[0:00] I could not tell where in the world I was until I got up high and went, oh, now I know where I am. Now I can see in relation, and how did I get here?
[0:14] But now I knew where I was. I can see how it all fits together. And so that's what we've been trying to do these last eight weeks is to give a perspective of those mountaintops in the Old Testament.
[0:28] Where you can see Genesis, and where you can see Exodus, and you can see the next stage, and then you can see the land of Joshua, and you can see David's kingdom, and then what happened after David's kingdom.
[0:42] You get those mountaintops, those transition points. One of the books that has been so helpful to me ever since I left seminary is a book by Edmund Clowney called The Unfolding Mystery.
[0:58] It's called Discovering Christ in the Old Testament, which I had never learned in seminary. Because in seminary, we studied a literal interpretation.
[1:11] And if Jesus isn't mentioned there, then you can't find him. It was basically the same interpretation that the Jews of the first century had of the Old Testament.
[1:24] Literal. We expect David to come and sit on a literal throne in an earthly kingdom. And so Jesus said, you missed it. I did too.
[1:35] Until I began to discover other people who were preaching Christ from the Old Testament. And they pointed me to Ed Clowney, this unfolding mystery. And there's many other books after this, but he's the pioneer of kind of putting this together for preachers.
[1:52] For students of the Old Testament. So if you want to do some further study, Ed Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery. Let me read, can I call him Ed?
[2:04] I'll read Ed, Professor Clowney's introduction here. He says, anyone who has had Bible stories read to him as a child knows that there are great stories in the Bible.
[2:21] But it is possible to know Bible stories, yet miss the Bible story. The Bible is much more than William Howe stated, a golden casket where gems of truth are stored.
[2:35] It is more than a bewildering collection of oracles, proverbs, poems, architectural directions, annals, and prophecies. The Bible has a storyline.
[2:49] It traces an unfolding drama. That's where I stole the unfolding drama. The story follows the history of Israel, but it does not begin here.
[3:02] Nor does it contain what you would expect in a national history. The narrative does not pay tribute to Israel. Rather, it regularly condemns Israel and justifies God's severest judgments.
[3:20] The story is God's story. It describes His work to rescue rebels from their folly, guilt, and ruin. And in His rescue operation, God always takes the initiative.
[3:34] When the Apostle Paul reflects on the drama of God's saving works, he says in awe, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
[3:46] To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Hebrews, Romans 11. Only God's revelation could maintain a drama that stretches over thousands of years as though they were days or hours.
[4:00] Only God's revelation can build a story where the end is anticipated from the beginning. And where the guiding principle is not chance or fate, but promise.
[4:14] Human authors may build fiction around a plot they've devised, but only God can shape history to a real and ultimate purpose.
[4:28] His history is not cyclical. It's linear. It has a purpose driving to it. The purpose of God from the beginning centers on His Son.
[4:40] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him, the Son, all things were created, things in heaven, things on earth, visible and invisible.
[4:52] All things were created by Him and for Him, Colossians 1. God's creation is by His Son and for His Son. In the same way, His plan of salvation begins and ends in Christ.
[5:07] Even before Adam and Eve were sent out of Eden, God announced His purpose, that He would send His Son into the world to bring salvation.
[5:19] Genesis 3.15. The seed of the woman shall conquer the seed of the serpent. Promise from the get-go. Not from the get-go, but from the result of the first great sin.
[5:35] God has already planned. Not plan B. Plan A, triple A, AAAA. All the way.
[5:49] So, what I want to do is, that's the picture. And so, we have dragged you through, taken you through, hopefully led you through, these dramatic acts.
[6:08] I hope it's something that helps you put some dots, connect some dots and see the bigger picture of where God is going.
[6:18] So, today, I want to hear from you. You've heard plenty from me. Probably too much from me. So, I want to hear from you. This is your opportunity to share what God has shown you, how Scripture has impacted you, any new perspective that He has shown you.
[6:37] Do you see the Old Testament differently? Do you have questions? This is our time to dialogue and talk. So, we can put the chart.
[6:53] Yeah, look at that. Look at that. Isn't that pretty? See all the colors? Isn't that pretty? There's a scarlet thread.
[7:04] Did you see the scarlet thread? Look, it goes from Abraham, and it goes through Judah and Tamar, by the way. It goes through Rahab and Ruth.
[7:14] Oh, look at that. Why do I have them on there? Because they're in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1. David, Solomon, Josiah, Zerubbabel to Christ.
[7:25] The scarlet thread that goes all the way. And it starts from before that because you look above Abraham and you have Adam and Noah. They're also in the lineage of Jesus. So, from the very beginning, there is a lie, a scarlet thread that God preserves that seed, right?
[7:42] All the way to Christ. On the left side, you see the scarlet in red. You have the promises, right? So, you have the great nation land and blessing that we've talked about.
[7:58] And do you notice a structure there? Do you see a structure there? We've called it a chiasm. Do you see it? Remember what that is? You remember what a chiasm is?
[8:08] How about a keyism? Because I'm probably saying it wrong. No? See how it goes in and then back out? See that half of an X? So, key is the Greek letter for it.
[8:22] Looks like an X. Okay? They call it a key, not an X. So, it's... So, we have seen this structure in every one of these stages.
[8:35] Genesis, there's a whole bunch of them. The story of Abraham, story of Jacob, story of Joseph. They're all in a chiasm. That where the story... In other words, the story unfolds. Its theme unfolds.
[8:47] And then the same theme is repeated in reverse. So, notice. So, it starts with promises made to the patriarchs. Where does it end? Promises fulfilled.
[8:59] Okay? So, it's... Promises picked up in... So, act two. Redemption from slavery. That's Exodus. Right? Go down to act eight.
[9:12] In a mirror image, in reverse. Redemption from slavery again. Ezra and Nehemiah. You see act three. Rebellion in the wilderness.
[9:22] Act seven. Rebellion and wrath. Act four. Promise kept. Act six. Promise broken. In the middle of the whole story is David and the faithfulness. And the...
[9:33] Remember, when David came and showed his faithfulness, he united the kingdom. It looked like all the promises to Abraham were going to be fulfilled now.
[9:45] Because now in David, you have a great nation. God promised Abraham, I'll make you a great nation. He promised Abraham, I'll give you the land. When David came, by the time of David, there was rest on every side.
[9:58] They had the land. They had the land extended. Solomon even pushed it a little further. And we saw with Solomon the blessing to all the families of the earth.
[10:11] We saw that that started... It was starting to happen. Because the whole earth was coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon. So, it looked like maybe this is the whole thing. With David and Solomon, we had this...
[10:22] It's here. Everything God promised. A great nation. A land and a blessing. The nations. So, we see in those first four acts, it's building.
[10:36] From promise to redemption. Okay, had a downfall. A little rebellion there for 40 years. Then back in the land, the promise kept. And then the United Nations. But then from Solomon on, it just all goes downhill.
[10:51] Right? Everything... And now it's... So, everything's building. Now it's eroding. Whereas they had the promise kept, now their promise is broken. So, not only do they lose the nation.
[11:03] The nation's divided to two and ten. And ten get exiled forever. I don't know. They're gone. No longer a great nation.
[11:14] Then in Acts 7, you have the rebellion. Now they're kicked out of the land. So, they're undoing all the things. They've lost the great nation. Now they're losing the land. Forget about blessing all the nations.
[11:26] They're... And with Act 8, what we looked at last time was this kind of new redemption. Kind of a second exodus.
[11:37] Not as spectacular. Act 2 was the redemption from slavery. Remember? Remember? Exodus shows us that God delivers them out of slavery from Egypt. And he brings them into relationship with himself.
[11:49] So, in Act 8, it's not as dramatic. But they are slaves in another land. Now they're exiting again. Not with spectacular wonders, but simply God putting it in the heart of the kings to send them home.
[12:04] They're not totally free, though. They're not totally free, though. As we just read in Nehemiah 9, they're still slaves. And they're slaves in the promised land. And the land's not theirs anymore.
[12:14] So, as you look at the overall thing, you have this great building, this terrible eroding. And they're just before Christ comes back. Just before Christ comes back, what have they got?
[12:25] Their hope's a little bit revived. Two of the tribes are back, but not the whole thing. They have a prince, Zerubbabel. He's in the line of David, but he's not going to be made king.
[12:38] They don't have the land. They're just a remnant and a bunch of rubble. And this is what God is going to bring Jesus into? Well, another 400 years.
[12:53] If you notice on there, too, you see all the 400-year things? This fascinates me. So, between Abraham and Moses, there's 430 years. Between Joshua and David, between 4 and 5, there's another 400 years.
[13:10] Between David and the exile, 400 years. And then from Malachi to Christ, there's 400 years. What's with 400 years?
[13:21] I don't know. Just something God does. Which tells us that he doesn't move quickly by our timing.
[13:33] Right? Promises Abraham are promising, but it's going to be 400 years later. Right? They come into the land. Where's the king? Well, that'll be 400 years later. Right? And from the time of David to when everything falls apart, 400 years.
[13:48] And between when they come back to the land and when the great one, the Jesus, the answer, the promise keeper comes, 400 years, too.
[13:59] So, we look at that time, you know, between 8 and the finale, that's between the Testaments. 400 years. What's going on for 400 years? A lot.
[14:11] But nothing's being recorded in Scripture. Right? There's a lot going on. There's a change of kingdoms from Persia to Greece and to Rome.
[14:24] Right? Major shifts going on. All through that time, Israel is still a slave. When Jesus comes, Israel is still a slave. It's no longer their land. They don't have a king.
[14:40] Say, what about King Herod? No, no, no. No. Not a king. And not the line of Christ. So, anyway, I need to stop talking.
[14:57] What do you want to talk about? What are you thinking? What have you, I don't know, what struck you? What's impacted you? What's... It's so simple.
[15:07] How'd they miss it? How'd they miss it? How'd they miss it? How'd they miss it? So, we've tried to show you through each of those stages that there are pictures pointing to Christ.
[15:23] Right? There's a pattern of salvation that's repeated over and over and over again. Where a chosen leader like Joseph is chosen, shown, revealed to him that he's going to be above all the other brothers.
[15:41] Right? He relays that information to his brothers. Oh, look, look. All the other stars are bowing to my star. Ooh. And they received that so well.
[15:52] Right? That they got rid of him. So, the chosen leaders rejected and even sent into suffering. Before later, he's risen up as the true one who saves people.
[16:08] Same thing with Moses. Moses comes out to his people. Let me deliver you. Why are you fighting together? Let me kill this Egyptian and help you and deliver you. Right? He comes back the next day and they say to him what?
[16:20] Who made you judge and deliver over us? Forty years later, God did. So, Moses is rejected.
[16:31] Goes into the wilderness. Right? You see it over and over again. You see with David. David's rejected. Suffers. Raises up. You see it with Joshua.
[16:43] You see it over and over and over again. You see this pattern. So, when Jesus in the upper room said to the disciples, Oh, foolish ones and slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
[16:56] Huh? What are you talking about? We didn't see you there. And beginning with Moses, he began to show them all the scriptures that showed him.
[17:08] Which were these scriptures? Which were these pictures? These shadows. These shadows. Okay.
[17:20] So, how do we miss it? We're still missing it today. My seminary missed it. No. It just doesn't mention Messiah. You can't. No. What did Jesus preach for him?
[17:43] He took the scroll from the synagogue and preached the gospel. Paul would go into the synagogue. That was Paul's pattern, right?
[17:55] He went to the synagogue first. He went to the Jews first. They welcomed guest speakers. And Paul was known. He knew the scriptures. And he would pull, well, whatever the scroll was for them, because they had a rotation.
[18:08] Whatever the scroll was, he would preach Jesus from it. He didn't get to pick, oh, I want this passage, because that's the only one I know talks about Jesus. He'd take whatever passage there was.
[18:18] And preach Jesus. And he would do it by going back through. What did God do?
[18:29] Abraham? Moses? Joshua? David? Oh, then there's Solomon. And things got a little rough after Solomon.
[18:39] In addressing what Steve has said, it is all about God and his control and his sovereignty.
[18:55] And we've seen, especially in the story of Joseph, or I'm sorry, Moses and Pharaoh, God reveals, allows you to understand.
[19:07] And he opens your heart, your eyes, your mind, your ears. He's the grantor of faith and obedience.
[19:19] I think it's all about God. I think it's all his plan, as you bring it out, 400 years. Well, you know, that's a long time.
[19:33] You're not going to see a completion necessarily. Yes. Why does God take so long? That's for us. Yeah. You know, why does he leave these big gaps?
[19:47] Why does he take so long between Abraham and Moses when he brings them out? Why the 400-year delay? And between Joshua and David?
[20:00] Because after Joshua, that's a highlight. They get in the land. But what happens after Joshua? The book of Judges. What's Judges all about? Oh, no. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down.
[20:12] And yet, as the prayer I read in Nehemiah brought out, every time they messed up, every time they got into this ruin and sin, he would say, but God bore with them.
[20:29] God did not give up on them. He did not forsake them. Even when they put another God up and he, I mean, he should have blown them away. He had every right to blow them away.
[20:40] But he didn't. In fact, we pointed out from between the time, what was it, 800 years, wasn't it? Between somewhere.
[20:50] I forget where we found 800 years. Between the time they started, I think in the Judges, they started going after other things. And the time when God said, okay, now you're out.
[21:01] 800 years he bore with them. Before he exiled them out of the land. And the book of 2 Chronicles ends by saying, you know, he sent prophet after prophet after prophet.
[21:14] They wouldn't listen, wouldn't listen, wouldn't listen. And then there's the statement, until there was no more remedy. There was no more. It was like there's a line where God said, okay, no more remedy.
[21:29] You're out of the land. But it wasn't over because he's bringing them back, right? So, if you ever, if you had a view that God was harsher in the Old Testament than the New Testament, this should silence that.
[21:52] He is very slow to anger. No, he gets angry. But he doesn't, he talks about consuming them, but he doesn't.
[22:07] He's also very patient. And I think that's why there's the timing and the coming of Jesus for New Testament believers. It's the issue of we understand, we're told why he's patient, because he wants as many people to come to him before he makes this revelation kind of judgment, the second coming.
[22:35] So, that's a loving, patient God. And how do you get patience? Yeah. Time. Yeah.
[22:46] Now, just kind of feeding off what you're talking about, too. I think a lot of this is tied to our perspective. We're here in this world, in this place, now.
[22:57] And I think the fact that God does not judge us immediately, as you talked about, turns us into gamblers. Because we don't see a consequence for our actions.
[23:11] And we think, there is no consequence for our actions. Until we die. And then there is tremendous consequence for our actions.
[23:22] We are eternal beings. We are not transitory beings. We'll talk about this more later. But C.S. Lewis said, you have never met a mortal individual.
[23:34] You're either going to be immortal with God, or you're going to be immortal horrors. So, I think it's important to recognize that God's patience does not diminish his justice.
[23:50] Because he is just. There will be a consequence. He brings it up a lot. And he does. And we'll talk about that more, too. But I. One of the things that has impressed me kind of along these lines, too.
[24:04] And you touched on the subject. And this sounds terrible. But one of my very favorite characters in the Old Testament is Manasseh. And you're thinking, why?
[24:15] Man, this guy was the most horrible king. He sacrificed his sons on the altar to Molech. Why in the world would there be anything redeeming about him?
[24:26] And the answer is because God touched his heart. And he finally convinced him of what he was doing was wrong. And he prayed to God and recognized God earnestly.
[24:37] He said, why? Which tells me that there is nothing that we can do in this life that would separate us from the love of God. But yet, all the people that followed him were punished.
[24:52] We have an analog to that that we're living out today in this world. We have a choice to make. Are we going to follow God? Are we going to follow the crazy world that we live in?
[25:06] And we have to be very careful if we're going to be game-washed. That's a good point.
[25:20] He hasn't struck me down yet. I must be okay. Oh, careful, because he does strike people down still today. He will take your life suddenly.
[25:32] Right? And Paul addresses that, too, because we think, why, grace. It's all about grace and mercy, and it doesn't matter what I do.
[25:44] And Paul addresses that, so I'm going to let you look up Paul's words, because it's well said that, no, that's not what you're supposed to.
[25:58] That's not what it's all about. It's about you transforming. Right. What else have you seen? What else have you seen? What questions do you have?
[26:13] When times are good, people forget about God. What about when times are bad? They call on God. They cry to God. Maybe.
[26:24] Are times bad now? Are people returning to church? Are people calling on God now? God. So, how do we look at our times in relation to what we see God doing all through the Old Testament?
[26:44] What kind of time are we in? We have a Savior. We have a Savior. But what is God doing right now? Big, big picture.
[26:54] There's a lot of rebellion going on. There's a lot of rebellion going on. A lot of darkness going on. Right? God has endured many times of great darkness.
[27:07] If we lose historical perspective, we see the time of the judges was perhaps 370 years long of just everyone doing what's right in their own eyes.
[27:22] Until God raises up David out of all the darkness? I'm saying, how do we look at today?
[27:40] You know, Rick brought it up. What's the timing like? You know, we're not seeing anything happening. We're not paying for anything. We're not. Well, maybe we are paying for something.
[27:52] As Paul says, you reap what you sow. God is not mocked. You sow to the flesh. You're reaping corruption. Right?
[28:03] So even though I might not see any big things happen to me, there is a corrupting going on. Yeah? Yeah, one of the other things that we touched on here in a couple of books that really resonate with me in the Old Testament are Ezra 9 and 10.
[28:18] where the Israelites have fallen away from their calling. They're calling what they were called to be. They've intermarried with other people, other peoples that have been previously booted out of the promised land and ostensibly have adopted their mindset.
[28:39] But then they finally, the light went on and they realized what God required of them. And now they have a choice to make based on the decisions that they had made before.
[28:53] Either I'm going to stay with these foreign peoples because that's the easy thing for me to do. Or I'm really going to truly follow God, which means I have to put away my wife and my kids.
[29:07] When I see what's going on in our culture, especially with same-sex marriage, with raising kids in same-sex marriage, and all the other things that are going on kind of related to that right now, I hurt for those people because at some point in time I pray that they will be confronted by what right is.
[29:30] And they will have the same choice to make. Am I going to follow God and put away this person that I truly love?
[29:42] Or am I going to stay in my sin because my relationship with this person in this life is more important than my relationship with God?
[29:52] That happened in the Corinthian church. Because Paul writes to the Corinthian church, says, Some of you were.
[30:08] Some of you were. Some of you were. Right? He gives the list. And Christ changed that.
[30:19] And that made some real changes in people's life. And the light hasn't gone on here yet. Yeah. Again, going back also to reflect God's sovereignty, we have the example of Esther who married a heathen, a pagan.
[30:42] Yes. And that was God's will. So we also have... Right. It's not... Inner marriage doesn't have anything to do with race. Inner marriage has to do with worship.
[30:56] Right. God is not... Because we've got plenty of interracial marriages in the Old Testament. Exactly. And you did touch on that. Moses.
[31:08] Right? So... Yeah. Or... You know, Judah. Well, it wasn't a marriage. It was just a tryst. But... But yeah, you have them.
[31:21] Whoever Rahab married. Yeah. And it's all part of God's will. So, yeah. So that's... But the issue is worship. Right.
[31:32] And that's still the issue in the New Testament. Don't be on the equally yoked. Right? That doesn't have to do with race. It has to do with worship. You know, is that person going to pull you away from God?
[31:46] Right? So in the New Testament, it was... You had all kinds of people in different situations. You had people that were already married. And one becomes a Christian. And what do you do? You're supposed to get rid of that? Paul says, no. Stay where you are. Right.
[31:57] Stay where you are. God knows that. Yeah. My point is not the racial. Right. It's a pagan. But even in the New... But those are pagan ones in the New Testament.
[32:08] Right. So we can already be married and one of us turn to Christ. And then all of a sudden we're married to an unbeliever. What do I do? Am I supposed to... Is Nehemiah supposed to come along, pull my hair out, make me get out of it?
[32:19] You know? No, it's different. Now we have the power of the Spirit. We can have a redeeming effect. Anyway, that is an interesting issue in Ezra 9.
[32:38] I mean, the issue. What else? What kind of struck me was with the darkness being revealed in those times, you know, you're talking unless there was external communication from different areas of the world type of a thing, whereas now it seems like it's more revealing about the darkness and how we're all seeing it.
[33:03] It's compounded because of the media, the internet, YouTube, TV shows. Yes. And it's overwhelming. Yes. And it's...
[33:13] I reference this message on Good Friday. With history, you take that word and break it in the middle. It's his story. It truly is what you just said a little bit ago.
[33:24] But every book in the Bible mentions Jesus. It's his story. That's the history of the world. And it's all pointing to him the whole way from Genesis 1 all the way to the end.
[33:40] Yeah, Todd. I've been, through the years, been curious about the character in the Old Testament. However you say it, Zerubbabel or Zerubbabel.
[33:51] Can you elaborate on him at all? And what is the significance of this person? Of Zerubbabel? Yes.
[34:03] Zerubbabel? Zerubbadoobadoo? Okay. Can you elaborate or tell us any more about him? We know... Well, we just know what we have from Ezra.
[34:17] So he's a descendant of David. He is called, in chapter 1 of Ezra, the prince. He's called by his Babylonian name at that time.
[34:28] Because he had another name. So we're kind of like, who's this other guy? Called the prince. So it's just a... Like Daniel had a Babylonian name, remember? Remember when the exiles went there, they gave him different names, right?
[34:42] I forget who Daniel was. Hatrack, Haystack, and Unnebed and Goh. Belteshazzar, yeah. So from Ezra, we don't know a lot other than he led the first return.
[34:57] He and Joshua, the high priest, who was a descendant of Aaron. So you have the direct descendant from David and the direct...
[35:08] So the high priest and the... And so Haggai speaks to both of them, right? Get with it. Because I'm about to shake the heavens.
[35:19] I'm about to shake the nations. I'm about to bring peace to all from this house that you're going to build. So Zerubbabel is the one building the temple, right?
[35:31] He goes there. That's his mission. Through the king of Persia, he is sent to go build the house. He gets the foundation done.
[35:41] They start to experience... It gets interrupted for 16 years, right? Because there was a king shift. And the second king didn't see... Right? Stopped them. And then... And that's when Haggai speaks.
[35:52] And Haggai says... Even though they don't have permission from the king yet, Haggai says, get back to work. What are you doing? Get back to work. Right? So they get challenged. And this time when they get challenged, they go back.
[36:04] And there's another king, Darius, there, who says, oh, no, I found the record. Yeah. Cyrus said, yeah, you know, do it. And I'm going to add, you know, that you guys pay for it. Right?
[36:15] So more redemption going... Yeah, more plundering going on. So that's that guy. So then you have the... Zechariah was also prophesying.
[36:26] Haggai, Zechariah were prophesying at the same time. So Zechariah spoke in chapter 4 of Zerubbabel and Joshua.
[36:38] They were... The lampstands, the oil... What do we got? The golden lampstand. And then, well, chapter 3 as well.
[36:51] The vision of... Zechariah chapter 3 talks about the vision of Joshua the high priest, who was this Joshua, Jeshua. And he's talking about how he will bring my servant the branch.
[37:06] Right? So he's speaking of Christ there. And then the vision in chapter 4 of the lampstand. Remember the lampstand, which we look back at it from Revelation.
[37:16] Because Revelation talked about the lampstand and the olive trees. Remember? And Zechariah identified the lampstand and the two olive trees as Zerubbabel, who's the king, and Jeshua, who's the high priest.
[37:34] And so God would work through two. Well, you're pulling on some... So in Zechariah 4, 6, he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
[37:54] Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring forward the top stone amid the shouts of grace, grace to it. Hands of Zerubbabel.
[38:06] So I think Zerubbabel is a foreshadow picture of Jesus. So one of the things we notice in the Old Testament. So when God does things in the Old Testament, so when he talks about a nation, right?
[38:22] A great nation. So what kind of nation did David have? A great nation. It's a physical nation, is it not? Made up of 12 tribes. Right? Specific tribes.
[38:33] The land is a physical land. But remember Hebrews tells us that Abraham was not... When he got to that land, he was looking for something else. He was looking for a different kind of land.
[38:44] The kind of promise God gave him was, This can't be the land. And so we're told that Abraham, in Hebrews 11, wasn't satisfied with Canaan as the promised land.
[38:56] He's looking for something built by God. He's looking for something eternal. Right? So everything that comes to true... The blessings that come to fulfillment in the Old Testament are physical.
[39:09] Physical nation. Physical land. Right? Physical blessing. So when the earth starts to come to Solomon to hear his wisdom, That's a physical blessing.
[39:22] They're hearing his wisdom. It's not transforming blessing yet. When you get to Christ, all of that changes. It's not physical anymore. The kingdom and the nation that he brings is a spiritual, heavenly.
[39:35] He brings the kingdom of heaven. He says to Pilate, This... What did he say? About his kingdom.
[39:46] My kingdom is not of this realm or of this world. I'm bringing the big kingdom. I'm bringing the heavenly, the eternal kingdom.
[40:00] And the land. What's the land that Jesus promises that's everlasting? Is it over there in Israel and Canaan? Well, not unless it's part of the new earth.
[40:13] Because he's promising a new heaven and a new earth. So that new land is going to be... It's Revelation 21. It's back to paradise. Except it's not just the Garden of Eden.
[40:24] It's a bigger paradise. It's incredible. It starts with a paradise. Revelation ends with a paradise. But bigger. Right?
[40:36] And tons of people. From every tribe. And every nation. And every language. Right? Because all the families of the earth will be blessed.
[40:51] And Revelation interprets that as people from every language. And every tongue. And every nation. And every tribe. Right?
[41:01] Not everyone from all the tribes. But people from every tribe. Right? So in that sense, it is universal. So the blessings, the promises to Abraham of this great nation are about, in Christ, about a heavenly kingdom.
[41:23] Full of priests. A holy nation. As Peter says. Holy nation. And kingdom of priests. Just like he promised back to the Israelites.
[41:37] So that's the other thing we have to understand. Is that it's not a literal. Right? The first century people are looking for a literal earthly king.
[41:48] On a literal earthly throne. Over a literal tiny little piece of land. And Jesus is much bigger than that.
[42:00] Much bigger than that. He's king of kings. Does that make sense? Is that? And that's all I can say about Zerubbabel. But I think he's the picture.
[42:11] Like Joseph was. Like Moses was. Like David was. They're picked. They're outlines of Jesus. The details of their lives are not Jesus. Right?
[42:21] David's sin. Right? But David. In picture form. In outline. You know. That he suffered. That he was rejected.
[42:32] And then he's raised up as king. That he saves his people. Right? Those are pictures of Christ. And I think Zerubbabel's that picture. Because he now builds a new temple.
[42:45] What does Jesus come to do? Destroy this temple in three days. I'll raise it up. And how did the Jews naturally interpret what he said? Oh, he's going to destroy our temple.
[42:58] Then he says he's going to read. It took us 46 years to build this. He's going to build in three days. Come on. But that's how they under. That's how they were taught to read the scriptures. And understand.
[43:10] And Jesus was talking about. His body. You destroy this temple. Three days. I will raise it up. So. So. Zerubbabel's building a new temple.
[43:20] Jesus. Is. The new temple. And it's interesting that. That in the book of Revelation. It refers back to Zechariah 4.
[43:32] And the lampstands. Right? The olive trees. That come. What is that? Who are these two witnesses? Oh.
[43:44] That has to be. That has to be Elijah. And who else didn't die? Enoch. Oh. According to Zechariah. It's Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
[43:55] You think it's them? I don't know. I think it's. I think we said it was Jew and Gentile.
[44:08] I don't know. I don't remember what. Who was king and priest. Right? Because. Zerubbabel. Represents king. And. Jeshua represents high priest.
[44:19] Was king and priest. I forget. I have to check my notes. I don't remember what we taught in Revelation. Remember? Isn't it interesting how it connects? Wish I could remember.
[44:35] Any other? What? Was this helpful? Yeah. You have to feel like you have to say that. Huh? I learned a ton.
[44:49] I just learned a ton. I was shocked. I didn't expect to see a chiasm in the whole history. So.
[45:02] You know. We saw those. The stories. You know. The story of Abraham. The story of Jacob. The story of Joseph. Story of Moses. The story. All these stories would have a. The story would develop.
[45:14] Have a turning point. And come back. And the themes would be. Would be repeated in reverse order. Or. I never expected the whole. Story of the whole testament. To be. Structured like this.
[45:26] So. I was sitting down. A couple weeks ago. And. And I was thinking. I wonder. I'm just going to play with it. See. See. Because it starts with the promise. I already knew. Promise made.
[45:37] Promise fulfilled. Okay. What if those are the. What if we go kind of. And I just kind of plotted them out. And. I had to change a couple themes. Because remember.
[45:47] We had for act eight. Was hope. I had to change it to. Redemption. Because. Look. It's a similar redemption. From slavery. I started to.
[45:58] You know. I started to see. Oh. There's an echoing here. And lo and behold. Can you imagine. Now. Maybe you're not into. Chiazms. You're into Chiazms.
[46:08] This is like. This is like. Mount Olympus. And. If you turn it. From this way. To this way. Then you see. David's the mountaintop.
[46:20] It's uphill. And then it's all downhill. After that. I. That just shows. God's sovereign. Providence. His. His direction.
[46:31] And planning. Yeah. Bart. Where's the Chiazms. Going forward from here. Well. So. Next. We're doing. Spiritual Guest. For the summer.
[46:41] Right. Okay. I thought. We talked about that. Last week. And then. We're going to go to Luke. So we'll see. Is there a Chiazms.
[46:53] Between. You mean. New Testament. To. Revelation. Revelation. Have to look. I don't know. I bet it's there. Well. That's. This. This.
[47:03] Really. Your teachings. On this. Was really. An eye opener. For me. Right. You know. I had. Gone through the Old Testament. Before. Read it. A lot of stories. But now.
[47:14] You see. The connections. Yeah. Things start coming together. Say. I can see this pattern. Yeah. I can see the way it's working. Yeah. I can see that it's more than just a series of broken stories.
[47:26] Right. Because that's the way I originally read it. It's just. Okay. These are. You have the law to start with. And then. The broken stories that go on on the history. Yeah.
[47:36] It's considered the whole thing a history. Yeah. Until. You brought this out. And then. These things that I've read. Start coming together. The links start falling into place.
[47:46] And I can see this. Pattern emerge. Where is it going forward? From here. Let's connect some more dots.
[48:00] That's exactly right. So. When we did the Gospel of Mark. Three. Four years ago. That's what Jesus would repeat to his disciples. He said. He would use the term. Have you.
[48:10] Do you understand? And when you look up that word understand. It means to bring something together. Do you. Have you connected? So I started interpreting as.
[48:21] Connect the dots. Guys. Are you connecting the dots yet? Do you see who I am? Because. Remember when they ask questions. What would Jesus do? Well.
[48:31] What do you think? Right. He'd put them on them. I'm not. You think about it. You think it through. You need to connect the dots. I expect you. To do the work.
[48:43] And figure this out. I'm going to give you plenty of hints. And then the upper room. He did show them all the dots. Right. He opened their minds.
[48:55] To understand the scriptures. He took them from Moses. All the way through. And showed them. Himself. So that they could preach. For the next 30 years. Before any Gospels were written.
[49:11] Well. For the next 60 years. Because how long it would take. To get those Gospels circulating around. Right. Anyway. Thank you Bart. That's. Thank you.
[49:22] And I think the challenge is. I don't think it'll be this kind of structure. In the new system. I think it'll just be. I don't know. Now I'm curious. Now. Now I got an assignment to do.
[49:34] While I'm. Living in a van. Down by the river. For the next three weeks. Because that's what I'm looking forward to. Is taking my sword.
[49:44] And just. Not studying. Just reading. What do you got? Thinking we're doing Luke.
[49:57] In the fall. We'll see. Okay. Any other. You ready?
[50:07] Okay. Good. Got it all? Good. You will be blessed the next few weeks. Richard.
[50:20] Middle name Nehemiah. Bring you the word. Yes you are. And then.
[50:32] Marco. And then. Zechariah. You got an Old Testament prophet coming. Zechariah. Give us the good news.
[50:43] Concerning. The walk for life. And how that relates to us. Yeah. Vital stuff. So. Looking forward to it. Thank you Father.
[50:55] For your word. Thank you for. Opening. Beginning. Beginning. Beginning to open our eyes. To see. Lord. What you have been doing. All along. And now.
[51:06] Give us. Lord. That anticipation. Of what you're. Still doing. And will do. We pray. In Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Good.