Latest / The Daily Word / September 6 – Keep Digging into God’s Word
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Hello my friends, it's Pastor Jenny here and it is September sixth. How we doin' in our sci fi movie, I mean our reading of Revelation. We still hanging on, still doing good. today is Revelation chapter eleven, main title or it begins at least with the two witnesses, and then it continues to the witnesses resurrected and the seventh trumpet. The kingdom proclaimed. So, well, excuse me, it's the two witnesses. The witnesses killed, then they're resurrected. Can't be resurrected till you're dead, right? So set then the seventh shit, the kingdom proclaimed. So those are just the headlines. But if you haven't already, I highly, highly, highly recommend that you get a study Bible or check out a studied Bible, grab a study Bible. to go through the book of Revelation just to gain and glean a better understanding of what you're reading. We also have some great resources we can recommend. our dear friends Pastors Dale and Joel Everest from New Song and Nashville have a great podcast where they went through the book of Revelation. Highly recommend that podcast as well. If you haven't heard that recommendation already. So for today's reading, what I would love to do is actually just give you a glimpse of what it's like to take the passage and kind of do you know, I won't say a deep dive because I don't have that much time, but utilize a study Bible. Because reading through this passage, it can be like, What in the world is going on here? Who are these two witnesses? Why does this matter? What is going on? And if you go back utilizing the study bible and you look at what what is the whole book of Revelation? What's the deal around the book of Revelation? Why can it be so confusing? You can even get some understanding about, hey, there's different viewpoints, there's different approaches. one way to think of it is, you know, something in very basic understanding would be just in church tradition, for example. Sometimes someone's looking for a church. And they're like, hey, do you go to like a contemporary service or a traditional service? Well, both of them are church. They're just a different style. And so when it comes to the interpretation of the book of Revelation, there are different interpretations to that book. all there are several approaches that honor Jesus and God's word. and so it's important to find a study Bible. That's our study tool resource that's going to honor those interpretations. So that's why I recommend Pastor Dale and Joel's podcast. But just so you know, you're gonna hear terms like the preterist view, also known as the contemporary historical interpretation. You're gonna hear things like the continuous historical interpretation, the f futurist interpretation of revelation. There's also One that you're probably most familiar with that you've heard in our culture, and that's the dispensational interpretation. If you've ever heard of the rapture, that's gonna be the interpretation that is associated with the rapture. And so one other interpretation is gonna be the spiritual or symbolic interpretation of revelation. And so, why do I bring that up or even mention that as a part of what we're studying today? It's because I know many of you are probably most familiar or have at least heard of the dispensational viewpoint, even if you've never heard that word dispensational. Because I know many of you have heard of the rapture, you've maybe heard of timelines like the three and a half years or two sets of three and a half years, seven years. What are these tribulations? Where did they get these ideas from? Where is any of this built around? And I highlight that because today in our reading from Revelation chapter eleven. There are some mentions of months. So if you look in verse two, it says, But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months, or in other words, three and a half years. So that is gonna be part of that timeline that is where that dispensational view. comes from. So right here in my study Bible it says they will tread forty-two months. It says this began about six five BC with Judah's captivity under Nebuchadnezzar and will likely not end until the second coming. So now that doesn't make sense because that would be a big time period. How was that three and a half years? and so obviously it wasn't referring to a specific time period here in this section. It's referring to a period of time. So forty-two months as a time frame shows perfect harmony between the book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, where Daniel speaks of 70 weeks of years, revealing that all prophetic history for this age will culminate in a final 70th week of years. So you do any studying of scripture or the Bible. You will quickly find out that numbers are not just random. They're very intentional and they definitely mean something. So, another portion over here, again, and not necessarily specific to the dispensational view, but this particular study Bible is giving options on the various viewpoints. Again, it's highlighting verses instead of just the three and one-half years, the 42 months being limited time rather than a literal time. So you've got some different interpretations there where maybe some people are going to think a literal time versus a limited time. But there's one thing. Continue on reading in the study Bible, this particular passage, it talks about two witnesses identified as the two olive trees and the two lamp stands in this particular passage. And so This study Bible lets us know that proclaiming the gospel, that these two witnesses proclaim the gospel accompanied by signs and wonders. And they are purposely not identified as individuals, but it says that perhaps they're like Zerubbabel and Joshua. Also, they're compared to Elijah and Moses. And later, they're also referred to as maybe being like. Moses and Enoch or Moses and Elijah due to the nature of the types of miracles that they perform. So whether it's the literal Moses and Enoch that comes back, scholars, you know, aren't fully agreed upon, but for sure they'll be like them, because fire proceeds from their mouth, they shed heaven so that no rain falls, they turn to blood, various things. so, Pastor Jenny, why are you reading all these various study things to us. Again, it's because it's important to see and know and to begin to dive into and understand the scripture. And also to see that there are varying interpretations of what people are coming together and believing the word of God to say. And that's okay too. So that's why it's important that we all Are responsible to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. So my encouragement to you today is if you read today and you thought, I'm not sure what I'm getting out of this today, that's okay. Don't be discouraged. Keep reading the word, keep spending time with Jesus, keep praying, keep worshiping, and take that extra time to learn something new today, whether it's a new, a different viewpoint that you didn't know before, or leaning in to do something new. Deeper. Time in God's word is always well spent. So Lord, we come before you. We thank you for your word. Thank you for speaking to us. Holy Spirit, ask that you would continue to lead and guide us into all truth and that you would walk with us in all that we do. Show us, Father, your heart for those around us. Help us to walk in that compassion and love to all we come across today. In Jesus' name. Amen.