that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what's called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So this is addressed to the nations, those who were far away, who had not been born in Israel. under the preaching of the Word, under the revelation of God's Word. Verse 13, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, our shalom, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace shalom. And he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace, shalom to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. And notice verses 18 to 22 as a particular fulfillment of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Verse 18, for through him, that is through the mediator, through Jesus Christ, we have access in one spirit to the father. whether you're of Israel or whether you're a Gentile, both are one man in Christ through reception of the covenant of grace. Verse 19, so then you're no longer strangers and aliens, but your fellow citizens with the saints and your members of the one, notice one household of God. I emphasize by putting one, but it is one there, the household of God, not the households. Verse 20, built on the foundation, not foundations, but foundation of the apostles and prophets, that's the scripture. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, in Christ, you're also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Thus ends the reading of God's word. So here is what I'm suggesting for you is with regard to the latter prophet's particularly Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, what you can do is you can take a passage that is a fulfillment passage where we see all three elements of these prophecies and how they're coming together. To give you an example, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, in all three of these, one very important thing they have in common is that God the Father will keep his promises, both to believing Israel and to the nations. that there will be a judgment for unbelief, okay, but there'll also be salvation for all who believe, whether you're in Israel or whether you're in the nations. And so we see in Ephesians 2 that through the power of the Spirit, the King, God, has made us alive and united us to Jesus to walk in the way of his commandments, And then he's given us peace, peace with God and peace with one another so that we can be the dwelling place of God by his Holy Spirit. Now, all three elements are in these prophets that we're going to focus on. And the way I would encourage us to look at it today is Isaiah is primarily concerned about... Well, OK, let's do this. Before I look at each one of them individually, let's pray and then I'll... Yeah, let's pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word and thank you for so much that we can learn. We humble our hearts before you and we ask that you would help us, you would strengthen us, you would teach us. We know you, Holy Spirit, are our ultimate teacher. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that we can come through your mediation, through your grace, through your blood and know that we're reconciled with a Holy Father and that in you we've been made holy. and that we're being made holy too by your spirit. Help us to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh and help us to walk in peace toward you and one another. And we pray that you would guide us today. Help your teacher that he would decrease that you might increase to the glory of the Father and help us, oh Lord, that we might leave here transformed, more fully understanding these wonderful, important books of the Bible. In Jesus' name, amen. So before we look at each individual book, or at least we're going to look at highlights, the questions that we want to ask when we approach these three are the questions that they're seeking to answer are, one, why the exile? Why the exile? You know, why has the exile happened? Why is it coming for, say, Isaiah and Jeremiah? Why did it happen for Ezekiel? Jeremiah sees it coming and also experiences it. Isaiah sees it coming and prophesies about it, but also gives hope. Ezekiel actually experiences it, particularly, and then interprets the exile. Why the exile? So one question that's very important when approaching all three of these books is to ask, why the exile? And note that the prophets are seeking to answer that. And we'll look at more of that in a moment. Number two, who will save Israel? You know, who then will save Israel? And you could also put here, who will save Israel and the nations? Because as we will see, these three books are also addressed to the nations, both for salvation and for judgment. And then the third question you might ask, as we've looked at with the book of the 12, is to ask, when will the kingdom of David be restored? So these three questions will help you in looking at Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. We're not going to be able to plumb the depths of all three of these today. We're going to look as an overview, a highlight, But these three questions will assist you in your own interpretation of them. And so let me remind you of a few ways we've learned to interpret the Bible, and let's do it together as a review and then seek to apply it. in these three books. The first thing you want to ask is, how is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit revealed? For instance, in the New Testament fulfillment we just read, the Father is revealed as the one who makes alive, the one who has Christ as a mediator between himself and sinners. When we see the Son in the passage from Ephesians that we read, we see the Son in His work of mediation, in His bringing redemption through His blood. We see the Son as the Redeemer, particularly, and we see the Spirit as the one who dwells within God's holy temple. In fact, Remember Ephesians 2 21 in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit Dwelling place for God by the Spirit that is that we are his temple where his tabernacle so what you're asking yourself is in these books of Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel is how is the Father particularly revealed? How is the Son particularly revealed? And how is the Spirit revealed? And then as we've learned, the fallen condition focus, we ask, why is this being addressed? What fallen condition, what particular sinfulness of man is being addressed? And this is where you also see yourself as one being addressed. So if God's saying that the people of God are being unfaithful to His covenant, and He gives a particular way, you might say to yourself, am I doing any better, Lord? Is there a place for repentance? The fall-in-condition focus is what they are desiring to show us so that they can bring us to repentance. All right, so fall-in-condition focus. And then the third thing is the application. You're saying, how can I live in light of this passage now, perhaps knowing more fully that the Father is gracious, maybe knowing more fully that the Father is always faithful and kind? Now, the second thing you can do in interpreting these three books, and we'll remember these things, this is a reminder, are the three primary themes of the Old Covenant. King, covenant, covenant and dwelling. So look for these as you're interpreting. Look for king, covenant, and dwelling. Again, noticing the New Testament fulfillment of all three of these books, just one place of fulfillment in Ephesians 2 that we looked at is getting at the king who makes us alive, the covenant that he has kept faithfully in Christ and has brought about peace, and the dwelling place of God is now with man through the spirit in his church. So that's how you want to keep your eye on that. And then third, just as we've been doing since the beginning of classes, the New Testament fulfillment. Look for New Testament fulfillments or fulfillment as you're looking through these scriptures. And then you have the guide by the Spirit to go back and see better what it is the prophets were saying. And then one final thing that I've tried to stress that I think is always important is there's going to be times when the covenant is emphasized as unconditional. You know, that this is all of grace. This is free. And then there's other times that have these conditions tied to them where it says, if you obey me and if you do, as I say, and you think, well, there's this tension here. What what do I do with that? Well, in the prophets, you always want to be reminded as you're reading through the the Old Testament in general or the prophets here in particular, is that there is that real tension at times between unconditional and conditional aspects of the covenant. And it's always relieved in Jesus Christ. That, too, is how Jesus Christ is the center hero of the whole story. He's the hero of the whole story in this way. He's the God-man, the unique God-man. And as God-man, He's the God who is the covenant maker who makes the covenant with his people. All right. So he's the covenant maker as God who can make an unconditional promise to sinners. And yet he's also the man, Christ Jesus, who is the covenant keeper, making possible the unconditional aspects of the covenant. So to put it in another way, as clear as possible, Everything that God demands of his people is given freely in Jesus Christ. The conditions now are met not perfectly, but sincerely in him as we walk after the spirit. So when you when you look and you see this unconditional aspect, the covenant where God is saying, you know, go, Abraham, I'm going to give you these three things. I'm going to give you a seed. I'm going to give you a land. I'm going to give you a people. You're going to be a blessing to the nations. Then he will say to Abraham, if you walk, in my ways, that sort of thing. Or with David, he'll say, David, you'll have a son who will always be on the throne if he obeys me, you see, et cetera, et cetera. So you have this if. What is the if? And again, it highlights the work of Jesus Christ. Because in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ comes as the God who has unconditionally made a covenant with his people and as the man who, on behalf of his people, will keep all the covenant requirements. It's beautiful. And that you can keep in mind. So whenever you see that in your reading of the prophets, don't be confused by that. Just say, okay, this is because only the God-man could do this. In other words, see, if you had God making unconditional promises, knowing he's holy, holy, holy, and completely just, he can't just turn away from sin, right? So there has to be a conditional aspect for mankind. There has to be something that we do, but we can't do it in order to earn anything. We're unable, we're completely depraved, dead in trespasses and sins. So that's why Christ came to do it. So when Israel's saying, all these things that you've told us, Moses, in Exodus 24, all these things we will do, ultimately it's Christ who was the only man who was able to actually do them. and that merit that he earns is given to us, that perfect record. All right, so as we're looking at Isaiah and Jeremiah, let me recommend a Trinitarian way of looking at all three to bring them together. Now, in each one of these, though I'm focusing on one person of the triune God, it doesn't mean that this is exclusive, as if Isaiah is the only one reveals this aspect, but it is to a large degree more central. For Isaiah, the son is his primary focus. And it's the son as he is the suffering, servant, anointed, spirit anointed, king of kings. All right, so the son is particularly revealed. And again, it doesn't mean that Jeremiah doesn't reveal his son, or that Ezekiel doesn't. It's not exclusive. It just means that it's helpful, I think, to look at that. In Jeremiah, the father is particularly revealed in his faithfulness, and that is particularly in his covenant faithfulness. And Ezekiel could be called the prophet of the Holy Spirit. The prophet of the Holy Spirit, because he deals in categories particularly like glory, spirit, regeneration, as we'll look at in a moment, and temple. And so, another way you can see Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel is by remembering that Isaiah particularly focuses on God as king. Jeremiah particularly focuses on covenant. Again, not exclusive of the others, but just it is helpful to see that as a center. And Ezekiel focuses on, you guessed it, a dwelling, our temple of God with men. And what we see then in the New Testament fulfillment that we read earlier is we see the King who makes us alive while dead, who fulfills all the conditions of the covenant of grace for us in Christ. We see the covenant that's fulfilled in Christ that brings peace. Sometimes even the prophets call it the covenant of peace, right? And then we see the spirit dwelling with God's people, both Jew and Gentile. Both Jew and Gentile have now become one man. All right. Everybody following me on these so far? Yep. OK. Any questions? All right. One thing to keep in mind when we're discussing Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah is also their interest in addressing the nations. In all of their books, they have a large section of prophecies toward the nations, where the nations are called to or warned of the coming judgment of God on unbelief. even if that they're at the height of their powers, right? God will humble them in his wrath and in his judgment if they don't repent. But another aspect is also there is the door open, the gracious grace door, the gospel door is open for the nations to repent and come to know the God of Israel. In fact, the prophets actually see a time when, as in Isaiah 2, when the nations will come up to Mount Zion and they'll learn the Torah, they'll learn the law, they'll learn the Bible, all right? And they'll go out into the world, you know, knowing the Bible. And so when we're looking at these major prophets, I gave you a handout that might be useful to you. We wanna remember that God's covenant call here, beginning particularly with Abraham, all the way to the consummation, is in real history with these nations that the story of redemption is told in the midst of these nations and even told to the nations so that they might repent. And it all starts with Egypt. And then after Egypt's time of rule and reign, there's Assyria. After Assyria, there's Babylon. There's all these powerful nations of this time. Then there's the Persia, the Greeks, and then the Romans as the finale. And the reason I put it down, the Romans as the finale, is because that's when the kingdom of God appears in fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ. And so that's when the last days begin. under the time of the Romans. And so you want to remember that when the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel are addressing the nations, they're addressing them to warn them of judgment. That though God has used them as an instrument, for instance, to discipline Israel, they will also come under God's wrath and punishment and be humbled to the dust, all right, by another people or by the last day judgment, okay, if they don't repent. And so there's hope in these prophets particularly who have sections of their books addressed to the nations for judgment, but also salvation. And again, the hope of the New Testament is that there'll be one man. So can you see here, imagine here's little old Israel in the midst of these tremendous nations. God preserves his people in their midst in order to bring about the incarnation. and in order to bring about the restoration of humanity. And Israel survives by God's grace so that the gospel will go forth from Israel to bring the gospel to the nations to make one humanity. One humanity that's ruled over by one king through the means of one covenant who as one man will be the dwelling place of the spirit. Is that powerful? But see, the temptation for Israel, beloved, is this, you know, when they see Assyria coming. When Ahaz quakes in his boots, shakes in his boots like a leaf in the wind, Isaiah says, he's seeing Assyria coming and taking over. Assyria wants Egypt. Assyria wants to move through. They don't care about Israel. He wants to move through Israel to get to Egypt. And so Assyria is on the rise and greatly powerful, and they're on the march, and they're coming down from the north, a terrible people in their estimation. So he has every right to be scared. What he does is he's tempted to go back to Egypt. to form an alliance, or he's tempted to form alliances. And in the midst of that prophecy, that's when the prophet, like Hosea, will come and say, no, no, no, no, trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord's word. It'll be through Immanuel that you will be saved, etc. And so Isaiah speaks to the situation of Assyria through Babylon, through the Babylonian exile and beyond, of course. Jeremiah particularly speaks to the Babylonian problem that Assyria is going down, all right, in all her pride, she's coming down. Sometimes Assyria is personified as the devil himself, as a serpent, all the nations are, as a Leviathan that'll be crushed like Egypt, like Pharaoh. They're going down and Babylon's coming. Babylon's his next instrument. And then after Babylon, there'll be Persia. And Persia will actually hold out hope. as God's servant to open up the way for Israel to begin to return to the land under Cyrus. And then you have the Greeks, a wonderful time of learning and growing, the height of philosophical learning perhaps in the ancient world. You have a common language for the ancient world. The Jews are dispersed over the world and many of them know Greek. The Old Testament's translated into Greek so that All the synagogues will have a copy of the scriptures for preaching or for teaching. So you've got the gospel going forth in this dispersion during the time of the Greeks. And then you have the Romans. And in the time of the Romans, in the time of Caesar Augustus, Emmanuel was born. And it's a glorious time because he's the true Caesar. He's the true king. And he's the one who will be the king of kings and lord of lords for all who believe. He's the hope. And again, we leave it with the Romans, not only because it is sacred history and that's where the Bible leaves it, but it's because when the fullness comes and begins with the preaching of Christ, he says, the time is at hand. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And now, what we'll learn more in next class, Lord willing, in the fall, if you're taking that class, we'll learn more about the intertestamental period. of Persia through the Romans. We'll learn more about how the last days or the last hour began with the Romans. And so that's why we leave it at the Romans. It doesn't mean that history doesn't continue. We're alive today, thankfully, and the gospel continues to go forth. But as far as sacred history's concerned, the consummation began with the first coming of Christ, the new creation, the new humanity, It's an already not yet thing that we'll look at further next year. So, let's look at Jeremiah together. Let's look at Ezekiel together. Highlights. And then Isaiah. And again, I do this with beer and trembling. All right. What do we have? Oh, wow. Just 30 minutes. Plenty, right? So let's turn to Jeremiah. And I would have you turn to Jeremiah 1. That's an appropriate place. And what we're going to do is just look at highlights. And again, I'll try to plug in some of these questions so that you can go and do this. One of the goals for this class, beloved, is so that you can do all this. You can come to this class and enjoy, and we can all learn together, because I'm learning a lot too. We can learn together, but this is so that you can leave and you can take your own Bible and do this and teach your own class and your own children. All right? That's the hope. Jeremiah starts with a call from God that's very similar to Moses. And if you wanted to compare, and this is the kind of highlight I'm going to do, is I'm going to look down and then I'm going to talk, okay? So Jeremiah, you want to see as first a covenant prosecutor, just like the book of the 12. He's a covenant prosecutor. God tells him, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And then he responds like Moses, verse six, oh Lord God, I don't know how to speak, I'm only a youth. And God gives him great encouragement. He puts the words in his mouth. He tells him to fear not. He tells him everything he told Moses. And we're supposed to remember that story of Moses in Exodus 3 and 4. We're supposed to remember not only Moses' covenant with the people, we're supposed to remember Moses' call. And so this we're to say is Jeremiah is like Moses. He's a covenant prosecutor that becomes a covenant preacher of the gospel. I'll say it again. He's a covenant prosecutor He's prosecuting Israel for her sins against the covenant, who becomes a covenant gospel preacher, who becomes a preacher of the gospel. Let me show you how he's central to his word is the covenant. Look at chapter 11 now. And again, we're just doing highlights, but this is just to whet your appetite. In Jeremiah 11, We hear the Shema and we see the covenant prosecutor here at Jeremiah says versal chapter 11 verse 1 the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh here You see, hear Shema, the words of the covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace, saying, listen to my voice and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people and I will be your God. that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey as at this day? Then I answered, So be it, Lord. And then he told him in verse six, proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, the streets of Jerusalem to Shammah, hear the words of the covenant and do them. Obey my voice. And so he was a preacher reminding them of the words of Moses, as we've seen was the primary calling of the book of the 12 as well, the minor prophets as we call them. All right, so that's how we can see just a taste of Jeremiah's call and his message as covenant prosecutor. Now, if you look at chapter 23 of Jeremiah, very important chapter. Here, I would ask you to remember some of these questions like, why the exile? What would you say from just what we just read? Why the exile? Yeah, they broke the covenant with Moses. All right, we're not to who will save Israel yet, but when will the kingdom of David be restored? Here's a question. All right, look at chapter 23. So he's telling the shepherds, the leaders of Israel particularly, who have been unfaithful and feeding themselves. And he says in verse 5 of chapter 23, Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. He shall reign as king and deal wisely. He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell securely. Or that's another name for shalom or peace. And this is the name by which he's called the Lord is our righteousness. And then verse seven says, therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, out of all the countries where they had been driven. So again, so he's saying why the exile? It's because of the sins of Israel. But who will save Israel? Who will save Israel? God will save Israel through his promise. God will restore Israel through a Davidic king. When will the kingdom of David be restored? Well, we're told that it is a Davidic king and he will come and the Lord will bring his people out of the exile. All right. Look at Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29 through 33 or Some of my favorite scriptures with regard to God's covenant, the revelation of God's heart here. we can just scratch the surface, but to see God's heart as the Father who reveals all these promises. In Jeremiah 29, the people are living in exile, and God is telling them that He still has a wonderful, gracious plan for their life, that they're not to lose hope. And so, Jeremiah is the covenant prosecutor who is the gospel preacher, okay? The covenant prosecutor who becomes the covenant gospel preacher. And here's a few things he says. Verse 11, I know the plans I have for you, declares Yahweh. Plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. So in the midst of this discipline of exile, in the midst of this death of exile, there's still hope. God's always faithful to give them hope. And he says to them in verse 12, then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart and I will be found of you, declares Yahweh. And I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations in the places where I've driven you, declares Yahweh. I'll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. So again, here's hope why the exile has been answered. But here, who will save Israel? The father, Yahweh. He's a good God, just as He did in Egypt, so He will do now. His reputation will not just be the God who brought them out of Egypt, it'll be the God who brought you from the dead out of exile, from the nations. This is death. This is impossible for a little nation like Israel to be redeemed from a place like Egypt or Assyria or Babylon without the hand of God, without the power and grace of God. When will the kingdom of David be restored? When God restores their fortunes. Remember what we talked about last week, whenever you see the term restore, I suggest to you to think about resurrection. Use that word too, and you'll get the bigger picture in Christ. Let's plug it in in chapter 29. Look at this. when he says, verse 14, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will resurrect you and gather you from all the nations. Now hold on to that thought. You say, okay, I need some scripture for that. All right, I'm gonna give it to you when we get to Ezekiel. Because Ezekiel, remember the dry bones? All right, so stay there for a moment. All right, the next scripture in chapter 30, Jeremiah tells more about this restoration, what it looks like. But in chapter 31, he really brings into focus the new covenant. And that's why I'm suggesting to you to remember Jeremiah as the preacher of covenant, particularly when you're thinking of king, covenant, dwelling, temple, is the king or the covenant. In chapter 31, verse 31, The Lord says, behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant they broke. So again, why the exile? Because they broke the covenant. Though I was their husband, declares the Lord. Notice that graciousness. And then verse 33 for this is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my law within them. I'll write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me From the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their Nick with iniquity And I'll remember their sins no more. It's not one of your favorite scriptures It's wonderful. Through the covenant promises, God will redeem his people. This is the grace that we're talking about. Notice just two things about this. In verse 33, though the law was written on tablets of stone, this new covenant will have the law written by the same Holy Spirit, by the same finger of God, but it'll be written on our hearts. And there'll be a new and better covenant. In fact, what he's promising is that the Spirit will dwell within us. the law will be within us. It won't just be written on our hearts as those made in God's image, but it'll be something that we believe and love and learn and want to live out and walk. And so that's an internal reality. Something that I've said before that I think is also worth repeating right here, especially when we look at Ezekiel as well, is in the old covenant, the way of saying regeneration, You know, the word regeneration is not used in the Old Covenant. The concept is the Spirit makes alive, right? All right. And in the New Testament, we hear more particularly about that being called being born again or regenerated, right? Okay. But in the Old Covenant, the same concept is circumcise your heart. You know, in other words, be regenerate, repent and believe. The circumcision of the heart is the Old Testament version of the New Testament, you must be born again. Okay, let me say that again. So when you see, circumcise your heart, meaning have an internal, internal spiritual transformation by the Spirit. That's what matters most, that you have the law written on your heart because of God's covenant grace. All right, so many more things I could say in Jeremiah, but notice at the end of verse 33, I will be their God. and they will be my people. And that's the great heart message of God, right? From the very beginning, from before the foundation of the world. One more passage in Jeremiah 32 before we move on. And I hope I'm not skipping over some of your favorite passages, but in chapter 32, verse 37, listen to this. 32, verse 37, again, why the exile? Who will save Israel and the nations? And when will the kingdom of David be restored? Listen to this. He says, verse 37, behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I'll bring them back to this place and I'll make them dwell in safety and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way. And beloved, that's the one man of Ephesians 2, 1 through 22. That no matter whether you're of Israel or the nations, that the believing person can be one person, can be one person in one Christ that has a heart and a way that fears God forever. Verse 39, I'll give them one heart, one way that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them. And listen to this, I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me. You see that perseverance of the saints right there. Verse 41, I will rejoice in doing them. I'll plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart and my soul. So if we had to focus on, I think it's helpful but not exclusive to the other, when we look at Jeremiah, think of the father's faithfulness to covenant breakers, and the father's faithfulness particularly through covenant, all right? And you'll see that all the time. All right, let's jump to Ezekiel now. In Ezekiel, starting in chapter 1, Ezekiel might be harder to understand sometimes for us. Let me say a few things about Ezekiel. By way of introduction, he's a priest who's also a prophet. Ezekiel is concerned with showing Israel in the exile, why the exile. So Ezekiel's primary call is to interpret the exile while in the exile, while in the Babylonian captivity, and why the exile occurred. Ezekiel desires from the very beginning of his prophecy to focus on the glory of God and the dwelling of God with his people. All right, so in chapter 1, and there's a lot to say in chapter 1, I'll summarize chapters 1 and 2. Ezekiel's given this vision where he sees a throne that's portable and heavenly. And in this portable throne, the people of God are to understand that Yahweh is not tied to merely a temple in a place in Jerusalem, that Yahweh is the sovereign king over all the nations, that he is everywhere present, and that he, even in exile, is movable. He's moving about in this strange kind of apocalyptic vision. He sees this movable throne. Now, where do you see this throne? in the Old Covenant, where do you see the throne looking back? Where might this throne be revealed? In the tabernacle. In what place in the tabernacle? In the Ark. It's probably highly likely that at this time the Ark has been demolished along with the Temple and everything else by the Babylonians. So I hate to mess up the storyline of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it's a great movie, lots of fun, right? But it's highly likely that the pterodactyl was just broken into pieces and made for... idolatry would. So it's gone by now. And what God is revealing to Ezekiel is that his dwelling place is still, he still has a purpose to dwell with his people. That even in exile, his people, through the word, can know that he has this portable throne, this heavenly throne, that the tabernacle was just pointing forward to that. Where else do you see Ezekiel's throne in the way that it's described? In chapter 1, do you remember? in the book of Revelation. Yeah, in chapter 1 of the book of Revelation, you have just about everything you need to interpret the book of Ezekiel. Let me just say that again. If you want to learn how to interpret Revelation, the book of Revelation, you want to learn how to interpret Ezekiel, then have both of them together. Revelation is a reader's guide to Ezekiel, and Ezekiel is a reader's guide to Revelation. The imagery that the Apostle John in Revelation is using is mostly from Ezekiel. And that's why at the end of Revelation, at the end of the world, at the Great Consummation, God is dwelling with his people through Christ and he didn't see a temple. Why? Because the dwelling place of God was with man in a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth. But it was everything that Ezekiel was talking about. But now John is saying, here's what happened. Here's what happened. Using the rainbow symbolism of the throne, the picture of Jesus on the throne, et cetera. Let's look at a few passages in Ezekiel. I would just highlight to you Ezekiel chapter 16, but if we'll turn to chapter 34 right now for time's sake. In Ezekiel 16, there's this wonderful, beautiful passage of how God found Israel as a rejected child. and took her by the hand, clothed her, gave her everything she could possibly want. And she even made her Yahweh's bride and she was faithless. And at the end of chapter 16, he tells her that I will make you faithful. I will make you faithful. So a few things for Ezekiel that I would want to be highlighted. First is in chapter 34, we're told that the Lord himself will be the shepherd who dwells with his people will seek and save the lost in Ezekiel 34 11. It says thus says the Lord God behold. I I myself will search for my sheep I will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he's among his sheep that has been scattered So I will seek out my sheep I will rescue them from all the places where they've been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness and I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries I'll bring them into their own land and then verse 14. Listen, I will feed them with good pasture and Verse 15, I myself will be their shepherd. I myself will make them lie down. I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed. I will bind up. And then verse 25, notice that. I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish wild beasts from the land. Verse 26, I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season. They shall be showers of blessing. Verse 29, I will provide for them renowned plantations. They'll no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, no longer suffer the reproach of the nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel are my people. And then finally, you are my sheep. human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God. So even in exile, the people of God were to understand that there was a shepherd where they could feed, a place of peace and shalom, that the Lord is our shepherd and we shall not fear. And though we are surrounded by death itself, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, which is a poetic picture of exile, You are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. How much comfort must that have been, right? That God was still dwelling with them by his spirit and he promised to one day come as a shepherd. Verses 36 and 37 are arguably perhaps the most, well, it's hard to say that. They're very important chapters. In chapter 36, Beginning in verse 22, we're told that God will put his spirit in his people. Verse 22, therefore I say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it's not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And then verse 24, I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. And listen to this wonderful hope. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you. And 26, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I'll put within you. I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you, look at this, to walk in my statutes. That's walking in the commandments of Moses that the people of God were called to live out. It's, to put it in New Testament terms, to walk in the spirit. That I'll walk in my statutes and you'll be careful to obey my rules. Verse 33, I will cleanse you from all your iniquities. And then verse 37, or chapter 37, I should say. In chapter 37, there are these bones, and they're all in this dry land, this desert land. And verse 7 says that as God, through His Word, was preached or proclaimed by Ezekiel, there was a rattling, and the bones came together. Verse 8 says, I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them. Flesh had come upon them. Skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. They were dead. Then he said, prophesy to the breath, preach, proclaim, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath or O spirit, and breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood on their feet in exceedingly grave army. And then notice verse 12. prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I'll open your graves and raise you from your graves. Oh, my people, and I'll bring you into the land of Israel. So there'll be a resurrection restoration and you shall know that I am the Lord. By the way, I think that's used in Ezekiel over 15 times that they will know that I am the Lord. Intimate knowledge of the Lord. And they will know that I'm the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. And I will place you in your own land, then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, I will do it, declares the Lord." Now you imagine what great hope this was for the people of Israel who are in Babylon, who are in exile, who are in many ways emotionally, psychologically dead. And God comes by his prophet to give them encouragement from the Holy Spirit, particularly about the Holy Spirit. And there's three things that the Spirit tells. The glory of God that has departed from the temple that was in Jerusalem, the temple that's been raised to the ground by the Babylonians, the glory of God will return. That's the hope of Ezekiel. We don't have time for this today, but if you read chapters 40 through 48 of Ezekiel, you'll see this great and holy temple. And if you read it with all these three things in mind, along with Revelation as your reader's guide, you'll see that this temple that he's talking about is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is the one man or the humanity that's united to Jesus Christ. That it's speaking of a holy spiritual temple, particularly Jesus' body. So there's glory that's returned. And when did the glory return to Israel that departed in Ezekiel's time? When did the glory return to the temple in Israel? What's that? Pentecost in a very climatic way. But even before then, when Christ was circumcised, Simeon sees the glory. He sees the glory in the face of the child. He sees the salvation of Israel. He sees the return of the glory. Jesus then coming to rule over the temple by chasing out the money changers, right? His spirit came particularly, thank you James, most excellently, the spirit came in fullness after Jesus' resurrection and ascension on the day of Pentecost. And you notice they were in the temple, they were in the temple precincts when the spirit came. And then they were made a new temple. And they went out with the gospel to all the nations. It puts a new twist on things, doesn't it? When Jesus says, all authority has been given to me. Now go, baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and make disciples out of all the nations. Go. All that was spoken of the nations has come to fulfillment in Christ Jesus. Now go and make this kingdom known through preaching. Making everyone, really, like little Jeremiah's, Isaiah's, and Ezekiel's. All right. So if you had to focus on Jeremiah, you might think of father and covenant. You look through Ezekiel, you might think of Holy Spirit and the dwelling in temple. And then again, the New Testament fulfillment has it all there for those two prophets. Lots of other places, too. I'm just using this as a kind of a practical way of going through it. But you read the New Testament, when you read it with this in mind, you read Ephesians 2 differently, right? Because when Jesus says to Nicodemus, you must be born again, or when we hear now that we were dead and trespassed in sins, what comes to your mind is that you were the dry bones of Israel. And you were dead! And the Spirit made you alive. God the Father made you alive through covenant promises in Christ to give you peace with himself and peace with others, to give you the gospel hope. and that he's going to dwell with you, he's going to be the temple. It's amazing, fascinating how all that comes together. So it's not like new revelation. You're like, now you're seeing it and you're comparing, you're saying, this is just the fullness of the revelation I already know. Remember. They were saturated in the Old Testament, beloved. So the reason sometimes we look at Revelation, oh, okay, I gotta go to Isaiah now. Oh, I've got a lot to do. All right, let's look at Isaiah. We gotta look at Isaiah, but let me just say this. What we wanna do is saturate ourselves with all the scripture. That's my application. And particularly, I think one little way that you can see that you're growing in that is when you look at Revelation, the book of Revelation, as kind of a test case for yourself to see how much you know of the Old Testament. or the Gospel of John. You can do the Gospel of John too. When Jesus says, you must be born again, Nicodemus, didn't you understand that? He's saying, where were you? Were you sleeping in the class, Nicodemus, on the day they talked about Ezekiel? When they were teaching you about Ezekiel, you know, 36 and 37, were you sleeping on? Because he says, you're a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things. In other words, Jesus is saying, You didn't get this born-again thing? It's all through the Bible. All right, so let's go to Isaiah. Well, oh, oh, fear and trembling. Isaiah so much. By the way, the reason I left Isaiah for last is because I've got a more in-depth note home, OK? So that's why I did that. I have not had the opportunity to really go and write an in-depth study on Ezekiel and Jeremiah yet, OK? But I've begun one on Isaiah. That's how you would say it. Okay, so Isaiah is about a king. And what's so beautiful about Isaiah is, let's look at the bookends of Isaiah. Three books that are most quoted in the New Testament. What are those three books? The most three quoted books in the New Testament. Psalms, Isaiah, Genesis those three and oftentimes and hey notice Torah look see prophets and writings in that goal all right and so so Isaiah is often called the fifth gospel for a reason because it's just saturated with gospel truth okay but what happens in Isaiah from the very beginning chapter 1 you've got Israel being told, why the exile? Okay, so there's this, they've been wounded beyond repair. Their problem is incurable, that kind of thing. And so who will save Israel? Who will save Israel? Who will save Israel? And when will the kingdom of David be restored? Those are the questions Isaiah is asking. So at the beginning, he's talking about this covenant, the results of sin on Israel's covenant breaking. At the end, chapter 66, he's talking about a cosmic restoration of the heavens and the earth. So it's really neat. So he's got a really big picture in mind, right? He's got all of redemptive history, really. But in chapter 6, he gets a vision, a very important vision of seeing the king on the throne. And you hear the angel saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And so the king, the king is that central theme. So now you have why the exile? Because of covenant breaking against Yahweh the king. Who will save Israel? The king. And when will the kingdom of David be restored? It will be restored by David's son, the king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so all through Isaiah, you have this revelation of a suffering servant, spirit anointed, king of kings. And this seems like a paradox that it is. They were told that this great king that would be anointed beyond measure with the Holy Spirit, that would bring justice and equity and peace to Israel and the nations, who'd bring restoration, who was one of David's sons, et cetera, would also be a suffering servant. And so let me give you two places to look at that contrast. As you go through Isaiah, the first thing that strikes you is in the midst of the nations that are causing the kings Ahaz and later, or Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah later to tremble. You've got God saying that God will dwell in your midst. God will be Emmanuel. The virgin will conceive. That's your answer. That he will be a wonderful counselor, a mighty God, a prince of peace. And he'll be an everlasting father. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. Isaiah 11 tells us of that importance of him having the Holy Spirit, this king who will come. In chapter 11, verse 2, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. All right, so much more to say about that passage, but if you will, turn to Isaiah 40. In Isaiah 40, in part two of Isaiah, Isaiah is basically given to us in two parts. Isaiah, part one is Isaiah chapters one through 39, and then part two is Isaiah 40 through 66. In the midst of their exile, in the midst of what's going to happen to them, God brings comfort. It's, I'm sure, one of your favorite passages. In chapter 40 verse 1 comfort comfort my people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem Cry to her that her warfare has ended that her iniquity is pardoned that she's received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins And then and then we hear the voice crying a voice cries in the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh make straight in the desert a highway for our God every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and he'll be made low and The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." I'm just tempted to read on through the rest of Isaiah. Really, this second book of Isaiah is just so beautiful and so many wonderful, encouraging passages. But go to chapter 42. Again, the king that will come. So, if Isaiah 6 centers our focus on the king, who is Yahweh, revealing himself in his glory from this vision of the temple, the rest of Isaiah is to show us when that king will come and what he will be like when he does come. And so, in Isaiah 42, we're told in verse 1, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, and whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. He's very compassionate. A faintly burning wick he will not quench. He's very patient. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. The coastlands wait for his law." So you see, the justice in the earth will be to bring what's right for believers and the nations. And again, this king will come as a servant whom the father has put his spirit upon. Look at Isaiah 49 now. Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49. We're told in verse 1, listen to me, O coastlands. These are the nations being called. Give attention, you peoples from afar. So the king is calling out to the nations, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, nations, Persia, all of you listen. And he's saying, the Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver, he hid me away. And he said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But then I have labored in vain, I said. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity, yet surely my right is with the Lord, my recompense with God. Verse five, and now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him, I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. And then it's promised that there's a restoration of Israel. So how would we summarize so far? Turn now to chapter 52. How would we summarize this king and his coming? Well, he's spirit anointed. He's gonna be great. He's the chosen one of Yahweh. He's the hope of Israel and the nations. So why the exile? Because Israel broke covenant with Yahweh. Who will save Israel? An Israelite. One like David. One who's Abraham's son, David's son. One who is a true Israelite. One who will keep faithful covenant of Moses on behalf of his people. What will he be like? He's a chosen one. He's from his mother's womb. He's been faithful. He's calling Israel back to God. He's restoring Israel. He's calling the nations. When will kingdom of David be restored? When this kingdom comes. How will we know the kingdom has come? A voice will cry in the wilderness. A voice will cry in the wilderness, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But there's something about this king that we're not expecting, that many thought he would come as the ruling reigning king of kings chosen one spirit anointed of Yahweh to bring righteousness and justice, immediate, last-day judgment to the world, and he did not. And it's because of chapter 52 and 53. In chapter 52, verse 13, again, my servant. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up. He shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them, they see, and that which they've not heard, they understand." This, in a nutshell, is the coming of the promise to all the Gentiles. This is that the servant, the chosen one, the anointed one, will be exalted as the King of kings and Lord of lords. But notice this, there'll be something about his appearance, very humble. There'll be something he sprinkles, the nations, there'll be blood. He will act wisely, but there'll be something that is hard to understand. Chapter 53 will tell us more. Verse 3, he was despised and rejected by men. a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. As one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us, that you who were formerly Gentiles and Jews have been brought together and given peace with by all believers Israel and the nations as one man in Christ Jesus to be his holy temple Verse 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet. He opened not his mouth He opened not his mouth. He didn't come to defend himself but to lay down his life and then verses 10 through 12 It was the will of the Lord to crush him He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him portion with the many. He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he has poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. So he is a king. He'll be highly exalted. He will see and be satisfied. He will see all of the results, his glorious results of his redemptive work, but he will bear the iniquities. He will be crushed for our iniquities in our place. He will bring Israel home and he will bring us peace with God. So why the exile? Because we broke the covenant. Who will save Israel? A spirit anointed king of kings who will humble himself as the suffering servant in order to die as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of sinners. His name is Jesus Christ. He will save Israel and he will save the nations. And when will the kingdom of David be restored? It will begin to be restored. with the coming of Jesus Christ and with particularly when he ascends and sits down at God's right hand as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, exalted as he is, the Father promised him as the Savior of Israel who is willing to be the suffering servant on behalf of God's people. And that brings us to Isaiah 66, the end. And what he does is not just for individuals, it's for a church, it's for the whole creation. The work of this Spirit-anointed King of Kings, chosen one, suffering servant, Son, will be, listen, he'll bring about verse 22, as the new heavens and new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring in your name remain. From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who've rebelled against me. for their worms shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." So ultimately, this one comes to bring salvation to the nations, salvation to God's people who are awaiting Him, salvation for all who would believe, whether of Israel or... Because Isaiah focused on the Son, the King, Jeremiah focuses on the Father's promise through the covenant, and Ezekiel promised the Holy Spirit. Everything that the suffering servant would do would bring us to the Father through covenant. And everything the Son would do would to merit the righteousness that we needed to make us holy before Yahweh so that we could have his Holy Spirit. so that his glory would live within our hearts, his spirit would be within us, and both Israel and the nations could be the temple of the living God. Now, if we did this right, let's read Ephesians 2 again and see what we see at this one New Testament fulfillment of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This is just one of them, right? A question as you're turning there is just ask yourself, in the larger context of scripture sometimes, is any of this language reflecting language in the old covenant? Does the author have in mind something from the prophet, something from Moses, etc.? Example, if you hear, walk in the spirit and not walk in the flesh, you're going to now think, Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 to walk in all his ways Then you're gonna think of Jeremiah that the Spirit will be within us and he will teach us to walk and then you hear walk in the spirit and you go that wasn't some new idea of the Apostle Paul. That's the language of Moses. That's the language of the prophets you see Now listen to Ephesians 2 now. I'm gonna just summarize it as we close you ready. You were dead and trespasses and sins Your problem was what Ezekiel said you were just dry bones in a desert with no hope And through the word, you were worse than that. You were like you were in Egypt or in exile. You see, you were following, you were enslaved to the prince of the power of the air. Verse 4, but God, the Father, rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. He raised us up with him. There's the resurrection. There's the beginning of the restoration. That's the beginning of the kingdom. That's the beginning of the new creation. That's the beginning of the new humanity. That's the beginning of the consummation. He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ. so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace, that covenant grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." That's the language of Moses. That's the language of the prophets. Here's Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel coming together, reminding in verses 11 through 13 that those who were nations far off, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Gentiles, verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ, through the suffering servant, beloved, through the spirit anointed King of kings, who's a suffering servant, beloved, Verse 14, he himself is our peace shalom who has made us both one, a new humanity as he's broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of his hostility. And then verse 16, that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility, the cross that Isaiah spoke of through the suffering servant. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off the nations as Isaiah said he would. And he came to preach peace to those who were near, those in Israel. For through him, that is through the son, you ready? We have access in one spirit right here. to the Father. And so he says to both Israel and to the Gentiles, you're no longer strangers and aliens. You're fellow citizens with the saints. You're members of the household of God. You're built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. I say that is your foundation is scripture with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. And then here's verses 21 and 22, the great hope of mankind, that God will be our God and we will be his people and he will dwell in our midst. in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." So, we have again Isaiah's king, Jeremiah's covenant, and Ezekiel's dwelling and temple. all coming to pass in Christ in this one New Testament fulfillment that I think is helpful and useful for looking back at the major prophets or the latter prophets. Now, here's a piece of homework for you, right? If you take what we've learned today, go to Ezekiel chapters 40 to 48. All right? And read about Ezekiel's temple. It's sometimes called the eschatological temple because it's a temple that's looking forward to the future. And when you look at it, I want you to notice, I want you to think about it with the three words there, glory, spirit, and temple. All right? And how that points to Christ. And then compare that with three passages in John. John 2, where Jesus says that when he said, tear this temple down, in three days I'll raise it, he says he was talking about the temple of his body. Compare it with that. And then compare it with John 7, when he says, all who come to me, you'll have the water, the spirit, the living water that's welling up to eternal life within you. And then you go back to Ezekiel's temple and you realize he's talking about Jesus Christ and the dwelling place of God being with his people. All right, I'm learning it. It's a lot to learn, isn't it? I have some notes that I will be happy to send you on Isaiah, particularly. And unfortunately, I just have not had the providential opportunity to write in length at Jeremiah and Ezekiel. I think they may be the only two books of the Old Covenant that I don't have something that I'm forming. So that'll be a goal for the future. But as you're reading, The three prophets keep in mind these things and think of Isaiah with regard to the king being central and who he is and what he will do. Jeremiah's covenant and Ezekiel's dwelling temple, Holy Spirit, glory, all of those things tied to the Holy Spirit. I think you'll see the Father, Son, and the Spirit very clearly in those passages. All right, well, let's pray and thank God for this time together. Our Father and our God, we're grateful for your love for us. We're grateful for how you are always faithful to us and how you, time and time again, you give us these scriptural truths, this hope. that you lay before us in your word. And we pray that through the mediation of Jesus Christ, that we would know that we have peace with you and with one another, and that we're your very holy temple, and that in you, Lord Jesus, we'd know that you love us, that we'd know that we're your dwelling place, that you and the Father have made a home in our hearts, in our souls, by your spirit, that we're your holy temple, that we're the dwelling place. And help us to walk in your ways, to keep your commandments in reliance upon your grace, to serve you, to love you with all that's in us, and to do all this for your glory and our good. Help us, we pray, and help us to take just one thing at least that we've learned, perhaps all of it, but just one, and help us to better understand and interpret your word, and let us be thankful for not only that you've spoken and you are speaking in Christ to us by your spirit, but that we have your completed word. We have the whole story before us. Let us have this voracious appetite to learn it and know it and live it out. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.