Resurrection in the Old Testament

Transcript

the topic for tonight is the x resurrection x in the Old Testament x it got to thinking a lot of what we know x about the resurrection we find from New x Testament teaching and even the Old x Testament scriptures that speak to x Resurrection often we're interpreting x them through the exposition of the New x Testament authors I'm thinking of of uh x the passages cited by Paul in First x Corinthians 15 but Peter in Acts chapter x 2 among other places and it got me x thinking well what would the concept of x Resurrection be for somebody in Old x Testament times x because somebody in the time of the x Patriarchs or perhaps later in the time x of of Moses and the Exodus or the time x to the judges all these different x periods of Israel's history leading up x to x um the time of Christ in the New x Testament what did they think about x Resurrection what did they know about it x um relative to what we we do now in x light of the New Testament teaching x um it was just curious you know it's one x of those put yourself in their shoes x kind of things x um x I just want to share an entry on x Resurrection from the international x Standard Bible encyclopedia x uh it states that it's very remarkable x that a doctrine of life after death as x an essential part of religion was a very x late development in Israel x although this Doctrine often highly x elaborated was commonly held among the x surrounding Nations uh the chief cause x of this lateness x was that Israel's religion centered x predominantly in the ideal of a holy x nation x consequently the individual was a x secondary object of consideration x um this is interesting um it's it's x basically saying that x Resurrection was an idea that was x formulated later in Israel's history x because their corporate identity as a x nation kind of subsumed their identity x as individuals x um and so they were all about the the x the the faith the blessing or cursing x that the nation would receive rather x than the individual accountability x accountability that each person would x receive how I understand the entry x anyway so to support that the ISB x references Ezekiel 18 verse 2 the x fathers had eaten sour grapes and the x children's teeth are set on edge right x this was a proverb that apparently was x widely spread in ezekiel's time uh this x idea that the individuals of one x generation would be responsible for the x sins of the former and of course we know x that there is truth to that x but that passage of course goes on to x famously say x um behold All Souls are mine God says x the soul of the father as well as the x soul of the son is mine the soul who x sins shall die x so really this is a statement about x individual accountability before God so x Ezekiel was sort of you know God through x the prophet was was reorienting the x people towards their own individual x accountability even though all those x individuals in Babylon were currently x experiencing judgment that happens x corporately on the nation x um so you know that's another part to x hold in mind when we're thinking about x how individuals thought about their own x Futures uh Beyond Death x um x the the entry in the Bible encyclopedia x continues nonetheless with the Fuller x knowledge of God wider experience and x deeper reflection the doctrine was bound x to come that's that is the doctrine of x individual Resurrection x uh so this is a view of the Resurrection x in the Old Testament I found in many x Publications as I've read on this topic x and I think it is to some extent x supported by the explosion of interest x in Resurrection that that appears in x books that are often dated as appearing x later in Israel's history for example x two of the clear statements on x Resurrection are often dated to the time x period of the Captivity I'm thinking of x Isaiah 26 19 and Daniel 12. so let's x let's go to Isaiah 26 first x and in my mind and as I surveyed the x passages that speak to Resurrection the x Old Testament these two really are sort x of the most Vivid the most detailed uh x the most clear-cut hate you really can't x be talking about anything else except x for body Resurrection after sleep death x um so Isaiah 26 and starting in verse x 19. x we read x thy dead men shall live together with my x dead body shall they arise awake and x sing ye that dwell in dust for thy Jews x as the duo verbs and the Earth shall x cast out the Dead x and verse 21 behold the Lord comes out x of his place to punish the inhabitants x of the Earth for their iniquity x the Earth also shall disclose her blood x and shall no more cover her sling x so there's there's three details x particularly that I want to draw x attention to x in these verses x um one is death as sleep x um x in verse 19 we we have you who dwell in x the dust awake so awake from your x slumbers x the second is that the resurrected the x dead will be reconstituted from dust you x who dwell in the dust the Earth will x give birth to the Dead the Earth will x disclose the Bloodshed on it x um those are three really important x details uh well two important details x the other is Judgment of the righteous x and wicked I think this is a little more x clear in Daniel 12 but you have those x who awake and sing for joy in verse 19 x of Isaiah 26 and then in verse 21 you x have the Lord coming forth to punish x those x um inhabitants of the Earth for their x iniquity x hey Ben can I ask a question certainly x what is it what do you think it means in x that last verse in the chapter where it x says the Earth will disclose your x bloodshed x how do you understand that x uh the Earth will disclose the Bloodshed x on it and we'll no more cover it slain x so the the dead of the earth those who x have died whose blood has been shed are x are in the earth in some sense right and x now the Earth is bringing them forth x it's being disclosed x yeah yeah okay x so you think of somebody that died you x know in the Revolutionary War for x example you know their memory is gone x nobody thinks of them x and I suppose so disclosing them will be x they'll be remembered again they'll be x raised again if is that where you go x certainly certainly yeah yeah okay x thanks man sorry are you talking about x the end of verse 19 there x it was verse 21. oh I'm sorry I'm sorry x all right thanks x yeah it's interesting Steve to think x about disclosing the blood of those who x have been shed x um you know thinking about the blood of x like Abel right uh you know the the x blood of you know these these people x that may have been forgotten x um being in God's book of remembrance x that idea isn't found here but uh the x idea that they they are hidden until the x Earth discloses the blood I like the way x that's worded x the first half of that verse if you link x it together x like because it's talking about Judgment x of the x uh inhabitants of the Earth x makes me think that these are x people who were x maybe killed x um x because of the iniquity of the uh of the x Killer x and you know their blood is hidden I x mean you could think of like x you know these these horrible uh x trenches where they do genocide and they x just you know bulldoze over the bodies x and stuff like that and that in that x sense the the ground is hiding their x their their body and their blood but x God's going to turn that around and x bring not only life back to to people x um but also the Judgment upon the you x know the people who've done the x atrocities x um x yeah my mind goes to Genesis where uh x you know it says of Babel's blood you x know your brother's blood cries out to x me from the ground x um x you know while just well they may be x forgotten by man x it's not by God and God will disclose it x so that others will see x foreign x prophecy he's he's kind of his last x Showdown with the Pharisees he says that x upon you may come all the righteous x blood shed on the earth from the blood x of righteous Abel unto the blood of x Zacharias son of barakaya whom you will x kill between the temple and the altar x okay uh and that idea but I I something x I did get lost on when we were where was x that Chris that's Matthew 20 it's quite x a quite a blowout between him and the x Pharaohs this is yeah he's laying out of x the line now he's basically putting it x right to him but that's Matthew 23 right x before that's a great connection yeah x and then he goes on to say oh Jerusalem x Jerusalem how often I would have x gathered you but you just would not x allow you know God to gather you x together but uh I if I might use this x occasion with one idea get lost on the x Civil War reference and uh you know x perhaps like soldiers getting killed and x so forth I wasn't I didn't follow that x what was that point uh x you know because obviously it's who's x responsibility to the resurrection you x know not not everybody is responsible to x the resurrection so uh I I don't know if x that's where we were going with that or x not you know so x if you want to come back I think you're x just talking about people who have died x in the past I don't think you're really x referencing yeah I'm not kidding yeah x all right so it's a period of time in x the past where who knows who these x people are other than other than a grave x site you know yeah you know my mom was x down this past weekend and she was x talking about our ancestors x great-grandparents and I don't know x anything about those people and it's x only a few Generations back so you know x we very we have short memories unless x somebody's very famous unless they put x their name on some building somewhere x where you know have an equation named x after them like some of these scientists x did right Bernoulli's equation right x um they're just forgotten and so I think x that the idea that God calls that to x mind in fact this is one of the key x things I found as I was going through x this is that x really if God's judge for God's justice x to those who are righteous and yet are x downtrodden in this life and persecuted x and never have anything good happen to x them x God God has to raise them up so that x they can be exalted in due time x um I I think that's a theme that comes x up over and over again and even if the x Old Testament faith will don't have the x precise understanding of Resurrection x that we've gained from the New Testament x writers they must have seen that x Injustice and understood that for God to x abolish death and all these things about x the grave being done away with x um that there would have to be a x resurrection x but but if I but I would hold okay that x you know the resurrection was tied to x the promises made to Abraham uh the x promises made to David and those in x Covenant relationships so that I don't x know uh if we're you know going Beyond x Israel so uh you know to people that are x not in Covenant relationship x certainly x so Isaiah 26 and Daniel 12 are kind of x my two Heavy Hitters for uh Resurrection x passages in the Old Testament in Daniel x 12 I'd probably put a little bit higher x um x all right you all know where I'm going x with this Daniel 12 x starting in verse 2. many of them that x sleep in the dust of the Earth shall x awake press to your point many not all x right some will keep on sleeping some to x everlasting life and some to shame and x everlasting contempt and they that be x wise shall shine as the brightness of x the firmament and they that turn many x into righteousness as the Stars forever x and ever and so you see those three x points I brought before it you know x death as sleep those who sleep in the x dust shall awake you know they're x reconstituted from the dust and finally x that there is Judgment of the righteous x and the wicked some to everlasting life x shame to some to shame and everlasting x contempt x thank you x all right so so those those two come to x mind uh first of all x um you know I was looking at the the x Bible encyclopedia and some other x authors and a lot of them pointed out x that in the inter-testamental period x between the Old Testament and New x Testament uh there's all these x apocryphal texts right there are texts x that the Jewish uh the the scribes the x editors of the masoretic text did not x consider to be inspired but they still x had some significance in terms of x reflecting popular views not not God x inspired views necessarily but things x that were sort of swirling in The Ether x of Jewish thought x um x and you see a lot of statements about x resurrection and various views about the x afterlife appearing in those so all I x only mentioned this to to suggest that x there was a you know a lot of interest x in this topic in the Years preceding the x Advent of Christ x um and certainly by the time that Jesus x appeared there was a distinct Group x which disavowed the resurrection x entirely x um they would ask Jesus questions about x seven brothers and you know they all x married the same woman and and who's x whose wife would that serially bereaved x Widow be in the resurrection x um x and and by implication when Matthew x identifies the Sadducees as they who say x that there's no Resurrection he's x distinguishing them from another group x that that does believe in the x resurrection so it's not like they just x started believing their Resurrection at x that time x um and so you know this I'm not going to x lean on the scholars here I'm just x telling you sort of what's in x um you know sort of popular thought in x the the various readings that I did x preparing for this class there's a lot x of folks that are saying that this x doctrine of the Resurrection was x progressively became more common x um during the second temple period so in x the 500 years before Christ's Advent x and you know Chris made the point just a x few minutes ago about how we as x christadelphians and our understanding x of the promises to Abraham understood x that this was baked in from the very x beginning and there there are things x that God has said about his faithfulness x to his people x um reflecting their faith for him of x course x that's that requires that there be a x resurrection x right so we've already looked at the x blood of Abel crying from the earth for x justice x um we we haven't mentioned yet x um Abraham's faith in offering Isaac x um you know believing that he would x receive the dead to life again right the x promised Heir for him to be the father x of many nations and to also put his his x only son to death requires Resurrection x and then of course uh you know David's x prophecies that God would not abandon x messiah in the grave to be corrupted um x and the interesting thing about all of x those examples Abel Abraham and David is x that their x their their x elaborated upon and exposited upon in x the New Testament so that we understand x with Crystal Clarity that this is x talking about Resurrection just like God x was faithful to his son and bringing him x from the grave x um but it's interesting to think about x you know without that new testament x commentary how those Old Testament folks x would have thought about this uh x certainly Abraham was faithful he x understood the resurrection David was x but was your everyday x um you know x person from whatever tribe x um you know was were the priests x preaching about the resurrection x um we don't see that necessarily x how widespread this this understanding x was any thoughts or comments on that in x job 1926 x so y'all knew about this and when was x job around x um x Abraham's time or before I'm not exactly x sure when Joe was supposed to be written x but it says after my skin has been x destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God x I am a selfless see him with my own eyes x I am not another how my heart earns x within me so we can see there Joe x believed that and this is x soon after x I guess maybe around Moses x hi what was that reference again x he was talking about x Steve can you repeat the reference x yeah job 19 verse 26. x thank you x that's that's great x uh there's there's another interesting x one in job x that um you know you don't hear about x quite as after often in chapter 14 x if y'all are in the The Book of Job x um x well Steve Bros job 19 verse 26. x which is um you know it's it's in x Handel's Messiah it's one of my favorite x lines about I I know that my redeemer x lives so I'm not going to try singing it x and at the last you will stand upon the x Earth after my skin has been destroyed x in my flesh I see shall see God that x that's beautiful x um and that's definitely a high moment x of job's Faith you know job is kind of x going through a low point in chapter 14. x um the passage is is a fascinating x Resurrection passage but begins with the x sort of dismal observation in verse one x John 14 verse one man is born of a woman x is a few days and full of trouble he x comes out like a flower and Withers he x flees like a shadow and continues not x just job remarking on the brevity of x life x it's not optimistic but it might be x realistic x job continues the analogy to plant life x right he's talking about man like a x flower so this analogy to plant life is x continued in verse seven uh for there is x hope for a tree if it be cut down that x it will Sprout again and that shoots x will not cease though it's root though x it's root grow old in the earth and its x stump die in the soil yet at the scent x of water it will bud and put out x branches like a young plant x isn't that interesting the trunk of a x tree that's that gets cut down you know x the trees cut down x but there's still New Life coming out of x that sheet coming out of that stump x so in a sense a tree can have a second x life after it's been cut down x and so job goes on to compare this to a x to a man x in verse 10 x but unlike the tree a man dies and is x laying low man breathes his last and x where is he you know he doesn't exist x anymore x as Waters fail from a lake and the river x wastes away and dries up so A man lies x down and Rises not again x till the heavens are no more he will not x awake or be roused out of his sleep x so so brother Stephen brought us to a x very x assertive statement about the x resurrection x and that now job doesn't seem so sure x um it's a strong statement about the x permanence of the death state that x that's what I would say you know our x general experience is that dead bodies x don't get up and walk around again x I don't think he's necessarily teaching x against the resurrection in job 14. he's x just acknowledging the ordinary Human x Experience that's common to us x um and notice he he does call it sleep x um he says you won't wake out of that x sleep but he refers to his sleep which x we don't typically think of as a x permanent state x so verse 13 job says to God oh that you x would hide me in sheol or the grave that x you would conceal me until your wrath be x passed that you would appoint me a set x time and remember me x if a man dies shall he live again x all the days of my service I would wait x till my renewal should come you would x call and I would answer you you would x long for the work of your hands x I love the passage because it's almost x as if job is grappling with a reality x that's too good for him to believe it x there's this glimmer of hope that he x when he dies and suddenly he felt very x low and close to death that he would be x like that tree sprouting up again x and that God would recall job as a x beloved creation the work of God's hands x and we call him from the grave and so x cool to think about God calling and job x answering or us from the grave hearing x the call and answering As We rise out of x our Graves I I just I love this passage x so much x uh as attractive as the job statements x are they really have absolutely nothing x to do with Resurrection x and these are ones we should probably x leave off the table in this discussion x uh in the context that job he's only x talking about his Vindication of his x righteousness x with his friends there's uh x if he had actually had that as a hope x the the whole book would be uh x turned on a very different uh x angle x but the context in this is pleadings x with his friends it is about his x Vindication and when he says that I know x my redeemer lives he says talking about x someone who's going to eventually stand x up for him uh that that word actually x translated Redeemer x even though uh you say it ended up very x nicely and through the pen of Charles x Jennings handles librettist x has nothing to do with the Redeemer in x the theological sense x it's uh x it's about someone standing to take his x place more like a courtroom Advocate who x would say yeah Dojo is actually right x he's being punished unfairly by God x although those pastors are not tested in x the New Testament or proven and it's say x they're they're pretty attractive as x they sound but in reality they're really x talking about something I really did let x me ask you about that because because I x understand where you're coming from and x the the drama that's unfolding in the x Book of Job uh job has something x specific in mind x um but but don't you think there is an x uh you know some sense in which we might x apply this you know with the lens that x we view job through that you know Christ x is our paraclete our our Advocate and x Comforter x um you know could could be seen overlaid x in in these words x who said if that were the case x uh a A or say it would be completely uh x uncontextual for what he's really x getting at and B if x putting jobs the theological x uh issue of the Book of Job which is x really about God's contributed Justice x if job really believed in a resurrection x where everything would be made right at x that time x his his whole uh basis of all his other x speeches would be very different about x how how he would be approaching the x situation x he would not be questioning in other x words that our concept of the x Resurrection is based on the fact that x we are raised by God's grace and that's x not at all where where job was coming x from x in the sense that job is complaining x that God is uh unjust and punishing a x righteous man is that what he's he never x says that God's unjust he's he x continually says that he cannot x understand x how this could happen to him because x yeah he x he says a couple times I know God is x just but how is this happening because I x don't deserve it this is big x question for him to understand and it's x an answer that can never be resolved x inside of his framework of theology x four or the three friends they all have x the same framework x you know all of those speeches have to x be interpreted understanding their x language in their x their Pursuits of what their uh their x their what they're going after x so how do you take the verse that um x Stephen brought up from job 19 where he x speaks about uh is flesh being destroyed x or his body being destroyed and then he x would see his x what's the verse Steve uh it's verse 26 x it's his skin being destroyed but yet in x his flesh you shall see God so I was x wondering does that mean like this you x know the the boils or whatever on his x skin x he isn't actually dying and being raised x I mean because I've heard the same view x David and I've wrestled with that a x little bit too is that what you think it x means in that context well yeah because x that was literally happening to him he x was being destroyed and he's still x hoping x that it's some some way somehow that he x will understand x why God brought all this upon him x he said there is an answer out there x someday we'll have it it's not happening x right now he's looking for this answers x to what's going on under the assumption x that what is happening to him has it's x like an impossibility x uh let me think of it as a flip side of x of the passage in Deuteronomy where it x says that cursed is the man who hangs on x the tree x okay Jesus hung on a tree but yet he was x sinless this created an impossible x situation and it is part of the death of x the law because the Theology of the x context of Deuteronomy could not x accommodate x the someone hanging on a tree x who had an old right yeah and in job's x theology he's trying to say I cannot how x do you solve this problem of of a x righteous person suffering x they can't come up with an answer and x they never will x until uh well later in the book with the x later revelation of the law healing in x God but they're not going to figure this x out x so that's why you have all these x statements that Joe makes it's like x pleading I know there's an answer I know x I might be dead x someday someone will figure this out x but say it won't happen until uh x New Testament theology enters in x um x but Job 14 I I think it's very clearly x talking about about death you know you x start starting off about being born a x few of days right x you know oh that you would hide me in x the grave until the appointed time so x the appointed time is x after he's been hidden in the grave x I'm gonna have to to I think grapple x with that one a little more to x and maybe just study the whole context x of the Book of Job to understand more x fully x uh your point on that Brother David Ben x if I might while we have a a moment here x and I appreciate brother David's x comments and uh you know x actually hey I think it's something x we'll certainly to look into but then x your class wasn't intended to be on job x open we ended up in job because you were x looking for we were looking for x very old references to resurrection and x the answer that Jesus gives to the x Sadducees okay at that time is bringing x us way back okay he says I am the god of x Abraham I am the god of Jacob and and uh x Isaac and Jacob so and and they just x didn't understand the idea that I am or x I will be okay the god of the living uh x but that certainly is an old that goes x back to Exodus you know three so that x goes way back and that's that's Jesus's x answer actually to them about the the x fact there is no Resurrection x yeah thank you x I did want to look at a couple passages x that address the the point made in the x Bible encyclopedia about x um National Resurrection x um and how that there was sort of this x this corporate view of of x you know the the people the children of x Israel as being part of a nation that x would be judged not as individuals that x we would be judged as righteous or x Wicked and and one of those passages is x is found in the book of Hosea in a x chapter 13. x so if you if you turn with me there x was it x 13. x so this is a prophecy x against Israel x um x Hosea prophesied during the reign of x jeroboam 2 which was in the final years x of the the Northern Kingdom of Israel x and um x in x Isaiah 13 verse 4 we read yet I am the x Lord your God from the land of Egypt and x you shall know know God but me for there x is no savior beside me x verse 9 up on down verse 9 o Israel you x have destroyed yourself but in me is x thine help x um x and verse 14 is the important one here I x will Ransom them that's that's Ephraim x you know compared to verse 12. a ransom x Ephraim from the power of the Grave I x will redeem them from death x oh death I will be thy plagues o grave I x will be thy destruction repentance shall x be hid from mine eyes x um and so there's an interesting x Connection in here in verse 14 that x might easily become Lost in Translation x um instead of oh grave I will be thy x destruction which is the King James x version x um x if you have the ESV or the nasb you have x where is your sting x um x and maybe Brother David or someone else x who can can speak a little more to sort x of the textual background of these texts x you know you know destruction versus x stings those are very different things x and I wonder if there is a difference x between the the Septuagint and the x masoretic text here x um and possibly the ESV and ASP are x doing us a favor by using the language x of the sting that's familiar to us from x First Corinthians 15 54. oh death x where's my sting oh grave Wears Like x victory x um ESV and nasb give us standstat x destruction x um like the King James version and even x other modern versions like the NIV say x um oh grave I will be thy destruction x so that was kind of an interesting one x um Paul appears to be quoting Hosea 13 x in First Corinthians 15 54. x um but it would be easily missed um x in certain translations of Hosea x so I kind of skipped around a little bit x verse 4 9 and 14. x um x you know Hosea 14 is all about judgment x on Israel but interspersed between them x is is a message of Hope in God you're x kind of reading between the lines x picking out verses four which speaks of x God as the Savior verse 9 which speaks x of God as a helper verse 14 which speaks x of God as the Redeemer from the power of x the grave x um but you may come across somebody who x objects to the idea of bodily x Resurrection being taught in the Old x Testament saying well Jose is talking x about the Israel as a nation it's not x necessarily talking about individuals x right that's what the Bible encyclopedia x was sort of saying you know there was x this corporate it was the nation x um and I think that's poured out in x Hosea 14. x um but using for example when he says I x will Ransom them from the power of the x Grave right grave is a metanim for death x um he basically means death you know x holes in the ground where bodies are x placed don't need to be they have no x power of themselves there's no power to x Ransom them from x um you know I think about at work we x talk about killing a project right it x doesn't mean that there's like uh we x gotta kill the project you know there's x everybody understands it just means x we're going to stop working on it but we x would never say I'm killing a project x where we're going to tell a project if x there wasn't some other sense in which x death was understood so when God talks x about ransoming Israel from the power of x the Grave sure he's talking about x Israel's Nation not only dying but being x brought back to life x and hosea's audience knew what it meant x for a human to die x but I want to know what they understood x about being redeemed from Death was x there some understanding of the x substance behind the metaphor that would x allow God and Hosea to use that kind of x language x was just a thought x I think even these passages that speak x of national Resurrection sort of assume x some awareness that individuals uh could x would be Resurrected x lots of comments before we move on x Ben I just just to uh to support what x you're saying is you know they would say x to Jesus will you at this time set up x the kingdom as as if uh you know they x didn't have really this expectation that x there was going to be uh that the x kingdom was going to be established uh x uh in after the resurrection in in the x next life okay that they just thought x the Messiah would come and he would run x the Romans out and set up the kingdom x okay and they had really lost sight of x this whole aspect x hey Ben do you have more uh more x sections on National Resurrection x oh they do there are other examples okay x are we uh changing years x no I was just gonna wait x oh no don't wait Jim let us have it uh x Ezekiel 37 the valley of dry bones yes x yes okay all right x yeah that's the one I mean I I would put x that maybe even after Isaiah 26 and x Daniel 12. maybe it's Ezekiel 37 right I x was wondering why you didn't x laughs x Jim why don't you take us there oh no no x you studied it I I just it came to mind x and when I read it I thought oh that is x the nation being raised up it's not x individuals it's the whole nation that x he's talking to about raising them from x the dead it's not it's not an individual x issue at all uh he he pictures the whole x of Israel x Ezekiel 37 is like it's one of those x prophecies that that I love like I I x find a hard time with some of some of x the prophecies where you don't receive x the interpretation x um you have to figure it out on your own x Ezekiel 37 it's it's pretty clearly x spelled out x um Jim would you do us uh the kindness x of reading verses one through ten x yeah sure uh NIV or King James do you x care well whatever you prefer all right x the hand of the Lord was upon me and he x brought me out by the spirit of the Lord x and set me in the middle of the valley x it was full of Bones he led me back and x forth among them and I saw a great many x bones on the floor of the valley bones x that were very dry he asked me son of x man can these bones live x I said oh Sovereign Lord you alone no x then he said to me prophesy to these x bones and say to them x Dry Bones hear the word of the Lord x this is what the Sovereign Lord says to x these bones x I will make breath enter you and you x will come to life x I will attach tendons to you and make x flesh come upon you and cover you with x skin I will put breath in you and you x will come to life then you will know x that I am the Lord x so I prophesied as I was commanded and x as I was prophesying there was a noise x a rattling sound x and the bones came together bone to bone x I looked and tendons and flesh appeared x on them x and skin covered them but there was no x breath in them x then he said to me prophesy to the x breath x prophesy son a man and say to it this is x what the Sovereign Lord says come from x the Four Winds o breath and breathe into x these sling that they may live x so I prophesied as he commanded me and x the breath entered them x they came to life and stood up on their x feet a vast Army x all right x so you have the three stages the dry x bones the x re-assembled but still dead bodies and x and then finally the living beings with x the breath in them x and um like I was saying the verses that x follow just x described what Ezekiel Saw and interpret x the prophecy verse 11 says these bones x are the whole house of Israel so in x ezekiel's time x the valley of dry bones and they're x they're described as being dry because x they weren't recently dead they were x surely thoroughly dead and decomposed x and and those substance left to them and x and they're scattered throughout across x the valley so they're really in a state x of disarray and disorder x um and that's x sort of what this state of the nation x was x um in this period of captivity that's x how they they saw themselves x um in terms of possible references to x Resurrection what is this book of x remembrance that Moses didn't want to be x taken out of and that is referred to at x the very end of the Old Testament uh in x Malachi does that indicate that this x book of remembrance stood it says x um Malachi is written before him of x those who feared the Lord and esteemed x his name they shall be mine future says x the Lord of hosts in the day when I make x up my treasured possession whenever that x is x so was there in the book of remembrance x a hidden reference perhaps to uh x Resurrection x thanks sister that's a good thought uh x what was the reference again in Malachi x um it's right at the end it's uh x chapters three at the end of the chapter x starting I guess you'd say with verse 16 x but the it's verse yeah the end of verse x 16 and then it gives you that context x um x yeah that's that's a good one x um I think that comes back to that that x verse we were talking about with Steve x about the Earth disclosing its dead and x sort of that God remembers and calls x them back to mind again x Moses though also speaks of x pizza too x so it wasn't something that just came up x at the end of the writing of the Old x Testament somehow Moses already knew x about this book of remembrance x um x what's the reference to Nexus 32 x um just let me get it for you here x um Exodus 32 32. x if you will forgive their sin x if not let me I pray thee out of thy x book which thou is written x so this is Moses interceding for the x people x offering himself to be blotted out x of the book x oh and then verse 33 the Lord said to x Moses Whoever has sinned against me him x my blood out of my book that kind of x goes back to what we were talking about x earlier about the individual x accountability that God has always in x the ultimate sense maybe there's x National judgment in you know x in some sense but in the ultimate sense x it's those who have sinned who are x blotted out of the book x yeah that's really interesting so so x God's book of remembrance here you're x connecting that with Malachi 3 verse 16 x and exodus 32 verse 32. x foreign x hey there that's better x uh you mentioned x uh briefly the uh Abraham's belief in x the resurrection x because of the uh x your ultimate necessity for to fulfill x the promises x uh it's a little actually uh it's it's x stronger than that x um x in Genesis x 22 x where he and Isaac x are headed up to Mount Moriah x and he says to the servants we will go x and worship afar and return to you x uh x the the word return is actually x in uh it's a plural form he I don't know x if too many English versions uh mention x this but it would be properly translated x we will go and we will return to you and x at that point x uh they were going with full intention x that x that there was going to be a a death x that he was going to actually slay Isaac x and the resurrection of Isaac would x occur x we're going in we're going to come back x so in it so that was like a x pre-figurement of of you know of Greater x Resurrection to come but it's uh x that was certainly an expression of x Abraham's Faith at least in an immediate x Resurrection I think that would x certainly be one of the strongest uh x indications of belief in God's power x over death in the Old Testament x and the writing of the Hebrews picks up x on that too dude does does any David yes x yeah that is and I think those are x important points too is you know where x in the New Testament do you find uh x their interpreter uh affirmation that x this was what was going on in the Old x Testament x considered that God was able even to x raise him from the dead from which x figuratively speaking he did receive him x back x Hebrews 11 verse 19. yeah so brother x Dave can I ask you a question about um x you said in Genesis 22 verse 5 in my x English translation it says abide ye x here with the ass and I in the lad will x go Yonder In Worship x and come again to you there's no pronoun x we will come again or I will come again x is is that more clear in the Hebrew x yes yeah it's it says we will come again x to you that that's unambiguous oh that's x awesome and it's x Brian you're on mute x sorry it's all three verbs we will x worship as well as one of the ones that x also has that we in it x we will return and we will worship x worship then return yeah x okay we will go we will worship and we x will come again x I'm gonna have to mark that in x that's a good one x Ben can I just pick up on Ethel's point x about this book of remembrance yes x please x um so in Malachi chapter 3 is I think x the passage that Ethel had referenced x which is uh speaking specifically about x this book of remembrance x um but about that same time period in x history you know we find Nehemiah x and there's a passage in Nehemiah x chapter 13 where uh the prayer is that x God will not forget uh and and I think x the exact wording in the in the NIV is x remember me for this oh my God and do x not blot out x but I have so Faithfully done as though x there was this book and you know where x the name was written or the name could x be blotted out x um and you go to you know the end of x Revelation when the books are opened and x I just can't help but think is this the x book of remembrance is this the Book of x Life are they one and the same kind of a x kind of an interesting study but maybe x for another day x yeah there's there's so many um so many x passages that speak to Revelation uh x Resurrection I should say x um x you know there were a number of passages x in the Psalms um that we could have gone x to if we had time psalm 16 is the one x that Peter quotes and in Acts 2 you will x not abandon my soul to sheol or let your x Holy One see corruption x you make known to me the path of life in x your presence there's fullness of joy at x your right hand are Pleasures x forevermore right the Son of God sitting x at the right hand of the father x experiencing Pleasures forevermore x because he did not leave his soul and x Shield or let the Holy One see x corruption I you know that's a great x Resurrection Passage x uh there's many others x um that the Old Testament is full of x teaching on the resurrection x um x so you know some of them are a little x more clear than others I really enjoyed x kind of putting myself in in the shoes x of somebody from that period and x thinking about to what extent would I be x able to discern this you know what we x consider now a truly fundamental x teaching x um and I think the answer is that you x know it was always there right so those x who were spiritually perceptive x could always have accessed it um you x know Abraham was the father of the x nation and these promises were so x important to the people and and knowing x that Abraham did not receive them that x the land in his lifetime x um would have made them think I mean x there's many things that would have made x them think so x um this was a fascinating study I'm x grateful I was able to share it with you x we've got a few more minutes here if if x anybody has any other thoughts or x comments they'd like to share x Floors open x but Ben you mentioned that Sadducees so x that they had the same scriptures and x yet they denied so the teaching is there x but x for somebody who's not wanting to see x they can you know it's like a lot of x scriptural truth you can kind of ignore x things too and deceive yourself into x you know Jesus said you greatly air I x mean that's that's what we can do if x we're not careful to read what what the x scriptures are saying my mind Brian goes x to the uh the bronze serpent where x ultimately they were told to melt it x down because they had lost all x Effectiveness you know they they looked x upon the bronze and they no longer saw x what they were supposed to gather the x spiritual significance was lost and uh x it seems the same thing with the word of x God that the the uh suggestive uh x understanding that was coming out of I x am the god of the living uh and these x various things that David says you know x David is told that you shall see thy son x sitting upon the throne okay yeah those x subtle x mocks were lost over the course of time x and so forth x Brother Richard keeps raising his hand x mentioned Lazarus x uh Mr Martha knowing that he was going x to be raised from the dead so she was x she was a Jew who had not witnessed the x resurrection of Jesus x um and she was confident the her brother x would be raised in the last day and you x know x certainly that's not a reference to just x a couple days that day right right x Benny I think that Richard's microphone x is not working tonight oh x oh we can't hear you Richard x um x he wants to jump in I was feeling so bad x I know so just so I can help out God is x not a man who can lie x laughs x Richard you might yeah I was just going x to say you know it's interesting you x make that point that it was there and x yet and yet people didn't see it x um that's no less true today you know x there's all kinds of Bible truths that x are the pair there that people don't see x because they don't you they don't look x at the Bible as x um a holistic x um x saying they look at you know you can x find whatever you want in scripture you x know if you want if if you want to make x a point you know you can find it the the x challenge is to let scripture speak to x you and I don't I don't think that x practice has really changed whether it's x Old Testament or new the practice of x I'll have it say what I wanted to say x because this is what I believe x um we're just incredibly blessed to have x the opportunity to say well we can't x believe that because the scripture also x says this or It also says that x so you know you want to believe you go x to heaven then you go to the parable of x Lazarus you know it's there if you want x to believe it and then you just stick to x your beliefs as opposed to x sticking to the word of Truth so that x that's that's the blessing that we have x in my opinion x people don't want to bring the Bible x into it when you when you come up with x something you know when they they come x up with something about having going say x or and you you out you say well you know x if if you look if you look here if you x want to read this and they they just x turn cold that's my my like go to the x Bible are you kidding me x like no it's just x oh they'll go to the Bible where it x where it fits their argument and then x any other argument yeah one verse x that's just the way that's just the way x it is that's the way it's always been x yeah x Ted sleeperhead is saying that some x people re some people read the Bible to x believe what they find and some people x read the Bible to find what they believe x um x yeah so true x dang that was one of the things that x struck me about your opening comments x I'm not sure you were reading uh x referring to uh x you know a writing on the development of x the concept of Resurrection x but uh where Israel had a national x identity and more so than an individual x Identity or promise versus the x surrounding Nations which held to uh x Resurrection but I think more of a x heaven-going afterlife type Resurrection x but it struck me because one of the x first things that will hit you if you x were not raised in the truth and you x come to start reading the Bible as an x adult x is the Bible is very much about the x Earth and God's plan for the Earth and x about the land uh versus the teachings x and the religions around you which is x always mythical mystical and about x spiritual Heaven going okay and then x when you start reading the Bible you say x it's not about that at all it's very x much about God's plan for the Earth and x about the land and about Israel and x about the nationalism of it so you can x see how Israel could lose that okay the x subtle aspects of it and just held on to x the meat of the promises in the land and x the Nations x compared to the Nations around them x yeah well thank you everybody for your x your comments and thoughts contributions x I really enjoyed that I hope it was x helpful x um we're at time now