Bible Backgrounds/Church History 2012

Here we are in the last couple of weeks of Bible backgrounds. We've been going through some kind of individual areas of where Bible backgrounds, you know, language, history, and culture impact how we understand God's Word and how well we understand it. And so now this week we'll be looking at kind of word patterns and I mean phrases and things of that sort, word patterns in the Bible and how to recognize and what part those play in our study of the Bible.

And then next week we'll look at the seven churches of Revelation and the historical background and the geographical background that helps us understand those better and also confirms their historicity. And then we'll shift, starting on July 1, we'll shift to the new topic of church history. And so July 1 will be a general introduction. We'll have another pamphlet handout for you from Rose Publishing, and we had several of them in the Bible Background series, one on a kind of a general outline of church history. So anyway, that will be the introduction to church history, which will carry through the rest of the calendar year.

What's that? Hey, I just love it. I think it's great stuff. Now, the biblical phrases and associated words. I have it here. In the beginning, there were word studies. In the decades In centuries past, believers could readily study Bible words, and this was sometimes done in great detail. You hear about people doing, you know, we studied this word, and look at that. Since about 1500, the number of word study resources has continued to grow. Once they're able to start printing, and not just have hand-copied everything, Word studies was one of the things where resources were developed, lexicons and things of that sort. And so you could study individual words and gain some insight. Now, getting to the next one, the development of computers, however, allows us to see patterns of words and phrases, word pairs, word trios, things of that sort. you know, combinations. Give me all the verses where this word and that word are used in the same verse, that kind of thing.

Those sorts of things would be difficult and time-consuming with the resources that we had just in print. But now with the computer you can find things, and frankly what I've found is you can find things that are original. That is, nobody else has brought this up. And that was one of the things as I was especially going through the book of Revelation, I found here are some patterns of words that nobody has pursued before, so far as I can tell. And the insights often from them are substantial. So, here's an example.

Genesis 1-1 opens the Bible by including the phrase, the heavens and the earth. It's a phrase or word association which is repeated often in the Bible to the very last book of Scripture. So a great deal of use of this heavens and earth, or some combination of them, shows up in the Bible from this one occurrence that starts off in Genesis 1. This raises an example of the Jewish language pattern, we call it Hebraism, which describes the whole of anything by naming either the two halves or the first and the last. So, with that pattern, I'm going to move up here because the turning around thing is distracting me.

So, here is an example, Genesis 2.1, Thus the heavens and earth were completed in all their hopes. You could say, thus the world was completed, right? That would be the Greek way of saying it. The Jews wouldn't say it that way. They would say that the two halves, that is the heavens and the earth, the two halves that make up the whole, that's the way you say it.

So Genesis 2.4, and this is the account of the heavens and the earth.

So that pattern there, here's Exodus 20.11. For six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. So, you don't find among Jewish writings, the world as a generalization, except very rarely, the pattern is to call it the heavens and the earth, that's the whole.

Two halves make the whole. The heavens and the earth occurs, and I give a listing of phrases from Deuteronomy 31-28 to Haggai 2-6-21, and a number in between. And by the way, that's not all, that's just sort of an example listing. These passages precisely reproduce the phrase from Genesis 1-1. So, heavens and the earth, and it's explicitly that. There are also places where these words are used in a similar association, expressing both halves of the whole, but not using exactly that term. Here are some variations. Here's Habakkuk, an Old Testament prophet.

His splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of His praise." Now what that is, is a small chiasm. Why? It's because His splendor covers and full of His praise are the things that are kind of restatements or similar statements. And the heavens and the earth, there is two halves make the whole.

1 Chronicles 16.31, let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. You see the heavens and the earth pattern there? And then you also see glad and rejoice being rhyming words. Word, not sounds, but word meanings.

Job 38.3, do you know the ordinances of the heavens or fix their rule over the earth?

So there's the heavens and the earth word again. along with rhyming similar ideas. Psalm 89-11, the heavens are yours and the earth also is yours. So you begin to see those patterns and this is a Jewish way of writing and as we'll see it even goes into the New Testament in the Jewish writers of the New Testament using these patterns. Here is another variation of the same theme that occurs more than two dozen times in scripture. It's the specific phrase, heaven and earth. So instead of heaven and earth, it would be heaven and earth.

So 2 Kings 19.15, you have made heaven and earth.

And then 2 Chronicles 2.12, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth. Psalm 115, verse 15, may you be blessed of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth. So a similar but not identical use of heaven and earth there.

How are we doing so far? Doing okay? Bargain tell? Yes? No? Alright. Then, in addition to two halves being put together making a whole, there's a use of the first and the last in a series, and that sums up the whole. We use that when we say from A to Z. When we say something is from A to Z, we mean A to Z and everything in between. This is identical to that use. So, what we have here is a chart. You also have it reproduced in your handout. Here in Isaiah, the first and the last is part of a passage in Isaiah that we studied some years back.

Isaiah 41.4, 44.6, and 48.12 have God being the first and the last. And then in Revelation, what we find is several uses of the first and the last, similar to A to Z, right?

Only it's Jesus. So is Jesus God? Yes. Jesus is deity. It's one of the confirmations. Besides that, in the Isaiah 40 series, in one of those places it says, I am God, the first and the last, and there is no other. So if somebody else claims, well, Jesus isn't really God, that contradicts Isaiah.

Then we have the beginning and the end, another way of stating the same thing. What John did, because he was writing in Greek, is he said the Alpha and the Omega three times in Revelation. The rabbis used to say, using the Hebrew alphabet, the Aleph and the Toph. So this A to Z, Alpha and Omega, Aleph and Toph, that's a pattern that actually goes beyond just one particular culture. But that's a pattern that you will see, the first and the last. Hebrew poetry, where they rhyme ideas rather than, they rhyme word meanings rather than sounds, is one of the patterns we see both in the Old Testament and in the New. Psalm 6 happens to be a pretty good clear instance of that, so we've quoted Psalm 6, 1, 5, and 6.

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath. See the rhyming there? Do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath. 5 For there is no mention of you in death in Sheol, the place of the dead, who will give you thanks. 6 I am weary with my sighing every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with tears.

So those are two similar kinds of statements, both of them using figures of speech. Here is the Apostle Paul writing in Ephesians. Now this fascinates me because the Apostle Paul, as he goes through Ephesians, alternates between writing, you can tell by his terminology, between writing to Jews and writing to Gentiles. He switches back and forth. And this is no exception. Earlier in this chapter he talked about the Gentiles not having the privileges that the Jews have had, and yet God takes down the barrier of the dividing wall, the law, in order to put Gentiles and Jews together in the church.

And now He writes in a Hebrew poetry pattern to the Gentiles and the Jews, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Then the next verse, in whom, so he starts it identically, right? You also, which is the same as the whole building, are being built together into a dwelling of God. Is a temple a dwelling of God? The temple is the dwelling of God. And then you see in the Lord on verse 21 and in the Spirit in verse 22. So we see that this Hebrew poetry rhymes ideas rather than sounds. I actually think that that pattern is on purpose and by God's intent, and here's why.

As all this was inspired to be carried over into other languages, right? As it was inspired to be carried over into other languages, if you rhyme the Hebrew sounds, what would you have? You would lose it as soon as you translated it. But by having the Jews have this pattern of rhyming meanings, then no matter what language you translate it into, you still have rhyming meanings. We can sit here and see the pattern in English, even though it's been translated from some other language.

So that to me is an indication that God inspired it particularly because most of the rest of the world has this rhyming sounds pattern. Not the Hebrews, they want to rhyme meanings. Okay so far here? Alright. So here we have in whom and in whom is identical between those two. The whole building and you also, since you are the whole building, okay? You also are the things that correspond.

And then, being fitted together is growing into, is our being built together into. And by the way, Paul was writing this about a temple being built, right? He wrote in a Hebrew poetry pattern about the Gentiles being included in the church. And it was taking place at the time when the temple in Jerusalem was still under reconstruction. So very interesting. He wrote this as a dynamic thing, being fitted, being built together, matching up to something that the Jews would say, yeah, I know what that's like because our temple is being reconstructed, right?

So, we have that pattern all the way along. So, to look at it this way, I'll step through it. Each verse has bookends, placing the temple, the process of building, and its status as a dwelling of God, a temple, between in whom and in the Lord, or in the Spirit. Here's another pattern, a chiasm, which is one that we've often introduced in the main service.

And that's the idea of a mirror image in writing. So here you have a fall forest scene at the edge of a lake. And the lake is fairly glassy, so you can see it in a mirror pattern here. So it's reflecting off the edge. So a chiasm is like a mirror image in written form.

So here's 1 John 3.9, whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of God. See the chiasm pattern there? That's fairly clear. So what does it do? It starts off with someone having been born of God and ends with someone being born of God.

And then in the middle, it only states it once, but the middle is then a point of emphasis. It is emphasis by two different means. How do we, when we want in our culture and language, especially in our time of word processors and things of that sort, how do we emphasize something when we write? We can underline, we can italicize, and we can bold. Very commonly, those things are done. those had not really been developed at this time, so the way they would emphasize things is to either repeat them or put them at the center of the chiasm. So you repeat it, you say it twice, and that emphasizes it, or if it's at the center of the chiasm, that gets your attention too. So that's the way they would emphasize something.

Here's Genesis 29 20 through 30 Jacob makes a payment for his wife and Then there is a marriage to Leah by deception in the middle of the chiasm Jacob's accusation in Laban's defense and Then finally marriage to Rachel by negotiation and then Jacob's payment for his wife you have in their dozen verses a small chiasm And then, as we've been handing out the Gospel of Matthew, the entire book is written as a chiasm. We've been using that as kind of an outline. And by the way, the tendency, if you look at it, for us, as we look at a book, is oftentimes to go through and outline the book. But that's our way of thinking about it.

The chiasm was far more commonly a way to outline something, and more natural to the way they did it. It was a form commonly used, not just here in Matthew. The whole book of Galatians is a chiasm. The book of Ruth, the whole book is a chiasm. Jude is a chiasm, the whole book. And what are some of the reasons why you would use a chiasm? You would write things in a chiasm form.

What would be some of the reasons? Emphasis. Pardon? That's right. What we talked about before. Emphasis would be one reason, and when you have a whole book, what does it do? It helps emphasize the whole book. The whole book is emphasized. This is a way of shouting it out, as we would do orally. So good, emphasis. What else?

Why else would you want to use a chiasm? It compares. It compares, and as a matter of fact, you can use a chiasm to say, you know, do I understand what's being said here. If I see a chiasm pattern, it helps me actually to interpret it. It also helps me see what are they wanting to emphasize, to look back at the point you have there. But yeah, there is a comparison that helps me understand the flow of what's being said. So that's a good point. Any other thoughts? Yeah, Stan? I think if we're like the writers, it would be similar to a poet.

Ah, yes. beginning and an end, except that it's in the center, that you build to the outside. Right, so you build the outside from the middle. Another reason is easier memorization. If you need to memorize something, you'd say, I've got that, that, that, that, and this starts like this and ends like this, and I know the middle is like this, right? When they would memorize, one of the things that they would do is they would do like the stones that they would see in a doorway, where you would have the stones coming up the side, and then you'd have the stones that are in the arch, and then there'd be a center keystone at the top, and then there'd be stones off the other side of the arch, and then down the other side of the doorway, and at the base of the doorway would be the foundation stones for the doorway. So they would think like that and then match up the parts of the chiasm to that stone. And they would say, okay, now this next one goes like this, and like this, and like this.

So they would picture it, and that would help them memorize. Something else, if you're copying something, to be able to recognize the chiasm in what you're copying might be helpful too. In order to make sure, am I copying this thing right? Am I skipping something?

Here's the book of Ruth and the outline we have that I think on page two of your handout there. The book of Ruth starts off with introduction ten years of Moab at Moab with death and then the epilogue is ten generations of birth. So real real interesting. In the middle of there is the plan laid by Naomi and Ruth. And so you see the plan is central and everything builds up to the plan and then the carrying out and working up of the plan. So another real interesting thing. Here is a four chapter book and it's all built around this fairly detailed chiasm. We won't go into it. The flood account is a large chiasm in the book of Genesis. So we talk about why chiasms.

We've talked about the point they emphasize by repetition and by the center. They're made for a memory tool and cross-check for copying by hand. Chiasms made for an orderly presentation. It wasn't just, hey, this is all random, but I've got this thing and here's the order that I've got. I've got a start and a beginning and a middle and it builds up to the middle and it works out from there. Chiasm serves to help us check our understanding of each part of the passage. If I've got something that looks like a chiasm, but one part of it doesn't seem to look quite right, maybe I need to take a second look at how I understand this.

So it helps us serving as a cross check. Here's another term, and this is one as I was studying Revelation. See, I first started studying Revelation back in the late 90's. personal computers at that point in time were still not real common, and I would find patterns of words, and this was one of them, that I couldn't find in any commentary because the commentaries had been written in earlier times, maybe even five to ten years earlier, and nobody was able to see patterns of words quite so easily.

So here's the Apostle John in Revelation, he uses the phrase, after these things, me de talka, Six times. Upon investigation, one finds that both the Old and New Testaments use this phrase repeatedly. So it is starting from Genesis all the way to Revelation an important phrase. In general, the phrase was used to communicate historical events in sequence. Only John uses it to convey prophesied future events so certain that they are like history past. It is by recognizing the use of that phrase after these things By recognizing that, it helps us interpret the book of Revelation.

Is Revelation something to be just looked at as random, or is it intended to be sequential? And this tells us it's intended to be sequential. Is it sort of dreamy, floaty, no correspondence to history, or does it correspond to the real world and historical sequence? And the answer is the second. It does correspond to the real world and historical sequence. So this phrase is huge in our understanding of Revelation.

Now, here is a listing and you have something similar. What we see is several uses in Genesis there in a historical sequential and actual history setting. Leviticus 2618 is rather an unusual use of the word where it says, if you do not do this, then after these things. So in that case it's conditional, prophetic. If you don't do this, then after these things this will happen.

Then we continue to see that historical use. We do see it twice in the book of John, early in the chapter with Nicodemus and then later on in the book of John towards the end. We see it in Acts. So here is Dr. Luke writing things that have historical reality and historical sequence. So Dr. Luke uses the term after these things three times, and then we see it multiple times here, six times in the book of Revelation.

So here's an instance where today with the ability to use computers we can notice patterns that in the past were hard for people to pick up on. Here's another one I saw, those who dwell on the earth. Every use of this phrase is for unbelievers who live during the tribulation period.

I find no exceptions with the thing to take particular note of and that is in Revelation 3.10 it uses the phrase in a part of the messages to the churches as a promise that the church will not be among them.

It is a proof of a pre-tribulation rapture. Because we find, when does the tribulation begin? That's in Revelation chapter 6. Do we find the phrase, those who dwell on the earth, in Revelation chapter 6? The answer is yes. And it is scattered all the way till near the end of the tribulation period, twice in Revelation 17. So anyway, that's another one where putting the words together, big insight. Yeah, Stan?

So in that case, people are coming to know the Lord during the tribulation period and they remain on earth. Yes. are unsafe, but there are a few who are who have come before. What's interesting is the phrase, those who dwell on the earth, is specific to unbelievers who lived during the tribulation period. It is true that there will be believers, people who become believers during that time. But the use of this phrase is specifically to unbelievers during the tribulation period, even though there are believers that are here.

So it's more in reference to a state. It's a state of unbelief even though... Yes, that's very good. In other words, not only do they dwell on the earth physically, but it's all about here. It's all about, you know, this is where I am, this is who I am, this is my identity, this is what I'm all about. It's here on the earth.

Another pattern that I noticed, and I've never seen this written up, it may be that somebody wrote it up and I just haven't found it, but another pattern I discovered, and it was again one of those computer searches, is made with hands, made without hands. In him you are also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. Now, what does that mean, right? This made without hands in the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

From the Old Testament on into the New Testament, there are multiple references to things made with hands or not made with hands. There is a variation of the general pattern of words and phrases. Things about, here's the physical universe, things that are made with hands by human beings, the earth being created, and things being constructed. The work of God in the physical realm, such as in creation, is often spoken of as being done by God's hands, or is called the work of his hands. So if God does something in the physical realm, that's the work of his hands. And this relates to the things we looked at before in creation.

And we have references there from Job 10.8 through the Psalms and on into Hebrews chapters 1 and 2. Both have those kinds of statements. Things in the physical realm made with hands.

The works of man's hands are spoken of as being done by man's hands. It's positive when it's something that God has appointed man to do, but it's negative when it's idol making. So here's from Deuteronomy to Revelation, this pattern of human beings making things with their hands, and sometimes it's good and sometimes it's evil. Evil if it's idol making. Physical circumcision is spoken of in the New Testament as the work of man's hands.

We have Ephesians 2.11. All other passages about physical circumcision as performance by man's hands is of course implied. Joshua 5, 2, and 3. But here's the biggie. Here's the biggie. When God does something in the spiritual realm, it is spoken of as not made with hands or made without hands. God does it without hands. That means he does it in the spiritual realm. With God doing it in the physical realm, it's with hands. Yeah?

Okay, I didn't look it up, but I assume this passage, Daniel 2.34 and 45, has to do with the dream that he interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar, correct? Right, but it was cut out of the mouth. Without hands. Right.

But now you're saying here that that's a spiritual realm. It's a spiritual realm application of that. In other words, it's not a physical creation. But when Christ comes, that's an manifestation of that. prophetic statements, right? What we ought to do, because I don't want to get too sidetracked, we ought to take a look at that afterwards here and just examine that.

The example we have in Colossians 2.11 is one of those, or Hebrews 9.11 is another, where it's something done in the spiritual realm made without hands, or done without hands. Okay, so let's take a look at, here's some that is your turn. Here's Genesis 24, 2-4. Place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac.

Where do you see some of the things we've talked about here in this passage? Yes, the God of Heaven and the God of Earth would be one of those. It's not the Heavens and the Earth, but it's the two halves making the whole. And it's interesting that not only do you have Heaven and Earth separately identified, but God is stated separately to be the God of the Heavens and the God of the Earth.

You also have something else and that is in a covenant one of the things that you would do is have some sort of a physical gesture to confirm the covenant. God makes a covenant with Noah and what does Noah do as the physical gesture to confirm the covenant? He does a sacrifice. God also makes a physical gesture in that He makes a rainbow.

In here, the physical gesture is to place your hand under the thigh. When you make this promise, you put the hand under the thigh. We would have something like that, although it's being almost entirely lost. Put your hand on the Bible and raise your right hand. That kind of pattern. A physical gesture to go along with the covenant is another pattern that comes out here. Okay, so let's take another look here.

The earth shook and quaked, the foundations of heaven were trembling. What do you see there? Rhyming meanings. And what meanings do you see rhyming? The third foundation is quake and trembling. Yep, so you've got shook and quake and then you've got trembling and then you have the two halves equal the whole is you've got earth and heaven, right?

So we've got that pattern that shows up here right in the middle of this historical book. So it's interesting, Hebrew poetry isn't just something where it's exclusively in poetry. It is a part of how they speak and write regularly. Okay, here's another one. Isaiah 48, 12 and 13. Listen to me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called. I am he, I am the first, I am also the last.

Surely my hand founded the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. What do you see? Pardon? Two halves of the whole, and that's where? So you've got earth and heaven, and notice the interesting pattern. The usual pattern is heavens and the earth. In this case, it's earth and then heavens. So that's an interesting one. What else do you see? Yes, Gary? The first and the last is another one. I am the first, I am also the last. Good. What else do you see?

My hand, my hand, my right hand. Ah, my hand founded the earth, my right hand spread out the heavens, and this is again, who's talking? Who's saying this? God is saying it, and does God use hands to create things? He uses hands to create things in the physical realm. He does it without hands in the spiritual realm, right?

And we're not done, what else? So would that be a relatively short chiasm, I am the first, I am he, I am also the last, putting himself between the first and the last, he's the present, that's probably ego mei, or whatever. Well, and that's interesting, in the Hebrew of course it's not this way, but in the Greek Old Testament, I am he is ego mei, which Jesus says repeatedly throughout the Gospel of John especially. There is an occurrence in Matthew, but the Gospel of John particularly, Ego Emi, which literally means I am. So when it says I am he, it's actually in the original I am.

But it's another proof of the deity of Christ because Christ uses this I am, Ego Emi, again and again. I am the door. I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and all those are this Ego-Emi form, which in the Greek Old Testament is the same as it is here. So here's Jesus, Ego-Emi, I being in fact deity, am the first and the last, as you see three times in Revelation. So here's the pattern here, we have it colored and underlined and things of that sort. There's one more we have, but we didn't point out.

Oh, Jacob and Israel, two different names. So you state, if there are two different names, you state both of them. That's another thing. You can look up verses using a computer that have Israel and Jacob in the same verse, and you'll find a number of them. Jacob, and that was one of the ways of alternating but saying the same thing. It rhymes, but it's two different words.

He causes all, this is Revelation 13, 16, He causes all the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand and on their forehead. So what do you see there? Small and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves. So what you see is three statements of two halves make the whole. But between the rich and the poor, you've got those bases covered. There's free men and slaves. There's small and great. So it's either two halves make the whole or you've got the first and the last kind of phenomenon. But basically three times.

So he causes all. The all would be a Greek way of saying it. The rest of them, where there's a trio, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free men and the slaves, that would be a Hebrew way of saying it. In the Greek form, we'd just say all. But to have this two halves make the whole stated three times is for emphasis. He could have said all, the small and the great, and then moved on. But what he did was have the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free men and the slaves. Doesn't matter. Yes, Dane?

Isn't that because the book of Revelations is so full of numerology? Oh yeah, I mean it's like sevens and 144 and that's 12,000 of each tribe, etc. One other thing, a mark on the right hand or on their forehead. Just looking at something else, what's the significance of the right hand and the forehead?

Where else do we see that mentioned in the Old Testament, for example, in the law? The right hand was used for power. That's not particularly what I'm aiming for here, but you're correct. Remember the Jews were to keep the law where? So the Jews, some of them would actually have a little box with some law scriptures on their head and then they'd also put it on the back of their hand. So what you see here is the mark of the beast is an anti-reflection of that Old Testament law where you have it on the hand and on the forehead.

Verse 14 in this same passage has those who dwell on the earth, another pattern that we talked about. Second Corinthians 4, 10, and 11. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

What do you see? Is it chiasm? There is a sense in which there is a chiasm, you're right. And the middle would be for we who live are constantly. So that would be that. There is a restatement pattern in here as well. And I'm going to kind of jump ahead a little bit. Here is how we would look at it as a restatement pattern. You could either have it as a chiasm, as Craig has observed, or you could simply have, for we who live are, in the first case, being rather an implied or assumed set of words.

Always carrying Jesus matches up with constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake. And then the next part in both verses starts off with so that. We have that in bold italics. And then the next part in these is the life of Jesus also may be manifested. The life of Jesus also may be manifested. It's identical. He didn't even try to vary it. And then in our body and in our mortal flesh.

See that pattern? So here he is writing a letter, and in the middle of the letter he breaks out into Hebrew poetry. So real interesting, the writers of Scripture don't just keep poetry in the poetry book. They break out into Hebrew poetry patterns right in the middle of writing a letter. And Paul does it in fact repeatedly.

Okay, next time we're going to go into the seven churches of Revelation. And with the seven churches of Revelation, they are churches that are at the west end of what is now Turkey. And it goes in a clockwise pattern through those seven cities, starting with Ephesus. And each of the cities has a unique historical background. And John, the author of the Book of Revelation, is writing the messages to the seven churches, and what we find is fascinating is that in every single case, the historical background that's individual to that city matches up with what John writes.

Beautifully. It not only makes what is said very relevant to the people who are reading that in each case, But it is also a confirmation of the validity and historicity of Scripture. Because rather than being some random connection, everything fits. Everything fits for two whole chapters.

I was fascinated looking at that. In fact, one of the first things I presented to the guys over in Uganda when I went over there, now three years ago, And I showed them through that, and they just, wow, we've never had anybody show us anything like this. So they were really excited about it. Anyway, and I'm excited to be able to show it to you.

Comments, questions, inspirations? OK. Let me pray, and then I'll go back and try to address Stan's question here. OK? Oh, you had a question? Yeah. to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. The forehead is referred to the Jewish way. Well, what I said is the right hand and the forehead were the places that they were to keep the law. And the idea is that it's right there. It's what you think and what you do is the background behind that.

Yes. So isn't that kind of indicating that there's probably going to be a new law because it says the Antichrist? tries to change laws and seasons. Yes, tries to change times and seasons. He's consistent with that, that there's a new law. Yeah, oh yeah. Marked with, because they're learning this new law and memorizing it. Yes, yeah. Yeah, I mean, he goes in and makes some radical changes, enough radical changes in how things are established that Scripture makes note of it as a key characteristic. Yep. Let me see if I can It's back there where we had the Daniel passage. Daniel 2, 34 and 45.

With this stuff, I would encourage you, if you have any kind of a Bible search program, and you can download them for free. One of them that I can recommend is called The Word. If you don't happen to have one, The Word is a good one. There are others. But you can go using those programs and find these phrases in word combinations and things of that sort. And I just, I continue to discover and come upon things that I've never seen written up elsewhere. Okay.

It says, you watch while a stone was cut out without hands. Makes specific reference to the without hands. which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. I think what this is talking about is here is a spiritually significant occurrence. It's not creation in the sense of God making things. That's the typical use of made with hands. God's bringing about something in history and working with people. It's not a creative act. So I think that's the reason for using that terminology. That's verse 34. What was the other verse we had there?

45. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, again, explicit use of the same term. and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.

The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure. So that one, similar comment, it's something God does in history, working with people. And yes, it has a physical aspect, but the term with hands is typically a creative act, application. God made the world by his hand. God made the heavens and the earth, actually, would be the more typical phrase. Yes? There was a spiritual act. Yes. So without hands would convey that there was a... A spiritual act by God is spoken of as being without hands. That's from the Daniel passage all the way into the Hebrews 9-11 passage. Without hands.

So the writing on the commandments, Yeah, that would be interesting. I'd have to look that up, whether that was spoken of as being, because it's spoken of being by the finger of God, right? And, hmm, interesting. I would tend to think that that's more in the nature of with hands. With hands, because it says by the finger of God. So, yeah. And it's a physical production that he comes up with. Hmm. More of a miraculous nature to it. But yeah, more with hands. You end up with a physical item or entity coming from that.