We're going to continue our study of keys to prophetic interpretation in the study of last things, eschatology. And just as a way of brief review, what we've covered so far is that first and foremost, if you're going to understand biblical prophecy, or any scripture for that matter, you need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to open your eyes. The one who authored the scriptures must live in you and teach you all things. That is more important than anything else. If I don't say anything else, you must be born again. You must be born of the Spirit. He must dwell in you in order for you to come to an understanding of the greatest thing in all the world, and that is the gospel. How that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. The fulfillment of that prophecy relating to the first advent of Christ is the single most important message that we can take to all the world. that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. So you've got to be born of the Spirit. Secondly, prophetic scripture should be interpreted literally, unless otherwise indicated. If the literal sense makes good sense, don't seek any other sense. Don't try to assign a new meaning for a word And of course, I've focused a lot on Revelation 20 and the use of the word thousand years stated six times in seven verses. Don't seek to redefine what that means. It means what it says. So, I believe it's important that when you come to the prophetic word, you ought to believe it as it reads, literally. That's why I believe Christ is coming back. He is a literal person. He is coming back literally with his saints to live, to rule, to reign on this earth for a thousand years. Because the Bible says that, states it in no uncertain terms without any disclaimers. He's coming again. And I believe it will be a literal event and that He literally will reign upon this earth. So you should come to the Scriptures believing them literally. And then last week we covered the fact that when you take this as a premise for understanding prophetic Scripture that these events will literally take place. They're not to be spiritualized away. They are not allegories. Well, you'll come to see that if all the events relating to the first advent, the first coming of Jesus Christ into this world regarding the place of His birth, where He was born, how He was born, why He was born, His life, which was perfect and holy and righteous, His death on the cross, all of these things, His resurrection, they're all found in the prophetic Word. They all came to pass literally and precisely. So if that's true, and I believe it is, then we can have full confidence that those passages relating to His Second Coming, His Second Advent, we can take those literally as well. In fact, I believe it's one of the strongest arguments there is for interpreting the Second Coming of Christ in a literal vein. Now today, I hope to finish up this section of lessons, and I won't be teaching next Sunday. See, that's a 29th. I think Joshua's teaching, aren't you, Joshua? So the first of the year, after the first of the year, we'll get into the nuts and bolts of Bible prophecy. I'm really laying the foundation now, We're going to get into the last days, the rapture, the great tribulation, the Antichrist, the second advent, the restoration of Israel. Say, man, that's a lot of stuff. The millennium. Yeah, it is. And it's exciting. And I can't wait to get into it. Now, when interpreting prophetic scripture, You have to understand the principle of partial or double fulfillment. What I mean by that is oftentimes prophetic scripture has fulfillment in the immediate circumstances as well as in the distant future. And I'll give you an example of this. Turn with me to Luke chapter one. And I know we've gone over this before, but it bears repeating. Luke chapter one and verse 33, verse 31. I'm sorry. Let's just read verse 30. And the angel said unto her, fear not Mary for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. Now here, this is a prophecy fulfilled. It goes all the way back to Genesis 3.15. And bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great. and shall be called the Son of the Highest." Meaning he is literally the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary, unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? She acknowledges, I'm a virgin. I've never had relations with the man I'm espoused to be his bride. How can this be? And the angel answered and said unto her, And by the way, this is the most supernatural, miraculous. There's no explanation for this. Because this is an event that has never occurred in all of human history. And I'm amazed that God gave Mary such great faith to believe this. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now the things mentioned in this passage were literally true at the birth of Jesus Christ, when He was God manifest in the flesh, when God became flesh. These prophecies were fulfilled. Now, think about this. But all of these things will not be universally true until the second advent of Jesus Christ. when He comes to reign upon the throne of David. The fact that Christ was literally conceived in the virgin womb of a literal woman named Mary, that He was literally named Jesus, that He was literally the Son of the Highest, points us to the conclusion, if context means anything, that he will literally reign upon the throne of David sometime in the future because he did not come to reign the first advent. Listen, people say he was born a king. Listen, this is not when his eternal kingship began. He is king from everlasting to everlasting. But the idea of Him reigning upon the throne of David and on the earth in Jerusalem, that's not going to happen until sometime in the future. It could be very soon. Do you believe that? I do. So, again, literal context here. if you're consistent demands that, yes, he is going to reign, but he didn't come to reign the first time. I mean, there was, and I'm going to cover some of this in my Sunday morning message. There was no pomp and circumstance, no announcement that, uh, the King is going to be born. You know, when Kings have children, it's, It's a ceremonial thing. People know all about it. God chose to get some poor old shepherds to announce that Jesus had been born. There was no pomp, no circumstance, no revelry. He didn't come to reign the first time. He came to die. And He knew it with every step He took that His ultimate end would be nailed to a tree of cursing, literally, a cross, prepared. His body had been prepared. His mind, His heart, His soul had all been prepared. He knew he would be betrayed, that he would be spat upon, that his beard would be plucked out, that they would smite him and hit him in his face, that his back would be completely shredded with a whip. He knew that he would go to the cross and be suspended between two thieves. as a common criminal in great humiliation. And none of that compared to what he actually suffered in his body on the tree. The Holy One, that Holy Thing, had the sins of all of His people heaped upon Him. and He died in their place, and He shed His blood, and He gave His life. See, that's the key to all the incarnation accounts. You'll notice every time it talks about Jesus coming into this world, thou shalt call His name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. Oh, how glorious, how wondrous that we ever redeem her. So in this passage, we see a partial fulfillment. Yes, he was born of a virgin. Yes, his his name was called Jesus. And yes, there is going to come a time where he's going to reign. On the throne of David, over the house of Jacob and of his kingdom, there shall be no end, that is literally going to be true. In fact, it's partially true in this sense. He reigns in me right now. I recognize that it does not do away that this rain in our hearts does not do away with the fact that we're going to rain with him on the earth. That's the promise, that's the blessed hope. that this whole world is going to be completely revolutionized and King Jesus is going to reign over everything. It'll be a time of unsurpassed spirituality and joy and gladness and holiness under the Lord. It's going to happen. And then another key to interpreting prophetic scripture correctly is to understand that many prophecies by those old Testament prophets are mingled together in one verse. A lot of prophetic utterances by the old Testament prophets, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, contains no reference for the most part to the time period between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. Have you noticed that? Their vision of the future was a lot like viewing two mountain peaks that did not yet reveal the valley in between the first advent and the second advent. So the first advent of Christ was the first mountain peak that they saw. The valley in between, the peak between the first and the second advent which they did not see in its true fulfillment was what many call the church age. The fact that two events are prophesied side by side in the same context is no proof that the fulfillment will take place at the same time or in immediate succession. And it's particularly true in the prophecies concerning Christ, where events of the 1st and 2nd Advents are spoken of together in the same context, as though they happened at the same time. They didn't see the time in between. Let me give you an example of this, and it's a good one. Turn over to Micah chapter 5. Mike is somewhere in the Old Testament. It's after Jonah, actually. Do you believe Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, a whale? Do you believe that? Do you believe he was in the belly of that whale for three days? Do you believe that whale vomited him up on shore, spewing forth with all that whale juice on it. Believe that literally happened? Do you believe that he went to Nineveh and preached repent? I do. Guess who else believed it? Jesus. I'm going to take the word of Jesus over the word of scholars, philosophers, Educators. Every single time. That's why I believe in a literal creation. Because Jesus said so, and he's the word he communicates God to man. And it's in he's a living word. And this is a written word. I'm going to take that over what men say every day, every day. Now. Let's look at how this law operates in Micah chapter 5, which is after the book of Jonah. Verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah. Now think about this, Bethlehem Ephratah, very insignificant, even in the in the country, in the nation of Israel, extremely insignificant, little, not that important. Yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been From of old. From everlasting. From all eternity. There will he give them up until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth, then the remnant of his. Now look at this. The remnant of his brethren. who are the brethren of the Messiah, the Jews. Right? Israel. While the whole world is hating on Israel. Okay? Jesus was an Israelite. He came through the tribe of Judah. He was born a Jew, lived a Jew, died a Jew. It says the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. Now in this passage, the exact place of Christ's birth is foretold, which relates to his first advent. But again, Jesus was definitely not a ruler in Israel in his first advent. When he came to his own people, When the Word was manifest, the Bible says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. They didn't receive Him. They hated Him, despised Him, spit on Him, falsely accused Him, nailed Him to a tree, put Him to death, plotted His murder. They wouldn't do a lot of things on the Sabbath day, but they did plot his murder on the Sabbath day. See, he wasn't a ruler in Israel in his first advent. Rather, he was despised and rejected by men and finally crucified like a common thief on a tree of cursing. So the reference to his rule in Israel Now notice, this is all in one passage. It must refer, this is a passage that tells us where he's going to be born, and it also tells us what's going to happen in the future when he is the ruler in Israel. In the very same context, we have an allusion to Christ's birth as well as His reign and rule in Jerusalem on the throne of David. In this passage, the restoration and regeneration of the nation of Israel is also alluded to. So the prophet foretold of the first and second advents of Christ without seeing that valley in between. See? And a lot of amillennial error could be avoided if they just saw this truth. And then another key to interpreting prophecy is to understand that the age we are now living in, I hesitate to call it the church age because I don't like the connotation of a universal invisible church. However, the Jesus did start his church during his earthly ministry. And it continues up to this certain up to this day, uh, through his, his new Testament churches. So there is a sense definitely that, but there's going to be more people than just the, the people who are members of the, of, of a church who are going to be raptured. Uh, Every believer is going to be raptured. That's for another, but that timeframe was a mystery to the old Testament prophets. The focal point of most of their prophecies related to the apostasy, the restoration and the latter day and the judgment and the tribulation of the latter day. And then the latter day glory of Israel. They didn't see the establishment of the church by Jesus during His earthly ministry. They didn't recognize its development, its growth as an institution, as well as its commission. It was largely unknown by Old Testament prophets. God used the Apostle Paul to unveil the mysteries of the New Testament church. They had been hidden up until that time. Ephesians 3, 9-11, And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that now, under the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." When this principle is understood, the amillennial attempt to make Old Testament Israel the New Testament Church is utter foolishness. I don't give an inch to the replacement theory. that all the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled that relate to Israel as a nation are somehow changed to the church. That reeks of Catholicism taking away Israel. It's very anti-Semitic, by the way, to take away all the promises that God made to Abraham's seed. about how he was going to restore them and save them and establish them and then somehow spiritually just apply it to the church or to believers in the New Testament. You see, you can't do that because Israel and the church are two separate entities. They're two distinct and separate entities. The New Testament church did not take the place of Israel. Now, I will give you the fact that many Old Testament prophecies to Israel may be applied in the New Testament to believers. I'm a partaker of the New Covenant. You read Ezekiel where he talks about how he's going to give give the Israelites the new birth and the Spirit is going to dwell in them and guide them. He does that for me too. That doesn't nullify His promise to Israel in any way, shape or form. There is no warrant from Scripture to either cancel or transfer the promised blessings made to the chosen nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Romans 11, 1 and 2 and verse 29. He says this in the New Testament. Paul, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid. That's what we ought to say when they bring up the replacement. God forbid. For I also, an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." They are part of his elective purpose. And verse 29, "...for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." The reason why so many Amillennialists are so far off base and their interpretation of Old Testament prophecies regarding Israels because they fail to see or refuse to see that the New Testament church in large part was an unseen mystery to the Old Testament prophets. And I'm going to squeeze this in. It may be the most important key, except for the first one. Maybe the second one. They're all important. Finally, prophetic scripture should be interpreted in light of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 19.10 says, Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When you get right down to it, the prophecies in the Word of God, whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, relate in some way to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is really the touchstone of all prophecy. He is the center and focal point of God's revelation to man. He forms the central theme of all prophecy. Thus all the lines of prophetic scripture converge upon some aspect of the glorious second person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Son of God. 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." Any system of prophetic interpretation that takes away from the glory and the sovereignty, the power of Jesus Christ, should be shunned, dismissed. Post-millennialism would have you believe that there will be a kingdom of peace and righteousness without King Jesus. He's coming after it's over with. And that certainly robs Christ of His kingly glory. On the other hand, amillennial eschatology limits the reign of Christ to that of a mere spiritual nature rather than a literal reality. Both systems fail to believe all that the law and the prophets speak or spoke concerning Christ Jesus. You know what Jesus told those two men on the road to Emmaus? after he had declared to them, starting with Moses and the prophets, revealed everything about himself to them. He said this in Luke 24, 25, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. May God grant us grace and wisdom to see the wonderful truths of prophetic scripture. And I hope these keys will help us as we engage in this study. God bless you. We're dismissed.