04 The apostles were on one side,
08:07 and the Sanhedrin was on the other.
08:10 The Jewish Sanhedrin made its choice.
08:12 By stoning Stephen, they silenced the last prophet
08:17 who would ever be sent to them.
08:19 Truly, prophecy came to an end for literal Israel at this time.
08:23 Do you remember yesterday we studied the expression,
08:26 "to make an end of vision and prophecy."
08:29 Well this is the last prophet.
08:32 Vision and prophecy came to an end literally
08:36 for the nation of Israel when Stephen was stoned.
08:39 But the prophecy of the 70 weeks indicated that vision
08:45 would also come to an end at the conclusion of the last week.
08:48 Not only the last prophet, but also the last vision.
08:52 Did this happen as predicted?
08:54 Was Stephen the last prophet who had a vision?
08:58 Well let's take a look.
09:00 The answer is a resounding yes.
09:03 Acts chapter 7 not only indicates that Stephen
09:07 was the last prophet sent to Israel,
09:09 but it also leaves no doubt that he was the one
09:13 who received the last vision as well, the last prophetic vision.
09:19 It seems, when you examine this story,
09:23 that what particularly incensed the members of the Sanhedrin
09:27 was that Stephen claimed to have a vision of Jesus in heaven
09:31 standing on the right hand of God.
09:34 Would that have been a vision?
09:35 Of course.
09:36 This was a vision, for there is no evidence that anyone
09:40 other than Stephen saw this particular experience.
09:44 The critical question is, did Stephen see Jesus
09:48 as He was and where He was at that very moment,
09:53 or was he transported in vision to the future
09:56 to see Jesus as He will appear when he comes again.
10:00 The evidence seems to indicate that this was a prophetic vision
10:05 where Stephen was carried to the future to see Jesus
10:08 coming as the Son of Man.
10:10 And I'll interject here, do you remember that Jesus,
10:13 when He was standing before Caiaphas, He says that,
10:16 "You will see the Son of Man at the right hand of power
10:20 and coming on the clouds of heaven."
10:22 In other words, Jesus also stated the same thing.
10:25 He referred to the future to Caiaphas when He
10:27 was before the Sanhedrin.
10:29 Jesus had said something similar to Caiaphas
10:33 that enraged the Jewish Sanhedrin when He
10:35 was condemned to death.
10:36 And of course, here's the verse that I referred to.
10:39 Let's read it. Matthew 26 verse 64.
10:41 "Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said.
10:44 Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the
10:47 Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power,
10:50 and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
10:54 As we have previously studied, Jesus taught His parables
10:58 that when the kingdom should be taken from the Jews,
11:01 it would be given to the Gentiles.
11:04 This being the case, we should find an event to mark the
11:09 end of the 70 weeks, which not only closes the door of
11:13 probation for the Jewish theocracy, but also opens
11:17 the door of the gospel to the Gentiles.
11:19 Are you understanding this point?
11:21 So the ending point of the 70 weeks not only has to be the
11:25 ending point for the Jewish theocracy,
11:28 it also has to be the open door for the Gentiles.
11:31 Because Jesus said, "The kingdom will be taken from you
11:34 and given to a nation that produces the fruits thereof."
11:38 So there's two things.
11:39 Number one, the kingdom taken away.
11:41 And the kingdom given to somebody else.
11:45 Does the stoning of Stephen fulfill this specification?
11:50 Once again, the answer is a resounding yes.
11:54 It can hardly be a coincidence that the ringleader in the
11:58 stoning of Stephen was a champion of orthodox Judaism;
12:03 Saul of Tarsus.
12:05 This is the amazing thing.
12:07 At the precise moment probation was closing
12:10 for the Jewish theocracy, God, irony of ironies,
12:15 had chosen His champion to the Gentiles.
12:19 And that champion was present at the stoning of Stephen.
12:23 Paul later reminisced about this experience
12:25 with the following words, "And when the blood
12:28 of thy martyr, Stephen, was shed, I also was standing by
12:33 and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of
12:37 them that slew him.
12:39 And He said unto me, 'Depart, for I will send thee
12:43 far hence...'" To whom?
12:45 "...unto the Gentiles."
12:46 Interesting.
12:48 The door closes when Stephen is stoned,
12:51 but the door opens.
12:53 And the champion that's going to go to the
12:54 Gentiles is right there.
12:58 So is the stoning of Stephen a significant event?
13:00 Is that the closing? Absolutely.
13:03 Now let's continue.
13:05 The sequence of events in Acts 1 through 11
13:09 clearly reveals that the stoning of Stephen
13:12 was a watershed event.
13:14 In Acts 1 verse 8, Jesus said to His disciples...
13:18 This verse, folks, has the summary of
13:20 the entire book of Acts.
13:22 This one verse summarizes the whole book.
13:26 What did Jesus say?
13:28 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
13:31 is come upon you.
13:33 And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem..."
13:37 Notice the sequence.
13:38 "...in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
13:44 and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
13:48 Notice the ever broadening concentric circles
13:51 in this verse.
13:53 The gospel is preached, first of all, in Jerusalem and Judea.
13:57 And you know what's interesting?
13:59 The first six chapters of the book of Acts
14:03 refer to events that took place only in Jerusalem.
14:09 Acts 1 through 6 is Jerusalem.
14:11 Then in Acts chapter 7, this is also happening in Jerusalem,
14:15 it's the stoning of Stephen.
14:18 And of course, Saul of Tarsus is present there.
14:22 Then if you read Acts chapter 8 verses 1 and 2, the gospel
14:27 goes to Judea.
14:29 Let's go there and notice the book of Acts
14:33 chapter 8 and verses 1 and 2.
14:35 I didn't write this specific detail there in the sequence,
14:39 but I want to read it now.
14:40 Notice Acts chapter 8 and verses 1 and 2.
14:44 "Now Saul was consenting to his death.
14:47 At that time a great persecution arose
14:50 against the church which was at Jerusalem;
14:53 and they were all scattered throughout
14:55 the regions of..." What?
14:57 "...of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."
15:02 So where does the gospel go now because of the
15:04 persecution in Jerusalem?
15:06 It goes to Judea, and it also goes to where?
15:10 It goes to Samaria.
15:11 In fact, the rest of chapter 8 deals
15:15 with the gospel going to Samaria.
15:17 So you see, Acts 1 through 6; the gospel in Jerusalem.
15:21 Chapter 7; Stephen is martyred, and God has chosen who is
15:25 going to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
15:27 In chapter 8, the gospel goes to Judea and to Samaria.
15:32 Then in chapter 9, the apostle Paul is converted on
15:35 the road to Damascus.
15:37 And in chapter 10, the message goes to the Gentiles;
15:40 first with Peter, and then to the uttermost
15:42 parts of the earth.
15:44 And so, is the stoning of Stephen a watershed event?
15:48 It is the crucial event in the book of Acts, in fact.
15:53 Now the bottom of the page.
15:55 It will be noticed that the gospel went to the
15:57 uttermost parts of the earth only after the
16:00 conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
16:03 In fact, it was Paul who took the gospel to every region
16:07 of the Roman Empire through his missionary journeys.
16:11 Thus in Acts 7, probation closes for the Jewish theocracy.
16:16 And in chapter 9, the champion to the Gentiles is converted.
16:20 That is to say, one door closed, and shortly thereafter
16:24 the other door opened.
16:26 The official beginning of Paul's ministry
16:28 is described in Acts 13 verses 1 and 2
16:31 where he and Barnabas were ordained to the gospel ministry.
16:36 Paul and Barnabas then traveled to Antioch of Pisidia
16:40 where Paul preached a long gospel sermon,
16:44 this is interesting, to the Jews in the synagogue.
16:47 The Gentiles then begged Paul to preach to them.
16:50 The next Sabbath, almost the whole city came out
16:53 to hear the Word of God.
16:55 This provoked the jealousy of the Jews, and they
16:58 contradicted and blasphemed.
17:00 This led Paul to say some very significant words.
17:04 Words very similar to the ones that Jesus spoke in Matthew 21.
17:07 Listen to what the words were.
17:09 "It was necessary that the word of God should
17:12 first have been spoken to you."
17:16 "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
17:19 Israel," Jesus said.
17:22 So Paul is going along with that.
17:23 He says, "The gospel had to be preached to you first."
17:27 That's Acts 1 through 6.
17:30 But then he says this, "But seeing ye put it from you,
17:35 and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
17:39 lo, we turn to the Gentiles."
17:41 Is that the sequence that Jesus mentioned?
17:43 "The kingdom will be taken from you and it will be
17:46 given to a nation that produces the fruits thereof."
17:50 And so Paul says, "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
17:53 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,
17:56 'I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
17:58 that thou shouldest be for salvation
18:01 unto the ends of the earth.'"
18:03 Now to the final paragraph.
18:05 Notice that according to Paul, the gospel was to be preached
18:09 to the Jews first.
18:11 And why was this?
18:12 Simply because, as we have seen, 70 weeks had been measured
18:17 off for the Jewish nation.
18:19 But when the Jewish nation rejected the Messiah,
18:23 by divine command Paul and Barnabas turn to the Gentiles.
18:28 Notice that the door of mercy did not close
18:31 for individual Jews after the year 34 AD.
18:34 This can be seen by the fact that Saul of Tarsus
18:37 was converted after probation had closed
18:40 for the corporate Jewish nation in the year 34.
18:44 So was Saul of Tarsus converted after the door of probation
18:48 was closed for the Jews, for the Jewish nation?
18:50 Yeah. So was the door still open for individual Jews?
18:53 Of course it was.
18:55 So it is important to take into account all of this information
19:00 about the stoning of Stephen, because this is the event
19:03 that closes the door to the Jewish nation as God's
19:06 instrument to take the gospel to the world.
19:08 And now, the gospel goes to the world
19:11 through a nation that produces the fruits thereof.
19:13 That is, the Gentiles.
19:15 Spiritual Israel, if you please.
19:18 So was this clear?
19:20 Okay. Very, very good.
19:23 This ends our principle that Israel today
19:26 is global and spiritual, no longer literal and local.
19:31 Now we want to go to principle number 11.
19:36 I'm going to skip number 10, as I mentioned,
19:39 because we're going to have to study some materials
19:43 which was not distributed.
19:46 And so we're going to distribute those materials later on today
19:50 so that you can study them, and then we'll be prepared
19:53 to study principle number 10.
19:55 So we're going to jump to number 11 that does not
19:58 require a lot of reading material.
20:01 And then we are also, today, going to do principle number 12.
20:07 So the main thing that we want to study today is principle 11
20:10 and principle 12.
20:12 Principle number 11 has to do with how to interpret
20:16 Bible symbols.
20:18 And this in on page 26 of your syllabus.
20:21 And we're going to go through this material,
20:24 it has several pages.
20:25 It has principles about how to interpret symbols correctly
20:30 within prophetic context.
20:32 Now let's deal first of all with some introductory matters.
20:38 Bible study takes time and effort.
20:43 We must search for truth as for a hidden treasure.
20:47 You don't find treasures laying on the street.
20:50 You have to dig deep to find treasures.
20:52 And so it is with Bible study.
20:54 And that includes the study of Bible symbols.
20:58 The next point that I want us to notice
21:00 is that the message of Daniel and Revelation is not
21:04 hidden or concealed.
21:06 In fact, the name, "Revelation," means, "to unveil."
21:12 So the message of Revelation can be understood.
21:15 And Revelation actually decodes the book of Daniel.
21:18 In Revelation, the book of Daniel is opened
21:21 and unsealed.
21:23 So the book of Daniel is actually unsealed in the
21:27 book of Revelation.
21:28 So we have to study both Daniel and Revelation together.
21:33 Many of the symbols in Revelation come from Daniel.
21:36 And so Daniel would be the source that we would
21:38 have to use in order to understand those symbols
21:41 in the book of Revelation.
21:43 The third point that I want us to notice is that the
21:46 book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
21:49 It is not about dragons, monsters, mysterious numbers,
21:55 and esoteric symbols.
21:57 Its central focus is not end time politics,
22:00 or a treatise to satisfy our futurist curiosity.
22:06 Its central purpose is to help us know Jesus
22:09 and be ready for His coming by knowing what is coming.
22:14 Incidentally, Martin Luther wrote commentaries
22:18 on every book of the Bible except James and Revelation.
22:23 He didn't write on James because he felt very uncomfortable
22:26 because James said that Rahab was justified
22:30 not by faith but by works.
22:33 And Abraham; "Was not our father Abraham justified by works?"
22:37 And of course, Luther was fighting against
22:39 a church who's system was based totally on works.
22:43 And so Luther, he says, "You know, James, this doesn't rhyme
22:47 with what I'm fighting against.
22:49 You know, James says that you're saved by works,
22:52 that you're justified by works.
22:54 And it just doesn't square with the idea that
22:57 you're justified by grace through faith."
22:59 What Luther didn't understand is that James and Paul
23:04 were not fighting each other.
23:05 They were fighting two different enemies of the gospel.
23:08 You see, Paul when he says that we're justified by faith
23:11 without works of law, he was speaking to people
23:15 who felt that they would be saved by works.
23:18 James, on the other hand, is fighting with a
23:20 different enemy of the gospel.
23:22 James is saying, "Hey, if you say that you have faith,
23:26 and you don't have works, then that's not real faith."
23:29 So in other words, Paul is speaking of the root
23:32 of salvation, and James is speaking of the
23:34 fruit of salvation.
23:36 If you don't have the fruit, you don't have the root.
23:39 And of course, Luther, he couldn't really grasp that
23:43 because of the battle that he had.
23:44 And we can't be real hard on Luther because
23:46 he was fighting a tremendous battle with a system that
23:49 depended on works for salvation.
23:51 He didn't write a commentary on the book of Revelation either.
23:54 Because he says, "I don't find Christ in this book.
23:57 All I find is dragons and mysterious numbers
24:00 and esoteric symbols."
24:02 He said, "I can't find Jesus Christ there."
24:06 Of course, we can't be too hard on Luther,
24:08 because Martin Luther did not live in our time
24:11 when the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation
24:14 have been opened so that we can understand them.
24:17 His battle was not to understand Daniel and Revelation.
24:20 His battle was to re-establish the idea that we're saved
24:24 by grace through faith.
24:25 That was present truth in his day.
24:27 It's not necessarily present truth in our day.
24:31 Now let's continue here.
24:33 A special blessing is pronounced upon those who read,
24:38 hear, and obey what is said in the book of Revelation.
24:44 And I might say, of course, the whole Scripture.
24:48 Next point, we must be careful about the way we study
24:52 the book of Revelation.
24:54 There is a dreadful curse pronounced upon those
24:57 who add or take away from the book.
25:00 You know, it's a serious thing to study Daniel and Revelation.
25:05 We better interpret the symbols correctly.
25:09 Futurists and preterists don't realize the terrible curse that
25:18 God pronounces upon those who add or take away from this book.
25:22 It's a serious matter.
25:24 In fact, let's read that text.
25:26 It's found in Revelation 22 verses 18 and 19.
25:31 Revelation chapter 22 verses 18 and 19.
25:36 And it says there, "For I testify to everyone
25:39 who hears the words of the prophecy of this book:
25:42 If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him
25:47 the plagues that are written in this book."
25:49 God says, "You add, and I will add."
25:53 Verse 19, "And if anyone takes away from the words of
25:57 the prophecy of this book, God shall take away his part
26:00 from the Book of Life, from the holy city,
26:03 and from the things which are written in this book."
26:05 God says, "You take away, and I take away.
26:08 You add, and I add."
26:10 So it's very serious.
26:12 We must be very careful about the way that we interpret
26:16 the book of Revelation, and the way that we interpret
26:19 the symbols particularly.
26:23 Now the books of Daniel and Revelation, to a great degree,
26:26 are saturated with symbols.
26:29 In fact, Revelation 1 verse 2 has a very interesting word.
26:33 It uses the word in the King James Version
26:36 that God "signified" the book of Revelation.
26:40 What are the first four letters of, "signify?"
26:44 Sign.
26:45 In other words, the book of Revelation
26:47 is written in sign language.
26:51 And the sign language has to be decoded.
26:54 For example, if I do this...
26:59 ...what does that mean?
27:05 It means, "love," in sign language.
27:08 Would you ever be able to figure that out unless you had a way
27:11 of decoding the symbol?
27:13 No.
27:14 You see, this is the symbol, but the symbol has
27:16 a meaning beyond itself.
27:19 Now what is a symbol?
27:21 Let's go to our next section.
27:22 What is a symbol?
27:25 A symbol is something that stands for or represents
27:29 something else.
27:31 For example, in our parlance of today,
27:35 the lion represents what?
27:38 Courage.
27:39 The lamb represents meekness.
27:44 The olive branch represents peace.
27:48 And the cross represents Christianity.
27:52 You see, one thing is the symbol, but you have to
27:54 decode the symbol and see what it represents,
27:58 the larger reality that it represents.
28:01 You know, we frequently use symbolic language
28:04 even in our every day speech.
28:06 For example, we say, "Ugly as sin."
28:12 That's symbolic language.
28:14 We say, "Easy as pie."
28:15 I've never been able to understand why,
28:18 where that comes from, "Easy as pie."
28:20 It's easy to eat.
28:23 But I'm not sure that it's easy to make.
28:27 Because I've seen my wife make pie.
28:29 It takes some effort.
28:32 Maybe it's because it's easy to eat, I don't know.
28:34 But you know the expression, "Easy as pie."
28:36 We say, "White as snow."
28:38 You see, snow is the symbol that points to a
28:41 greater reality beyond itself.
28:43 And we say, "Dead as a door nail."
28:46 You know, and that is symbolic language.
28:49 In other words, symbols are language
28:51 that have to be decoded to determine what they mean
28:55 in a larger sense.
28:57 A symbol is a similitude.
29:00 It is a comparison.
29:02 It is an analogy.
29:05 Symbols cannot be taken at face value.
29:08 They have a meaning beyond themselves.
29:12 The parables of Jesus are couched in symbolic language.
29:17 Frequently, Jesus uses the words, "like," or, "as."
29:23 "The kingdom of God is like a certain individual."
29:29 You see that all the time in the parables.
29:31 So what is Jesus doing?
29:32 Jesus is using symbolic language.
29:36 Let me just give you an illustration.
29:39 We have here Luke chapter 18 verses 1 through 8.
29:42 You remember the story of the widow that kept on
29:44 coming and coming and coming to the judge
29:46 because she had lost everything?
29:47 Her enemy had taken everything from her.
29:50 And she kept on coming and coming and coming to the judge
29:53 so that the judge would do justice to her.
29:56 And the judge, for a while, would not answer her plea.
30:00 And finally the judge says, you know, "I'm sick of this woman.
30:03 She comes and bothers me, she pesters me all the time.
30:06 I'm going to give her what she asks for
30:08 to get her off my back."
30:12 So the question is, what did Jesus want to
30:14 teach with this parable?
30:16 Well you have, first of all, the judge.
30:18 You have to find out what the judge represents.
30:20 He symbolizes something.
30:22 You have to figure out what the widow represents.
30:26 You have to figure out what the delay is.
30:29 See, you have to interpret each individual symbol,
30:32 what they represent beyond themselves.
30:34 And when you study this parable...
30:35 And by the way, you received one material that has this
30:40 development of this story.
30:41 I hope you'll study that.
30:43 Because this parable of Jesus applies especially
30:46 to the end time.
30:48 Because before this parable, you have Jesus talking
30:51 about the second coming.
30:53 And the parable ends by saying, "When the Son of Man cometh,
30:55 shall He find faith in the earth?"
30:58 And in between, you have this parable.
31:00 And so, really the widow in this parable
31:03 is symbolic of God's church.
31:05 After all, she's a woman.
31:08 But she's a woman in distress because she has lost everything.
31:13 So she represents God's people in the time of trouble
31:17 that have lost everything.
31:18 The judge represents God.
31:21 You say, "Now how can the judge represent God?"
31:24 Because this judge says, "Oh, I'm just going to
31:26 answer her pleas to get her off my back."
31:28 Well does God say, "I'm going to answer My people's pleas
31:31 just to get them off My back." No.
31:32 You see, this is comparison by way of contrast.
31:36 In other words, Jesus is saying, "Hey, if an unjust judge
31:39 will answer a widow's plea because he wants to
31:45 get her off his back, how much more will God
31:48 give us what we ask because He loves us?"
31:51 In other words, it's comparison by way of contrast.
31:55 So the widow represents God's people going through
31:57 this severe time of trouble.
31:59 People have lost everything.
32:00 And by the way, there's another symbol in this story.
32:03 It's the antidikon.
32:06 The adversary.
32:08 Do you know where that word is used, the adversary?
32:10 "Your adversary, the devil, goes around seeking whom
32:14 he may devour."
32:15 It's the same word, antidikon, in Greek.
32:18 So who was it that took everything away
32:20 from the woman, from the church, so that she
32:23 would be left desolate?
32:26 Ah, it was the devil.
32:29 Who is going to take everything away from God's people
32:31 at the end of time?
32:32 The devil.
32:33 Are God's people going to come to God and say,
32:35 "Lord, Lord, please deliver us."
32:38 Absolutely.
32:39 Is God going to answer the pleas immediately?
32:42 No. No.
32:44 There's going to be a delay.
32:45 And Ellen White says that the delay is the greatest blessing
32:48 for God's people.
32:50 She says they need to develop their faith.
32:51 They need to learn to depend upon God.
32:54 And so this whole parable, once you understand what the
32:57 widow represents, what the judge represents,
32:59 who the antidikon is, what the delay is,
33:01 you put all of the symbols together, and now you know
33:04 what Jesus wanted to teach with this story.
33:06 Are you following me?
33:08 This is symbolic language.
33:10 We have to decode the symbols and find out what they mean
33:13 in a broader sense.
33:16 Now back to the material.
33:17 Each symbol has a literal meaning and a symbolic value.
33:23 The literal meaning is, you know, the widow.
33:28 But the widow has a symbolic value.
33:30 She represents something beyond the literal, beyond herself.
33:35 Sign language is symbolic language
33:38 where each sign represents a particular concept.
33:43 Jesus used many symbols to represent Himself,
33:46 such as shepherd.
33:49 Is Jesus a shepherd?
33:51 Literally a shepherd?
33:53 No. But is He like a shepherd?
33:55 Of course He is.
33:57 Now what characteristics does a shepherd have?
34:01 Well you have to look at the characteristics of a shepherd
34:04 to see why this type or this symbol is used
34:09 to illustrate the work of Jesus Christ.
34:11 Jesus is called the vine.
34:15 "I am the vine, you are the branches."
34:17 You have to know something about growing grapes.
34:21 I have a Thompson seedless vine in my back yard.
34:25 And last year we had a bumper crop.
34:28 We would go out every morning and eat fresh grapes
34:31 late in the summer.
34:33 And you know, we have orange trees.
34:35 This morning I went out and picked some Valencia oranges
34:37 and I made fresh orange juice.
34:40 You know, and so you have to know what it
34:43 means to prune the vine.
34:44 You have to know about the vine in order to understand
34:47 why Jesus called Himself the vine.
34:50 In other words, you have to know the symbol first
34:55 in order to understand why that symbol was used
34:58 to express a concept.
35:00 Jesus said, "I am the door."
35:03 Why would Jesus say that, "I am the door?"
35:06 Jesus said He is the bread.
35:09 Jesus said, "I am the way."
35:12 Jesus said, "I am the rock."
35:14 So why would Jesus use these symbols?
35:17 There's something in the symbol that points
35:19 to something beyond themselves.
35:21 And we need to know, first of all, what the symbol,
35:23 the characteristics of the symbol, to understand
35:26 why Jesus used the symbol to refer to Himself.
35:30 Actually, all of the symbols, what they do is they give us
35:33 a different portrait of Christ.
35:35 Christ is like a many faceted diamond.
35:39 You know what makes a diamond beautiful?
35:41 All the cuts.
35:43 And so you have all of these symbols that point to a
35:46 different function of Jesus Christ.
35:48 And when you put them all together,
35:49 you have a complete picture of Jesus.
35:53 Now people in Biblical times lived in an animated universe.
35:58 Rivers, the sun, mountains, stars, trees, sheep
36:03 all had symbolic value.
36:05 We have lost that in Western culture.
36:08 We have very, very few symbols from nature that we use
36:12 in the world today.
36:13 But in Biblical times, all of these things spoke of God,
36:18 had lessons for Israel about God.
36:22 We must distinguish between a live and a dead symbol.
36:27 A live symbol is one which we use today,
36:31 and thus has a contemporary meaning for us.
36:35 A dead symbol is one which was used in the past
36:39 and has lost its value for present day persons
36:43 because we don't use it anymore.
36:47 In other words, we have to rescue symbols today.
36:51 Because the Bible uses many, many symbols
36:53 that we don't use today.
36:55 So we have to discover how that symbol was used
36:58 in biblical times and not impose some artificial meaning
37:03 to that symbol that was not intended by the original writer.
37:08 So a dead symbol is one which was used in the past
37:11 and has lost its value for present day persons.
37:14 Most symbols in the Bible are dead symbols
37:17 in the sense that we don't use them anymore.
37:21 This is why we must let the Bible give us the meaning
37:24 of these symbols so that they can come alive
37:27 in today's world.
37:29 So far so good?
37:31 Now let's ask the question, why does the Bible use symbols?
37:39 Well, I have several reasons here.
37:42 Number one, a picture is worth a thousand words.
37:47 Have you ever heard that expression?
37:50 Yes, of course.
37:52 Symbols are used instead of abstract language
37:56 because the message is remembered longer.
38:00 For example, take the parable that Jesus gave of the
38:04 man who built his house upon the rock.
38:08 You know, Jesus could have said, "You know, when difficulties
38:11 come, stand firm, folks."
38:14 He could have said that.
38:16 And of course, how long would you remember that?
38:19 "Hang in there, folks. Hang in there.
38:21 Everything will be alright."
38:23 No, Jesus didn't do that.
38:24 Jesus gave a story, a symbolic story.
38:27 He says, you know, "To what will I compare the kingdom of God?
38:30 Well, I'll compare it to a man who built his
38:33 house upon the rock."
38:35 And would the Jews have understood
38:37 what the rock represented?
38:38 Of course.
38:39 They knew Deuteronomy 32; the rock is the Lord.
38:42 And His word, incidentally.
38:44 Because the rock is the Lord, and His word.
38:46 So they say, "Oh, that means to build upon God."
38:50 And then the storms come and the floods come.
38:53 And they beat against that house.
38:55 And the house doesn't fall because it's built on the rock.
38:59 And then there was another house that was built on the sand.
39:01 And if you read, Mount of Blessings, Ellen White
39:03 says that this actually happened literally in biblical times.
39:09 People did build on the rock, and when floods came
39:12 the house stood firm.
39:13 But there were some people that were foolish
39:15 and they build their houses in places where
39:17 when the rains came, it flooded, and the house was taken away.
39:21 So people could identify with what Jesus was saying.
39:24 And so you have this man who built his house upon the sand.
39:27 And the storm came and took it all away.
39:30 Let me ask you, would people remember this a lot longer
39:33 the lesson that Jesus wanted to teach?
39:35 Of course.
39:36 Every time that they went by a house that was built
39:39 on the rock, they'd say, "Ah, I remember the lesson."
39:43 Every time that they saw the flood come and sweep away
39:46 a house, they'd say, "Ah-ha, because you built on the sand."
39:50 And so one of the reasons for using symbolic language
39:55 is because symbolic language is remembered longer.
39:58 And people, when they saw the objects,
40:00 they'd remember the teachings of Jesus.
40:03 Furthermore, every time a symbol is observed,
40:06 its meaning is remembered.
40:11 Symbols are also used so that the message can transcend
40:17 time and space.
40:19 For example, if God had spoken to John about capitalism,
40:25 communism, the United States, nuclear weapons, tanks,
40:33 machine guns, he would not have understood the message
40:37 because these things did not exist in biblical times.
40:41 So what does God do?
40:43 He gives symbols.
40:44 Instead of saying, "communism,"
40:46 He says, "the king of the south."
40:48 And of course, Israel knew what the attitude of Pharaoh was.
40:52 "Who is the Lord? I don't know the Lord.
40:54 And I'm not going to let His people go."
40:55 Ellen White said this is atheism.
40:58 So when Egypt is mentioned, they would understand that.
41:00 When, for example, Revelation 11 speaks of Sodom,
41:06 you know, that's a universal language.
41:09 Because Sodom was characterized by crass immorality.
41:13 And so Sodom is a symbol, and Egypt is a symbol.
41:18 The king of the north is a symbol,
41:20 the king of the south is a symbol.
41:21 It's universal language that we can understand today.
41:24 The king of the south in 1798 was France.
41:29 And we can understand that the king of the north
41:30 was the papacy.
41:33 And we can understand that France was characterized
41:35 by Egypt because, you know, France discarded God.
41:41 And we know that France, at least during the
41:44 French Revolution, was crassly immoral.
41:47 Immorality was practiced in the streets.
41:50 And so, symbolic language helps us understand
41:55 things that transcend time and space.
41:58 And we have to be very careful because,
42:01 you know, some futurists, for example, that take the
42:04 picture in Joel where in Joel it speaks about the
42:07 locusts, you know, in chapter 2 it speaks about the locusts,
42:11 they say, "Well, the locusts are helicopters."
42:15 Well, I think that you should allow the Bible to explain
42:17 what locusts are and not simply,
42:19 and you ask, "Why are the locusts helicopters?"
42:23 "Well because locusts fly, and so do helicopters."
42:27 You know, that's not the way to interpret symbols.
42:29 Symbols are used within a biblical context
42:34 in order for us to understand in all time what those
42:38 symbols represent.
42:40 Now final point here as to why the Bible uses symbols.
42:45 Symbols are used to conceal the message
42:48 from those who would oppose it if literal language was used.
42:54 Isn't it right that Jesus spoke in parables to hide the meaning
42:58 from those who were not sincere and honest?
43:00 Of course He did.
43:02 Because He knew that if He came right out and He said it,
43:06 His ministry would have been in danger,
43:09 because they would have wanted to take Him
43:11 and kill Him before the time.
43:13 And so Jesus spoke many parables where the Pharisees
43:16 knew that He was speaking about them, but they couldn't
43:18 put their finger on it.
43:19 Because Jesus was using symbolic language.
43:23 You know, we have also the experience of Paul.
43:28 You know, the apostle Paul spoke about a restrainer
43:30 in 2 Thessalonians 2.
43:32 He says the antichrist is ready to manifest himself.
43:36 He's there, the mystery of iniquity already is here.
43:39 He says, "Only waiting until the restrainer is taken away,
43:42 and then he will manifest himself.
43:44 And the man of sin will be seen openly."
43:47 He will unveil himself.
43:49 Well why didn't the apostle Paul tell us who the restrainer was?
43:53 Well the restrainer, folks, was the Roman Empire.
43:57 You see, while the Roman Empire ruled,
44:00 the pope couldn't rule.
44:02 The Roman Empire and the emperor had to be taken out of the way.
44:06 Which the barbarians did, by the way.
44:08 And then when the Roman Empire was taken away
44:11 as the restrainer, then the man of sin, which is the papacy,
44:16 could manifest its power because the previous
44:18 power had been removed.
44:20 Are you following me?
44:21 Now why didn't Paul just come out and say,
44:23 "Folks, you know that the Roman Empire is restraining right now.
44:28 But then the Roman Empire is taken out of the way,
44:30 then the man of sin will manifest himself."
44:34 What do you suppose would have happened if Paul had said that?
44:37 The Roman Empire would have said,
44:39 "The Roman Empire is going to what?"
44:43 He would have ended his ministry a lot faster.
44:46 Right?
44:47 And so Paul says to them, "You know what I'm talking about."
44:51 But he does not clearly reveal it.
44:54 He just speaks of the restrainer.
44:56 Because symbolic language, you know, enlightens those
45:01 who are informed, those who are wise,
45:05 in the biblical sense of being wise.
45:07 "The wise will understand," it says several times
45:10 in the book of Daniel.
45:11 But the unwise will not understand.
45:13 So the language is coded language.
45:15 Symbolic language is coded language that the
45:18 initiated understand, but those who do not wish
45:21 to understand or accept, they will not understand.
45:25 Now, how do we interpret symbols?
45:28 That's our next point; how do we interpret symbols.
45:32 Well we must go where?
45:35 To the original source of the symbol to discover
45:38 what the symbol means.
45:40 Now most symbols in the book of Revelation
45:43 come from the Old Testament.
45:47 So we must use what?
45:50 A Bible concordance.
45:53 Which is the best one?
45:56 Strong's is for the strong.
45:59 I'm just kidding. Any Bible concordance is good.
46:03 So we must use a concordance, and what else?
46:06 The marginal references to discover the original
46:10 source of a symbol.
46:12 There are some 2000 allusions to the Old Testament
46:16 in the book of Revelation.
46:19 That is amazing.
46:22 The meaning of some symbols, however, are explained
46:26 in the immediate context of the passage.
46:30 You don't have to go to the Old Testament.
46:32 They're explained in the immediate context.
46:36 I have one example here.
46:38 Revelation 17 verse 1.
46:41 It says that the harlot is sitting on many waters.
46:45 Is that explained in the context?
46:48 Yes, you go to verse 15, and verse 15 says
46:52 the waters upon which the woman sits are multitudes
46:56 nations, tongues, and peoples.
47:00 So the context itself provides the explanation of what
47:03 the symbol means.
47:05 And incidentally, we usually use, when we talk about waters,
47:08 we always use Revelation chapter 17 and verse 15.
47:12 However, there are other passages which are even
47:15 more powerful than just saying that waters represent
47:19 multitudes, nations, tongues, and peoples.
47:21 Actually, when you read other passages, the waters represent
47:25 multitudes, nations, tongues, and peoples
47:28 of individuals who are hostile to God's people.
47:33 They're not just simply waters.
47:34 Because the harlot sits on the waters,
47:36 she governs the waters, she manipulates the waters.
47:39 And the waters want to slay and drown God's people.
47:42 I want to take you, just to give you an example,
47:44 of another text that speaks about the waters.
47:46 Go with me to Isaiah 17, Isaiah 17 verses 12 and 13.
47:52 Isaiah 17 verses 12 and 13.
47:54 Notice the comparison here.
47:56 The waters in Revelation 17 are not simply lots of people.
48:01 No, they are people that are hostile to God's people.
48:04 They're enemies of God's people because they're instigated
48:06 by the harlot to persecute God's people.
48:09 It says there in Isaiah 17 verse 12,
48:11 "Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise
48:16 like the roar of the seas, and to the rushing of nations
48:22 that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters."
48:27 Are you understanding the symbolism here?
48:29 It's saying that nations rush like many waters.
48:33 Verse 13, "The nations will rush like the rushing
48:38 of many waters; but God will rebuke them
48:42 and they will flee away..."
48:43 In other words, they're going to be dried up.
48:45 "...and be chased like the chaff of the mountains
48:48 before the wind, like a rolling thing before the whirlwind."
48:53 So what is God going to do?
48:54 He's going to dry up the waters.
48:56 These raging waters.
48:58 Because they thunder, it says in Isaiah chapter 17.
49:02 Let's go to one other example on waters
49:04 in Isaiah chapter 8.
49:07 Isaiah chapter 8 verses 7 and 8.
49:09 Isaiah 8:7-8
49:13 This is speaking about the invasion of Sennacherib
49:16 into the land of Judah.
49:18 And of course, he ends up surrounding Jerusalem.
49:21 And it looks like Jerusalem is going to fall.
49:23 And, you know, they pray inside.
49:26 And the king, you know, he declares an emergency
49:29 and they plead to God.
49:31 And that's when the angel comes and kills 185,000
49:34 soldiers in one night outside the city.
49:38 But notice how the invasion is described.
49:40 Verse 7, "Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
49:45 the waters of the River..."
49:48 That is, over God's people; the waters of the River.
49:51 Incidentally, do you notice, at least in the New King James,
49:54 the word, "River," is capitalized?
49:57 Do you know why it's capitalized?
49:59 Because this is a particular river.
50:01 This is the river Euphrates.
50:07 And of course, Assyria was in the region
50:10 very close to Babylon.
50:12 So the waters are flooding.
50:14 They're coming from Assyria, from Babylon,
50:16 into Judah to flood God's people and destroy God's people.
50:19 Sennacherib says, "What God is going to deliver you?"
50:22 And so they're pleading inside.
50:25 And so God answered by saying, "I will."
50:28 So it says, "Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up
50:31 over them the waters of the River, strong and mighty."
50:34 What are the waters?
50:37 Let's notice.
50:38 "The king of Assyria and all his glory;
50:41 he will go up over all his channels
50:44 and go over all his banks."
50:48 So what is the king and what are his armies?
50:52 A river.
50:54 And what is the river doing?
50:57 It's flooding.
50:58 It's going over its banks.
51:00 Verse 8, "He will pass through Judah,
51:03 he will overflow and pass over, he will reach up to the neck."
51:10 Let me ask you, when the water comes up to your neck,
51:14 it doesn't have much other place to go, does it.
51:19 I mean, this is a crisis.
51:22 And then I want you to notice the symbolism here.
51:24 When the river floods, it sprouts wings.
51:30 See, that's the dragon of Revelation 17.
51:32 The dragon is the river.
51:34 The armies are the body of the dragon.
51:39 And of course, the water's come from the mountains,
51:42 or the heads.
51:44 This is exotic symbolism.
51:47 That unless you go to the way it was understood back there,
51:50 there's no way you can make sense out of Revelation 17.
51:53 It's impossible.
51:54 Without understanding this symbolism from back there.
51:57 Because for us, these are dead symbols.
52:00 They make no sense.
52:03 So it says, "He will pass through Judah,
52:06 He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck;
52:11 and the stretching out of his wings will fill the
52:15 breadth of Your land, O Immanuel."
52:20 So, we must go to the Old Testament for some of
52:26 the symbols, the meaning.
52:29 Some of the symbols are interpreted
52:32 in the immediate context.
52:35 And there's another important point
52:36 that I want to share with you, particularly having to do
52:40 with the book of Revelation.
52:42 And that is our next point.
52:44 There are concepts and stories in the Old Testament
52:48 that saturate the book of Revelation.
52:50 There are four stories that we have to know
52:51 backwards and forwards.
52:53 You have to go back to the Old Testament
52:55 and you have to study in their entirety these stories.
53:00 Because Revelation is saturated with these four stories.
53:04 Let's notice what they are.
53:05 Number one, the Hebrew Sanctuary.
53:08 You cannot understand Daniel or Revelation
53:11 unless you fully understand the Sanctuary service.
53:14 It's indispensable.
53:15 And that's going to be our next principle
53:17 that we're going to take a look at.
53:19 Number two, the story of Elijah.
53:22 The book of Revelation is saturated with Elijah symbolism.
53:27 So you have to know the entire story in the Old Testament.
53:32 Number three, the exodus of Israel from Egypt.
53:36 Revelation, in many places, is saturated with symbolism that
53:42 comes from the exodus story.
53:45 And number four, the release of Israel from
53:48 Babylonian captivity.
53:50 Particularly when you discuss the sixth plague.
53:54 And we're going to cover this a little bit
53:55 later on in this course.
53:57 When you deal with the sixth plague, the drying up of the
54:00 river Euphrates, you have to go back to the fall of Babylon
54:04 in Daniel chapter 5.
54:05 Because that's where it comes from.
54:07 And so these four stories, you have to go back
54:10 to the Old Testament and you have to saturate yourself
54:13 with the details of these stories because they are
54:16 symbolic of larger realities in the future.
54:20 For example, in the Old Testament, the literal
54:24 city of Babylon was literally sitting on the river Euphrates,
54:28 on a literal river.
54:32 In the end time, the river and Babylon are symbolic.
54:40 Babylon is a global system.
54:43 And if it's global and it sits on the Euphrates,
54:46 the Euphrates must also be global.
54:50 Are you understanding the principle?
54:52 But you cannot understand the drying up of the Euphrates
54:55 in Revelation unless you understand the drying up
54:58 of the Euphrates in the historical context
55:00 in which it appears.
55:03 So in order to understand symbols,
55:05 we have to go to the source.
55:06 And folks, let me say this, when I say, "Go to the source,"
55:10 don't only go to the verse where that symbol is referred to.
55:15 Because sometimes in Revelation, it will only give you a hint.
55:20 It'll give you, like, one word.
55:23 And it would be a mistake just to study that one word
55:26 in the Old Testament.
55:27 What Revelation is saying is...
55:30 For example, it mentions Balaam.
55:31 It says, "Go study the whole story.
55:36 Because the whole story of Balaam is symbolic
55:40 of this stage."
55:42 Jezebel.
55:45 Well when you find Jezebel, what do you have to do?
55:48 Just study Jezebel?
55:50 No, because Jezebel had individuals
55:54 who were linked with her.
55:55 The king, the false prophets of Baal.
55:59 You have to include Elijah too.
56:00 Because Jezebel can't appear by herself.
56:02 Whenever she appears, she appears in company.
56:06 And so Revelation will say, "Jezebel."
56:08 So don't just study Jezebel.
56:10 You say, "Now that's just a hint that I'm suppose to
56:12 study the entire story."
56:13 Because the entire story is typological.
56:16 Are you with me?
56:17 So you have to study the entire story in the Old Testament,
56:21 not just the word that is used in Revelation.
56:23 I mean, if Revelation took the time to tell all the stories,
56:26 we would have an encyclopedia.
56:29 We wouldn't have a 22 chapter book.
56:31 And so what the writer does, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is
56:36 give us a hint and say, "Hey, look, here is Balaam.
56:40 Now go study the whole story."
56:41 And then you'll know why this symbol was used in Revelation.
56:46 So far so good?
56:48 Now, let's deal with our final point.
56:51 We have 58 seconds, let me introduce it.
56:59 I can introduce it in 49 seconds.
57:04 It must be kept in mind that symbols are liquid.
57:07 Does liquid take different shapes?
57:10 Depending on the context in which it appears?
57:12 Of course.
57:13 That is, they take on a different form
57:16 depending on the context in which they are found.
57:20 Like liquid changes its shape depending on the container
57:23 it's found in, so symbols do not always have the same meaning.
57:26 They can mean different things in different context.
57:30 And so in our next session, we are going to take a look at
57:34 some examples of the fluidity of a symbol.
57:37 This is a mistake that many people make,
57:39 is they think that a symbol means the same thing everywhere.
57:42 And so they misinterpret passages from Scripture.
57:46 So that will be our next point of study.


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Revised 2015-06-30