Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025014S
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00:11 ♪♪♪ 00:15 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:16 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:18 We're glad you're joining us today for a brand new quarter, 00:22 looking at 13 studies, 13 opportunities to delve into 00:27 a very interesting subject. 00:29 This quarter, it is "Illusions, Images, Symbols: 00:33 How to Study Bible Prophecy." 00:36 We are going to take an incredible journey 00:38 into the prophecies of the Bible, 00:40 understanding and learning how we can delve more deeply 00:43 into them, make sense of them, and what a difference they make 00:47 in our lives today. 00:50 We're going to begin with prayer. 00:52 Father, we thank You for drawing us together 00:55 and giving us an opportunity to begin this journey 00:58 through the study of prophecy. 01:00 We ask that You will bless us as we do so, 01:02 and we thank You, in Jesus' name, amen. 01:06 Well, this week we have the author 01:08 of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 01:11 He is author, speaker, evangelist, pastor, 01:14 former speaker/director of this ministry, It Is Written, 01:17 and the current speaker/director of the Voice of Prophecy, 01:21 Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 01:22 Shawn, welcome, we're glad you're here. 01:24 >>Shawn Boonstra: Hey, thanks for having me in. 01:26 Obviously, they ran out of good authors 01:28 at the Sabbath school department, 01:30 and so they called on me. 01:31 >>Eric: They made their way down to you. 01:33 Well, we're glad that they did. This quarter is fascinating. 01:36 And it's something that we truly do need to understand. 01:39 >>Shawn: Yeah, we really do. 01:40 >>Eric: Because there are so many different 01:41 and varied interpretations of prophecy out there, 01:45 and some of it's almost like you lick your finger 01:47 and stick it up in the wind and see which way it's blowing. 01:50 It could be troubling--in fact, maybe it should be troubling. 01:54 But there are some guidelines, some principles 01:56 that we can follow that will head us 01:58 in the right direction, and that's what 02:00 we're going to be looking at this quarter. 02:02 Give me an idea of where this came from. 02:05 They got down to the bottom of the barrel, they found you-- 02:09 >>Shawn: We've run out of good authors, and so, Shawn, 02:12 like we got nobody else. >>Eric: And they got you. 02:15 How long ago did this kind of begin to percolate? 02:18 >>Shawn: I don't know. 02:20 Well, this has been percolating for 32 years. 02:23 The stuff that I put in there, for better or for worse, 02:26 comes out of the brain of Boonstra, right? 02:29 But I'm a believer today because of prophecy. 02:33 And I know some people are shy, like, "We shouldn't 02:35 study prophecy. It's so dark; it's so scary." 02:38 And it's like, well, it was the opposite for me. 02:40 Once somebody cracked a Bible with me 02:42 and showed me, like, the book of Daniel, 02:45 I suddenly ran out of excuses. 02:47 It's like, oh, there is something out there-- 02:49 there is a God. 02:50 It was the first time I'd seen tangible evidence. 02:55 Proof, there's no actual hardcore proof 02:58 of God's existence, but there's a ton of evidence, 03:01 and there's no way for me to get through Daniel 2 03:04 and Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 and 9 and 11 03:07 and not say, "Okay, there's no human way to explain this. 03:11 The God I was taught about as a child is clearly real." 03:15 And so it started there, and I grew up in a home 03:20 that read the Bible every night after dinner. 03:22 I went to a Christian school; they were Bible believers. 03:25 I'm not sure it really took with me. 03:27 You know, as a teenager I ran a little wild. 03:31 But it was actually an Adventist evangelist 03:33 sat down and showed me some of this stuff, 03:35 and I realized-- I got cold chills. 03:37 And I've had those cold chills now for 32, 33 years. 03:40 It's like I can't get to the bottom of this, 03:43 if it's consistent, it holds up, and it's been holding up 03:46 for 32 years. 03:47 >>Eric: So this is not just interesting information 03:50 that we're going to be covering; 03:52 this is life-changing information. 03:55 >>Shawn: Oh yeah, I'm a recovering heathen, 03:57 is the way I describe myself, because of this information. 04:01 And it's still to this day-- 04:03 I mean, I don't love getting up front and preaching. 04:06 I don't love making TV and radio shows 04:09 because I'm basically a really shy, introverted kind of guy. 04:14 But I'm watching people go through what I went through, 04:18 and that's satisfying. 04:20 This light goes on--this can't be explained any other way 04:23 than there is a God. 04:25 >>Eric: So you and I are both introverts, 04:27 we prefer to be more closed in 04:30 rather than wide open, 04:32 but this that we're looking at here, 04:34 the fact that we can believe the Bible, 04:36 that there is truth that exists 04:38 and that it really impacts eternity for people, 04:43 we can't very well effectively keep that to ourselves. 04:46 And so I think God has a sense of humor, 04:48 and He says, "I'm going to take some introverts 04:50 "and extrovert them in such a way that they 04:53 "just can't hold back and share this hope and this good news 04:56 with many other people." 04:58 And so for 13 episodes here, 13 weeks, 05:02 we're going to be doing exactly that, exactly that. 05:05 >>Shawn: I will be sitting in this chair 05:07 for an entire 13 weeks. 05:10 >>Eric: It's gonna be a long time 05:11 with Shawn Boonstra here. [Shawn laughing] 05:12 No, we are really glad that you're here Shawn. 05:15 Week number one is "Some Principles of Prophecy," 05:18 "Some Principles of Prophecy." 05:19 As we're delving into this, as we're getting into it, 05:21 we wanna make sure that we understand 05:22 some of these principles that undergird everything 05:25 that we are going to be looking at. 05:27 In Sunday's lesson, you talk about Jeremiah, chapter 9. 05:30 This is clearly a passage that is important to you, 05:34 is meaningful to you, unpack this a little bit for us. 05:36 >>Shawn: Yes, let me read it. 05:38 I just so happen to have my Bible open to that very text, 05:41 as if I knew this was coming. [laughs] 05:43 >>Eric: This is about prophecy, right? 05:44 >>Shawn: Yeah, it's about prophecy. 05:46 Listen to this. 05:48 This one thrills me to no end. This is verse 23: 05:51 "Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man boast 05:54 in his wisdom.'" 05:56 That always took me back a little bit, 05:58 because I was one of those political science, 06:01 political philosophy, philosophy majors-- 06:04 you know, "would you like fries with that degree?" 06:05 is what that is. 06:07 It's like you're qualified for nothing but to read books. 06:09 But, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom." 06:11 There's the entire Greek system of thought. 06:13 "Let not the mighty man boast in his might, 06:16 let not the rich man boast in his riches." 06:18 Verse 24: "But let him who boasts boast in this, 06:23 that he understands and knows me." 06:27 That's mind-blowing to me. 06:29 Here's an infinite God, 06:32 the mind behind the entire universe, 06:35 inviting me to know and understand-- 06:36 not just know Him-- understand Him? 06:40 "That I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, 06:42 "justice, and righteousness in the earth. 06:44 For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." 06:47 What are we invited to understand? 06:49 Who He is, His personality, His character. 06:52 That doesn't mean that I'm going to unlock 06:55 all the secrets of the universe. 06:56 I think there are some lines in this world where God says, 06:58 "That's not for you." 07:00 And we struggle with that as human beings. 07:02 If we're the wise man boasting in his wisdom, 07:04 that's not good enough. No, no. 07:05 "I've got to explain, God says, 07:07 "no, but you are invited to know me." 07:11 There's a level of intimacy there: 07:13 :Know me as a friend and understand me.: 07:16 Me? Me understand God? 07:19 And there's only one way to do that. 07:20 You can't reason your way into a knowledge of God. 07:23 We've tried that for centuries in Western philosophy. 07:28 Only if God reveals Himself. 07:30 And so it's a revealed knowledge, 07:33 and that has been keeping me fed and sustained for 32, 33 years. 07:38 It's like there's no end to understanding God. 07:41 >>Eric: No, and it's going to continue, 07:43 and the more that you do get to know Him 07:45 within a certain context, you know. 07:48 The more we want to get to know Him 07:49 and the more that we're going to learn about Him. 07:51 But, you know, you try to understand God in His entirety, 07:56 and it'll turn your brain to jello. 07:59 He is so much higher than we are, 08:01 but we can understand some aspects of who He is, 08:04 some of His characteristics that make Him Him. 08:08 You talk a little bit about how much higher God's sphere is 08:13 than our own. 08:14 Walk us through some of this perspective. 08:18 >>Shawn: Yeah, and, you know, 08:20 it's hard for us in the West to come to grips 08:22 with the fact that there are things we will never know, 08:24 and that there's Somebody who's so far beyond us 08:26 we can't attain to it. 08:28 That violates almost everything that we taught ourselves 08:31 in the Western hemisphere for the last thousand years. 08:34 It's like, "No, you can reason your way into anything." 08:36 No, you really can't. One of the reasons that 08:40 the 19th and 20th centuries fell apart 08:42 in the world of philosophy is we hit the end of our reason, 08:44 and it wasn't good enough. We got despondent. 08:47 God is beyond that. 08:49 For us to really understand who God is, 08:51 we've got to understand that we're well beneath Him. 08:55 So, Psalm 139 I put in the quarterly, 08:57 "O Lord, You have searched and known me!" 09:00 So it's not just us knowing God, He knows us, 09:03 but it's unbalanced. 09:04 God actually knows every fiber of my being. 09:07 And all the stuff I think nobody knows, God knows. 09:11 "You know when I sit down and when I rise up." 09:14 And for me that's many times a night, Lord. 09:16 When I get to the kingdom, it's like, 09:17 "Why can't I sleep, Lord?" 09:20 "You know me when I sit down and when I rise up; 09:22 "You discern my thoughts from afar. 09:24 "You search out my path and my lying down 09:26 "and are acquainted with all my ways. 09:29 "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, 09:34 You know it all together." 09:35 So as the thought is forming, He already knows 09:37 what I'm going to say, 09:39 which I don't always know what I'm going to say. 09:42 "You hem me in, behind and before,... 09:44 "lay Your hand upon me. 09:45 "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; 09:46 it is high; I cannot attain it." 09:50 I can't get to where God is. 09:52 He knows me. I compare it to this. 09:55 I'm invited to know and understand God, 09:58 God knows me, and it's completely unbalanced 10:00 because He knows absolutely everything. 10:02 That is not dissimilar to my 30-some years of marriage, 10:06 where Jean figured me out in about three minutes flat. 10:08 She knows everything, she can predict 10:10 what I'm going to do all day, and I'm still working 10:12 on figuring her out. 10:15 But there it is. God's too high. 10:16 Psalm 147, "Great is our Lord,...abundant in power; 10:19 His understanding is beyond measure." 10:23 Romans 11:33, "How unsearchable are His judgments... 10:26 how inscrutable His ways!" 10:29 That bugs me, and it reassures me. 10:32 I'm invited to know God, but there's a limit 10:34 on what I'm gonna figure out, 10:35 and I need to learn to be happy with what is beyond 10:37 my capacity to understand. 10:40 Now, there's more available than we would hope, 10:43 but there's a limit. 10:44 There are things we are not invited to understand. 10:46 >>Eric: There is, and sometimes you'll run across 10:48 people who delve perhaps a little bit too deeply into this, 10:51 and they become very unbalanced in a lot of different things, 10:54 a lot of different ways. 10:56 And I think what we're looking at, going through this quarter 10:59 and especially this first week, laying down some principles 11:02 of good sound Bible study, 11:05 there are some things, like you said, 11:06 we're just not going to know, we're not going to understand, 11:09 and we have to be willing to accept that with some humility. 11:12 >>Shawn: Right, there's a number of those. 11:14 When people, you know, people are trying 11:16 to wrap their mind around the idea that God is triune, right, 11:20 one God, three persons, 11:22 and they say, "Preacher, tell me how that works." 11:24 I don't know. All I know is that it's clearly revealed. 11:27 There's no getting around it. 11:29 As you go through Scripture, it's there so often 11:32 that you can't avoid it. 11:33 Does that mean I can explain it? 11:35 No, I'd have to be God to explain that. 11:38 The Incarnation--how does Jesus remain fully God and become 11:42 fully human at the same time? 11:44 And this is one of those areas-- I see a lot of people, 11:46 they're pretty sure they've nailed it; 11:48 they've figured it out. 11:50 There's a letter that a wise woman 11:52 by the name of Ellen White wrote years ago. 11:56 I'd say there's volumes of her letter, 11:58 she was so smart that people collected these, 12:01 and I think it's in volume ten. 12:02 She says, be really careful how you dwell on how Jesus 12:05 was composed; you're not smart enough to figure this out, 12:08 whether he's entirely human or what parts are human, 12:10 what part--he's not part human, part God. 12:12 He's fully both at the same-- 12:14 you'll never get your brain around that; 12:15 you'll never get your brain around it. 12:17 How does God speak the universe into existence? 12:20 I don't know. If I knew that, I'd be God. 12:23 So there's a limit to what we're allowed to-- 12:25 but what we can understand, Eric, thrills me to no end. 12:28 It's like it's mind-blowing what is available. 12:31 >>Eric: It really is, and to get to a healthy area 12:36 in this, it takes some humility. 12:39 And I don't think that we as human beings 12:40 are always really good at humility; 12:42 at least, historically we haven't been. 12:44 And so we stretch ourselves a little bit to just say, 12:47 you know what, 12:48 maybe I can't fully get this, but I'm going to be satisfied 12:51 with what I can get, and the things that we can get 12:54 are sufficient to strengthen our faith and to buoy us up 12:58 through difficult times and to prepare us 12:59 for the times that are to come. 13:03 You talk about "rightly dividing the word of truth" here. 13:06 I want to dig into that in just a moment. How do we-- 13:11 what would be some examples 13:12 of wrongly dividing the word of truth? 13:13 So this is about to get really interesting really quick. 13:16 But before we do that, this quarter's lesson is good, 13:20 it's excellent, but it's this thick. 13:24 And we're taking, you know, 30-some years of knowledge 13:26 and experience and research and trying to cram it 13:28 into a book that big. 13:31 There is a companion book to this quarter's 13:32 "Sabbath School" lesson. 13:34 Why might someone want to pick up that companion book? 13:37 What is in there that's not in the lesson itself? 13:40 >>Shawn: In the companion book, the stuff that ended up 13:42 on the cutting room floor, some of that made it in, 13:46 not all of it. But I tend to overwrite. 13:49 So they asked for 13 weeks, seven a week, you know, 13:52 it's a lot of material, 13:54 but it's maybe 10% of the material 13:55 I wished I could have put in. 13:58 In the companion book there are some more personal experiences, 14:02 some anecdotes that show you why I think the way I do, 14:05 as twisted as it is. 14:07 The material that didn't make it into the quarterly, 14:09 some of it is there, and some of it might just show up today. 14:12 So, you know, between all three, this show, the companion book, 14:16 and the quarterly, I'd hope that you'd find enough 14:20 to keep you studying for years to come. 14:22 >>Eric: So it's worth picking up. 14:24 If you would like to understand the mind of Shawn Boonstra, 14:26 or at least get a little glimpse into it, 14:29 pick up that companion book; it is an excellent read. 14:33 You'll be glad that you did. Where can you find it? 14:35 Just go to itiswritten.shop, 14:37 itiswritten.shop, 14:39 and you will find the companion book to this quarter's 14:41 "Sabbath School" lesson. 14:42 We're going to come back 14:43 in just a moment 14:45 as we look into rightly dividing and wrongly dividing 14:48 the Scriptures here on "Sabbath School," 14:50 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:52 We'll be right back. 14:53 ♪♪♪ 14:58 >>John Bradshaw: It is one of the most significant books 15:00 in all of the Bible. 15:02 It's a platform for the prophecies of earth's last days, 15:05 providing a blueprint for the final events 15:08 of earth's history. 15:09 Although Daniel was written more than 2,500 years ago, 15:13 it's more relevant now than it has ever been. 15:17 Join me as we begin a journey through the book of Daniel, 15:20 starting in chapter 1, "Ten Times Better." 15:24 God reveals essential preparation 15:27 for challenging times. 15:29 Young men taken from their homeland, 15:32 pressed into service for a godless king 15:34 in the city of Babylon, who make a bold stand 15:38 without thinking of the price they may have to pay. 15:41 Don't miss "Ten Times Better," 15:45 the first in a compelling series on the book of Daniel. 15:49 "Ten Times Better," 15:51 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 15:56 ♪♪♪ 16:01 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 16:03 brought to you by It Is Written. 16:05 We are taking a look at how to study prophecy, and, Shawn, 16:08 you mentioned in the study about the importance 16:11 of "rightly dividing the word of truth" 16:13 and also the importance of not wrongly dividing it. 16:16 What would be some examples of wrongly dividing 16:19 the word of truth? 16:20 >>Shawn: I wish that I had been witness to the story 16:22 I'm about to tell you firsthand. 16:24 I heard about it; I found the footage; 16:26 I know that what I'm about to describe is true. 16:28 It was a really, really, really popular Christian TV show. 16:33 It doesn't matter who, it just doesn't matter who, 16:37 but really popular, tens of millions watching. 16:40 And they decided that, look, we're gonna figure out 16:44 what God's counsel is for us today this way, you know. 16:47 And some of you have done this, you're guilty of this. 16:51 What does the Lord want to say to me today? 16:54 And he got into Luke 19, verse 31. 16:58 and that says, He has need of him, 17:00 "The Lord hath need of him," in the old King James. 17:02 And the guy was so excited: "Oh, praise the Lord, 17:04 the Lord hath need of me, the Lord hath need of me." 17:07 The problem was that that's the text where they go 17:09 and get the donkey for Jesus; 17:11 it's the donkey that the Lord hath need of. 17:13 And the guy, "Oh, the Lord hath need of me." 17:15 So you're the donkey? 17:17 I mean, it's like, that is a foolish--I still laugh-- 17:20 like, that is a foolish way to study the Scriptures. 17:24 That's not the way-- if you're using this 17:25 like a good luck charm, you're reading it wrong. 17:27 If you're using it like a magic 8 ball, 17:29 you're reading it wrong. 17:31 And one of the number one reasons I think 17:33 there's so much general confusion in the world 17:35 of Western Christianity today is exactly that. 17:37 We read nothing in context. 17:39 And the rule basically is-- and people get frustrated 17:43 with me when I'm teaching a class on how to study prophecy-- 17:47 the rule is you've got to read the whole Bible. 17:49 "What do you mean, 'the whole Bible'? What's the shortcut?" 17:50 There is no shortcut; you've got to read the whole thing; 17:54 context matters--not just the context of what comes 17:57 before and after the verse you're reading, 17:59 but the context of the rest of Scripture. 18:01 If you knew the-- you wouldn't land on 18:03 "the Lord hath need of me." [laughs] 18:06 I know it's so silly, and I just watch so many people: 18:09 "My verse for today is"--no, it doesn't quite work that way. 18:14 Wrongly dividing it is using it like a magic 8 ball. 18:17 Wrongly dividing it is not reading it in an attentive way, 18:20 but using it like a fortune cookie. 18:23 It's not a fortune cookie, it's the Word of God, 18:24 and the whole thing matters. 18:26 It's got to be a systematic study. 18:28 The Lord does speak to individuals through this. 18:31 The other one that's wrongly dividing is so often 18:33 we hear now in Bible study groups, 18:36 what does this verse mean to you? 18:38 Okay, is that important? 18:40 Yes, that's important because this book does speak to me. 18:43 It addresses my issues, it addresses the things 18:45 that I face in life, 18:47 but what does the Bible mean to me is a little off base, 18:51 because there is a meaning to the Bible, 18:53 and the question should be, what does God mean? 18:55 What does God mean? 18:57 And there is a right and a wrong answer 18:58 to that question. 19:00 Then you can take it one step further and say, well, 19:02 now that I know what God means, 19:03 how would I apply that in my life? 19:05 But what does this verse mean to me? 19:08 I've heard some pretty wild misinterpretations 19:10 because they start parsing words-- 19:12 "I love this word! It's big in my life." 19:14 That's not what the verse means. Read the whole thing. 19:18 >>Eric: And if it's all about "what does it mean to me?"-- 19:20 if you've got 15 people in a group, 19:22 the Bible verse could mean 15 different things. 19:25 >>Shawn: And it will in that case. 19:26 >>Eric: And it will, if that's the way you're going at it. 19:28 But what did God intend for it to mean? 19:29 And then how does that apply to my life? 19:32 That's two very different things and important that we get that. 19:35 You talk about rightly and wrongly dividing. 19:37 Let's touch just briefly on Daniel 12, verse 4. 19:40 >>Shawn: Oh yeah, this is a-- 19:41 >>Eric: Daniel 12, verse 4 is one that is frequently-- 19:45 >>Shawn: Abused. 19:46 >>Eric: Okay, that's a good word; we'll use "abused." 19:48 I like that version. 19:49 >>Shawn: Yeah, let me look it up here. 19:51 On TV I get nervous. I go, "Will I find this?" 19:54 There it is. And never bring a new Bible to a TV show 19:58 because the pages don't-- 19:59 and everything's in the wrong spot on the page, 20:01 but here it is. 20:02 Daniel 12, verse 4, "But you, Daniel, 20:05 "shut up the words and seal the book, 20:06 "until the time of the end. 20:08 Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." 20:12 I can't tell you how many Christian preachers, 20:15 our own tribe included, have said, 20:17 "See? Knowledge will increase; 20:18 knowledge is growing exponentially." 20:20 The internet expands by, you know, 20:22 it's just trillions of bytes every single day, 20:26 and "many will run to and fro"-- look at the traffic 20:30 and the way that we're now, you know-- 20:32 the Concorde's dead; I never even got to try it. 20:34 But we can cross over to London in two and a half hours. 20:37 That's not in this verse. They're trying to say, "Look, 20:40 "the advance of technology is a sign that Jesus 20:43 is about to come." 20:44 That's not even close to true, and it's ripping it 20:46 out of its context. 20:48 "You O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book"-- 20:50 what book? The book of Daniel-- "until the time of the end." 20:55 So there would be confusion about what Daniel is getting at, 20:59 what he means, until we get to the last phase of human history, 21:02 at which point knowledge will increase. 21:05 Knowledge of what? Space shuttles? Computers? 21:08 No, knowledge of the book of Daniel. 21:10 "Many will run to and fro is interesting." 21:12 In the Hebrew, it's the word "shuwt." 21:14 It's kind of like if you were to take the word "shut"-- 21:17 "shut the door"--and put an umlaut over the "u"--"shuwt." 21:21 It's an analogy; it's a metaphor. 21:25 "Shuwt" is to row a boat back and forth across a stream, 21:28 like you're running a little ferry service on a stream, 21:30 back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. 21:33 What they're describing are a scribe's eyes 21:36 or a reader's eyes going back and forth, 21:38 back and forth, back and forth across a page. 21:41 That's what it's literally saying. 21:43 Except, you know, you and I would go left to right, 21:45 the Hebrews would be, 21:47 their eyes go the other way, right to left. 21:49 This is telling us that in the last gasp of history, 21:52 many people are going to read the book of Daniel, 21:55 and knowledge of it is going to increase, 21:57 which is precisely what happened when we got 21:59 into the 19th century. 22:01 The 1,260 days of prophecy came to an end, 22:04 and suddenly understanding of Daniel exploded. 22:09 And I take this to the bank as a promise, Eric. 22:11 Many will run to and fro, many will be reading Daniel, 22:14 and I've often said to people who criticize--they say, 22:18 "You still teach Bible prophecy as a way of outreach?" 22:21 Yeah, because I'm a believer because of it, 22:23 and I'm not gonna be alone, 22:24 God didn't get this message wrong, 22:26 and He says, in the last days, "Many will run to and fro, 22:29 and knowledge will increase." 22:30 The level of interest is only going to rise. 22:33 And lately I've seen not only bigger audiences 22:36 than I've ever seen in my life, but better ones. 22:38 The interest level is so high that sometimes 22:41 when I'm halfway done with a presentation, 22:43 someone in the audience will start an altar call. 22:45 I didn't even plan one-- "We've heard enough. 22:48 We're coming to Jesus, that's it." 22:50 That's what this is getting at. 22:52 To say otherwise is to embarrass ourselves. 22:55 Because I can pull out books from the 1930s where people 22:58 are saying, "Look at the way technology has gone." 23:01 You know, "We've got typewriters." 23:03 it's laughable to us now, right? 23:05 "We've got steam locomotives. We can go very, very fast." 23:09 We're going to embarrass ourselves. 23:11 I don't care how great your computer is. 23:14 You want to think that's a sign of the times? 23:15 >>Eric: Just wait a month. 23:17 >>Shawn: Wait a month, wait ten years, 23:19 wait till AI processing, quantum processing takes place. 23:23 You're dead in the water. 23:25 The context makes it clear it's talking about 23:27 the knowledge of God through prophecy, 23:29 and if you read it the way it was intended, 23:31 it makes perfect sense. You never have to apologize for it. 23:34 >>Eric: So the knowledge of God through prophecy, 23:36 it is expanding; you're right, 23:37 there is a great deal more interest today 23:40 than we've seen in many, many years-- 23:42 one could say, because of the events going on 23:44 in the world, people are beginning to wonder 23:46 why these things are happening, 23:47 what does it mean, and so forth. 23:48 Speaking of an understanding of prophecy, William Miller. 23:51 >>Shawn: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. 23:52 >>Eric: You talk about William Miller 23:54 here in the lesson. Delve into him a little bit 23:56 and why it's important that we understand 23:58 that period of earth's history and the significance of it. 24:01 >>Shawn: Yeah, oh my goodness, how much time do we have? 24:03 But William Miller was a man who held a position 24:07 that was pretty common in his day. He was a deist. 24:10 A deist says, look, God started the universe in motion, 24:13 and then he ran away and let it run on itself 24:14 like a wound-up watch. 24:16 Many of the founding fathers of America were also deists, 24:20 they believed this way, 24:21 and the reason they believed that way is, well, 24:24 the philosophy of the last 300 years. 24:25 Immanuel Kant in particular said, look, 24:27 there's the world the way it is, 24:29 and there's your senses, and you will never understand 24:31 the world the way it is. 24:32 They were just saying reason has its limits; 24:35 that led to postmodernism and so on. 24:36 So philosophy took us to the point 24:38 where God can't be personal-- 24:40 okay, maybe there's a design out there. 24:43 And then he saw some horrible things 24:44 he couldn't explain. He was a soldier, right? 24:46 Saw things on the battlefield, 24:47 he had what we would call PTSD. 24:50 He's struggling with what he saw and the wickedness of humanity. 24:54 And he decides, 24:55 "I want to understand the Bible for myself." 24:58 The same thing's happening today. 24:59 People are being shaken. 25:00 They're getting to the end of their philosophical reasoning. 25:03 It can't answer their biggest concerns in this life. 25:06 We're watching horrible things take place on a daily basis. 25:10 I mean, as you and I are sitting in studio, 25:12 it wasn't that long ago there was a plane accident 25:13 every day for how many days in a row. 25:16 We're hitting the end of what human beings can do 25:18 on their own, and people are worried. 25:20 He goes to the Scriptures, he said, 25:21 "I'm only going to read as far 25:23 as I can possibly understand it completely." 25:26 That process took quite a while, read the entire Bible, 25:31 but what he came to realize is that 25:33 the Bible needs to interpret itself. 25:35 You can't bring outside philosophy into it. 25:38 If we go with rationalism or empiricism-- 25:41 empiricism, whatever you can gather with your senses; 25:43 rationalism, whatever I can think through in my brain-- 25:46 you hit a dead end. 25:48 What William Miller did was bring us back 25:50 to a Reformation position, which was scripturalism. 25:53 You can't really use your reason unless you have 25:56 the foundation that God gives. 25:57 If He made you and made your mind, 26:00 then maybe you listen to Him first 26:01 so that you know your reason is on target, 26:04 that you're actually reasoning correctly. 26:07 So we allow the Bible to interpret itself, 26:11 and that is an eye-opener. 26:14 The best way to study the Bible is to ask yourself, 26:16 "Where have I heard this before?" 26:18 And then go find it. 26:19 And it's amazing how God explains Himself. 26:21 He doesn't need your help to define His terms. He does it. 26:25 >>Eric: So we've got very little time left this week. 26:27 >>Shawn: I'm very wordy. I'm very wordy. 26:29 >>Eric: Give us a practical-- 26:31 you said, go find it somewhere else. 26:33 In a nutshell, what does that look like? 26:35 >>Shawn: Okay, now, this is, you know-- 26:37 you're asking, how does Shawn study the Bible? 26:39 I do it from about 11:00 till 2:00 in the morning, 26:41 and it's messed up. Don't do it like me. 26:44 In the old days I'd tell people, go get yourself a concordance. 26:47 I mean, there's no excuse not to read the whole Bible. 26:49 Today, there are so many apps, so many, so take 26:53 what you're reading and then look for that concept 26:55 throughout the rest of Scripture; 26:57 start making a list. 26:58 It'll blow your mind how many times 27:00 something you think is unique, 27:02 say to the book of Daniel, shows up elsewhere-- 27:05 particularly true for the book of Revelation and prophecy. 27:07 Two-thirds of that language and imagery 27:09 comes from elsewhere, mostly the Old Testament. 27:12 You can assign it meanings, if you like, 27:14 but you'll be wrong. Let God define it. 27:16 So get that concordance; get that Bible software. 27:19 Look for it elsewhere. 27:20 Pay attention; the translators put useful little notes 27:22 in there. It's like, see what other verses 27:25 they brought up back in the 1600s-- 27:27 blow your mind how educated these people were on Scripture. 27:30 >>Eric: And we're going to be looking at very practical ways 27:32 that we can implement this as we continue going through 27:34 in the next 12 weeks. 27:36 Shawn, thank you for joining us this week, 27:38 and we're looking forward to what is to come. 27:40 And we wanna thank you for joining us as well. 27:42 This is just the very beginning of a journey 27:45 on how to understand and study the prophecies of the Bible. 27:49 We're glad that you are with us. 27:51 We look forward to seeing you again next week 27:52 here on "Sabbath School," 27:53 brought to you by It Is Written. 27:55 ♪♪♪ 28:24 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2025-03-22