Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Preservation of Truth
God is a master preservationist! He has preserved His Word for us and done so in many languages, we don't need to learn Greek or Hebrew to know Him. And because of this preservation, we can learn from the saints who have gone before us. In this session, Jeremy looks at Old Testament prophets to see what they have to teach us about prayer.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas.
Speaker 2:Here's a hint of what's to come. But that's the first point. Prayer should avoid fatalism. It kills prayer. We do not have a fatalistic view of the sovereignty of God.
Speaker 1:I know this sounds like a hard question and maybe it's really odd and I shouldn't ask it, but are your prayers selfish? Are you focused in on yourself, your situation, your circumstances and your needs, or have you taken those things and put them in the context of God, his will, his character, his purpose? You see, we have a lot to learn from the Old Testament saints and how they prayed.
Speaker 1:King David was a mighty example of prayer concerning his son, the child from Bathsheba, and Daniel, the prophet. He was not at all selfish. He was very thoughtful and considered the state of man relative to the state of God, and when he sought out God's help, when he came to God with a need, it was in the context of God. You are so perfect, righteous, just and gracious, and here's what we need, here's what we've done. We don't deserve it and here's what we need from you. It's a great example to us and you can pray the exact same things you're praying now. But if you put it back in the context of God, his nature, his character, his purpose, you might just find that your prayer life becomes richer, deeper, more meaningful and that the answers are even better than you could ever imagine. Today Jeremy's going to look back at Daniel so that we can learn from him and the prayers in the Bible how we should be coming to our God, our great and glorious King.
Speaker 2:The Old Testament framework 14 events creation, fall, the flood, noahic covenant, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the Mount Sinai event, the conquest and settlement under Joshua, the rise and reign of King David, the golden era of Solomon, the kingdom, divided kingdom, decline, exile and restoration Well, partial restoration. Let me introduce this section of scripture which is basically the end of the Old Testament era of Israel, as Judah, the southern kingdom, was taken into captivity to Judah, I'm sorry, to Babylon. There was a young man named Daniel and some of his friends who were taken captive during one of the three deportations, the first one and while there in Babylon, of course, daniel received his own revelation that we have in the book of Daniel, revelations like Daniel, chapter 2, which we discussed last week the four-metal statue right, the head of gold, the arms and breasts of silver, the waist and thighs of bronze and the lower legs and feet of iron, and iron mixed with clay, which was a portrayal of the times of the Gentiles right. I mean a portrayal, excuse me, a portrayal of the times of the Gentiles right, that political supremacy was being given to four successive Gentile kingdoms and Israel would be oppressed by these four Gentile kingdoms. Then he would see in the vision Nebuchadnezzar would see. And Daniel saw a great stone which would strike the statue, destroy those four kingdoms simultaneously, and it would then grow and fill the whole earth, and it was the kingdom that is ruled by the Son of man, the Messiah. And so this was Daniel's vision of what the future held for Israel and for the nations of the world.
Speaker 2:Now, at the same time, if you'll turn with me to Daniel, chapter 9, he was also reading a prophet from the same time period. He was reading my namesake prophet, jeremiah. And what happened as he read Jeremiah is he thought he saw something of a contradiction in the Word of God. Yet of course he knows the Word of God doesn't have any contradictions, but he still wants to understand how Jeremiah and what was written through him in harmony with what was revealed to him about these four kingdoms. In daniel, chapter 9, in verse 2, he says in the first year of his reign, I, daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the lord to jeremiah, the prophet, for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So Daniel had a scroll of Jeremiah and he read in what we call Jeremiah 29, that Judah would be in desolations and exile and destruction of Jerusalem for a period of 70 years. Now it was almost through the 70 years. That was almost over. It had been 68 or so years already. They were only now just beginning to come into the second kingdom that was prophesied by the statue.
Speaker 2:So Daniel says to himself what we'd all say to ourselves how can we get these other kingdoms that we must live under crammed into two years or less? That's just not possible as far as human ideas can imagine. So he wanted to know how. It is just 70 years, but yet there's still all these other kingdoms that Israel must live under. How can these work together? That's why, in verse 3, he gave his attention to the Lord and sought him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth. So we're going to read this prayer and it's the longest prayer in the Old Testament and then we're going to draw some of the doctrine from the partial restoration, from this event, one of which is the doctrine of prayer. Okay, the doctrine of prayer. We'll draw some points out of it. So let's go through this prayer. Verse 4, I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I confessed, and I confessed. Now, confession.
Speaker 2:Daniel knew that the only way that Israel could be restored to her kingdom after the times of the Gentiles, the four kingdoms pass, which he supposes from Jeremiah is what is it only 70 years? I mean, how does this all fit? But he knows that this is a condition for national restoration and the kingdom of God to come. So he confesses and he said and here's the confession we have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly, we have rebelled, we have even turned aside from your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land, all saying we messed up, it's our fault for the situation we are in.
Speaker 2:This is a brief aside. Have you ever heard people say because I have many times that they don't want to believe in God because of the way their life is and all the bad things that have happened, and they basically blame God and therefore they're not going to believe in this God? Daniel came forth very forthrightly and just said we and our situation in life is due to us and our wickedness and our sin. It's not you, it's us, we are the problem. And so he is confessing. And then he says not only am I confessing all this, but you sent your prophets to us. So this would be people like Elijah, this would be people like Elisha, who God sent to the nation so that they would confess, but they didn't listen to the prophets. He says we didn't listen to him. You sent him, but we didn't listen. Now, that's all about them.
Speaker 2:Now look at the other side of the confession, verse 7. This is all about the lord. Righteousness belongs to you, oh lord. In other words, you are the standard, but to us, open name as it is this day, to the men of judah, the inhabitants of jerusalem and all israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away. So this includes all 12 tribes those in judah, the southern kingdom, those in israel, the northern kingdom, who are far away. So this includes all 12 tribes, those in Judah, the southern kingdom, those in Israel, the northern kingdom, who are now in exile. He says and all the countries to which you have driven them because of their unfaithful deeds. That's all the exile which they have committed against you.
Speaker 2:And that's what confession is. It's admitting that the sin is against who? Against God? Who is the standard? He is righteous Open shame. Verse 8, belongs to us, o Lord, to our kings, our princes, our fathers, because we have sinned against you, every single one of us. Now he switches back to the Lord. To the Lord, our God, belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him. Nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, to walk in his teachings, which he set before us through his servants, the prophets, which would be Moses and the prophets that followed. All Israel has transgressed your law and all Israel has turned aside, not obeying your voice, and therefore the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have sinned against him. Who do we sin against? We sin against God. We don't sin against other people. Other people aren't. The standard. Daniel admits, just like David admitted against you and you only have I sinned. When we are confessing in that way, we are confessing properly. The sin is against him.
Speaker 2:Verse 12,. Thus he has confirmed his words, which he had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us to bring on us great calamity. In other words, god wrote all this in the Mosaic Law, the five degrees of divine discipline. If you don't listen to my voice but rebel, then I will send upon you this curse, and then, if you don't listen again, I will send it upon you sevenfold more, and so forth, all through the five degrees. And he's saying it's all our fault. You told us you were going to do this to us and yet we have not listened and we continue to rebel. It's just like a son and a father, and the father says if you don't do this, this will be the penalty. And the son says I don't care, and you give him the penalty. And then you say a warning again and the son says it doesn't matter, I'm still going to rebel. And so the father says okay, fine, well, it's greater penalties and you lose more and more freedoms until you don't have a car and you can't get out of your room and you're locked away, tied to your bed. And that's what I would do to you. I would confine you. And this is the definition of a good father Happy fathers. God does lay out, and he is the father of Israel. Israel is his son, right, and they are now suffering under the divine discipline of the father.
Speaker 2:Daniel recognizes that In the middle of verse 12, he says For under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. It was razed to the ground, it was destroyed. It is a day in Jewish history that is one of the saddest days. The beautiful Solomonic Temple, all its articles, everything destroyed, the articles taken away, and this was the heart of their whole life. And it was all taken. And they were marched 800 miles away, many of them naked and in chains for days on end, into captivity. Terrible thing.
Speaker 2:Verse 13, as it is written in the law of Moses all this calamity has come on us, just like the word of God said. Yet we've not sought the favor or grace of the Lord, our God, by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to your truth. That's such a great verse that should be memorized. Turn from our iniquity, give attention to truth, is truth. Therefore, the lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us. For the lord, our god, is righteous with respect to all his deeds, which he has done, but we have not obeyed his voice. It's just a great contrast right between who god is, how he is righteous, how he has done everything that he said he would do, and how israel is liars, sinners who do not respond to him and to his truth, who worship idols who don't obey.
Speaker 2:And now, verse 15, oh, lord, our god, who have brought your people out of the land of egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for yourself, as it is this day, among all the nations, they knew of this God. We have sinned and we have been wicked, o Lord, in accordance with all your righteous acts. Let now your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, jerusalem, from your holy mountain, for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplications. And for your sake, o Lord, for your sake, not for our sake, but for your sake or for your name, o Lord, let your face shine on your desolate sanctuary. O, my God, inc's your name. That is attached to this city, lord, and it's in desolations. So restore it for your name, for we are not presenting our supplications before you on account of any merits of our own. Don't answer this prayer because of us, because of something we've done, because if you do, there's nothing you won't answer, he says, but on account of your own great compassion, oh Lord, hear, oh Lord forgive, oh Lord, listen and Lord, take action For your own sake. Oh my God, do not delay, because your city, it's your city and it's your people are called by your name and therefore your reputation is at stake. That is the whole basis of his prayer. It's all about the Lord and the Lord's name. It's not about Daniel, it's not about the people of Israel, it's about the Lord, ultimately, and that has to be a focus in prayer. So out of this prayer of 20 or so verses, we have a number of principles for praying Now.
Speaker 2:Verse 20, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God, on behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering and he gave me instruction and he talked with me and he said O Daniel, I now have come forth to give you insight with understanding, at the beginning of your supplications. That was verse 3, when he gave his attention to the Lord. So we're 20 verses later. Gabriel was dispatched from the highest heaven, the third heaven, and he quickly made it to earth, which shows you that angels travel faster than the speed of light. So, yes, there is something faster than the speed of light. We just read about an angel who exceeded it greatly. At the beginning of your supplications, the command was issued and I've come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed, so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.
Speaker 2:Now, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people, that's, israel and your holy city, jerusalem, to bring an end to six things, which are described in the following verses. So not 70 years that's what he read in Jeremiah, right, seventy years for the desolations of Jerusalem, but 70, sevens, 70 groups of seven, 70 groups of seven. What? Well, back in verse 3, 70 years. So the unit is years 70 sevens of years. How much is 70 sevens of years? Oh well, y'all are really good at math. I just suppose there was going to be a dead spot for a moment.
Speaker 2:490 years, not 70 years, but 490 years, was the basic answer that the angel Gabriel described. That's the way that you will get all four successive Gentile kingdoms transpiring before the kingdom of God returns. So what was the 70 years prophecy about Jerusalem in Jeremiah? All about A partial restoration would happen, but not the total restoration. The total restoration is 490 years, so partial 70 years. And after Babylon was defeated by the Medes and the Persians, darius issues a decree. They go back eventually to the land and they rebuild the temple, although the temple they built under Zerubbabel and so forth was not near as glorious as the one that had been there under Solomon. But that's the point of the prophecy in Jeremiah A partial restoration would happen after the 70 years. But for the total restoration and for all four kingdoms to have come and gone and the kingdom of God to come, there must be 77 or 490 years. This was how the two passages were to be understood in Daniel and Jeremiah. So that's the first area and we'll look at the doctrine of prayer in a moment.
Speaker 2:Now, as I mentioned, after the partial restoration they go back to the land. There's a partial return. Everybody didn't return, because we have books like Esther that talk about Jews who never returned and they remained outside the land and in the kingdom of Persia and so forth. But many did return. So after that they rebuild the temple right Much less glory.
Speaker 2:And the Old Testament gradually comes to a close, with the prophet the Italian prophet you know who he is with the prophet the Italian prophet you know who he is Malachi. He was known among the Jews as the seal of the prophets, meaning in their canon. The Old Testament canon came to a completion or was sealed with Malachi. God was silent then for 400 years, right between the testaments, and this is attested by the fact that during this period the Jews did not accept any of the books that were written by them, such historical books like 1 and 2, 3 and 4 Maccabees, ecclesiasticus, bell and the Dragon Judith, other books, apocryphal books, and they did not accept these as part of the canon because Malachi was considered the seal of the prophets. He was the end. Even 1 Maccabees states itself that there was no living prophets at that time. They have a set of stones there. They don't know what to do with these stones. They were part of the altar and so they set them aside. And it says we will wait for a prophet to come along and tell us what to do. So there were no prophets in that time, so you cannot be having any scripture being written instead of new scripture being written.
Speaker 2:What you have during this period is the scrupulous making of copies of the testament, as well as a very famous translation into the Greek language. So, by the time of Christ, when you come into the New Testament and we're going to come in next week and start with the birth of the king when you come into that world, you have various manuscript traditions. You have the Babylonian manuscript tradition that had been copied for several centuries. You have the Jerusalem manuscript tradition. You have, of course, if you've been around the last hundred years, you know about the Qumran community and the Dead Sea Scrolls. You've heard of those as well as a translation of the Old Testament known as the Greek Septuagint. Septuagint is just the Greek for 70., also signified by the Roman numerals LXX, right 70. So if you've ever seen the LXX, that's talking about this Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Speaker 2:So these manuscripts, interestingly, are being quoted from and alluded to in the New Testament by the authors of the New Testament, showing that all these manuscript traditions, even though there were different families of manuscripts or even a different translation, were accepted as and referred to as the Word of God, even though they may have differences, minor differences here and there, they are all referred to as the Word of God and treated with respect as if they are the Word of God. So the great degree of similarity between these different families of manuscripts attests to what we call preservation. This is where we start to talk about the doctrine of preservation, in other words the question have the Scriptures been preserved faithfully so that what we have today are accurate reflections of what they had then, or are they all messed up? And so this is where we first see the doctrine of preservation. Was it preserved from the time of Daniel and on down to Malachi, across the silent years of 400 years, to the time of Christ and the apostles? Because if they weren't and a lot could get messed up in 400 years, right, a whole lot.
Speaker 2:We used to do the little test in class where, you know, one student has a phrase and they whisper it into the ear of the person next to them, and then they whisper it into the person's ear next to them and by the time it gets to the end, the last student says what he thought was the original thing, and it's not even close. So that's, you know, 10 minutes of time and we know how much can get messed up. So how much do you think could get messed up in 400 years, especially if you don't have and this is written, of course, but especially if you don't have, like a printing press, which they didn't. So it was all hand copies and the Jewish scribes were very meticulous in making sure they were copying them accurately, but they're doing so within family traditions, like the Babylonian text type, the Jerusalem text type and so forth, and yet at the time of Christ, that's what I'm saying. What's so interesting is they quote from all of these, including the Greek Septuagint version, and they refer to them as if they are all the Word of God.
Speaker 2:Now that will set up our second doctrine, which is the doctrine of preservation. So let's talk about the first one, the doctrine of prayer. So these are the two doctrines that come out of the partial restoration Prayer, daniel's prayer, and the preservation idea down to the time of Christ. The doctrine of prayer, the first Christ. The doctrine of prayer. The first point in the doctrine of prayer, which we saw illustrated in Daniel 9 with Daniel's prayer, was prayer should avoid fatalism. What do I mean by that? A fatalistic view of the sovereignty of God.
Speaker 2:Some Christians have a very strong view of the sovereignty of God, in the sense that they would say that all the details of life, every detail, is determined by God. So, for example, what color socks you put on this morning, what tie you bought last week if you still buy ties what purse you wore today, what color earrings and shape earrings you bought or put on today were determined by God. That you would buy those and put those on today. So the very strong view of the every detail of life determined by God. Sovereignty idea. In that view of sovereignty, what room is there for prayer? Let's say you want something to happen in history. That's why you're praying. Right, we just pray for Jane Orlop. Why? Because we want her to get well. We want her shoulder not to be broken.
Speaker 2:Now, if it's already determined what it is whatever will be will be then why are you praying about it? Prayer loses its impetus or motivation when you have a view of the sovereignty of God that whatever will be will be and that's just the way it is. Why would you pray for someone's salvation if they're either going to be saved or they're not? And God's already determined it, why waste your time praying? And of course, you'd have to back off from the whole thing and say, well, the prayers themselves would be determined by God. It's this interesting way of trying to think about things, but fatalistic views of God's sovereignty crush prayer. Prayer is not really valid, because whatever's going to happen is going to happen anyway, whether you pray or not. Valid because whatever's going to happen is going to happen anyway, whether you pray or not. Right, so that idea should be avoided.
Speaker 2:Now, one way I've viewed sovereignty and tried to convey it to people, because God is sovereign. We don't question that. It's just a matter of what is your model? What does it look like If you have a ship that is setting sail from one port and it has a destination at another port? Now the origin and the destination are set at the beginning and the end, and then, as the ship sets sail, it's going across various waters and you are on the ship. You are human.
Speaker 2:Now you have freedom. It's freedom within the form of the ship. You can go down and eat dinner, you can go swim, you can look over the bow, you have all sorts of things that you can do on the ship. But there are also limitations. You can't do things that are not on the bow. You have all sorts of things that you can do on the ship, but there are also limitations. You can't do things that are not on the ship. You can't go visit someplace else. You're stuck on the ship and you are going to a certain conclusion, but during that journey you have some freedom, right, and this is one model or possible way of looking at the plan of God. I'm sure it is inept, it is not perfect, but it is a way of at least conveying how the beginning and the end are set by God, as well as the route to get there, but yet within it humans have freedom.
Speaker 2:Within this limited sphere that opens up the possibility for room for prayer and asking God for this or for that. But guess what, if you pray for the second coming not to happen, that will not be answered. Why will that not be answered? Because that is part of the sovereign plan of God that is set, and that is what Daniel was looking at. Daniel was saying now you've got 70 years over here in Jeremiah, but you told me there's going to be these four successive kingdoms. Now the angel described how both could work in the plan of God. He said well, jeremiah is about a partial restoration after 70 years, but the total restoration is after the 490 years. So Daniel wasn't going to change any of that by praying right. But he also knew, hey, there's human responsibility and we need to, as a nation, confess our sin and what we have done, and so that is a part of his prayer. And that illustration of the ship hopefully gives a little bit of help as to a model for God's sovereignty. But that's the first point. Prayer should avoid fatalism. It kills prayer. We do not have a fatalistic view of the sovereignty of God.
Speaker 2:The second idea that we see in the doctrine of prayer is that prayer should be based on God's immutable word Again God, like the second coming illustration. You could pray against that, but god is not going to answer prayers that are contrary to his word. So prayers should not be contrary to the plan of god and purpose of god, but they should be rather filled with his word. If we pray scripture, we can be certain that God will answer those prayers in his timing and in his way. Okay, we have to amend it with that. If we pray scripture, we can be sure that God will answer those prayers, but he will do it in his time and he will do it in his way. Right, but we can be sure if we pray Scripture, those are prayers that are going to be answered. Daniel based his prayer on the Word of God in Jeremiah and the Word of God that was given to him in Daniel 2. His whole prayer was based on the books of Jeremiah and what he had going on relative to his own books and writing right. So that's a firm basis.
Speaker 2:We study the scriptures and we try to understand them. We don't understand, we pray, we ask the Lord. Show me how this works, explain this to me, help me understand, and the Lord will answer in his time and in his way. So prayer should be based on God's immutable word. His word never changes. Third, prayer should be grace-oriented. What do I mean by this? I mean we shouldn't ever think that God owes us an answer to prayer because we did this or that we did that.
Speaker 2:You remember that part where in the prayer it's in verse 18 of Daniel's prayer, toward the end. There he says we are not presenting our supplications before you on account of any merits of our own. Sometimes we get it in our mind that we've been a good Christian, we've been loyal. We've been going to church or whatever. We've been reading our Bible. We've been a good Christian. We've been loyal. We've been going to church or whatever. We've been reading our Bible, we've been teaching this Bible study. We've been leading this music. We've been doing all this service. Therefore, god owes me. We might not express it like that, but it's in the back of our mind. God owes me and he needs to bless me because of what I've done for him.
Speaker 2:No, no no, it doesn't work like that. That is not grace, that is merit, that is basing his gifts on work, and God doesn't give gifts based on work, he gives gifts based on grace, and grace alone. So our prayers should very specifically and carefully be articulated in a way that they are grace-oriented. Daniel did this. He says you don't owe us a thing. And that is so true. God doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe me anything For anything I've ever done. He doesn't owe me anything and I don't deserve to get whatever I think I deserve to get. No, he gives based on His own character. And Daniel says that. He says but on account of your great compassion, if you're going to appeal to God for something, that is a great basis to appeal to God on Just your compassion, just your compassion, o Lord, your mercy, your faithfulness. And so Daniel teaches us that third point that all our prayers should be grace-oriented. The fourth point in his prayer that we saw was that prayer should have as its ultimate objective the glory of God. Whatever we pray for, whatever it is, we want the end of that prayer to ultimately be that God's name is glorified, not our name. It's not about us getting our thing, it's about him getting recognized, him being given glory. So ultimately, that's where all our prayers should be aimed god receiving glory, and being by that I mean being recognized.
Speaker 2:Daniel prayed that god would restore jerusalem and the temple for his name's sake, because his name was attached to jerusalem and to the temple. The Lord, jesus Christ, illustrated it this way just before the cross, he said not my will be done, but your will be done, and that should be our attitude in prayer Not what I want to happen, but what you want to happen, because what you want to happen will ultimately glorify you. It will give your name recognition. This is the great purpose of history. God has arranged history in a certain way and we've walked through the big ideas creation, fall, flood, covenant and so forth, um to reveal his glory. It's a weird concept for most people, because all they know about glory is well, I don't know. You've got it in sports right. I mean, he who wins the pennant gets glory. He who wins the World Cup gets the glory right. He who wins the Stanley Cup gets the glory right. What does that mean? Recognition Recognition in front of the whole world of your accomplishments. What is God trying to do with history? He is trying to get recognition for his accomplishments, what he has done, what he is doing and what he shall do in the future. He has done what he is doing and what he shall do in the future.
Speaker 2:Paul discusses this in Acts 17 with the Areopagus right, the 30 scholars who sat at Athens and oversaw religion, morals and education, and he explains to them you know, the God who made the world and all things in it isn't worshiped with you know, hands. He isn't served by us as if he needed something. He says but he's the one who gives life and breath to all things. See, god wants recognition for that, that he is the one who's upholding us. He has made us, he has given us everything that we have. Every talent, every gift is God-given. And yet what happens? People don't want to recognize that. They don't want to acknowledge that. They want to have themselves recognized. They want to have themselves recognized. They want credit for all that they have done.
Speaker 2:In the Bible you'll see this repeatedly. It starts with the Tower of Babel. At the Tower of Babel, when they build that monstrosity up to heaven, they say we will make our name great. In other words, we will build this massive thing and we will get recognition for it. In the next chapter, chapter 11, god says to Abraham I will make your name great. See, god, nothing about the Tower of Babel and none of those people will ever be remembered. They will all fade away in dust and ashes, never to ever be remembered. Their names will never be known. Do you know that? But Abraham, his name will be known forever. It will stand the test of time and eternity, and all of us who have believed become children of Abraham, and that means that our name will never, ever, ever be forgotten. They'll be remembered. Why? Because we made our name great. No, because God. Because God is the one who makes us a name. He's the one who gives us a reputation. He's the one who brings that all to consummation, and that is one way he is getting appreciation, when we recognize it that he's the one who made our name great. He is the one who has done all this. And so, whenever we pray, what's our ultimate aim? Is it that we get our little thing that is so important to us right then, or is it that God's name be made known and God be recognized as the one who's given all things, the giver of gifts, the author of life. So that is the aim of Daniel's prayer, and so keep those four points in mind.
Speaker 2:Prayer should avoid fatalism. It's a prayer killer. Prayer should be based on God's immutable word. Pray, his word. Those things will come to pass in his timing and his way. Prayer should be grace-oriented. It's not based on what I've done and my merits. It's not based on what I've done and my merits. It's based sheerly on Him and His compassion and His mercy. And then prayer should have as its ultimate objective the glory of God, that God Himself be recognized among men.
Speaker 2:The other prayer is the doctrine of preservation, and this is coming out of the fact that, again, malachi, the Italian prophet, is the seal of the prophets and you therefore have a period of God being silent for 400 years. During that time they're meticulously, scrupulously copying texts over in Babylon, jerusalem, qumran, probably other places. These become families of manuscripts. You also have a translation in Greek, right About 250 or so years before Christ, called the Septuagint. By the time you get Jesus and the apostles, obviously they're quoting the Old Testament a lot. I always say how could you possibly understand the New Testament if you don't already understand the Old Testament? Because they keep appealing to the Old Testament, the Old Testament, the Old Testament. They just keep going back to it, but they quote from various manuscripts, different manuscripts that sometimes differ in small ways with one another, and yet they refer to them all as the Word of God. Which shows you the doctrine of preservation that while there are these minor differences, they're so minor that there's nothing of substance there in the differences, it's just close enough.
Speaker 2:So two points that we can derive about the doctrine of preservation. Well, it's several, but first of all one thing I would say about it is that in the doctrine of preservation God did not intend to keep it exact like perfectly exact. Let me explain this just from a very easy to see idea. If God wanted to keep it perfectly intact, it would have to be in the original language right of Hebrew or Aramaic in the Old Testament, and it could not, for example, have vowel pointings which were added by Hebrew scribes for pronunciation purposes, like those could not be there, because that would not be a perfect, exact replica of the original right. So just from that vantage point, in the doctrine of preservation God was not trying to keep it exactly, you know, letter for letter, without anything at all added even to help pronounce it okay. That was not God's point in preservation.
Speaker 2:If there's not a doctrine of preservation that is set up the way it is, the Word of God could never be taken into another language and still be called the Word of God. This would not be the Word of God. It would emphatically not be because it's in English. But the doctrine of preservation as it's presented in Scripture. Scripture set it up in a way where you can have his word in any language. Now, how can that be? I mean, if it originally came in hebrew, aramaic and greek, how can the word of god be in english, russian, moldavian, chinese dialects? How Well, first of all, the presupposition behind it all is that God is the author of human language.
Speaker 2:There was this article I read years ago by Dr Arthur Cussons, called who Taught Adam to Speak. Arthur Cussons called who Taught Adam to Speak and it works off the premise of if you have a baby, the baby is born, the baby doesn't know how to speak. The baby knows how to cry, go to the bathroom, okay, and drink milk. That's basically all the baby knows how to do. But in the first two to three years of life, the baby learns to speak and everybody goes wow, this is actually they don't go. Wow, they go. Yeah, yeah, he knows how to say no. Now he knows how to say mommy, daddy, da, da, da, da, and it's almost viewed as something like eh, who cares?
Speaker 2:But as one expert in the English language said, by the time a child is three years old, they've already accomplished the greatest intellectual feat they will ever accomplish in their life, and that's learning a language without having known one previously. That is your greatest intellectual achievement. You'll never go beyond that. I won't either. You can't, because every other language we learn. After that, we learn having already known a previous language. But here you're, going from no language to language. How does that happen? By listening right. Take a baby, set it in any culture. You can be born in America and sent to China, and if you're sat down in a Chinese family, you will learn to speak Chinese. So it's an imprinting process.
Speaker 2:The question then becomes how did the first human speak? How did they learn to speak if there's no previous speaker? Well, the answer to who then taught Adam to speak was God. God taught Adam to speak, and from there, the peoples that came from them learned to same speak, the same language, until the tower of babel. So the first presupposition of how the bible can come in any language is that god is the author of human language. He started the naming process in genesis. He named the sky, he named the earth, he names these things and and then he says okay, adam, what would you like to call this animal? And he gets to give it a name. But God started the naming game. The second presupposition for how the Bible can be God's word in any language in the world is the Tower of Babel, because that chapter begins by saying at that time everyone in the earth spoke the same language. There was one language, but then by the end of that, about nine verses later, you have 70 different languages and the people couldn't communicate with one another. So they had to stop building this monstrosity of a tower right. Who was the author of those 70 languages? God. And these become the two language presuppositions for understanding that the Bible ultimately would be translated into other languages and it would be still the Word of God.
Speaker 2:So first point here, under preservation, the New Testament authors quote various manuscripts as if they are the very Word of God, to the point that fine points can be based on tense, mood or voice. For example, in the book of Galatians, chapter 3, paul says something as he appeals to Genesis 21 or 22. He says in chapter 3, excuse me for just a moment, I hadn't planned to turn to this, but I remembered it. I'm in Ephesians, that's why I can't find it. Previous book. Let's go back Galatians, chapter 3.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there might be some in Ephesians too right, where he says he does not say unto seeds yep, verse 16. Now the promises were spoken to abraham. That's the book of genesis, right, hebrew, written in hebrew. The promises were spoken to abraham and to his seed. He does not say and to seeds as referring to many, but rather to one and to your seed, that is christ.
Speaker 2:He builds his whole argument in galatians 3 around a singular versus a plural use of seed or intention intended use in the book of Genesis, what's the one that Jesus uses in Matthew, chapter 5? He says I did not come to destroy the law but to keep it, and it will be kept down. Not one iota will be missing, not the smallest letter. No yod or tittle you know will be missing. All will be accomplished. He said all will be accomplished. So this points out how precise and important every tense mood voice letter is okay, but at the same time these can be translated into other languages and still be the word of god.
Speaker 2:That's why when you read it says, usually on the bible, it'll say the holy Bible. Means what Book it's from? Biblios, scroll, scroll or book the Holy Book. In other words, there's lots of books in the world. Right, I got math books, science books, philosophy books, theology books, but there's only one Holy Book. Okay, meaning holy means set apart, so a set apart book, in other words a book that sits alone by itself and no other books can compete with. It's been called the divine library because it's one book that's composed of 66 books. Right, the divine library. And it can be in English, it can be in Moldovian again, it can be in French, it can be in Russian, because God is the author of language. So the New Testament authors, when they come along and they quote various manuscripts as if they're the Word of God, they can do that because it is the Word of God, and they don't hesitate at all to quote from various manuscripts, including a translation, a Greek translation.
Speaker 2:The second point is translations of the Bible do not nullify the original meaning of the Bible. Languages have textual and semantic range, in other words, that are sufficient approximations of the original intended meaning of the Hebrew, aramaic or Greek text. So that, yeah, I will sometimes appeal to something in the original language. Right To try to clarify something in the translation that I think is maybe not as good as it could be right. A lot of times I don't because it's great. Why would I want to try to improve on whatever is already great? There's no confusion, so let's just move on. But other places I will point that out that's only to try to enhance understanding, not to give different understanding than the original intention.
Speaker 2:But our languages are still sufficient in their semantic ranges to be able to sufficiently translate the original text. We can see this, of course, because Jesus and the other apostles they quote other texts and they say this is the Word of God. So the Bible can be translated into other languages and it is the actual Word of God in those languages. And again, this truth is based on the two great events that relate to language, and that is, first of all, creation, where God taught Adam to speak, and secondly, the Tower of Babel, where God divided that language into 70 different languages, which are now throughout the world in over 6,000 languages, but all do fit within various families that can be traced back to the time after the flood at the tower. So I hope that is somewhat some helpful in preservation.
Speaker 2:Can there be bad translations of the Bible? Yes, yes, but for those that are trying to be accurate to the original, those are good translations of the Bible and as English speakers, we have more translations translations than anybody any other language in the world. So we have at our fingertips many, many options, uh, of adequate translations of the bible. That's why something like a king james version only argument that really I mean, it's it's fine, but let's not do that. Uh, it's, it's fine, but let's not do that. It's not helpful to getting people to have confidence that what they have is the Word of God. It's just not helpful. All right, let me mention a few things.
Speaker 2:Just before the time of the New Testament, you have the formation of a lot of groups that show up in the New Testament pages. People like the Zealots. Remember those guys, maybe, maybe not. You've got the Pharisees, certainly remember them. The Sadducees right, you have Essenes out in the Dead Sea community around there. You've got different groups. Okay, these groups kind of form. You've got the scribes. They copied the Scriptures. They were like lawyers. So you've got these groups and they're all going to show up in the pages of the New Testament. But the thing that's difficult with them is they're not in the Old Testament passages. That's where the scribes are at times of Ezra and stuff, but none of the scribes are the times of Ezra and stuff, but none of the other groups are there. So all these groups really kind of formed after the exile and during the intertestamental times and so they just kind of like just show up in the New Testament. So you have to understand a little bit about these groups, right, so you can see where they're coming from, because Jesus is confronting people in these groups.
Speaker 2:So, like a zealot, it's easy. He was someone who was zealous, right, but zealously opposed to Rome. They hated the Romans. They carried little short swords, often in their garb, and they'd go into the marketplace and they'd take it's a sickle-type shaped sword and they'd come up right up under the ribs and go straight into the heart of the Roman officials or Jews that were helping the Romans and just murder them right in the marketplace. So there's this whole group of zealots, okay, that are in the New Testament, and then there's people who are tax collectors, like Matthew, and they want to help the Romans. They're collecting the taxes from the Jews for the Romans, right, and getting rich doing it. And so you can see that a Jew like Matthew and a zealot kind of wouldn't get along. Except it's so interesting, of the 12 that Jesus chose, one was a zealot and one was a tax collector, and somehow they found unity in Christ and were able to put aside those differences and put those things behind them and come into union with one another through his teaching. So it's remarkable.
Speaker 2:Then you've got the Pharisees right. They believe the whole Old Testament. Okay, they believe in the resurrection, but really they don't believe in the Old Testament. Okay, they believe in the resurrection, but really they don't believe in the Old Testament. Mostly they believe in all their traditions and writings that they've written about the Old Testament, and so they're really not literal interpreters of the Bible. They're very spiritual interpreters of the Bible and they have a great body of doctrine that they believe. But Jesus says in Mark 7, if you follow the traditions of your scribes, you reject Moses. So they were not on page with the Bible at all.
Speaker 2:Now, the Sadducees, they were actually more literal. They're very, very strict in their interpretation. But they only believe the first five books of the Old Testament. They didn't believe in resurrection. They didn't believe in angels or things like that. So how did they get all that? Well, they were minimalist. They only took the smallest amount you could get out of the text. That's what they believed. Jesus confronts them.
Speaker 2:They said oh, let's say, you have a woman and she marries this guy and he dies. And then she marries again and he dies. She marries again and he dies. She marries again and he dies. She marries again and he dies. This was a common tool they used to show the Pharisees they were idiots with respect to resurrection. And they say to Jesus in the resurrection, she's married all these guys. Whose wife will she be?
Speaker 2:And he says you failed to understand the scriptures. And he quotes from the first five books of the Old Testament. He quotes from what they believed was the Bible. He didn't say okay, I can prove this from Daniel. He just went to what they already believed and he said you don't understand the scriptures. It says I am the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Therefore proven from their own scriptures, that they didn't take their scriptures for all they were worth. They didn't see in that statement that God, in fact, if he's the God of Abraham, will most certainly raise Abraham, because how can you be his God if he's dead? It's just logic, scriptural logic. And so you've got all these groups and Jesus is able to like and all these people, and at the very end they can't say anything. Do you remember?
Speaker 2:He shut up all three major groups on one day the Herodians, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. He shut them up on one day. You can read about it in Matthew 22 and 23. And they never, ever wanted to talk to him about it again, because he blew them away with the scripture.
Speaker 2:And that's how good we want to be with the scripture, so that we can not trying to be mean, but shut people's mouths, because I'm telling you right now, there's a lot of people out there all they want to do is make fun of Christians and Christianity. It is time to shut their mouth as best we can, because if they don't get them shut now, god is going to shut them later. And it's better to get it shut now and figure this all out with the Lord Jesus Christ now than it is to not get it sorted out and spend eternity separated from God. It's way better to figure it out now. So he's given us this time to do that. Let's do it right. Let's go next week right into who do you say that I am in Matthew 16 and ask the question who is Jesus Christ?
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.