Bible Survey - Minor Prophets I

Alright, we're going to be covering this week and next week the Minor Prophets. And the Minor Prophets are called minor because the books are shorter, but they're still substantial. They shouldn't be thought of as miniscule or diminutive, though traditionally minor prophets has been the term.

We're going to be taking a look at the first six of those minor prophets and then the last six, so there are twelve. The first six today and then the next six next Sunday. The handout that you have, we've got eight pages. Some of that's fairly graphical, including this first page here.

This gives the birthplace where it is given. of the minor and major prophets. And what you see is the prophets are from all over. The prophets were not just in one location or another, but they're from... Here's Micah, who's a southerner, okay? And then you have up north, on the north end, is Jonah from Gathhefer, which is north of Nazareth. So you've got quite a spread. You've got them all the way closer to the coast and then even a couple to the east side of the Jordan River.

So the prophets are from all sorts of locations. Let's take a look at page 2 here. And I'd like us, as kind of an introduction to the minor prophets, I'd like us to look at first the kind of summary that's on the left there. You have the prophets before the exile, and there are prophets to three different places, and that's Jonah, the prophet to Nineveh, the very reluctant prophet to Nineveh, and then the regretful prophet to Nineveh. You have prophets to Israel, Amos and Hosea, and then you've got the prophets to Judah, a half dozen of them, topped off by Obadiah. And then after the exile, in Psalms you'll hear this more complicated word, you know, post-exilic or something like that, prophets. So it's Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

It's interesting, when Nancy and I first met, that was in August of 70, and then by the next August, Nancy was expressing some difficulty getting into the Word. And she asked for a prayer about it in a group there. So I said, would you like to get together and start studying it? And Haggai was one of the books that I took her through early. So at any rate, and also Daniel, the one that Randy covered.

So anyway, here's kind of the layout of the Minor Prophets. You also have on the right side there Old Testament tribulation terms and expressions. And what's interesting is that there is quite a variety and yet they're all referring to the tribulation period and what you'll see is of course the major prophets like Ezekiel is in there and Daniel Isaiah etc but also a number of minor prophets making reference to the upcoming tribulation period the coming tribulation period is so clear out of even the Old Testament that the Orthodox Jews will say that there's going to be seven years of terrible time on the earth. The Jews name for the Antichrist is Armilus. And a terrible time at the end of which Messiah will come and reign for a long long time. They don't say a thousand years because that's a Christian book, Revelation chapter 20, right? So they'll say that at the end of that tribulation period of seven years, then Messiah will come and reign for a long, long time.

Alright, let's start through by going to page three, and this is the first of the minor prophets, and what you see there is Hosea. Now, one of the things I want to remark about is that what I have is a pattern here up in the upper left is sort of a rectangular quick reference on where and dates and that kind of thing then you'll see Hosea at a glance and you'll see that pattern through each of the minor prophets there may sometimes be differences in the dates given and here's one reason why the minor prophets are harder to date as to what was the time period when this was given what we have with like Ezekiel what we have with Daniel what we have with Isaiah is they would say this King this year you know the first day of the rain those kinds of things and and so we have something to pin it to in in the minor prophets there's very little of that and so you often times have difficulty you know pinning it down to a specific date, and so you will see differences. And it doesn't mean that they're not valid or that opinions expressed are not good. It just simply is more difficult to date them in general. And so that's why you'll see differences in the dates. Here with Hosea, can anybody tell us with Hosea, what did God ask Hosea to do? What's that? Yes, to marry an unfaithful woman. To marry an unfaithful woman. Why would God ask Hosea to do that?

That's an example of how His love for us would be felt when we're not with Him. Okay, that would be a general statement specific to Israel Israel was unfaithful and they were going after the Canaanite deities and with the Canaanite deities there was cultic prostitution and things of that sort and so Hosea was to live out a symbol essentially of having been married to this unfaithful woman and Israel was being unfaithful and so Hosea was a tragic illustration And that's one of the patterns you'll find with many of the prophets. A lot of times the prophets were called to live out an illustration. Randy was talking about the prophet laying on his side for the longest time, you know, as a living illustration. And so Hosea was a living illustration of the unfaithfulness of Israel, the northern kingdom. the unfaithfulness of Israel to God.

So that's the story with Hosea. You find the first part of the book talks about the unfaithful wife that he married at God's direction as a living illustration. And then he goes on in the latter part of the book to then talk about other things that are more directly prophetic. And what you have here, here's Hosea 14, 4-7, it's quoted there at the bottom of the page, and it says, I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.

I will be like the dew to Israel, he will blossom like the lily, and he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow will again raise grain, and they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon."

What time period is this talking about? This is looking forward to the Millennial Kingdom. And one of the things that you see there is a lot of signs of physical prosperity and agricultural prosperity. And that's a frequent theme in a lot of the prophets talking about the Millennial Kingdom. You get details like Messiah will come and you get details like everybody will be drawn to the Jews. And even Gentiles will say, take me to your Messiah. But there's also things like this where it talks about agricultural productivity and prosperity.

Yeah. I don't know this for a fact, but don't they usually use she for cities or countries? What's interesting is you'll see both he and she. And why would that be? Why would you have a mixture? Okay, what would be the basis for referring to Israel as a he? They came from Jacob, so there's the reason for the he. Now, why the she? Why the she reference?

Yes, so it's Yahweh, which is the Old Testament name for God. Yes. Yes. The literal or figurative is the reason for switching back and forth. And so you will find one of each. When it says he, then the emphasis is upon the literal. When it says she, then the emphasis is upon the figurative. Yes. Yes. Okay. Do you have a question? Yes. So Israel and she is not synonymous. Right. Okay.

Here's the interesting thing is that analogy of a of a husband and a wife is used between Yahweh, that's the Old Testament Hebrew name of God, and the people and nation of Israel. That figure of speech is used. However, one of the things that, and Hosea is an example, one of the things that you will see that contrasts with Christ and the church, okay, because that's probably what you're thinking. One of the things you'll see that contrasts is Israel is pictured as unfaithful, right?

Extremely unfaithful. And there will be then a restoration which will come during the Millennial Kingdom. For Christ and the church, there is never a picture of unfaithfulness and it instead talks about being holy and blameless. Spotless. So there is a different figure with Christ in the church and it never has this corrupt, unfaithful part to it.

Just like you have pointed out a number of times in the church service, when the references are to the Lamb, you're talking about that relationship going back to the covenant with Abraham, you will possess the land. If you follow my ways, I will bless you. If you don't follow them, I will curse you. Then that's the land covenant with Moses, right? The land, the land, the land. This is the land. This is the relationship with Israel. This is in the Millennial Kingdom.

And by the way, here is a difference between The way we take these Old Testament prophecies, that is, we take them literally, there are those of a more amillennial camp and similar kinds of things who will take things figuratively. So, for example, when Isaiah will write, the wolf will lie down with the lamb. By the way, it's not the lion and the lamb. The wolf will lie down with the lamb.

We take that as a picture of harmony within nature. Actual animals. Harmony within nature. The ones who will take it figuratively or spiritualize it will then talk about different groups of Christians getting along and that kind of thing. So they'll interpret it allegorically or figuratively and see that as a figure of how Christians will get along a whole lot better and there will be improvements in relationships, etc. rather than literally. So this, right here, this I believe is meant to be taken literally true in the land during the coming millennial kingdom. But those who are of an amillennial persuasion would interpret this figuratively, not literally.

Okay? Yes? Okay, so this statement, line three, where my anger is turned away from them, The only way that would happen is if they accept the Messiah. Yes, and I think a key thing, what percentage of people entering the Millennial Kingdom, what will be the percentage of people who are believers entering the Millennial Kingdom? 100% yes 100% You're not going into the Millennial Kingdom from the tribulation period unless you're a believer Jew or Gentile, okay?

Okay, let's take a look at the next one which is Joel. That's on page 4 Joel is one who And there are questions you might have here that we just won't have time to get into detail on. Joel is one who talks about the past in the beginning part of the book, and then he switches to the day of the Lord. Okay? Switches to the day of the Lord. And so let me just read Joel 3, 9 through 17.

Proclaim this among the nations. Okay, when you see nations, what does that tell you? Gentiles, right? The ethnos in the Greek. Proclaim this among the nations, prepare a war, rouse the mighty men, let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am a mighty man. Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, your mighty ones. Let the nations, the Gentiles, be aroused.

Come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat by the way that this is the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, okay, that's the valley, okay For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe Come tread for the wine press is full the vats overflow for their wickedness is great. I Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.

The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold for the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more. We're going to see some quotes out of Zechariah next week that are going to be right in sync with this.

There are eight stages. You ever hear of the battle of Armageddon? It's really the campaign that includes Armageddon. There are eight stages. The final one will be this which you see described right here and also will be touched on in the book of Zechariah chapter 14. 13 to 14. When you see nations or peoples, that's Gentiles. When you see the nation, singular, or the people, singular, that's the Jews. So this one is talking about Gentiles coming up against Jerusalem, and they're right down there in the valley, right between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem.

And so we'll take a closer look at another passage in fulfillment of this, and take a look at the eight stages of the campaign of Armageddon. Yes. Yep, as a matter of fact, this what's being described here is not only the end of the seven years, but it's the last of the eight stages at the end of the seven years. Okay, so let's turn to Amos, page 5. Now here's Amos.

See, Amos was not a professional prophet. He was a herdsman and an orchardist, and the Lord said, Amos, I want you to head north because he was from a little village real close to Bethlehem. and bringing up sheep and taking care of his orchard. And the Lord says, I want you to head north and talk to these people. And by the way, they're not going to want to hear you, but you could do it anyway. So here is Amos. The Lord gave him a brief assignment to go speak to Israel, the northern kingdom. It was a few decades before the northern kingdom was completely taken apart and relocated.

By the Assyrians, okay, so here is here is Amos 9 13 through 15 behold days are coming Now when you see behold days are coming. What does that tell you is it right now? it's future. So that phrase there, behold days are coming declares the Lord, so this is a future prophecy. When the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seed.

When the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved. also I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them and they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit again another picture of agricultural productivity right and then verse 15 and I was also plant them on their land and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them this this has a preliminary fulfillment in the 1948 creation of the nation of Israel.

But Israel right now, especially after the various negotiations they've had, Israel is a little tiny piece of land. What will Israel be in the coming millennial kingdom? It will go all the way from the coast to the river Euphrates. It will encompass what is right now eight different nations. all or a portion of all those eight different nations. Jordan will be completely absorbed within the land given to Israel. as one of those. So this is a very amazing thing.

He says, I will plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from the land which I have given them, says the Lord your God. So Amos talks about bad things are coming, but here's also hope. And I think that's a pattern you see a lot among the prophets. And that is, they'll say really bad things are about to come about. but also they'll speak of the hopeful things and the good things that are coming. Yes?

This is a figure of speech that has to do with agricultural productivity because what does a plowman do? He plows and starts planting, right? The plowman is getting things ready for planting and the reaper is the one who's, you know, pulling things off. It's like such agricultural productivity. They will be having such agricultural productivity that the cycles of reaping and treading the wine and all that will just be, get out of my way, I'm planting again.

Now let's turn to Obadiah. Now this is really cool. I want to show you something. Obadiah, the shortest Old Testament book. This is going to be in your handout for the main service, but I just kind of wanted to give you a heads up on it. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah in a very short, what is it, 18 verses or something, or 21 verses, very short book.

And Malachi all tell prophecies against the land and people of Esau. So here you have Jacob and Esau. Esau is born first, by all rights should have the firstborn privileges and all that. And then Jacob is born next as twins. But what happens is the Lord favors Jacob, and by the way, it's not because he's a great guy.

The Lord favors Jacob, and yet the Lord continues to have prophecies against Esau, and ultimately with Obadiah, turn to that one, Obadiah even says that the line of Esau will be cut off more than once. the whole prophecy of Obadiah is focused on Edom which is the nation descended from Esau so here you have it this is an amazing thing and this by itself to me is a massive biblical proof that is centuries before the time of Christ these prophecies including Obadiah about the nation of Edom, descended from Esau, says they're going to be cut off. And so what happened is 70 AD was the last of any report of the descendants of Esau. But we have 13 1⁄2 to 15 1⁄2 million Jews identifiable, and after 19 centuries of being away from their land, now having a country. nation This is miraculous to know it, you know, roughly 25 26 centuries in advance What would be the destiny of these people And so to me, this is a biblical proof right there, just that God knows what's going to happen. God knows what's going to happen, and so here we have 13.5 million or possibly more Jews, and nobody can identify the descendants of Esau.

No country, no people, nothing. The last significant mention that we have of those people is when the Romans were preparing to come up against Jerusalem, a group of the Edomites came into Jerusalem volunteering to fight with the Jews. And so the Romans just tore Jerusalem apart in the last mention of any Edomites. So 70 AD was their end.

Yes? Read that for us. Yeah, that's a slightly different message. Let me take a look here. The house of Esau will be a stubble is one of those references. But what's going to happen is you're going to see, there are some details you could ask about here that are a little tough. What's going to happen is you're going to see Israel be victorious at the end when it appeared that they're about to be wiped out. Remember these nations gathering? Here's what's going to happen.

Right now, you have a whole bunch of believers gathered in Israel. No, the answer is not. There's a very small number of Christians, there are some, even some Arab Christians. There's a small number of Christians. The Jews that are gathered in Israel now are in great part agnostics and atheists.

But what's going to happen is they're going to have the whole world of the Gentile world gathered against them and they're going to see that only God can save us now. This little tiny nation of Israel will see only God can save us now and you will see loss of life among the Jews, yes, but you will also see a mass turning to the Lord. A mass turning so that from Romans, all Israel will be saved. All Israel will be saved. Okay, so here's Obadiah. To me, just an amazing book. It's all directed against Edom, the descendants of Esau. And it does talk about things yet to come. But what we do see is the descendants of Esau are just gone from the face of the earth.

Yes. Yes. They will turn in Mass to the Lord. They will recognize Christ as their Messiah. Yep. They will recognize Jesus. Yeah. They will turn in Mass. Yeah. Plus, you think about it, they're looking at a situation, the whole world's coming down on them. Joel talked about the Valley of Jehoshaphat. They've got people, arms and tanks and all kinds of armaments coming up against them.

It's like, man, we are about to get nailed. And then all of a sudden, the Messiah comes in and with a word, wipes them out. They will see the salvation of the Lord and recognize the only way this could happen is if God saves us. And they will recognize this is the Messiah, this is the one who saved us, this is the one that kept us from being wiped off the face of the earth. So will those Gentiles who amass against Jerusalem, will they succeed? No, they will not. They will not. And the multiple voices of the prophets say that they will not succeed. It will be scary, but they will not succeed. Yes. You said the entirety of Israel? At the end, all Israel will be saved. That's out of Romans. All Israel. Okay.

Now let's turn to Jonah. Oh boy, this is another fun one. Let's take a look at a few things for Jonah here. Here's the geography of the prophet Jonah. The Lord says to Jonah, Jonah, I want you to go and preach against Nineveh so that they might repent and be saved. And so what does Jonah do? He goes to Joppa and starts heading the other way. Basically, you can imagine Jonah, okay, what ship's going out of here? Alright, I'll take that one. It goes way, way far away from Nineveh, right? He says, I'll take that one.

What happens? Yes, God interrupted the journey, and even the semen, who were pagan semen, realized this is no ordinary event here. This is a storm like we have never seen. This is a divine intervention. And so they're going and asking, okay, who blew it? Who blew it here? So you have that, and then what happens? They go asking around, you know, okay, I'm your problem. I'm your problem.

This is apparently not going to work. So they pitch him overboard, and the Lord uses a great... fish it doesn't necessarily you know say whale great fish to take Jonah and keep him underwater there for a bit and how long was Jonah in this great fish three days and three nights right okay and then this fish comes and puts him out on on land and Jonah says okay I guess I'm going to Nineveh right goes to Nineveh let's Take a look here. It goes towards Nineveh. This is ancient Nineveh. That red perimeter is the old wall.

And here's what's interesting. The Muslims have Nabi Yunus, Prophet Jonah mosque and development right there, which is supposedly where Jonah was buried. A lot of these things, it's a little tough to be sure, but nonetheless. And so even the Muslims celebrate Jonah. There in Nineveh. The nearby town is called Mosel. Matt Kirby has been stationed there.

Here is one place where the gate and the wall has been restored. It has not been restored around most of it, but it's one place where they've restored the gate and the wall. Here is one place where it's been restored. You can see kind of the leftovers of the old wall there, and then off in the distance another gate that's been restored. So, at any rate, a real interesting archaeology there.

So, I like this chart that you see here, Jonah at a glance, and you have that one topic. Jonah's first, I won't go, right? So he heads off. His next one, I will go, right? After this whole storm and fish episode, right? I will go. Then I'm here, and he does what the Lord told him to do in the first place. And then finally at the end, what's the attitude? I shouldn't have come. Why would Jonah be so reluctant to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites? Why? Yeah.

Yes, the Assyrians were profoundly cruel, profoundly cruel. The ancient belief was that, you know, you would take the bones, that God would take the bones, or the gods would take the bones, and then resurrect the body from those bones. That was the ancient belief. So the Assyrians have murals in which their Threatening people and making people grind up their ancestors bones They were just terribly cruel one of the things that Jonah had probably at least heard of if not witnessed Was the Assyrians stripping the skin off of people and then pouring salt? Okay, really really cruel really really cruel people and and and the Assyrians would make murals of their tortures and They would put that on the palace walls. They were really, seriously cruel people. And so that's one reason, Jonah's saying, I do not want mercy for these terrible people. I don't want them to repent. Because they were so awful.

So what's amazing is you have these minor prophets. How many of the minor prophets and major prophets did Israel listen to? They didn't, basically. They didn't listen to any of them. And here's Jonah goes to Nineveh, and what happens? They repent! Here's Israel, God's chosen people, and they just completely disregard all of the prophets. Everyone, major, minor, doesn't matter. They disregard all of the prophets, and yet here's Jonah goes to the cruel, horrid, pagan Ninevites who repent. That's just really astounding.

Yes? I know the major message is not allegorical. I believe it's a true story. Yes. But this is a message to me. Okay. That sadly, sometimes Christians don't behave as well as... Yes, you're correct. ...modern world. Yeah. And it's just a challenge to think of. If I... I think of myself as a messenger of the gospel. I need to be careful of how I present it and how I am so that it rings true and so that the messenger doesn't contradict the message. Yes, yes, very good. Yeah, it's, as we seek to tell the truth, it needs to be through and through consistent. Right? Yeah.

Okay, let's take a look at Micah. Micah is the last of the ones we'll take a look at today. Micah, one of the comments here is that it's a little more difficult to analyze because it's a little bit more of kind of an anthology. It's not a long anthology, but initially the first chapters talk about judgment. Judgment of the people, judgment on the leadership, and then As you get into chapter 4 and chapter 5, you have the promise of the coming kingdom, and you have the promise of the coming king.

Now, remember the account in the Gospels, where the Magi, what we sometimes call the wise men, come to Jerusalem. And they come in asking what? Where is he that is born King of the Jews? And we've gone through a couple of services around Christmas time where I tracked from Genesis on into Numbers with Balaam and then into Daniel.

And then, here it is, it comes into this prophecy of Micah with the wise men or the Magi. There's actually a biblical lineage. If you look at the Greek version of Daniel, it says Daniel was head of the Magoi. That's the Greek word for the Magi. And when you go into Matthew, the wise men are called the Magoy. So what happened is this kind of religious studious sect that Daniel had been placed at the head of continued with this message so that you know they saw some signs in the heavens that said this is you know he's born he's here you know and so we need to go you know see the one born king of the Jews and so but when they come Herod who by the way was a descendant of Esau okay Herod the not so great Herod the very cruel Herod gathers together the leaders of the Jews and says where is the Messiah to be born and they go to Micah 5 2 now let's read that it's at the bottom of the page but as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah and by the way why Bethlehem and then Ephrathah why specifically that what's that two Bethlehems okay one one is not Bethlehem Ephrathah But it is right near Nazareth.

That's the other Bethlehem. Right near Nazareth. That's not the one. It's this one. It's this one about a half dozen miles south of Jerusalem. But as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity.

What does that mean? What does that mean? Before Abraham was, I am. Right? This is a statement from the days of eternity. This is a statement that this is not just a descendant of David. Although it is. It's not just a descendant of David, but it is in fact God. This is the God-man will be born there in Bethlehem, and of the two, it's the one to the south, not the one that's right near Nazareth. It's that one.

Therefore he will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has born a child, then the remainder of his brethren will return to the sons of Israel, and he will arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they will remain because at that time he will be great to the ends of the earth not to the ends of Israel he won't be just coming and ruling over Israel but to the ends of the earth this one will be our peace this is a prophecy about interesting the first coming is prophesied In the first line, Micah 5.2. The second coming is prophesied in the verses we just read. So we have both the first and the second coming spoken of here in Micah chapter 5. So what you see there is the coming kingdom, chapter 4. The coming king, chapter 5.

That's the pattern. And specifically, Jesus mourned in Bethlehem. The scribes just went right to it. That's the place. There's no question about it. He's going to be born in Bethlehem. And He is going to be the one that will reign, not just over Israel, but over the entire earth. The entire earth. All that in just a few verses. Yes? Okay.

So in verse 3, it says, Therefore He will give them up until the time which He who is in labor is born a child. Wouldn't that be His first coming? because he was born as a child on his first coming and he's going to arrive in the clouds on his second coming. I think that would be first coming.

And that goes along with Micah 5.2. The rabbis, they looked at where is he going to be born? And no question, it's clear as can be, he's going to be born in Bethlehem and not the one to the north, it's going to be the one about a half dozen miles south of us here. Right? That one. So yeah, the rabbis had no confusion at all about which one it was.

So what we find with these minor prophets is that are they smaller books? Yeah, some like Obadiah just one chapter long 21 verses small books, but a lot of times saying Incredibly pivotal and things and passing on huge revelations, okay huge revelations including this one right here with Micah right in front of us and Imagine, here's Obadiah, about 26 centuries ago, telling us that Edom will be cut off, the descendants of Esau will be cut off. How did he know? And how do these prophets know that, just like we saw with Amos, Israel will be restored to their land, not cut off like Esau.

I mean, here they were just brothers. They started off They both had two wives, both Esau and Jacob. You know, you would have given them even odds. Nope. You got the Jews now, even after the Holocaust, the loss of approximately six million, you still have today at least thirteen and a half million Jews, identifiable as a people. You cannot identify anyone from Esau. One in every five Nobel Prizes has been given to a Jew. The descendants of Esau?

Zero. None. It is astounding. That's why I say that the end result from Esau and from Jacob radically different and to me one of the great proofs of the truth of scripture. Just a phenomenal proof and who could possibly have told that 25, 26, 27 centuries ago. Only God. Only God. Only God could do that.

Thoughts, comments, questions? We'll get to the next six, which also have, to me, just equally as astounding prophecies that we'll take a look at. Yes? Three things. One, I'd like to thank you publicly for the work that you've involved here. I have found in his handouts that you make extremely useful study guides. You're welcome and praise the Lord. It's like so many things that if somebody gets you started, you get motivated to dig even further. These things help with motivation.

Second thing is, I've studied scripture for over 65 years. And I'm just now beginning to realize, so what? So many times it's easy to equate studying scripture with reading scripture. Okay, I understand. There is a difference. So much more to it than just reading words and having knowledge. There is a meditative aspect, like the Bereans who were in Chernobyl because they went back to the scriptures and checked out what Paul was telling them. They look at the prophecies. So that whole idea of Bible study versus what we often call our devotional reading. Right, just reading it, yes. I think there's something that you brought to the surface here.

If we were to spend our entire lifetime studying God's Word, would we get to the end of it? No, and why not? Why would we not get to the end of it, even if we just said, you know, I'm independently wealthy and I can just spend my whole lifetime just studying God's Word from morning until I fall asleep? Now we know in part, we see in part, that we are still human beings and we have limitations. Yes. For all that we get so proud of our intellectual abilities and knowledge. Yes.

Scripture is not exhaustive in what it reveals. That's right, it's not exhaustive in what it reveals, but what it does reveal comes from an infinite God. And that is why we will never ever fathom the depths of God's Word. We can't get to the end of it, because an infinite God is the one who inspired it.

Yes? I would say depth and expanse, because We start from the Earth, you look at the astronomers as they view outwardly, they find that it's infinite. It seems to be infinite, but yet when they look inwardly and they start looking through microscopes and electronic microscopes and they keep looking farther and farther into the depth, they find that's infinite as well. I mean, it's absolutely...

It's crazy to think that there's no end to either direction. You talked about 65 years studying the Bible. I've been a believer since four and a half. I'm 62 now, so you do the math. But yeah, there is no end to the depths to which you can continue to increase your understanding of and gain from scripture because an infinite God inspired it even down to these little tiny books like Jude and Obadiah. slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness, and relenting in evil.

And as much as there's wrath in these books, it's written against hard-heartedness, but graciousness too. And the Old Testament is often described as the law part of the Bible with no grace in it. In the New Testament it was all grace. Is that the case? No, no it isn't. No. One of the things that it says in the law is God is gracious. The law is a mixture of law and grace. God has not called us here in the church to take on another mixture of law and grace.

Do you think of Paul, as you have pointed out in the sermon, how he goes from being a very rigorous, rigid, by the law, by the book type of person, and think of the things God taught him So that he could write things like, where sin did abound, grace did much more. Where he could write on the depths and the riches of God's grace. He opened up a whole new world of law and he reveled in it.

Here's what is astounding. If you were to say, okay, here's extreme and law. And here's the extreme in grace, you know. The Lord took Paul, who was, you know, kill them all dead, you know, law, law, law, and it's always the law and nothing but the law, right? That's where the Lord started him and then took him to the other end where he says, Christ died so that we died to the law. Grace all the way. We stand in grace. In grace we stand. Grace is the reigning principle. So God took him from the law extreme to the grace extreme, right?

Yeah, Stan? And I just thought how, when you were talking about this, how similar that is to the process of a human being growing. Because when you're a young child, you're under the law system of your parents and you follow their direction and their advice and what they have to tell you. And you're expected to do that or you get punished. I mean, it's very punishing. If you're growing up, if you do not follow what your parents tell you to do, then as you get older and you reach that age of accountability, that's when you're on your own and you're more or less functioning under grace because your parents no longer are your lawyers, but they are your encouragers and hopefully supporters of you.

So it's really kind of, see what I'm saying? It's almost a picture of And that's what scripture is. I mean, from the beginning to the end. And it's just another analogy that works. As we grow older, we're supposed to become better. Just like you're saying about Paul. I don't know if that makes sense. Some of us, as we grow older, just like the cheese, we start smelling more too.

Yeah, I think one of the things we'll do next week is I've got a couple pages here of kind of summary over the prophets and one of the things we'll do is we'll take a look at the campaign of Armageddon as sort of an overall thing as we include each of these and we'll take a look at the eight stages of the campaign of Armageddon and how it ends up with what's described here the Valley of Jehoshaphat. That's the last stage.

And we'll look at Zechariah, because how does this, you know, multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision here, how does that get resolved? Zechariah 14, the Messiah, who is God, will come and his feet will touch upon the Mount of Olives, okay? Being the exact statement of, remember what the angels told the eleven disciples when Jesus ascended? He will come back in the same way and also to the same place. His feet will touch on the Mount of Olives. He will speak judgment on the Gentiles that are gathered there and that will be the end of them.

And the Jews will realize only God can save us. And He did. He did. There is a God. And not what is the far predominant view in Israel right now. They will become believers real quick when they realize that we are about to get completely crushed. And then they see their Messiah. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for these marvelous revelations, everything from things that have already happened 19 and 20 centuries ago. all the way to things that have yet to happen, but may be as close as today. And we just thank you for these marvelous revelations and these proofs of the truth of your word. I just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.