Participants: Stephen Bohr
Series Code: ASTPP
Program Code: ASTPP000007
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00:15 Well hello, everybody.
00:17 Welcome to our sixth session, or the seventh session actually, 00:22 of Anchor Bible school. 00:24 We're glad you're here. 00:25 This morning we want to tie down the last principle 00:29 that we were studying yesterday on futurism. 00:32 And then we want to enter into our next principle, 00:36 which is that all true Bible prophecy 00:39 is centered in Jesus Christ. 00:41 However before we do, as we begin the day we want to 00:45 have a word of prayer to ask that the Lord will 00:47 guide our thoughts and our study during this day. 00:51 And so I invite you to bow your heads with me 00:52 as we implore the Lord's presence. 00:55 Father in heaven, we come before You this morning 00:57 to thank You for Your multiple blessings 01:00 that You've poured out upon us. 01:02 So many things that we take for granted; 01:05 clothing, food, shelter. 01:07 Just so many things that we sometimes consider 01:10 to be automatic, but we know that everything is a 01:13 blessing from Your hands. 01:15 We especially thank You for Your Word, 01:18 which is a sure guide in a world that is so confused. 01:21 We ask that as we open that Word this morning 01:24 that Your Holy Spirit who inspired the Word 01:26 will be present with us to instruct us 01:29 about those things that are important for our 01:31 spiritual walk with Jesus and our preparation for the 01:35 close of probation. 01:36 We thank You, Father, for Your presence, 01:39 and we thank You for hearing our prayer. 01:41 For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. 01:45 In our last session yesterday we were talking about 01:47 futurism, the dangers of futurism, 01:50 to the Seventh-day Adventist message. 01:52 And there are some statements from the spirit of prophecy 01:56 that show that Ellen White understood the dangers 02:00 of futurism when it comes to the Seventh-day Adventist message. 02:04 And I'd like to read those statements. 02:06 They're found in your syllabus beginning on page 13. 02:10 At the bottom of the page you're going to find several statements 02:13 that I want to read now that show that Ellen White 02:15 was aware of futurism. 02:17 And by the way, futurism started gaining strength 02:22 in the 1830's and the 1840's, believe it or not, 02:26 during the times that God raised Ellen White 02:29 to be a prophet for the remnant church. 02:31 So it's significant that Ellen White recognized the 02:34 dangers of projecting the three angels' messages 02:37 to the past or to the future. 02:39 So I'm reading at the bottom of page 13, 02:43 "There are those now living who, in studying the prophecies of 02:47 Daniel and John, received great light from God 02:52 as they passed over the ground where special prophecies 02:55 were in process of fulfillment in their order." 03:01 That's important. 03:03 So the fulfillment of prophecy is a what? 03:07 A process. 03:09 That's historicism. 03:10 That's the historical flow method. 03:12 And you'll notice that they have an order. 03:16 She continues saying, "They bore the message 03:20 of time to the people. 03:22 The truth shone out clearly as the sun at noonday. 03:27 Historical events, showing the direct fulfillment of prophecy, 03:32 were set before the people, and the prophecy was seen to be 03:37 a figurative..." Now notice the next word. 03:39 What's the next word? 03:41 Delineation. 03:42 See, it's a line of prophecy. 03:44 "...delineation of events leading down to the close 03:48 of this earth's history." 03:49 See, there's the historical flow method. 03:51 It's a delineation. 03:53 It is a process, the words that she's using, in their order. 03:59 She continues saying, "Some will take the truth 04:02 applicable to their time and place it in the future. 04:07 Events in the train..." 04:09 Do you notice that word also? 04:10 "Train." 04:12 Key words that she's using. 04:14 "Events in the train of prophecy that had their fulfillment 04:19 away in the past are made future, and thus by these 04:23 theories the faith of some is undermined. 04:27 From the light that the Lord has been pleased to give me, 04:30 you are in danger of doing the same work..." 04:32 She's writing to a teacher whose last name is Bell. 04:35 "...presenting before others truths which have had 04:39 their place and done their specific work for the time, 04:44 in the history of the faith of the people of God. 04:48 You recognize these facts in Bible history as true, 04:51 but apply them to the future. 04:54 They have their force still in their proper place, 04:59 in the chain..." 05:00 Notice all the synonyms that she's using. 05:02 "...in the chain of events that have made us 05:05 as a people what we are today, and as such, they are to be 05:10 presented to those who are in the darkness of error." 05:14 Interesting statements. 05:16 She continues saying, "The truths that have been..." 05:21 Now what's the next word? 05:23 "...unfolding in their order, as we have advanced along 05:28 the line of prophecy revealed in the Word of God, 05:33 are truth, sacred, eternal truth today. 05:36 Those who passed over the ground step by step 05:39 in the past history of our experience, seeing the chain 05:43 of truth in the prophecies, were prepared to accept and obey 05:47 every ray of light." 05:49 She continues saying, "The first and second messages 05:53 were given in 1843 and 1844, and we are now under the 05:58 proclamation of the third; but all three of the 06:01 messages are still to be proclaimed. 06:04 It is just as essential now as ever before that they 06:08 shall be repeated to those who are seeking for the truth. 06:11 By pen and voice we are to sound the proclamation, 06:15 showing their order, and the application of the prophecies 06:20 that bring us to the third angel's message. 06:23 There cannot be a third without the first and second. 06:27 These messages we are to give to the world in publications, 06:31 in discourses, showing in the..." What? 06:36 "...in the line of prophetic history the things that 06:40 have been and the things that will be." 06:45 So clear. 06:47 And then we have another couple of statements. 06:49 All these are from the letter that she wrote to this teacher. 06:52 I believe that he was a primary school teacher. 06:57 She continues saying, "All that God has in prophetic history 07:01 specified to be fulfilled in the past has been, 07:05 and all that is yet to come in its order will be." 07:10 And then finally she says, "Theories will be continually 07:15 agitated to divert the mind, to unsettle the faith. 07:20 Those who have had the actual experience in the unfolding 07:25 of the prophecies have been made what they are today, 07:29 Seventh-day Adventists, by these prophecies." 07:34 How is it that we were made Seventh-day Adventists? 07:36 By the prophecies. 07:39 We are a prophetic movement. 07:41 And so if you discard prophecy, you discard the reason 07:46 for the existence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 07:48 Because we originated with prophecy and our destiny 07:52 is clothed in Bible prophecy. 07:54 And so Ellen White was very aware of the importance 07:57 of recognizing the historical flow method. 08:00 And she was also very aware of the dangers of projecting 08:04 to the future or to the past prophecies that had been 08:08 fulfilled or would be fulfilled in their precise order. 08:13 Now we want to go to principle number 6. 08:17 In this series we've studied five principles so far. 08:20 And we have fourteen that we're going to take a look at. 08:23 The latter ones are going to take us more time, 08:25 as I mentioned in our sessions before. 08:29 The sixth principle is very important. 08:32 All true prophecy finds Christ at its center 08:39 and Christ as its hero. 08:41 In other words, all prophecy is Christ centered. 08:44 And we're going to follow along what's in the syllabus, 08:46 and then I'm going to give you some examples 08:49 of how important it is to recognize Christ 08:51 as the center of all Bible prophecy; 08:54 both the prophecies that point to the first coming 08:57 and the prophecies that point to the second coming. 08:59 Because there are two kinds of prophecies; 09:01 one type points to the first coming, 09:04 and the other type of prophecy points to the second coming. 09:08 And we're going to take a look at some of the prophecies 09:10 that pointed to the first coming, and then later on 09:13 we're going to look at prophecies that point 09:15 towards the second coming. 09:16 Now Christ is at the very center of all Bible prophecies. 09:21 Prophecy is not event centered, but rather Christ centered. 09:26 Jesus has delivered His people from spiritual enemies 09:30 and spiritual death as a result of His work 09:34 at the first coming. 09:36 But at the end of time, Jesus will intervene 09:39 to deliver His people literally from literal death. 09:44 Are you understanding the principle here? 09:46 You know, Jesus, by His death on the cross, 09:48 He delivered us spiritually from spiritual bondage 09:51 and from spiritual death. 09:52 But at the end of time, there will be a death decree 09:54 against God's people. 09:56 And Jesus will have to intervene personally and literally 09:59 to deliver His people from literal death. 10:02 Now we're going to take a look at some of the prophecies 10:05 that dealt with Jesus delivering us from spiritual death 10:09 and from spiritual bondage. 10:11 But before that, I would like to go to this next section 10:15 that we have here. 10:16 And that is the importance of the concept of the covenant. 10:20 The covenant is central to the understanding 10:24 of all Bible prophecy. 10:26 And basically, the formula that is used in the Bible 10:29 for the covenant is, "I will be their God, 10:32 and they shall be My people." 10:34 And a covenant, of course, means that God wants 10:37 to have a covenant with His people, and His people 10:40 accept the terms of the covenant, and they 10:42 enter into this covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. 10:46 Now, when we enter a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, 10:50 Jesus commits Himself to not only be our Savior, 10:55 but also to be our Protector. 10:57 Now you'll notice four models that we have here 11:00 in our syllabus. 11:02 We have, first of all, Suzerain and Vassal. 11:05 Now that word, "suzerain," might not make a lot of sense 11:09 to you, but it means, "sovereign." 11:11 A sovereign. 11:13 And the word, "vassel," means, someone who is subject 11:16 to the sovereign. 11:18 Now let me illustrate this point. 11:20 In antiquity, sometimes a great king would make a covenant 11:25 with a lesser king from a lesser nation. 11:27 And basically, the great king would say to the lesser king, 11:31 "You know, I'm willing to protect you if you 11:34 promise to be loyal to me." 11:37 And so the covenant would be signed, 11:38 the agreement would be signed. 11:40 Now if a powerful enemy came against the vassal 11:44 that had made the covenant with the sovereign, 11:47 that nation that came against the vassal was actually 11:52 fighting against the sovereign. 11:54 And so the sovereign would intervene to protect 11:59 the nation that was in covenant with him. 12:01 Are you understanding? 12:02 And so when we make a covenant with Jesus, 12:05 Jesus commits Himself, if we are loyal to Him, 12:08 that He is going to intervene and He is going to 12:10 protect His people, whether it be spiritually 12:13 or whether it be literally, at the end of time. 12:16 Because Jesus is the great Sovereign and we are 12:19 His vassals, so to speak. 12:21 We are His servants. 12:23 And so when we make a covenant with Jesus, 12:25 Jesus promises to protect us both spiritually and literally 12:30 at the end of time. 12:32 A second model we have is that of a shepherd and his sheep. 12:36 Let me ask you, when a bear and a lion came to devour 12:40 one of David's sheep, what did David do? 12:44 Oh, he went after the lion and he went after the bear. 12:48 Well, you know, the fight of the bear and the lion 12:51 wasn't with David. 12:53 It was with the sheep. 12:55 Right? 12:56 But whoever touched David's sheep was touching David. 13:00 And so Jesus is the great Shepherd. 13:03 And we are His sheep. 13:05 And so when the wicked come to attempt to destroy God's people 13:09 at the end of time by attacking God's people, 13:13 by attacking the sheep, they are attacking the Shepherd. 13:16 And because God's people are in covenant with the Shepherd, 13:19 the Shepherd has committed Himself to protect His sheep. 13:24 The next model is husband and wife. 13:27 Jesus Christ is the Husband and the church is His wife. 13:31 Now when the wicked at the end of time come to beat up on 13:33 Christ's wife, Christ says, "Now wait a minute. 13:36 You're messing with Me now. 13:39 Because that's My wife that you're mistreating." 13:42 And so Jesus is committed. 13:44 If we have entered a marriage covenant with Jesus Christ, 13:47 He has committed Himself to be a good Husband 13:51 to protect us both spiritually and literally 13:55 at the end of time. 13:56 The final model that we have is the head and the body. 13:59 Let me ask you, when somebody pricks you with a needle, 14:02 does your head feel it? 14:05 Of course. It's your head that feels it. 14:07 In case you didn't realize that, your head feels it. 14:11 Because your nervous system, you know, informs the head. 14:13 And the head tells you, "Hey, you got pricked with a needle." 14:16 So what happens? 14:17 Whatever affects the body affects the head. 14:22 Now who is the head of the church? 14:24 Jesus Christ is the head of the church. 14:26 And what is His body? 14:27 His body is the church. 14:29 So what happens in the end time when the wicked come 14:32 to try and destroy the body of Christ? 14:35 Oh, they're messing with the head, with Jesus Christ. 14:39 You remember when Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus 14:42 and he was going to arrest Christians that were there 14:46 in Damascus, in Syria. 14:49 You know, he saw a bright light from heaven 14:52 and he fell to the ground. 14:54 And he heard a voice that said, "Saul, Saul, 14:56 why do you persecute Me?" 15:00 And Saul of Tarsus, you know, he said, 15:03 "I'm going to Damascus. Who is this? 15:05 You know, who are you?" 15:07 And Jesus said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth 15:09 whom you are persecuting." 15:12 And I'm sure that Saul thought, 15:14 "Well, you're in heaven, I'm down here. 15:15 How can I be persecuting you?" 15:17 Well, the fact is that by persecuting the people of God, 15:20 he was persecuting the God of the people. 15:23 Are you understanding the principle? 15:26 The covenant principle is vital for understanding 15:28 the prophecies that have to do with the first coming, 15:31 and the prophecies that have to do also with the 15:34 second coming of Christ. 15:35 When we enter a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, 15:38 Jesus commits Himself to protect His people. 15:42 And you know, in Matthew chapter 25 15:44 we have the scene of the sheep and the goats. 15:48 Jesus places the sheep at His right hand 15:50 and He places the goats at His left hand. 15:53 And what does He say to His sheep? 15:55 What does He say? 15:57 He says, "In that you have done it unto one of these 16:01 the least, my brethren, you have done it unto Me." 16:06 So the final battle, folks, that we're going to study about 16:10 is not a battle of the wicked directly against Christ. 16:15 You know, there's this idea that the battle of Armageddon 16:18 is, you know, when Jesus is coming on the clouds, 16:21 the wicked are shooting nuclear weapons at Him. 16:25 Well, that's a futurist idea and it's good for Hollywood. 16:29 But it's not biblical. 16:31 The fact is that the final battle is that the wicked 16:35 will attempt to destroy God's covenant people. 16:38 And Jesus will intervene to protect them, because 16:42 He's going to say, "Hey, that is My people. 16:45 And by attacking them, you are attacking Me." 16:48 You know, the same thing happened at 16:50 the edge of the Red Sea. 16:52 You remember when Israel was trapped there at the 16:55 edge of the Red Sea. 16:56 They had no escape. 16:58 But God opened the waters 17:00 and Israel passed through the waters. 17:02 Now the sea was still open, so the Egyptians 17:05 now come into the sea. 17:06 And when they're in the midst of the sea, 17:09 the Bible tells us that God took the wheels 17:12 off of their chariots. 17:13 And did you realize what the Egyptians said? 17:17 They said, "The Lord fights for Israel. 17:20 Let's flee." 17:22 And so in fighting the people of God, 17:27 they were fighting the God of the people. 17:30 That's the way we are to understand the final battle. 17:33 It is not a battle directly against God. 17:36 It is a battle against God's people. 17:39 And by fighting against God's covenant people, 17:41 they are fighting against God. 17:44 Is that point clear? 17:45 Vitally important to understand, particularly end time prophecy. 17:50 Now some Christians say, "Well, you know, I believe 17:53 in the New Testament. 17:54 I'm a New Testament Christian. 17:56 You Adventists, you know, you're Old Testament Christians. 17:58 We're New Testament Christians." 18:00 The fact is, folks, that both the Old and New Testaments 18:03 are centered in Jesus Christ. 18:06 And I have next in our syllabus illustrations of this. 18:10 They're, you know, analogies that will help us understand 18:13 the relationship between the Old and New Testament. 18:16 First of all, I like to compare the Old Testament with sand. 18:21 The Old Testament is sand. 18:24 The New Testament is the water. 18:26 And Christ is the cement. 18:31 Are you with me? 18:33 It makes it concrete. 18:35 That's what makes concrete, right? 18:37 That's what connects the Old and New Testaments. 18:41 The Old Testament is like the moon 18:43 and the New Testament is like the sun. 18:45 See, the Old Testament... 18:47 Where does the moon get its light? 18:50 The moon gets its light from the sun. 18:53 The glory of the moon is the glory of the sun. 18:55 So what was the Old Testament? 18:57 The Old Testament was like the moon. 18:59 In other words, it's reflected light. 19:01 All of the symbols and ceremonies that you find 19:04 in the Old Testament are actually a shadow. 19:08 They are actually the light of the moon, 19:10 but the light is projected by Jesus Christ, the sun. 19:14 Jesus Christ is the center, in other words, 19:17 of the Old Testament. 19:18 But the light of the Old Testament is reflected light. 19:21 Jesus is the reality. 19:24 The Old Testament is like a scale model. 19:27 Have you ever seen a scale model? 19:29 You know, they had a little mock model of... 19:32 I remember when they were going to add to the Fresno airport. 19:37 You know, they had in the lobby, they had a case where they 19:42 had a little mock model of what it was going to look like 19:45 when the project was finished. 19:47 And you know, as you look at the airport today, 19:49 it's just like it was in the scale model. 19:52 But the scale model is not the reality. 19:55 The scale model is a lot smaller. 19:57 But it gives you an idea about what the project 20:01 is going to look like. 20:02 And so the Old Testament is the scale model. 20:05 It's the little miniature model, if you please. 20:08 And then when you look at Christ, you see the reality. 20:11 You see fullness of what the small scale model points to. 20:16 I like to consider the Old Testament as a shadow 20:18 and the New Testament as the reality that casts the shadow. 20:23 See, Jesus is the reality. 20:27 And Jesus casts His light on the Old Testament, 20:33 and then the Old Testament is the shadow. 20:35 And when you see a shadow, you know that there's a 20:37 reality that's projecting the shadow, right? 20:40 For example, if you're walking down the street 20:42 and you see a shadow of a post, you know you better be careful 20:46 because there's a post that's projecting the shadow. 20:48 Right? 20:50 You better make sure that you don't walk into the post. 20:53 The shadow tells you that there's a reality, 20:55 that there's a concrete reality. 20:57 And so all of the Old Testament is a shadow that helps us 21:01 understand that there was going to be a reality in the future 21:05 that projects that shadow. 21:06 And of course, that reality is none other than Jesus Christ. 21:10 The Old Testament is like a picture. 21:13 Does a picture give you a good idea about someone? 21:16 Yeah, it does. 21:18 It tells you about the color of their skin, 21:19 it tells you about the color of their hair, 21:21 it tells you about the color of their eyes. 21:23 It, you know, shows the features of their face. 21:26 And if it's a body shot, it shows you how they dress. 21:29 You know, it gives you a pretty good idea about 21:31 what the person is like. 21:32 But is it very different to see the person in person? 21:36 Of course it is. 21:37 So the Old Testament is the picture. 21:39 And the New Testament is the reality 21:43 of what the picture portrays. 21:45 The Old Testament is the pattern. 21:49 And the New Testament is the finished garment. 21:53 Are you following me? 21:55 The Bible is composed of prophets and apostles. 21:59 But Jesus Christ is what? 22:02 Jesus Christ is the chief corner stone. 22:04 In other words, Jesus is the one who holds together 22:08 the structure when you relate the Old and New Testament 22:12 to one another. 22:13 It's no such thing that the Old Testament is law centered 22:17 and the New Testament is grace centered. 22:19 No, there is law and grace in both Testaments. 22:21 But the Old Testament is reflected light, 22:25 whereas the New Testament is original light. 22:27 Because Jesus Christ is the reality towards which 22:31 the Old Testament points. 22:34 Take for example the Sanctuary. 22:38 The Hebrew Sanctuary, which we're going to study 22:41 in more detail a little bit later on in this class, 22:44 gives us the events of the plan of Salvation; 22:48 the steps that Jesus Christ takes in saving us from sin. 22:53 It begins in the camp. 22:55 It continues in the court. 22:57 And the court, of course, has the altar of sacrifice. 22:59 That represents the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 23:02 Then you have the laver where the priest washed 23:05 before he went to minister into the Holy Place 23:07 after he had offered the sacrifices. 23:09 Jesus cleansed Himself from death. 23:12 In other words, He came forth from the tomb to die no more. 23:15 Because, remember that people who touched a body were defiled. 23:18 Because death defiles. 23:19 Well Jesus cleanses Himself at the laver 23:21 from the defilement of death. 23:24 And so now He resurrects at the laver, which is called 23:27 the laver of regeneration in Titus 3 verse 5. 23:29 And to regenerate means to give new life. 23:32 And then He enters into the Holy Place 23:34 to apply the benefits of His life and death 23:37 to those who come to Him in faith. 23:39 Because the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus 23:43 were for everyone. 23:46 Jesus lived for all and He died for all. 23:48 You see, I can't offer the law perfection. 23:51 And so I needed someone who could offer the law 23:54 perfection in my place. 23:55 So Jesus came and lived the life that I should live. 23:58 That everyone should live. 24:00 You know, I don't want to die, I want to live. 24:03 So Jesus says, "I'll take your death upon Myself." 24:05 So Jesus lived for everyone, 24:07 and Jesus died for every single person who has ever 24:09 lived in the history of planet earth. 24:11 Does that mean that everybody is going to benefit 24:13 from His life and His death? 24:15 No, that's where His ministry in the Holy Place comes. 24:19 In the Holy Place, now people can come and they can say to 24:23 Jesus, "Jesus, I repent of my sins, I confess my sins. 24:26 I trust in Your righteousness. 24:28 Please, Jesus, take Your life and Your death 24:31 and place them to my account." 24:32 And then I am benefited by what Jesus did 24:36 by His life and His death. 24:38 In other words, the work in the Holy Place is individual. 24:42 The work in the camp and in the court is corporate. 24:46 It's for everybody. 24:47 But you only benefit from it when you claim it 24:50 personally and individually. 24:51 Are you following me? 24:53 And then, of course, Jesus moves into the Most Holy Place, 1844. 24:56 See, you have dates for all of these, don't you. 24:59 In a moment I'm going to get to the dates. 25:01 And so Jesus moves into the Most Holy Place 25:04 and examines all of the cases to see who truly repented from sin. 25:10 Because there's a lot of crocodile tears. 25:12 Right? 25:13 And so the purpose of the judgment is for Jesus to reveal 25:17 who was a genuine follower of Jesus. 25:21 Because there's a lot of counterfeits. 25:22 There's wheat and there's tares. 25:24 There's wise virgins and foolish virgins. 25:27 There's good fish and bad fish. 25:28 There are people who have the appearance of godliness 25:31 but don't have godliness. 25:32 There are people who say, "Lord, Lord," 25:34 but Jesus says, "I don't know you." 25:37 And so there's two kinds of believers. 25:39 The purpose of the judgment is to reveal to the universe 25:41 who was a true believer. 25:43 And for that, you have to open the records. 25:46 Are you with me? 25:47 And when every case has been examined, 25:49 then all of the sins that have been forgiven 25:52 by the blood of Jesus are now taken, and Jesus moves 25:56 once again to the entrance of the Sanctuary, the court. 25:59 The court is the earth, by the way. 26:00 Because that represents the earthly work of Christ. 26:03 Then Jesus takes all those sins that have 26:05 already been forgiven... 26:06 The scapegoat doesn't forgive sins. 26:07 They were forgiven already. 26:09 ...and He places them on the head of the scapegoat. 26:11 And he's sent to the wilderness and ultimately destroyed. 26:15 What do you have in the Sanctuary? 26:16 You have the world view of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 26:20 You have the whole plan of salvation 26:22 illustrated in a building. 26:26 So is the Sanctuary important? 26:28 Yes, but what is more real; 26:31 what Jesus does or the Sanctuary little scale model? 26:36 See, the purpose of the scale model is to point to 26:38 something far greater; to Jesus. 26:41 And then, of course, you have the feasts. 26:44 The feasts give us the calendar of Christ's events. 26:48 See, the Sanctuary tells us what the events are. 26:50 The feasts tell us when those events take place. 26:54 Passover; there you have the altar of sacrifice. 26:58 And then you have the death of Jesus, 27:01 which is at the altar of sacrifice. 27:04 You have His resurrection. 27:05 Remember the feast of the first fruits? 27:08 And by the way, while He's in the tomb, 27:09 that's the first day of unleavened bread. 27:11 So you have, you know, the death of Jesus 27:14 at the altar of Sacrifice, the fourteenth of Nisan. 27:17 Then you have the first day of unleavened bread. 27:20 That's the fifteenth of Nisan. 27:21 And then you have the first fruits, His resurrection, 27:25 according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20. 27:27 And that takes place on the sixteenth of Nisan. 27:31 And then 50 days later you have the feast of Pentecost 27:34 when Jesus enters the Holy Place. 27:37 And then you have in 1844, He enters the Most Holy Place 27:43 of the Sanctuary. 27:44 So the feasts are the calendar of the Messiah, 27:47 whereas the Sanctuary portrays the events of the Messiah. 27:52 How could you ever understand any of this 27:53 without the Old Testament? 27:55 It's impossible. 27:57 Christians don't realize that by saying that the Old Testament 28:00 was for the Jews and, you know, the Old Testament 28:03 is not for Christians and we're New Testament Christians, 28:06 they don't realize that without the Old Testament 28:09 there's no way you can understand the New Testament. 28:11 It's an impossibility. 28:13 Now, let's examine some Bible text where we are told that 28:18 Jesus is the center of the Old Testament. 28:22 Let's go to John chapter 5. 28:24 You have several of these. 28:25 I'm not sure that we're going to read all of them, 28:27 but we'll read some of the more significant ones. 28:30 John chapter 5 and verse 39, 28:34 and then we'll read verses 45 to 47. 28:37 John chapter 5 verse 39, and then verses 45 to 47. 28:43 Verse 39 says, and Jesus is speaking to the Jews, 28:49 "You search the Scriptures..." 28:51 Which Scriptures would those be? 28:54 It has to be the Old Testament. 28:55 There was no New Testament when Jesus spoke these words. 28:58 So, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think 29:02 you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." 29:09 And then He says in verse 40, "But you are not willing to 29:13 come to Me that you may have life." 29:14 In other words, "You look for eternal life in the Scriptures, 29:17 but you reject Me. 29:19 And the Scriptures point towards Me." 29:21 Unbelievable. 29:23 And then verse 45. 29:25 Verse 45. 29:27 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; 29:31 there is one who accuses you; Moses, in whom you trust. 29:36 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; 29:41 for he wrote about Me. 29:44 But if you do not believe his writings, 29:46 how will you believe My words?" 29:49 About whom did Moses write? 29:51 Moses wrote about Jesus. 29:54 Jesus says, "You claim to trust in Moses. 29:56 You say you love Moses. 30:00 But you don't love Me. 30:01 You're contradicting yourselves, because Moses wrote about Me. 30:05 So if you really love Moses you would love Me, 30:08 because Moses wrote about Me." 30:11 In claiming to accept Moses but not accepting Christ, 30:16 they were not accepting Moses either. 30:19 Now let's go on. 30:22 Well verse 47 says, "But if you do not believe his writings, 30:25 how will you believe My words?" 30:28 Now let's go to Luke 24. 30:30 This is an interesting passage. 30:32 Luke 24 and we'll read verses 25 to 27. 30:36 This is on the road to Emmaus. 30:38 Remember the experience of the two disciples 30:40 on the road to Emmaus? 30:41 Well Jesus catches up to them. 30:44 And let's read about what happened. 30:50 Luke 24 and beginning with verse 25. 30:54 "Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, 30:59 and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. 31:05 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things 31:07 and to enter into His glory?'" 31:09 Now I would have liked to have been at this Bible study. 31:14 It was a long walk. 31:16 Verse 27, "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, 31:24 He expounded to them in all the Scriptures 31:28 the things concerning Himself." 31:30 You know, those three expressions; 31:32 Moses, Prophets, Scriptures or writings, is really the 31:37 three-fold division that the Jews had of the Old Testament. 31:40 The Torah, the Nevi'im, which is the Prophets, 31:44 and the Ketuvim, which is the writings, 31:46 the rest of the Old Testament. 31:47 In other words, Jesus is basically saying, 31:50 "Listen, the whole Old Testament points to Me." 31:56 So it says, "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, 31:59 He expounded to them in all the Scriptures 32:01 the things concerning..." Whom? 32:03 "...the things concerning Himself." 32:07 Now let's go to verses 44 to 47. 32:11 Here, Jesus is gathered with His disciples in the upper room. 32:15 And I want you to notice what happens there 32:17 beginning with verse 44 and through verse 47. 32:24 It says, "Then He said to them, 'These are the words which 32:27 I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things 32:31 must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses 32:36 and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.'" 32:42 So who is at the center of the Law of Moses? 32:46 Jesus. 32:47 Who is at the center of the Prophets? 32:49 Jesus. 32:50 Who is at the center of the Psalms? 32:52 Jesus. 32:54 "And He opened their understanding, 32:56 that they might comprehend the Scriptures." 33:00 Do you know what the key was? 33:02 The key was Christ. 33:04 Once they understood Christ, the Old Testament 33:06 became a living book. 33:08 Verse 46, "Then He said to them, 'Thus it is written, 33:13 and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise 33:16 from the dead the third day, and that repentance 33:19 and remission of sins should be preached in His name 33:21 to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 33:24 And you are witnesses of these things.'" 33:27 And then He says, and we'll come to this a little later, 33:30 "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; 33:33 but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are 33:36 endued with power from on high." 33:38 And there were certain prophecies that they 33:40 needed to understand about the day of Pentecost. 33:42 And one of the reasons why Jesus spent 40 days here 33:45 after His resurrection is that He had to explain 33:48 to the disciples the prophecies that had been fulfilled 33:51 in Him and the prophecies that would be fulfilled 33:53 on the day of Pentecost. 33:55 And we'll see that very clearly in a few moments. 33:58 Now let's go to John 1 and verse 45. 34:02 John chapter 1 and verse 45. 34:06 It says there, "Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 34:11 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, 34:15 and also the prophets, wrote; Jesus of Nazareth, 34:20 the son of Joseph.'" 34:23 Interesting. 34:24 This is early in the ministry of Jesus. 34:27 And it's interesting that Philip says, "We found the Messiah. 34:32 The Messiah that was predicted in the Law of Moses, 34:36 and also in the Prophets." 34:38 Let's go to the book of Acts now. 34:40 Acts chapter 10 and verse 43. 34:43 Acts chapter 10 and verse 43. 34:46 Same idea coming through. 34:49 It says there, "To Him," that is to Jesus, 34:54 "all the prophets witness..." 34:58 How many prophets witnessed to Him? 35:00 All. 35:02 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, 35:05 whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." 35:12 And sometimes I ask people, I says, "Did Jesus 35:14 forgive people's sins at the cross?" 35:17 You know, when you ask that in a non-Adventist church, 35:19 the answer is a thunderous, "Yes." 35:23 And unfortunately, when you ask it in the Adventist church, 35:27 it's not as thunderous, but it is pretty thunderous 35:31 that people say, "Of course He forgave sins at the cross." 35:35 Jesus did not forgive sins at the cross. 35:38 Jesus made provision to forgive sins at the cross. 35:42 Because forgiveness is an individual thing. 35:44 And it requires repentance, and it requires confession, 35:47 and it requires faith. 35:50 It is when you claim the benefits of what Jesus did 35:55 with His life and His death that He takes His life and His death 35:58 and places them to your account. 36:00 And he looks upon you as if you had never sinned. 36:05 That's unique to Seventh-day Adventist theology. 36:08 The other churches say, "Oh, everything's the cross. 36:10 Jesus forgave people at the cross, you know. 36:12 Everything took place at the cross." 36:14 Well what has Jesus been doing the last 2000 years then 36:19 in heaven? 36:20 Interceding. 36:22 Well, but if everything was taken care of at the cross 36:24 and sins were forgiven there, why does He need to intercede? 36:28 There is an individual work that has to take place. 36:31 The individual work is you claiming what Jesus did. 36:35 Last I knew, there's a verse in the Bible that says, 36:37 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to 36:41 forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 36:44 So forgiveness comes when we confess our sins. 36:47 And we confess them because we're repentant 36:49 and we trust in Jesus. 36:51 So this verse says, "To Him all the prophets witness that, 36:54 through His name, whoever believes in Him 36:57 will receive remission," or forgiveness, "of sins." 36:59 Remission is the same thing as forgiveness. 37:02 Let's go to Acts 26 verses 22 and 23. 37:06 Acts 26 verses 22 and 23. 37:10 Once again the same theme, to whom do the prophecies point? 37:15 To whom does the Old Testament point? 37:17 Acts 26 verses 22 and 23. 37:21 It says there, "Therefore, having obtained help from God, 37:26 to this day I stand," this is Paul who's speaking, 37:30 "witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things 37:34 than those which the prophets and Moses said would come..." 37:39 And here's what they said. 37:40 "...that the Christ would suffer, that He would be 37:43 first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the 37:47 Jewish people and to the Gentiles." 37:50 So you'll notice that there's several things here. 37:52 First of all, that He would suffer. 37:54 Secondly, that He would rise from the dead. 37:56 And third, that He would be proclaimed to the world. 38:00 Basically to the Gentiles, or to the world. 38:02 And of course, that took place, we'll notice, 38:04 on the day of Pentecost. 38:06 Notice Acts 24 and verse 14. 38:09 Acts chapter 24 and verse 14. 38:12 It says here, "But this I confess to you..." 38:15 He's speaking to Felix. 38:17 "This I confess to you, that according to the Way, 38:20 which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, 38:24 believing all things which are written in the Law 38:28 and in the Prophets." 38:30 Who is the center of the Old Testament, folks? 38:32 The very New Testament says that the center of the Old Testament; 38:36 of the Law, of the Prophets, of the writings, of the Psalms, 38:40 is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. 38:46 Now I want you to take out the sheet that says, 38:48 "Moses and Christ." 38:51 "Moses and Christ." 38:52 That's what was given out. 38:53 It was incomplete yesterday when we gave it out, 38:55 but this morning you received a complete copy of it. 38:58 "Moses and Christ." 39:01 This is an interesting document. 39:04 And I'm not going to read all of the verses in the document, 39:07 because it would take us two hours just to 39:09 read all the verses. 39:10 I want you just to get the picture. 39:13 See, in this class all we can do is give hints 39:16 and give the picture. 39:17 And then you have to go and you have to work your way 39:20 through this material. 39:21 There is a lot of material here. 39:24 And it's going to take you months to negotiate it. 39:26 But I hope that the class will inspire you to say, 39:30 "Hey, I've got to go through this material. 39:31 This is exciting stuff." 39:32 You know, if that happens, the class was a success. 39:36 If you were just here during this week and you heard 39:39 all these things and said, "Wow, this is great. 39:41 This is wonderful." 39:42 And you go home and you never look at this material again, 39:44 then you've cheated yourself. 39:47 You know, the big fee that you paid to take this class 39:52 will be wasted. 39:53 And I'm being facetious, of course. 39:56 Now let's go to this document, "Moses and Christ." 40:01 In Deuteronomy 18:15-18, God promised to send another 40:06 prophet like Moses. 40:09 But greater than Moses. 40:11 You can read that passage. 40:14 Acts 3:22-26 and Hebrews 3:1-5, 40:19 as well as 1 Corinthians 10:1-4... 40:22 We'll take a look at this very soon. 40:24 In fact, still this morning in our session. 40:27 ...assure us that Jesus was the promised Prophet. 40:32 In Deuteronomy, we are told that Israel, 40:35 this is an important principle, that Israel would be cut off 40:38 if they did not listen to Moses. 40:40 So today, spiritual Israel would be cut off if they 40:45 do not listen to Jesus. 40:47 The things of Moses now belong to Jesus. 40:50 In other words, Moses is a shadow 40:53 or a type of Jesus Christ. 40:55 He's an Old Testament small scale model of Jesus Christ. 40:59 His experience illustrates a greater experience 41:03 in the future. 41:05 This great truth was not understood by the 41:08 Jewish nation in the days of Christ. 41:10 They trusted Moses, but they rejected Jesus. 41:14 Paul also deals with this same theme in 2 Corinthians 3. 41:18 And you have a whole document, which we're 41:20 not going to be able to cover. 41:21 It's called, A Monumental Conversion Experience, 41:25 on 2 Corinthians 3. 41:27 This is a very difficult chapter in the writings of Paul. 41:31 He seems to say that the law of God was done away with 41:36 because it's the letter, it doesn't have the Spirit. 41:39 But when you read it carefully, there's a 41:42 tremendous lesson here. 41:44 And that is, that there's a great danger 41:45 of reading Moses without Christ. 41:49 Or looking at the law without Christ. 41:52 It's not that the law is bad or negative, 41:55 it's that the law without Jesus is a real problem. 41:58 Because you get all caught up in legalism, 42:01 which was the problem of the Jews in the 42:03 days of the apostle Paul. 42:04 So make sure that you read that document, 42:07 A Monumental Conversion Experience, 42:09 because it's a careful study of 2 Corinthians 3 42:13 in the light of the experience of Moses at Mount Sinai. 42:16 Let me just give you a little inkling here. 42:20 You remember that Moses went up to the mountain, 42:24 and he had an intimate communion with the Lord. 42:28 In fact, Ellen White describes that God gave the law 42:32 to him, and also gave the ceremonial sacrificial service. 42:36 In other words, He gave him the moral law, as well as 42:38 the sacrificial service; the plan of salvation. 42:41 Which is basically the purpose of the sacrificial system 42:45 is to take care of the transgression of the law. 42:48 Because the sacrificial service makes it possible 42:51 for us to be saved, even though we've transgressed 42:53 the moral law of God. 42:55 So God revealed to Moses the law, the moral law, 42:59 as well as the sacrificial system. 43:00 And when God finished revealing that to Moses... 43:03 And by the way, Moses understood that it was 43:05 centered in Jesus Christ. 43:07 He understood that the glory of the moral law is found in Jesus, 43:11 because Jesus is the law in person. 43:13 The law is simply a written reflection of who Christ is. 43:17 But Moses understood that the law is a reflection of the 43:19 character of Jesus in person. 43:21 And he understood that the sacrificial system 43:23 wasn't killing a bunch of animals. 43:25 He understood that the sacrificial system 43:27 pointed to salvation in Jesus Christ. 43:28 He saw the glory in the Old Testament system. 43:32 And so when he comes down from the mountain, 43:34 because he talked with God face to face 43:36 and he received this glorious light, 43:39 what happened with his face? 43:41 Oh, his face was shining like the noon day sun. 43:45 And so the people, when they saw the face of Moses, they said, 43:48 "Moses, what a wonderful glory." 43:51 No. What did they do? 43:53 They said, "Moses, cover the glory." 43:56 They wanted Moses, but they didn't want the glory. 44:01 Because they rejected... 44:02 In other words, they rejected Jesus but they accepted Moses. 44:07 Are you following me? 44:09 And Paul says that is a veil over their heart. 44:12 Their hardness of their heart. 44:14 But he says, but when they are converted to the Lord, 44:16 the veil will be removed and they will see the glory 44:20 on the face of Moses. 44:21 That is, on the writings of Moses. 44:23 All of that is in that material. 44:26 That's why I say read it. 44:28 The materials that you're going to receive, 500 plus pages, 44:30 read the material. 44:32 It's got really, really important things. 44:35 Now the story of Moses is to be understood 44:38 as the continuation of the warfare between the 44:41 serpent and the seed. 44:43 The same four elements that are found in Genesis 3:15 44:47 are also present in the story of Moses and the Exodus. 44:50 If you want more on this, I have 52 one hour presentations 44:53 on Genesis. 44:56 And I show how you have this pattern of these four elements 44:59 of Genesis 3:15 all throughout the Scriptures, 45:02 of course culminating in Revelation 12. 45:05 See, the text to which Genesis 3:15 pointed 45:09 is in Revelation chapter 12. 45:12 What are the four elements? 45:13 First of all, a woman. 45:18 Who's the woman in the story of Moses? 45:20 Jochebed. 45:22 Do you have a seed of the woman? 45:25 Who is it? 45:27 Moses. 45:28 Do you have a dragon? 45:30 Do you know that in Ezekiel 29 verse 3, 45:33 Pharaoh was called the great dragon? 45:35 Hmmm, interesting. 45:37 And do you have enmity? 45:39 You have enmity of Pharaoh against Moses. 45:43 Are you with me? 45:44 Is this the same picture that we find in Genesis 3:15? 45:49 Same picture. 45:51 And you find it in the story of Cain and Abel too. 45:54 You find it all throughout the Old Testament. 45:56 Interesting. 45:58 You know the story of Cain and Abel. 45:59 Do you have the four elements in that story? 46:01 You know, when God said to the serpent, He said, 46:03 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, 46:06 between her seed and your seed. 46:07 He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." 46:10 The devil says, "Uh-oh, a seed is going to come to the world. 46:13 And that seed is going to crush my head." 46:17 So he made up his mind at that moment that he was not 46:19 going to allow that seed to come. 46:22 And so you enter the story of Cain and Abel. 46:25 Very interesting story. 46:27 Do you have a woman in the story of Cain and Abel? 46:30 Who is the woman? 46:31 Eve. 46:34 And you have two seeds, right? 46:38 Yeah, you do have two seeds. Two sons. 46:41 But one is a good seed, and the other one, what? 46:45 Whose seed is the other one? 46:48 The other one is the devil's seed. 46:49 In a moment I'm going to give you a text that proves that. 46:52 So you have a seed. 46:55 Which, by the way, is Abel. 46:56 And the devil says, "Oh Abel, he's the one that's 46:58 going to fulfill Genesis 3:15. 47:00 So I've got to get him killed." 47:01 So what does he do? 47:03 He rises enmity of Cain against Abel, and he has Cain kill Abel. 47:08 So is there enmity? 47:11 Is there a woman? 47:14 Is there a faithful seed? 47:17 Is there also a devil involved? 47:20 Does he have a seed? 47:22 Yes, and you say, "Where's the devil there?" 47:24 Well you have to go to the New Testament. 47:25 Sola Scriptura. 47:27 In 1 John 3 verse 12, it says, "Not as Cain, 47:31 who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother." 47:35 So whose seed was Cain? 47:37 Of the wicked. 47:38 And listen carefully, this teaches a very important lesson. 47:41 And that is, that whose seed you are is not determined 47:44 by your birth. 47:48 Because both seeds were born from the woman. 47:50 It's a matter of choice whose seed you belong to. 47:54 Now let's go back here to the material. 47:56 So you have a re-enactment of the story of Genesis 3:15 here. 48:01 Now let's take a look at the parallels between 48:03 Moses and Christ, without going to the specific verses. 48:08 Israel was God's Old Testament bride, 48:11 Jeremiah 6 and verse 2. 48:14 What was the prophetic fulfillment to this? 48:18 The Christian church is God's bride. 48:22 Right? 48:24 So in other words, in the Old Testament 48:27 Israel is God's bride. 48:28 In the New Testament, the church is God's bride. 48:31 By the way, they are not two separate brides. 48:34 God is not a bigamist. 48:36 The New Testament bride is a continuation 48:38 of the Old Testament bride. 48:40 And you say, "How do you know that?" 48:42 It's very simple. 48:43 Because in Revelation chapter 12 you only have one woman 48:46 that represents both the Old and New Testaments. 48:50 See, so this idea that God has two mutually separable peoples, 48:53 Israel is one people and the church is another people, 48:55 you go to Revelation 12, it doesn't hold water. 48:59 Because the woman exists before the child is born. 49:03 Right? 49:05 Jesus comes from the Old Testament church. 49:08 But then after the Child is born and ascends to God's throne, 49:12 then the woman flees to the wilderness for 1260 years. 49:15 Now you're in the New Testament. 49:17 But it's the same woman. 49:19 So God has only one woman. 49:22 And this woman has two stages; the Old Testament stage 49:25 and the New Testament stage. 49:26 Are you with me or not? 49:28 So Israel was God's Old Testament bride, 49:30 the church, the Christian church is God's bride. 49:34 Historical root; Israel was in bitter bondage 49:37 to the Egyptians, correct? 49:41 Prophetic fulfillment; God's people were in 49:43 spiritual bondage to sin. 49:46 You can read those verses there in John 8. 49:49 Jesus says whoever is a slave, you know, 49:52 whoever serves sin is a slave to sin. 49:56 So there's the symbolism of slavery. 49:58 Just like Israel was literally in slavery, 50:01 God's people were in spiritual slavery. 50:05 Historical root; the children of Israel were slaves 50:08 of the great dragon, right? 50:10 Pharaoh. 50:13 How about the fulfillment, the prophetic fulfillment? 50:16 The enemy of God's people, that is of the woman 50:19 and the Child, was what? 50:21 A fiery red dragon, who's also called the great dragon. 50:25 Historical root; God's people were crying out 50:28 in pain for deliverance. 50:32 Prophetic fulfillment; the woman was in travail 50:35 crying out to bring to the world the Deliverer. 50:38 Was the woman crying out in Revelation chapter 12 50:41 for the Deliverer? 50:42 She was, like Israel was crying out for a Deliverer. 50:47 Historical root; a deliverer was born to a woman. 50:52 Jochebed. 50:55 Prophetic fulfillment; a man Child was born to a woman. 50:59 Mary. 51:02 Historical root; Pharaoh feared that he would lose his throne 51:06 if he allowed the child to live. 51:09 Prophetic fulfillment; another king who had the same 51:12 character as Pharaoh feared that he would lose his throne. 51:17 Historical root; Pharaoh killed the male infants, 51:21 but Moses was protected in Egypt. 51:25 Prophetic fulfillment; Herod killed the male infants, 51:29 but Jesus was protected in Egypt. 51:31 Of course, all of this is coincidence. 51:37 There's no coincidence. 51:38 See, this is typology centered in Jesus Christ. 51:44 Historical root; God called Moses and Israel out of Egypt. 51:49 Prophetic fulfillment; after Herod died, 51:51 Jesus was called out of Egypt. 51:53 "Out of Egypt I called My Son." 51:57 Historical root; the death of the lamb was the sign of 52:01 Israel's deliverance from bondage. 52:04 Prophetic fulfillment; Before His baptism, Jesus was 52:06 introduced by John as the Lamb of God. 52:09 And Jesus is our Passover who was sacrificed for us. 52:14 Is it the same sign of deliverance? 52:17 Yes, but Jesus is greater than the type. 52:20 Historical root; Israel and Moses were baptized 52:23 in the Red Sea. 52:26 Were they? 52:27 You can read it in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 52:29 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River 52:33 as a pattern for the baptism of His people. 52:37 Historical root; Moses fasted for 40 days on the mountain. 52:41 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus fasted in the wilderness 52:44 for 40 days, and He was taken to a high mountain. 52:48 Historical root; God gave Moses and the people 52:51 the law of the kingdom from a mountain. 52:53 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus gave the law of His kingdom 52:56 in the sermon on the mount. 52:58 Historical root; the face of Moses shone on the mountain 53:02 as God spoke with him. 53:04 Prophetic fulfillment; the face of Jesus shone upon the 53:08 mount of transfiguration as He heard the voice of God. 53:11 And Moses was actually present in person 53:13 when the Father spoke to Jesus. 53:16 Type and antitype. 53:18 Historical root; Moses interceded for his people 53:21 offering his life in place of theirs. 53:25 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus is the great Intercessor 53:27 who was willing to forfeit His own life to save His people. 53:31 And Ellen White makes a parallel between 53:32 the intercession of Moses on the mount 53:35 and the intercession of Jesus Christ in favor of His people. 53:39 Historical root; Moses brought water from a rock, 53:42 manna from heaven, and raised up a serpent in the wilderness. 53:46 Jesus is the rock from whom water springs, 53:51 Jesus is the living manna that fell from heaven, 53:54 and Jesus is the serpent that was raised in the wilderness. 53:59 Historical root; Moses organized the twelve tribes 54:02 and established seventy elders. 54:05 Fulfillment; Jesus established twelve and sent out seventy 54:11 to help Him in His work. 54:12 You think this is coincidence? 54:14 There's no way this is a coincidence. 54:17 This is typology. 54:19 Historical root; Moses was tested by the constant 54:23 opposition of the Jewish leaders and the people. 54:25 Of course Jesus wasn't, right? 54:31 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus was opposed constantly 54:34 by the Jewish leaders and by the people. 54:38 Historical root; Moses died, was buried by God, 54:41 and was resurrected by Christ and ascended to heaven. 54:44 Prophetic fulfillment; Jesus died, was buried, 54:48 resurrected, and ascended to heaven. 54:53 So the story of Moses is not the end of the story. 54:59 It really is a typology that points forward to Jesus Christ. 55:05 Now let's read the final paragraph. 55:07 We'll come back to this a little bit later to explain 55:09 in a fuller way. 55:12 Deuteronomy 28 describes the blessings and cursings 55:16 of the covenant. 55:18 The blessings would come if Israel obeyed, 55:21 and the curses would come if Israel disobeyed. 55:25 Israel miserably failed the test, so Jesus came to 55:29 redeem the history of Israel. 55:33 Do you know that Jesus came to live the history of Israel 55:35 in Himself, to redeem the history where Israel failed. 55:40 As a second Moses, He went over the same ground as Israel. 55:44 But in contrast to them, He perfectly obeyed the covenant. 55:48 And thus gained the victory where Israel failed. 55:52 It is significant that Jesus quoted three passages 55:55 to the devil on the mount of transfiguration. 55:57 And all of them came from Deuteronomy. 56:01 It speaks about the wilderness wanderings. 56:03 In spite of the fact that Jesus perfectly obeyed, 56:07 He bore the curses of the covenant, 56:09 because He was bearing the guilt of Israel. 56:12 He not only lived the life of Israel the way it 56:14 should have been, but He bore the curses of Israel as well. 56:19 He bore the curses of the covenant because 56:21 He was bearing the guilt of Israel. 56:23 Jesus lived and suffered in our place, and thus exhausted 56:26 the covenant curses. 56:28 But we must accept Him to personally receive the blessing. 56:32 For those who are in Christ, all the curses of the covenant 56:36 have been paid for. 56:38 This is the meaning of baptism. 56:40 In baptism, God reckons us dead in Christ, 56:45 all our history is erased in Christ, 56:47 and His history is reckoned as ours. 56:51 With His history reckoned to my account, 56:54 I will want to live a holy life for Him. 57:00 What a tremendous concept. 57:02 Jesus not only lived the life that Israel should live, 57:07 and that we should live, He also died and suffered the curse 57:10 that the law has for those who are disobedient. 57:13 In other words, Jesus did for the world, 57:18 not only for Israel, but for the church, for the world, 57:21 He did what we could not do for ourselves. 57:24 What a wonderful Savior and God we serve. 57:26 How wonderful it is to see Christ in the Old Testament. 57:30 Because it becomes a living book. 57:32 It lights up, and we see Jesus, the Author and the Finisher 57:38 of our faith. 57:40 I hope that this has been inspiring in leading us to 57:43 follow Jesus closer every day. |
Revised 2015-01-22