How to Interpret the Bible | Let's Talk Biblical | Episode 4

if you love talking about the Bible as much as I do then I think you really enjoy this show Welcome to list talk biblical the podcast where we dig deep into the heart of scripture explore Timeless truths and have real conversations about what the Bible says and how it applies to us my my name is Lex and I want to thank you for joining me on today's episode so grab your bible get comfortable and let's talk biblical how should we interpret the Bible Understanding the Bible is foundational to growing in our faith yet so many Christians struggle with knowing how to interpret the Bible correctly today we're going to talk about the basic principles of Bible interpretation so grab your bible get comfortable and let's talk biblical I try to challenge people to remove their lens of interpretation and look at the Bible with fresh eyes but what does that mean what is a lens of interpretation and what does it mean to see the Bible with fresh eyes a lens of interpretation refers to any preconceived idea or bias you might have about something your lens could be influenced by any religious cultural racial psychological or social bias you might have for example there are some Churches today that teach against homosexuality while other churches teach that there's nothing wrong with homosexuality and some even allow homosexual pastors all of these churches claim to be teaching what the Bible says but they're interpreting the text very differently this is because they have a particular lens they use to interpret the Bible why do Calvinists believe in predestination yet wlans believe in Free Will how can they both look at the same Bible and see two different concepts it's because of their particular lens of interpretation every student of theology learns about EXA Jesus and Isa Jesus and every Theologian believes themselves to be faithful to ex to Jesus but if we're honest with ourselves we have to admit that we all have preconceived ideas about certain things in the Bible this means we all have ideas and understandings that we need to set aside if we truly want to understand the Bible if you were raised as a Catholic you were taught to see the Bible through a Catholic lens if you're raised as a Baptist you were taught to interpret the scriptures with the Baptist lens Pentecostals have one lens and Presbyterians have another lens the challenge is learning how to set aside that lens of interpretation and to see the Bible with fresh eyes like you're reading it for the first time Proverbs 3:5 says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding interpreting the Bible correctly requires us to trust in the Lord and lean not on our own understanding this means we have to let the holy spirit guide us in understanding the Bible instead of looking at a verse or a passage with the mindset that you already understand it try looking at it through the eyes of a child who's reading it for the first time don't lean on your own understanding seek fresh understanding from the Bible itself to do this we have to approach the scriptures with humility stop thinking we know so much and come with a heart that's eager to learn we're supposed to approach the Lord with humility this means we also need to approach his word with humility not pridefully thinking we already have it figured out the humble man is hungry for the word of God the Bible says that God humbled the children of Israel and allowed them to get hungry then he gave them Mana to eat and this example was given to teach the people to live by the word of God Deuteronomy 8:3 says so he humbled you allowed you to hunger and fed you with Mana which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the lord we need to approach the word of God with humility take a moment to consider the giving of Mana in the wilderness the Israelites called the bread from God Mana because they didn't know what it was the word Mana that literally means what is it this is a good way to begin our search of scripture ask yourself the question what is this text trying to say instead of assuming you already understand it Exodus 16:15 says so when the children of Israel saw it they said to one another what is it for they did not know what it was and Moses said to them this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat Exodus 16:31 says and the house of Israel called its name mana and it was like white coriander seed and the taste of it was like Wafers made with honey the children of Israel humbly ate the bread that God provided even though they didn't know what it was this is how we should approach the scriptures we need to come with the mindset that we don't have the knowledge or understanding but we're hungry for truth and we have a desire to be fed by the word of God we have to determine that we don't know much because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 82 and if anyone thinks he knows anything he knows nothing yet as he ought to know even the Apostle Paul who was trained by one of the leading rabbis of his day said in 1 Corinthians 2:2 for I have determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified when we approach the scriptures with humility we're posturing ourselves to receive instruction a disciple sits at the feet of the master to sit at the feet is to take a place of humility and humility is the only posture that will allow you to learn when you think you already know everything you're preventing yourself from learning and hindering your grow growth so the first thing every Bible student must do is learn how to approach the Bible with humility by setting aside any preconceived ideas or biases you might have and look at the Bible with fresh eyes like it's your first time reading it 2 Timothy 2:15 says do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly explaining the word of Truth we should all desire to rightly explain the word of God that should be the desire of any Bible student all Christians agree that the Bible is the word of God but they disagree about how this word is to be interpreted and applied Christians aren't divided because of the word we're divided because of our interpretation of the word therefore we need to be cautious about how we interpret the scriptures we don't want to be guilty of twisting the word by teaching something it never meant to say so the first thing we need to understand about biblical interpretation is to let the Bible interpret itself we should never try to impose our ideas onto the Bible we have to let the Bible explain and interpret itself the Bible gives us context for understanding the meaning of the text the Bible also defines and explains itself in many ways we have to use the biblical explanation and not try to reinterpret Things based on our own modern assumptions for example in Acts 10 when Peter receives a vision from God of a sheet filled with wild animals and he hears a voice telling him what God has cleansed you must not call common in Acts 10:15 a voice spoke to him again the second time saying what God has cleansed you must not call common the Bible actually tells us exactly how to interpret this Vision but many Christians ignore the biblical interpretation and they apply their own bias in their interpretation saying that Peter's vision makes all unclean animals now clean for food but that's not even close to what the Bible says about this Vision listen to the biblical interpretation of Peter's vision acts 10:28 then he said to them you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another Nation but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean Peter interpreted the vision to be about taking the gospel to the Gentiles and said nothing about changing the dietary laws we are given the exact interpretation of this Vision therefore we cannot reinterpret this passage to mean something different when preachers take this passage out of context and use it to justify eating unclean animals they're twisting the scripture into lawlessness interestingly Peter warns us about untaught and unstable people who twist the scriptures to suit their own desires 2 Peter 3:16 Says as also in all of his Epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also the rest of the scriptures therefore we need to be careful that we don't twist the scriptures in our interpretation of them 2 Timothy 2:15 says do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him a worker who has no need to be ashamed rightly explaining the word of Truth this is why understanding the difference between EXA Jesus and Isa Jesus is so important so I want to take a moment to explain what those words mean EXA Jesus and Isa Jesus are two conflicting approaches to biblical interpretation and it's important to understand the differences between them EXA Jesus approaches the scriptures with care seeking to understand what God Said in his word while Isa Jesus uses the scriptures to mean whatever they want it to say exod Jesus means to lead out from the text by using a careful objective study to draw meaning and understanding from the text itself exod Jesus looks at the grammar of the text and the culture in which the text was written and it seeks to understand the text in the same way the original audience would have understood it at the time it was written ex Jesus means The Interpreter is led to his conclusions by following the text the process of EXA Jesus involves four steps observation interpretation Corel ation and application observation asked the question what does the text say interpretation asked what does the text mean correlation asks what is the relationship between this text and the rest of scripture and application asks how do I apply this text to my life Isa Jesus on the other hand means to lead into the text by imposing one's own ideas and agendas onto the text The Interpreter makes the text mean whatever he wants it to this is referred to as reading into the text because they're reading their preconceived ideas into the text instead of drawing meaning from the text this method is often used to create a confirmation bias or a proof text to support a previously held Doctrine or agenda someone might have Isa Jesus gives no concern for what the author intended or how his audience might have understood it this results in a sloppy and selfish approach to the scriptures that must be avoided unfortunately this method is commonly used by preachers and teachers in churches of of all denominations Isa Jesus seems to ask the question what idea do I want to present and what Bible passage seems to fit my idea in doing this they're often accused of taking the Bible out of context because they ignore the meaning of a particular verse in the context of events surrounding it within the passage or the Bible as a whole for example the devil used Isa Jesus when he tried to tempt Yeshua in the wilderness Matthew 4:5 and7 says then the devil took him up into the holy city and set him on the Pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the Son of God throw yourself down for it is written he shall give his angels charge over you and in their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone Jesus said to him it is written again you shall not tempt the Lord your God the devil was quoting scripture from Psalm 91 but he was mishandling it and twisting it for his own purpose Psalm 91 gives us comfort in knowing that God is watching over his people and he protects us from danger but it was never meant to be used to conclude that we could jump off a building and not be harmed this is why exod Jesus is the only legitimate approach to Bible interpretation we must let the text lead us not the other way around how we interpret the scripture reflects our opinion about the authority and inspiration of the word if we place high value on the scripture we'll take great care to maintain the correct understanding of it but if we place little value on the scripture then we'll use it to suit our own agendas when you read something into a Biblical text that was was not intended by the author you're doing Isa Jesus you're imposing your ideas onto the text and twisting it to suit your own agendas the Bible warns us about people who do this 2 Timothy 4 3-4 says for the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will Heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables that's exactly what Isa Jesus does it replaces the truth of scripture with clever deceptions that support and encourage their false beliefs they tickle the ears of people by teaching things that people want to hear people like to come up with their own private interpretation of scripture we see this when someone disagrees with something and they say that's not what it means to me or I interpret that differently this type of private interpretation is both arrogant and disrespectful to the scriptures 2 Peter 1:20-21 says knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit the correct way to interpret scripture is known as EXA Jesus which as I stated before means to draw out indicating that we are drawing out the true meaning from the text this means we need to understand the context and culture of the author exod Jesus is defined as the careful systematic study of the scripture to discover the original intended meaning of the text where Isa Jesus asked the question what does it mean to me EXA Jesus asks what did the author intend his readers to understand EXA Jesus is concerned with discovering the true meaning of the text respecting its grammar context and setting Isa Jesus however is only concerned with making a point even at the expense of sacrificing the true meaning of the text our responsibility as Bible students is to draw out the truth from the scriptures not try to make the Bible say whatever we want it to say a great question to ask ourselves is am I allowing the Bible to change my thinking or am I only interested in confirming my own ideas if you're just looking for proof text to support your theory then you're imposing your ideas onto the Bible instead of letting the Bible lead your understanding if we want to interpret the Bible correctly we need to let go of any preconceived ideas we have and let the Bible interpret itself but what does it mean to let the Bible interpret itself the first thing we need to do is let the bible define words for us when you're studying a word word look at how that word is used everywhere else in the Bible so you can get a better understanding of the meaning of the word another way to let the Bible interpret itself is to work from simple to complex let the simple easy to understand texts help you define and understand the more complex verses remember that context is always needed to find understanding if you're looking at a particular verse then read the entire chapter for context also look for cross references to that verse to see where else it is used and read those passages for context as as well this brings us to hermeneutics hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation especially the interpretation of biblical text hermeneutics deals with what principles we use to interpret a text Bible interpretation is the method of explaining the scriptures in a way that can be understood and applied within Christian hermeneutics there have emerged four primary ways to interpret the scriptures and these are defined as the literal moral allegorical and anagogical these four methods are consistent with the Jewish method of interpretation known as pares which is an acronym for pasat RZ Das and sod these are understood by Jewish tradition to be the four methods of understanding and interpreting the scripture when comparing the Christian methods with the Jewish methods we find that they're strikingly similar the first method is the literal interpretation or the pat level the literal interpretation seeks out the plain meaning of a Biblical text the Bible should always be interpreted in its literal meaning first before attempting Define meaning in any other method because the literal meaning is the primary intended meaning of the text this doesn't mean that every passage of the scripture should be interpreted literally but the focus is on the plain simple understanding of the text the second method of interpretation is through typology or the remz level this methodology connects the events of the Old Testament with the New Testament by drawing allegorical connections between the events of Christ's life with the stories of the Old Testament typological interpretation views the the biblical narratives as having a secondary level of meaning interpreting people and events in the Old Testament as foreshadowing people and events in the New Testament the third method of interpretation is tropological or the Das level this type of interpretation is concerned with identifying moral metaphors in the text it's concerned with the moral of the story this type of interpretation seeks to reveal the ethics and moral principles behind the text this method seeks Fuller understanding by searching for similar occurrences in other passages this is done by comparing similar passages in the Bible for themes and ethical principles the fourth type of interpretation is anagogical or the sod level this refers to the secret or hidden meaning of the text this method refers to an upward climb and it looks for the mystical and spiritual meaning of the text and often points towards the afterlife this type of interpretation deals with prophecy and future events such as Heaven hell and end times judgment anagogical interet a seeks to interpret scripture in view of the life to come the focus is placed on Messianic prophecies and the study of the last days thus the four types of interpretation or meaning deal with the past events or literal the connection of past events with the present typological present events moral and the Future anagogical these four methods of interpretation are meant to complement one another and deepen our understanding of the scriptures they build upon each other and expand and our understanding of the text and they should never be used to compete with one another the allegorical moral and anagogical interpretations of a text should never conflict or contradict the literal interpretation of the text as a rule the extended meanings will never contradict the simple plain meaning of the text they simply complement the text and bring a fuller meaning to it one way of explaining these methods of interpretation is that they Point our attention in four different directions as we study the scriptures we look backwards to the Past at the literal understanding we look forwards to the Future fulfillment in the allegorical method we look downward towards man and Morality In the moral interpretation and we look upward towards the Heavenly and spiritual in the anagogical approach the Apostle Paul uses all four methods of interpretation regularly in his Epistles when speaking about the Seed of Abraham Paul uses two different methods of interpretation in different passages in Romans Paul uses a literal interpretation of seed meaning the literal descendant of Abraham when he says in Romans 11:1 I say then has God Cast Away his people certainly not for I also am an Israelite of the Seed of Abraham of The Tribe of Benjamin however in Galatians he uses an allegorical interpretation of that word saying Galatians 3:16 now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he does not say and to seeds as of many but as of one and to your seed who is Christ Paul is not contradicting himself here here he's simply showing us there are multiple ways to interpret the same scripture this also shows us that one interpretation does not supered or undo another but they complement one another in their meaning Paul also used the moral or derash method of interpretation when he said in Galatians 5:14 for all the laws fulfilled in one word even this you shall love your neighbor as yourself this understanding is based on his careful study of all the Commandments found in the Torah and he concluded that they find their fulfillment in the Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself this is comparable to what Yeshua said when he was asked about the greatest commandment in the law Matthew 22 35-4 says then one of them a lawyer asked him a question testing him and saying teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments hang all the law and the prophets Paul also employed The Sod or anagogical method when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:21 through 23 for since Man Came Death by man also came the resurrection of the Dead for as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive but each one in his own order Christ the first fruits afterward those who are Christ at his coming he shows us a deeper and hidden meaning of the text relating to Adam and the curse of mankind by explaining the purpose of of Christ coming as the new adom to redeem the Fallen Humanity Yeshua did this as well when he rebuked the Pharisees for trying to justify divorce saying in Matthew 19 4-6 and he answered and said to them have you not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female and he said for this reason man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so then they are no longer two but one flesh therefore what God has joined together let not man separate his interpretation of the Vincent Genesis gives us a deeper meaning of what marriage is supposed to be it's not a flimsy thing that can be tossed aside for any reason marriage is meant to join a man and a woman together for the rest of their lives this method of interpretation can also be used here to say that marriage is only between a man and a woman and cannot refer to a man with a man or a woman with a woman it's proper and correct to interpret the meaning of a man shall leave his father mother and be joined to his wife as a reference to heterosexual marriage between a man and a woman likewise it's also proper and correct to interpret this text to mean only one man and one woman and not multiple partners the goal of biblical interpretation is to understand and explain the meaning of the text this requires us to examine the context and culture in which it was written to study the language and specific words that were used to compare it with other similar passages of scripture and to establish a consistent message that aligns with all the above criteria letting the Bible interpret itself we always begin with a l Al understanding of the text and develop a deeper understanding based on the plain reading of the text we never want to impose or project our ideas or agendas onto the text we always want to seek the true meaning and understanding of the scriptures and base our doctrines accordingly now I want to talk about what I believe is the most important thing to keep in mind when studying the Bible and that is the entire Bible is about Yeshua from Genesis to Revelation it's all about Yeshua this is one of the most important Revelations the disciples learned that helped them interpret the scriptures Yeshua explained that everything that was written in the Old Testament was about him and the Bible tells us that this opened their understanding to comprehend the scriptures Luke 24:27 says and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself 44-45 says then he said to them these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures if we don't understand this biblical truth that the whole Bible speaks about Yeshua then we'll never be able to correctly interpret the scriptures in fact Yeshua rebuked the Pharisees because even though they were searching the scriptures they didn't understand that the scriptures were testifying about Yeshua John 5:39 says you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me if we're not finding Yeshua in the scriptures then we're missing the deeper meaning of the text our study of the Bible should always point us to Yeshua and draw our hearts closer to him 2 Peter 2:1 says but there were also false prophets among the people even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves Swift destruction we're seeing more and more of these false teachers who lead people away from Yeshua with their destructive interpretations of the Bible this is the greatest tragedy I see in teachers today instead of finding issu in the text they're leading people away from Yeshua Hebrews 1389 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever do not be carried about by various and strange doctrines God doesn't change and God's word doesn't change Yeshua is the same yesterday today and forever so when someone brings in a new teaching something you haven't heard before you caution test it out study the scriptures to find out if it's true and examine the fruit of that teacher if the fruit is bad the root is bad Matthew 7:1 15-20 says beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves you will know them by their fruits do men gather grapes from Thorn bushes or figs from thistles even so every good tree Bears good fruit but a bad tree Bears Bad fruit a good tree cannot bear bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire therefore by their fruits you will know them the task of proper Bible interpretation is important which is why Yeshua appoints people to be Apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers because they're needed for teaching correct Doctrine and their job is to prevent people from being led astray by false teachings Ephesians 4:11 says and he himself gave some to be apostles some prophets some evangelists and some pastors and teachers verse 14 says that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting all Bible students should be careful in how they interpret the Bible but Bible teachers have an even greater responsibility because their wrong interpretations can lead people astray and they will be held accountable for anything they teach that causes someone else to fall away James 3:1 says my brethren let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment interpreting the Bible correctly is both a privilege and a responsibility we need to be careful that we don't leave people astray with lazy and irresponsible interpretations of the Bible when we approach the scriptures with humility seeking to understand the text in context as it was intended we grow closer to God and we understand his word more clearly hey friends if you've been enjoying the show and you want to help keep the conversation going then we' love your support L's talk biblical is a listener supported podcast and we couldn't do this without you your support helps keep this show running for more information about how you can support this ministry visit unlearn theel lives.com and thank you so much for being a part of lit's talk biblical now that we've explored the depths of today's topic it's time to hear from you welcome to the Q&A portion of the show where you can ask questions about today's topic so post your questions in the chat and let's talk biblical all right hey guys uh so the first question we have tonight is is it wrong to watch the Discovery Channel on the Sabbath videos about Wildlife marine life and nature um you know that's that's an interesting question I think we've got to be I think all of us have to be diligent about examining what we do in any day of our life but especially um on the Sabbath and and are the things we doing on the Sabbath uh glorifying to God or are they somehow defiling the Sabbath um and so you know when you when it comes to you know things like the Discovery Channel educational uh types of videos um I think the first thing you need to ask your qu the the first question you need to ask is is this glorifying to God um you know I think some of those things the the thrust of the Discovery Channel seems to be pushing A anti-biblical agenda in some ways and so they'll talk about Evolution they'll talk about you know billions of years ago this happened millions of years ago this happened um and so is that is that something you want to be uh watching and entertaining yourself with on the Sabbath that I think that's a question you need to wrestle with um I don't think it's necessarily something you can say it's always bad or you know something like that I think sometimes you even have to look at the specific content you know so uh like for example I think Discovery Channel sometimes has documentaries on uh archaeology of the Bible and uh finding uh various biblical places and and things that prove the Bible um that might be kind of a a cool thing to watch on on Shabbat um but you know if they're talking about uh you know billions of years ago dinosaurs rolled the Earth and uh man didn't come along for you know millions of years later and that kind of stuff then um you know or even mankind a million years ago did this well mankind wasn't around a million years ago um those kinds of things I think can be questionable and problematic in in many ways and not necessarily for the Sabbath specifically but just for Christianity in general and just to be aware that um they have an agenda that they're trying to push and that agenda is anti-biblical um and so just be aware of those things but I don't think you can necessarily say yes or no to that question I think it's something that you need to wrestle with for you and whether um it is is okay for you to do that or not um I I personally don't really watch the Discovery Channel so you know I don't I can't really say one way or the other for me if I would watch on the Sabbath or not because I don't really watch it um but I do know that when we watch things on the Sabbath we are um careful with what kinds of things we might watch and so we'll pick if we watch a movie we try to pick a Christian movie um sometimes we'll watch the chosen sometimes we'll watch um you know some other kind of Christian movie production um you know the the the War Room God's Not Dead you know things like that um and you know if our kids watch anything cartoons and stuff on the Sabbath uh we we haven't watch Biblical types of things and so they watch like super book or um see what's another one they like allegories is a kind of a bible-based cartoon about owls um you know things like that and so we we've even had him uh you know watch various things on YouTube that are Bible related um but I would just say you know when when you're especially on the Sabbath um you're your choices for entertainment content should be uh very specific and you know you should be specific by what you watch all the time and be pretty choosy and and picky about what you watch and be careful about the content of what you're consuming but especially I think on the Sabbath um so that you're not polluting or defiling the Sabbath with with something horrible all right Tracy has a question says thinking Kingdom thoughts says question could you explain Yeshua how Yeshua was interpreted as Jesus since the original language does not have the letter J all right so um which you're actually asking about is a translation um so how was how did Yeshua end up being translated as Jesus and so we have in the Old Testament we have Yeshua and yahushua are the the names that are used for Joshua son of nun and um that same name is translated into Greek as yesus both yahushua and Yeshua are translated as yesus into Greek into the sepagan well when we get to the New Testament and we see the name for Yeshua it is yesus and references to Joshua son of nun is also Yus son of nun um and so we have the same name for Joshua and Jesus in Hebrew is yahoshua or Yeshua and in Greek it's Yus well when you translate Greek into English um it it originally was translated um yesu or yesus in English and then about 500 years ago roughly um the English Lane the English language um kind of changed and they made some adjustments and so the letter I used to be a vowel and a consonant and when it was used as a consonant they started pronouncing it with a J and so they so prior to about 500 years ago the J didn't exist and then when they created the J to represent the consonant form of the I and so um if you look in like a 1611 King James Bible um it may still have Yus instead of Jesus um because I think that might have been before the change where the J became a consonant um but so the the I could be used as a vowel or consonant prior to the invention of the J when the J was invented about 500 years ago the J began to adopt the I consonant so when the I was a consonant they used the j instead so then it became uh Jesus instead of Yus and so that's how English developed into Jesus um and so it's based on the Greek and not the Hebrew um and when we look at the Old Testament we have yahoshua which was translated from Hebrew to English because when they were translating the Bibles they took the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament and so the Hebrew Old Testament they had yahoshua so they translated yhoshua into English as Joshua well then they took the English New Testament the Greek uh the Greek New Testament and translated Yus to Jesus that's why the names are different yahoshua is different from Jesus even though they have the same Hebrew name um but anyway hopefully that that's helpful um all right SG o86 says who are the seven spirits before God's throne in Revelation chapter 4 are they seven angels before God's Throne mentioned in Revelation 8 in Hebrews chapter 1 angels are called spirits okay so let's just look at some of these verses so Revelation 4 and let's go and pull this up and let's see there 24 Thrones um living [Music] creatures 24 elders uh let's see where's it at uh see holy holy holy oh here it is okay verse five Revelation 4:5 and from the throne proceed Lightnings thunderings and voices seven lamps where uh a fire were burning Before the Throne which are the seven spirits of God okay and then let's go to Revelation 8 and let's see open the seventh seal I saw the seven angels uh who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets okay um so the seven spirits in four seven angels in eight and then uh Hebrews chapter 1 uh uh okay here it is verse 7 and of the angels He says who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire okay so we have um seven angels mentioned in Revelation 4 I'm sorry seven spirits mentioned in Revelation 4 and we have um Spirits mentioned again in Revelation 8 and then we have here in Hebrews 1 it says that um these angels are spirits and they are ministers uh his ministers a flame of fire and so they're a flame of fire um I think that's interesting I want to look up something else real quick um so something else to think about is um Revelation one John to the seven churches who are in Asia Grace and uh to peace from him who is who is and was and is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and to the angel of the church at Sardis right okay so uh we have the seven spirits who are Before the Throne and then we have an angel in the church so we have a distinction being made from the spirits and Angels here um I think that's interesting and I'm going to look up uh another verse here real quick hang on just a second uh let's see there's a verse I think it's an Isaiah Isiah 11 let's see if that's it uh no I two and three I'm sorry wrong verse okay the spirit of the Lord this is Isaiah 11:2 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 of the fear of the Lord his Delight is in the fear of the Lord and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor decide by the hearing of his ears okay so uh the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord so we have seven spirits mentioned here um is that the seven spirits in Revelation uh you know it's it's one of those things where this is a topic that we could probably do a lot of in-depth digging on and look at a lot of different verses to try to um connect dots I think it's possible uh that it could be referring to seven angels I think it's possible it could be referring to uh seven spirits of God um that are like the Holy Spirit or it could be a reference to the Holy Spirit himself in seven different forms it could be the gifts of the Spirit because we have here we have uh wisdom understanding counsel might knowledge fear of the Lord um those are things that could be considered gifts um there are a number of different ways that you could probably look at this um but there's it's it's not something that I think I could just give you an answer right away uh I'm looking for another vers here real quick first John 4 okay beloved do not believe every Spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world okay so here we have an example that there are spirits from God and there are spirits that are not from God and so um I think the main point to take out of uh Revelation 4 is that these are references to Spirits from God and so um let's go back over to Revelation 4 again okay and from the throne proceed Lightnings thunderings and voices seven lamps of fire were burning Before the Throne which are the seven spirits of God okay so we know the holy spirit is uh God's spirit right so we have father son Holy Spirit um this seems to be something separate from the Holy Spirit and so what are these seven spirits of God I I I tend to think it has something to do with uh Isaiah 11 and so those seven spirits mentioned in Isaiah 11 but that there also could be a connection with angels but it seems like angels are not talked about in the same way that these Spirits are um and so it's it's not really clear and I I would I would hesitate to make a definite statement that yes or no these are seven spirits are angels or no they're not Angels um I think that that's something that is not super clear and so I I really don't want to weigh in on that too much um just because I don't think it's super clear what they are um let's see uh I'm looking for another question Nick says uh oh here we go Nick says don't forget to put question all caps before your question so Lex can easily see them exactly right um make sure you tell me it's a question so I can find it faster so I'm not trying to read through every single post trying to find a question here um I saw a comment um and it looks like okay yeah Salvador says the birds are flying above the Earth across the face of the firmament and then it says the first Heaven is where the spirit of God remains hovering that is what breathing that's what we breathing the spirit that gives life and it's not oxygen um next time you see a double rainbow just pay attention and God will show you I'm not really sure what you're actually saying um and I don't actually see a question here um I have a feeling because you use the word firmament uh the Angels the birds flying across the face of the firmament I have a feeling you're trying to say something about Flat Earth um but I'm not sure what exactly you're saying um you kind of seem to be talking in partial thoughts not complete thoughts um but let me go ahead and just talk about since since you kind of mentioned for a minut let's talk about flight Earth a little bit is it proper biblical interpretation to translate uh firmament as a dome over the earth I I really hesitate on that one I I think that that is let's actually look at uh Genesis 1 and verse 6 then God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters thus God made thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which run under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so God called the firmament heaven so the he the evening and the morning were the second day okay so um when we're looking at creation and we see this and the so let's look at the the different ways of of interpretation so you have the literal allegorical um the moral and the um anagogical so we have the literal interpretation is that God divided the heavens from the earth he divided the waters above from the waters blow and um when you look at that literally is he saying that there is literally a um Waters up above and Waters down below or is he saying that he's he's making a division so let's go ahead and um let me go back here just a second in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth the Earth was without form and void uh without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters okay so we have basically right now we have darkness and water chaos okay and when you're looking into uh he Hebrew thought and and uh the uh Mediterranean world the the ancient near East the idea of waters represents chaos and so right here we have there's without form of void and darkness and Waters and so this just is is basically talking about chaos it's talking about a a place without order a place of um darkness is there's no light there's it's it's dark there's chaos it's scary um it's not safe and that's that's kind of the the picture that's being painted here and God saw oh I'm sorry and and God said let there be light and there was light so it's darkness and he says we need light let there be light so then there's light well that that light helps take away some of the chaos it helps take away some of the darkness helps take away some of the scariness and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness so then he separated the light from Darkness so Darkness still exists but it's it's contrasted with light and so light um exists to expel the darkness and darkness exists only when light is not present and so we have this separation being made and this separation is um is is Holiness and so you have sanctification separation let something be separate from something else and so right here we have holiness already beginning and so we have separation of light from Darkness Holiness uh is represented by light that is separated from the darkness and um so that separation is is what Holiness comes from that Holiness is is um sanctification it means to be separate and so right here in in the very first day God creates Holiness and he called the light day and the Darkness he called night so the evening and the morning morning where the first day the God said let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters let it divide the waters from the waters so we have now there Waters that were chaos now he's dividing the waters and he's making a separation so that that the um vastness of water now is collected into two different portions and so there's a separation between the waters okay and thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firment from the waters which were above the firmament and it was so so he he separated the water so there's chaos and he separated it so he's he's Conquering the chaos and God that called the fir Heaven uh so the evening and the morning were the second day okay so the firmament is heaven um Heaven is referred to another places Heaven is the place where the the birds fly Heaven is the place where the sun moon and stars are Heaven is the place where God's Throne is um the Bible talks about different layers of Heaven you know Paul talks about the third heaven uh there's mentions of the highest Heaven and the heights of heaven and so well is heaven a dome is heaven a firm solid uh Shield basically it's hard to draw that that conclusion when you when you look at all the other things that heaven is uh Heaven is the place where birds fly so it's reference to the sky Heaven is a place where the sun and moon and stars are it's a reference to um the uh the night sky the solar system the universe whatever you want to call it um it's it's the place where sun and moon and stars are heaven is also a place where God's Throne is and so this this firmament this Division and let's actually look up this word firmament so Genesis 81 and let me pull up here real quick and let's look at this exact word here in [Music] Hebrew Genesis 8 I'm sorry Start Genesis 1 Genesis 18 in [Music] Hebrew and in Hebrew it means expanse firmament um visible arch of the sky uh derived from the root word raaka meaning to spread out or to stretch um translate as ferment or expand uh in the in subt tuent rakia refers to expans or firment that God created to separate the waters above from the waters below op as the sky or the heavens serving as a dome likee structure that encompasses the Earth in biblical creation narrative is described as a significant part of the ordered Cosmos demonstrating God's sovereignty and creative power um let's see the firment was seen as a boundary between the Divine Earth and Realms highlighting the order and structure of creation okay it can be an extended surface or an expanse um and let's see where else it's used so uh Genesis 16 left it be expans uh 17 the EXP SE separated um 18 we just read 114 let there be lights in the expanse uh 115 let them be for lights and expanse 120 in the open expanse of the heavens that's interesting one Genesis let's pull up that verse real quick and God said let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures and let the birds fly above the Earth across the face of the ferment of the heavens okay so um in let me see if I can switch translations here let's try this one okay the Amplified says and God said let the waters bring forth abundantly and swarm with living creatures and let birds fly over the Earth in the open expanse of the heavens okay so that's interesting that they uh fly in the open expanse of the heavens now let's go to let me go back to the new King James let the waters abound in abund in abundance with an abundance of living creatures and let the birds fly above the Earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens okay so open expanse of the heavens or the firmament of the heavens are two different ways that this word is translated um and now let's let me see Psalm 191 let's pull up that one and see what that says there we go okay the heavens declar the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork okay that didn't really tell us a all I did it uh let's keep going so this what I'm doing right now is is I'm I'm looking at various places in the Bible where this word is used and so as we're doing a word study um Psalm 150 verse one we can see if any of these definitions and and how this word is used helps us better clarify what this word means praise the Lord play praise God in his Sanctuary praise him in his mighty firmament um H again that doesn't really tell us a whole lot Ezekiel 1122 let's look at that one the likeness of the firmament above uh let's back up just a hair okay 21 Ezekiel 121 when those went uh these went when those stood these stood when those were lifted up from the earth the wheels were lifted up together with them from for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels the likeness of the firment above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome Crystal stretched out over the heads um Okay so the likeness of the firment above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome Crystal stretched out over their heads okay so their head was like a crystal and it was similar to the firmament similar to the the sky or the the heavens above and under the firmament their wings spread out straight one towards another each one had two which covered the side each one had two which cover the other side of the body okay uh so under the firment the wings spread out straight again that doesn't really tell us a whole lot could be referring to to the sky could be referring to the expanse could be referring to the heavens so let's keep going um uh 125 so let's keep going verse 25 a voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads whenever they stood they let down their wings okay so something came from above the firmament so there's something beyond the firmament that was speaking to them and above the ferment uh over their heads was the likeness of a throne in appearance like a sapphire stone on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it okay um so we have a throne above the firmament let's keep going um Ezekiel 101 and I looked and there in the firmament was above the head of the cherubim there appeared something like a sapphire stone having the appearance and likeness of a throne okay similar statement to what we just read um Daniel 123 those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever okay shine like the brightness of the firmament so he's talking about the brightness of the sky and so what's interesting is that at nighttime you don't see the brightness you see a dark sky with little specks of light in the stars and maybe maybe the moon's out maybe it's not but you might have some extra light for the moon but I wouldn't consider the the dark sky at night time brightness um so obviously he's talking about daylight brightness so the brightness in the daylight how the um firmament shines well is that the firmament itself isn't shining the firmament is bright because the sun is shining um so what is this saying it's not real clear uh let's see is there any other references to this word okay so that's really it so expanse the brightness of the expanse or the brightness of the firmament well they both could be basically seen the same way it's the sky is bright because the sun's out um is it saying that there's a dome over the Earth not necessarily maybe maybe not um and even if there is a dome does that mean that the Earth is flat maybe maybe not um you know if you think about a uh if you know if you have I'm going to I'm going to look at a um both both perspectives so let's say you have a um a ball and the Earth is this ball and there's land and there's water and it's all on this ball and then beyond this ball there's sky and past the sky there's something containing the atmosphere some sort of a solid is something that's separating the atmosphere of Earth from space okay or from the heavens um that could be could be what the firm is referring to is whatever that solid is separator is that keeps the atmosphere in Earth and prevents the atmosphere from escaping out into the heavens or out into the universe okay well then the other option is you have a uh let's say I don't really have a dome so you have a flat surface and you put a glass jar over it and the ferment represents this glass jar on top of a flat surface well what is underneath this flat surface is there something underneath it it would make sense that this would also cover the bottom as well as the top uh to contain whatever so I I don't know that the word firment necessarily means that the Earth is flat as people who are plat earthers want to say they they always look to the firmament as as the the thing that says oh this is definitely proof that the Earth is flat I don't think it necessarily is um the firment is just something that separates what's above from what's below and that's what we see in Genesis that's what we see in Ezekiel that's what we see in Daniel is that there's something separating the heavens from the earth and that separation is is is What's called the firmament or the expanse or whatever you want to call it but it's the thing that separates Heaven from Earth well that separation is good right because God said it was good um the separation the birds fly in that across the face of it um sun moon and stars are in uh in the expanse or in the in the firmament let's see here let me find it real quick um okay and let's go and pull up Genesis 1:14 then God said let there be lights in the firmament of the Heavens to divide the day from the night and that they be for signs and seasons for days and years okay so there's lights in the firmament um so how thick is this ferment is this ferment inches deep is it feet deep is it miles deep is it vast humongous separation separates Heaven from Earth we don't know so is the firmament the universe where the sun moon and stars are if you know if if the um you know scientists and uh astrology and astronomers and and people like that if they're correct that the there's this vast universe that seems to go on and on and on that we haven't found an into to it yet and that's where sun moon stars planets all those things exist is that the firmament that big vast open space that separates Heaven from Earth or is the firmament some sort of a a dome on top of the earth that just contains the things within the Earth well if the sun moon and stars uh are lights in the firmament then they are tiny lights inside this tiny little shield around the earth if if you're talking about a flat Earth but if you're talking about a globe Earth that's in a universe then the sun moon and stars are in a in the firmament and the firmament is the universe itself that separates Heaven from Earth you know so I I think either way you can read that same verse and see one you know the flat earther is going to have his lens of interpretation where he says see this is proof that it's flat and the globe earther is going to look at this verse and say see this is proof that it's a vast expanding universe or maybe not expanding but this vast Universe um where sun moon stars are in the firmament of the heavens or of the universe so I don't think that this text is something you could necessarily say is a flatter text um so anyway you know I don't even know if that's what you were trying to bring up when you asked the question but uh when you said firmament that's what triggered me because flat earthers everywhere like to say firmament um so oh here we go JS Genesis design says I don't subscribe to the Flat Earth debates I don't see the edification in it scripturally I agree I don't see the edification in it I don't think that it's something that brings glory to Yeshua um I think what it ends up causing is a lot of uh confusion and a lot of argument and um you know and it makes us look stupid in a lot of ways because we're arguing about something like this why are we arguing about this it you know one person says you know you have to believe the Earth is flat to be a Christian and someone else says if you're if you believe the Earth is flat you're you're an idiot or you're you're stupid um but both of them are making AR arguments that are not edifying they're not they're not bringing any anything beneficial to the conversation um when you're arguing about the shape of the earth what's the point what are you trying what does it matter if you can prove to me that it's flat what does that prove to me what does that matter to me how does that affect my faith how does that affect um you know my understanding of God how does that affect my understanding of Yeshua how does that affect my salvation it has no effect on any of those things if you could prove to me without a shadow of the doubt the Earth is flat i' say okay great I still believe everything I previously believed about God and and about Yeshua and about salvation it hasn't changed anything about my faith one what whatsoever and if you can come to me tomorrow and say hey I I can prove to you 100% without a Shad of a doubt that the Earth is a globe and it's in a universe and there's sun moon and stars in this galaxy and I could prove this to you i' say great it doesn't change anything about my faith it doesn't change how I understand the Scripture it doesn't change my understanding of God it doesn't change anything about my salvation what's the point both sides of the argument they're they're arguing something that I I don't see the point I don't understand why it matters if you want to believe it's flat great that's fine who cares if you want to believe it's Globe that's great fine who cares why do we have to argue about this why what does it matter it doesn't affect it doesn't affect how we understand scripture it doesn't affect who God is it doesn't affect our Salvation it it's it's kind of a pointless argument so uh let's go and move on SG 86 says could dragons in the Old Testament referred to dinosaurs for example Psalm 7413 uh yeah I think so um and I actually heard a teaching I think it was Kent hovind years and years ago and he made that point he was saying that um dragons and uh things like that in the old in in the Bible uh are probably a reference to Dinosaurs the word dinosaur didn't exist until like a couple hundred years ago the word didn't exist when they wrote the Bible and so what would they call these giant beasts they call them dragons um in in uh one place there's reference to boohemoth and there's another reference to Leviathan and these are massive creatures massive beasts and boohemoth it says it it is you know it's it's got like tree trunks uh let me see if I can find it here we go uh here we go and this is job 4015 okay so verse 15 says look now at Behemoth which I made along with you he eats grass like an ox see now his strength is in his hips and his power is in the stomach muscles he moves his tail like a cedar the senu of his thighs are tightly knit his bones are like beams of bronze his ribs are like bars of iron he is the first of the ways of God Only He Who made him can bring near his sword um surely the mountains yield food for him and all the beasts of the field play there he lies under the Lotus trees in the cover uh in a covert covered of reeds and a marsh Lotus trees covering with their shade their Willows by the Brooks around him indeed the river May rage yet he is not Disturbed he is confident though the Jordan gushes into his mouth though he takes it in his eyes or one pierces his nose with a snare so what is this boohemoth um you know this is this is a word which you know we don't really we don't know what boohemoth is it's some sort of a creature that job is referring to but he it it seems to be a massive creature right so he eats grass like an ox so first thing here we have this boohemoth eats grass like an ox so he's he's a vegetarian his strength is in his hips and his power is in his stomach so he's strong he's a big strong animal he moves his tail like a cedar okay so I've heard people say Behemoth is an elephant or behemoth is a uh rhinoceros or behemoth is a hippopotamus have you seen their tail they they all have these little dinky tails that can do nothing it says his tail is like a cedar means he is a massive tree of a tail elephants don't have they have a little dinky tail rhinos have a little dinky tail hippos have a little dinky tail this is not talking about a rhino or hippo or an elephant this is talking about something big and strong like a rhino or an elephant but it has a a big massive tail like a tree so what is this referring to I think it's very likely this is referring to some sort of a uh dinosaur something that was massive and had a huge tail but is a vegetarian so maybe you know some sort of um like a brosur or sposa surus kind of thing I don't know um and then see if I can find Leviathan okay you broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gave him his food to the people inhabiting the Wilderness um there the there the ships sail about there is that Leviathan which you have made to play there in that day the Lord with his severe sword great and strong will punish Leviathan The F uh the fleeing serpent Leviathan The Twisted that Twisted Serpent and he will slay the reptile that is in the sea okay so here we see Leviathan is some sort of a giant reptile in the sea and it's connected with some sort of a serpent well you know some people have said maybe it's like a uh a big crocodile maybe it's a sea serpent maybe it's something like that but it's obviously some sort of a big creature um and it's great and strong um uh let's see but he's called a serpent and a reptile so what is leviathan it's some sort of a some sort of reptile that maybe some sort of a serpent um is it a reference to some sort of dinosaur Maybe possibly um they say dinosaurs were some sort of reptile so it could be a reference to that and then let's look at dragons uh Behold a great Dragon fiery uh fire a great fire red dragon having seven heads 10 hordes seven dims on his head so uh Revelation has a few references thought there was something outside of Revelation I could be wrong okay so there's several ref references to Dragon Revelation um but here we have Revelation 20:2 he laid hold of the dragon that Serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for Thousand Years okay so in Revelation we have this dragon is referring to Satan um it's not referring to a dinosaur so um you know something to consider there as well and then we have another Beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon so this is a different kind of Beast U but he's he's connected and like the dragon um the Beast which I saw was like a leopard his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion the dragon gave him his power and his throne has great Authority so here we have this Dragon which is referring to Satan doing all these things in Revelation um so back to your question could dragons in the Old Testament refer to dinosaurs uh for example Psalm 7413 let's look at psalm 7413 you divided the seed by your strength you broke the heads of the sea serpents into the waters uh sea serpents in the waters okay so here we have uh sea serpent instead of you you you mentioned dragon in this verse but my translation actually says sea serpent Psalm 7413 I'm going to look that word up and see what the word is maybe that'll give us a little bit more information and this word tanine means dragon serpent sea monster a marine land monster a Marine a land monster a sea serpent a jackal drive from an unused root meaning to elongate um so you know something stretched out something long and it's used Genesis 1:21 the great sea monsters uh translated whales in some translations uh Exodus [Music] 79 uh it may become a serpent Okay so uh that's interesting 7 Exodus 710 it became a serpent Exodus 712 and they turned into serpents Deuteronomy 32 the Venom of serpents Nehemiah 88:13 even before the dragon uh job 712 the sea monster job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons Psalm 44 19 in the place of dragons Psalm 7413 the heads of the sea monsters Psalm 9113 the Young Lion and the serpent uh Psalm 1487 the sea monsters or the dragons Isaiah 13:22 uh the desolate houses and dragons in their uh places uh Isaiah 271 and he will kill the dragon uh Isaiah 3413 and it should be uh habitation of dragons 357 in the habitation of dragons Isaiah 43:20 uh shall honor me the dragons and the owls Isaiah 519 who pierced the dragon uh Jeremiah 911 a den of dragons Jeremiah 10:22 a den of dragons Jeremiah 14:6 the wind like dragons or panthier like dragons um Jeremiah 49:33 a dwelling of dragons uh so anyway there's Ezekiel 293 uh the great monster so um there's a number of references to this word and it could be serpent a dragon a sea monster a beast uh there's a lot of different ways it's translated and it seems to be uncertain exactly what this might be referring to um interesting though is in Exodus when they threw down their staff and it became a serpent that's the same word so obviously the dragon is connected to a serpent somehow and we see Revelation that the dragon is also called a serpent and the devil so dragons and serpents seem to be connected uh okay do we have any other questions in here question wouldn't the pillars he speaks uh and the boundaries in Psalms 19 B enough okay Psalm 19 let's look at that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firment shows his handiwork day andto to day utter speech and night un night reveals knowledge there's no speech nor language where the voice is not heard their line is gone out through all the Earth and their words to the end of the world in them he has set a tabernacle for the son which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run his race okay so as we're looking at this I hope you can see this is poetic language okay that the um so he set a tabernacle for the sun and the Sun is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run his race so he's talking about the sun he's using poetic language metaphorical language it's rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end and there's nothing hidden from its heat the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together more to be desired are they than gold yay more much uh fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb moreover by them your servant is warned and keeping them there's great reward who can understand his errors cleanse me from Secret faults keep back your servant also from the presumptuous sins let him not have dominion over me uh then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent in the great transgression let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh Lord my strength and my redeemer okay so the heavens declare the glory of God and the firment shows his handiwork um Day andto Day utter speech and night and night reveals knowledge there's no speech of language the voice of the Lord is not heard okay so all this is is just kind of building up and telling you how great God is and how these things show who God is they show that God exists they show that God is powerful they show that God is God is good and he is god um and then God has made a place for the sun right he made a home for the sun he made a dwelling for the sun he made a tabernacle for the sun he made a place for the sun to exist Okay and like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber he rejoices like a strong man to run the race so the Sun comes forth in might and Shines on the earth and is is glowing like like a a bridegroom coming out of his chamber just radiant it's rising us from one end of heaven and circuit to the other end and there's nothing hidden from its heat so its heat touches the whole earth and then it moves into the law of the Lord is perfect okay so we went from proclaiming God is great and he has done all these wonderful things to God's law is perfect okay so now we have from here on out from the rest of the the psalm it's it's about God's law um I'm not it's it's not a Psalm about the shape of the earth it's a Psalm about the glory of God and when you try to take this Psalm and make it about the shape of the earth you're you're in the whole point of this Psalm it's it's a song of praise to God it is not teaching theology about the shape of the Earth or it's not teaching geometry or um whatever you know it's not teaching about the shape of the earth that's not the point of the psalm the point of the psalm is to glorify God and by turning trying to turn it into something about the shape of the earth you're missing the whole point uh what is the significance of the Thousand-Year Reign and why would the dragon be bound and then turned loose after that rain okay so the significance of the thousand- Year rain um so Peter says a day is as a thousand years and we actually see this in two places so we have psalm 90:4 for a thousand years in your sight are like like yesterday when his passed and like a watch in the night so a thousand years are like yesterday thousand years are like a day and then we have Peter saying but beloved do not forget this one thing that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day okay so when Messiah Reigns for a thousand years it's also referred to as the day of the Lord and we have uh numerous references to the day of the Lord uh throughout the Bible and let me see if I can find a good one here for you um but we have numerous places at the Bible where it talks about the day Lord and I'm scrolling through a whole bunch of verses right now to find find one for you um oh but the day of the Lord is the day of judgment and it's the day of um God's of yeshua's Reign on Earth and actually let me pull up okay here is a good one behold the day of the Lord is coming and your spoil will be divided in your midst Zechariah 14:1 okay and if we read the context of this we keep reading we find out that this is a reference to the day Messiah comes Reign on the earth so 142 for I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem the city shall be taken the houses rifled and the women ravished half the city should go into captivity but the REM remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city then the Lord will go forth and fight against those Nations as he fights in a day the day of battle okay so there's going to be Nations will gather to battle against Jerusalem and then the Lord is going to go forth and fight those Nations um and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces jus in the East and the Mount of Olives shall be split into two from east to west making a very large Valley half the mountain shall move towards the north half towards the south then you shall flee through the Mountain Valley for the Mountain Valley shall reach to aale yes you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah uh thus the Lord my God will come and all the saints with you it shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light the lights will Di uh diminish it should be one day which is known to the Lord neither day or night but evening time it shall happen that it will be light and in that day it shall be that Living Waters shall flow from Jerusalem half of them towards the Eastern Sea half of them towards the Western sea in both summer and in Winter it shall occur and the Lord shall be king over all the Earth in that day it shall be the Lord is one and his name one okay so all this is referen to one day the day of the Lord but a lot of things are happening and it talks about summer and winter happening how's summer and winter happening in one day but it's obviously talking about a larger span of time than 24 hours um all the land shall be turned into a plane from giba to raon south of Jerusalem Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first G uh let's keep going the people shall dwell in it and no longer shall there be utter destruction but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited and this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike the people who fought against Jerusalem their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet and their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths and shall come to pass in that day again still the same day the day of the Lord uh that a great promise uh I'm sorry the great Panic from the Lord will be among them everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor and raise his hand against his neighbor hand and Judah will also fight at Jerusalem and the wealth of the surrounding Nations shall be gathered together silver gold and Peril great abundance uh such also into the plague on the horse and the mule camel the donkey all the cattle there should be a plague also and it has come to pass that everyone who has left of the Nations who came against Jerusalem shall go up from from year to year to worship the king the Lord of hosts and to keep the feast Tabernacles it's still the same day the day of the Lord but it says from year to year during this day they're going to be required to go to Jerusalem where the feast Tabernacles and it shall be that whichever the of the families of the earth that do not come to Jerusalem to worship the king the Lord of hosts on them there will be no rain if the family of Egypt will not come up to enter in they shall no rain they shall receive the PL which the Lord strikes the Nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles this shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punish of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in that day Holiness of the Lord shall be engraved in the bells of the horses the pots and the altar I'm sorry the pots pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bows before the altar yes every pot in Jerusalem and Jud and Judah shall be hoiness the Lord of hosts everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them cook them in that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts so again behold the day of the Lord is coming well then we go to Revelation one the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place and he sent and uh signified by his Angel to his servant John Who Bore witness to the word of God and testimon Jesus Christ to all the things BL He who reads the word uh reads and those who the words prophecy keep those things with Trin it uh seven churches with Asia let's see is coming I'm alpha and omega beginning of the end okay verse 10 I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a voice as of a trumpet okay I was in the spirit on the day of the Lord is what he's saying I was in the spirit on the day of the Lord I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day the the day of the Lord that was prophesied in the Old Testament prophets when they talked about the day of the Lord coming he says I was in the spirit I saw in the spirit the day of the Lord he he not talking about Sunday and you know when when Catholics want to say that the Lord's day is Sunday they they take this verse and they say John was saying I was in the spirit on Sunday and I heard behind me the voice of a trumpet um no he's not saying he was in the spirit on Sunday he's saying I he was in the spirit on the day of the Lord the Lord's day this future event that hasn't happened yet this future coming of the Lord and he's describing the events that are called the Lord's Day and these events that are called the Lord's Day span a period of time of roughly a thousand years because with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and so we have this Thousand-Year time period that begins with um this tribulation time and it begins with this war and then Yeshua returns and then after his when he returns he binds up Satan and locks him in a dungeon for a thousand years why is Satan bound up for th years was the question okay okay so what is significant about thousand year reign and why would the dragon be bound and then loosed after the rain so the thousand years is the day of the Lord It's the day when Yeshua Reigns on Earth for Thousand Years it is his his Reign on Earth it is his Sovereign Reign on Earth for a thousand years and because it's his Sovereign Reign that means that Satan has no Authority here there's no place for Satan to have any Authority at all whatsoever during this Reign and so he comes he conquers all of his enemies He reigns for a thousand years well then after the thousand years is over okay so then let's move over to Revelation 21 um actually 20 okay so we have uh oops Revelation 20:2 he laid hold of the dragon that Serpent of old who is the devil and Satan bound him for a thousand years and he cast him into the bottomless pit and shut up shut him up and let a seal put a seal on him so that he should not deceive the Nations no more till the thousand years were finished But after those things he must release for a short while okay so he's bound up for Thousand Years so that he cannot deceive anyone during that time period he has no Authority on Earth for that thousand years so Yeshua Reigns on Earth for thousand years and he has total Authority Satan has zero Authority during that thousand year reign okay and then we skip down to verse seven now when the thousand years have expired Satan be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the Nations which are the four corners of the earth Gog and meog to gather them together to battle whose number is as of the sand of the sea okay so he's released for a Time so that he can tempt people in one last rebellion so those who are on the earth who've been there for the last Thousand Years who've been listening to Messiah learning from Messiah walking under his Reign and Rule now Satan has an opportunity to try to deceive them and to turn them against Yeshua and they have his one last last effort to deceive the Nations to come to war against Yeshua and they went up on the breath of the Earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and the BL City and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them so their uh their War didn't last long the devil who deceived them was cast into Lake a fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false prophet are and they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever then I saw a great white throne and we have this great white Throne judgment where all the dead are resurrected and judged and that uh is the end of the Lord's Day basically and then from the next thing we see in Revelation 21 then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven the first Earth had passed away and there was no more sea so that first creation is now wiped away and there's a new Heaven A New Earth a new creation taking place so after the thousand year reign of Messiah after uh the great white Throne judgment that ends the day of the Lord that ends the prophetic timeline that's been set in place the 7,000 year timeline from Adam to uh the end of the thousand year reign is 7,000 years and that last uh Millennium that that last thousand years is the Sabbath Millennium it's the seventh day and so there's six days of of Labor six days of work six days of stress six days of fighting the battle with the Enemy and then one day A Thousand Years where you rest a thousand years where Christ [Music] rules completely A Thousand Years where there's no enemy where there's no war where there's no um no problems that that thousand year is the day of the Lord is a Sabbath Millennium it's a sath millennium is linked to the Sabbath day each week when we celebrate the Sabbath we're looking forward to the Sabbath reign of Messiah the seventh Millennium when he reigns and rules on Earth for a thousand years and so he's lord of the Sabbath in multiple ways he's lord of the Sabbath because he created the Sabbath um he's lord of the Sabbath because he has Authority on the Sabbath he is Lord of the Sabbath because he is enthroned on the Sabbath um and so we celebrate the Sabbath looking forward to the Sabbath Millennium that thousand your reign of Messiah seventh Millennium when he reigns on Earth for Thousand Years okay I just have to read this one because it's funny if the Earth was flat cats would have pushed everything over the edge by now I just thought that was funny thank you for sharing um and by the way I I really don't even have a uh I really don't care what shape the Earth is it could be flat it could be it could be Globe I don't care it doesn't it doesn't bother me one way or the other you can believe whatever you want to believe about it like I said it doesn't change anything it doesn't change how I read the Bible doesn't change my understanding of God doesn't change my understanding of Salvation um it's it's really just uh unimportant so I I don't know what the big I I don't know what the big deal is I don't know why people argue about this I I think it's silly a silly argument and you can't prove it that's that's the big thing is is you can't prove it unless you could somehow fly outside of the Earth's atmosphere and see it for yourself because I can't take your word for it and you can't take my word for it we can't trust NASA we can't trust anybody else how you going to prove it unless you yourself get in a rocket and fly up there and see for yourself but then you tell us and we say well we don't believe you and so then we have to go up there and fly up there by oursel and see it for oursel and then we come back and tell people and they say we don't believe you and then they have to get in rocket fly up there for themselves to see it fors it because you can't trust anything anybody says apparently and you know everything can be faked you know you take a photo or video well that doesn't prove anything I mean there's there's there's so good at faking things in photos and videos that that doesn't prove anything anymore um I mean look at I mean some of the some of the movies that are put out are just I mean unbelievable the types of stuff that they they're able to do in there with computer generated images um you can't even believe if if a person talking is really the person talking because with with AI technology now they can generate um anybody want saying whatever they want him to say in his own voice and so you know you can't even trust a video footage of somebody saying something because it might be fake how do you know um so somebody has video footage of space how do you know it's true somebody has video footage of the Earth from space how do you know it's true somebody has video footage of uh not being able to get into space they they have video footage of somebody running into uh the firmament and knocking themselves senseless because they couldn't escape uh you can't I mean that how do you believe that it could be faked so um ultimately you can't prove one way or the other and all of the tests that people use to try to prove this the the curvature or the the shape of the Earth or uh prove the earth flat or round it they're all circular arguments because you know you put a stick here and a stick here and you measure the Shadows well that that can be an argument for both both arguments because the shadow could tell you the distance to the Sun versus the the curvature of the Earth because if the Sun is closer if the Earth is flat and and the Sun is closer then that just tells you it can tell you the distance to the Sun and so the math would calculate the distance to the Sun but it if you're trying to calculate the curvature of the earth then you have to uh you have to set the sun way off super far away and so no longer is it about the distance you you you you have a set distance for the Sun that you think it is and then based on the set distance of the Sun then then you look at the shadows and you say well now this tells me the curvature what the problem is you can't prove where the sun is and so because you can't prove where the sun is that argument doesn't make any sense because um either person can use it to argue their point so it it's it's an argument that can't be proved is my point um we don't know if the Earth is flat around and why does it matter once again and I don't know why this turned into a flat Earth discussion in the Q&A tonight but you've got my um my stance on it it doesn't matter that's my stance it doesn't matter flat around doesn't matter you can believe what you want it doesn't affect the Bible it doesn't affect what we should believe about the Bible doesn't affect how we interpret the Bible doesn't affect our faith doesn't affect our Salvation doesn't affect anything in the Scriptures it doesn't affect whether you're believer or not so don't go around telling people if you don't believe the way I do about the shape of the earth then you're not a real Christian because that is that is just stupid believe what what you about the shape of the Earth has no effect on salvation and so if you're you're trying to use that to say someone's not a Believer someone's not they don't believe the Bible or they're not they're not really a follower of Jesus or whatever uh that is a dumb argument and your faith is based on something other than the word of God if that's if that's what you think if you think you have to believe a certain way about the shape of the Earth in order to believe the Bible or to be saved um then your faith is based on the wrong thing uh because your faith should not be based on the shape of the earth your your faith should be based on the word of God who he is and what he did for you so anyway what is faith is it simply belief or does it go deeper than that how does faith shape our relationship with God and how can we grow in it daily join us next week as we uncover the biblical truth about faith exploring its meaning power and purpose we'll Journey Through the scriptures to see how the Heroes of Faith lived it out and learn what Yeshua taught about it and discuss practical ways to strengthen our own faith walk today you don't want to miss this thought-provoking episode thank you for joining me on L's talk biblical if you enjoyed this episode then share it with your friends and keep the conversation going be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything and I look forward to chatting with you again next week until next time keep talking biblical shalom