Questions & Answers

Introduction

I will forget it. If you will open your song books to 322, because they said is the invitation song is sung, this will block the screen. So 322 is your invitation song in the book, and you will need your book for that. Number 32. And thank you very much for being here tonight. It’s a thrill that you’re interested on Saturday night to study the Bible. Any night, but particularly this night. And I was given before this meeting five questions to deal with in this period and tomorrow. And here are, let me run through these questions very quickly. Are the proverbs and other pieces of advice from wisdom literature binding on Christians today? Just Psalm 22 teach that God forsook Christ while on the cross.

How do we know who or what is being prophesied? 4. How were the Jews expected to know that certain prophecies were messianic? For example, Psalm 110, verses 1 and 2. And the fifth question, how does the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, point to Jesus? Now I’m going to give you an opportunity. If you already know the answer to all those questions, you can leave if you want to. So I want to do the best I can with it. The one that I thought might be the most central to what we’re trying to do this week, and maybe I need to lay the foundation here first, was that question. Please explain dual prophecies. Please explain dual prophecies. What do we mean by that? By the way, I do appreciate Ken and Deedra and Greg worked diligently to make this whiteboard possible and erased diligently as well.

1. All the Scriptures Point to Him

But I’m going to write some verses on here. Um look first of all in the New Testament. Look at Luke 24. Luke 24, verses 25 through 27, and then later we will look at verse 44. But in Luke 24, Jesus is talking to the two on the way to Emmaus. It wasn’t about a week ago that I flipped on some news sources, and they were thinking they had identified which city was Emmaus from the ancient world. Good to see the Bible making the news. But in Luke chapter 24, as Jesus is talking to these two disciples, they are confused about all the events that have happened recently. How Jesus, that they thought was going to redeem Israel has been crucified, and that the women who visited the tomb came back with reports that he had been raised.

Said others visited the tomb, and they did not find him. They did not find the body, but they did not see any vision of angels. They did not see him. Jesus says this, verse 25, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Did you notice how frequently the word all was used there? It was used in verse 25, O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken. It was used in verse 27. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

Then look in verse 44. In verse 44, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all the things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Again, that all the things written about me must be fulfilled. Adding to this list, and we could go on much more, but let’s just add a couple of more passages. John 5, verse 39 and verse 46. In John 5, verse 39, Jesus said, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that bear witness of me. Let’s just start with verse 45. Do you think that I accuse you before the Father? The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your trust.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? What I’m trying to stress is Jesus emphasizes in all of these passages that all the scriptures point to him. All the scriptures. The law and the prophets point to him. Did you notice that Luke 24, 44 actually said the law, the Psalms and the prophets? All of these point to him. All the Old Testament points to Jesus. As Sister Jones said last night, the Old Testament says Christ is coming, and the New Testament we see he’s come, and then in the epistles, he is coming again. So, yes, you see the Jesus is pointing to in the whole Old Testament.

A couple of things that’s going to do. That’s going to revolutionize your idea of the Old Testament. And you’re going to instantly see it as important and significant if you understand that particular point. But we’re going to also have to be careful how we interpret these Old Testament passages. But let me tell you, there are some ways the New Testament uses the Old Testament that I never would have dreamed of had it not been said. Let me illustrate.

Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. When Moses hits a rock and water flows out of it, and it satisfies the people’s needs. In 1 Corinthians 10, as Paul is discussing Israel’s journey from the wilderness, he said they drank of that rock which followed them, which rock was Christ. How many of us would have ever come up with the fact that rock somehow indicates the presence of Christ without that passage of Scripture? I want to tell you, I would not have.

2. Dual Prophecy: Fulfilled in Solomon, Greatest in Jesus

You understand that dual indicates two, more than one. The idea is there’s more than one fulfillment of these passages. Now let me introduce to you, and some of you, I’m not trying to say that demeaning you, because some of you know these terms. Let me introduce to you another phrase, type. Type. A type is an event, a person in the Bible that serve as an example of another event and person. One of the questions was about Psalm 110. You remember in Psalm 110, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, the king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, is a type of the one who was going to come. Now let me illustrate, again, trying to do this in as clear a way as I possibly can, this idea of dual prophecy, this idea of typology in the Bible, and not always are they used synonymously, but let me invite you to turn your Bibles, open your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 17.

But this passage is also found in 2 Samuel 7, in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 through 16, and 1 Chronicles 17, verses 11 through 14. 1 Chronicles 7, 11, 17, 11 through 14. Let me read these verses. This is when David wanted to build a temple to the Lord, and the Lord says, No. In verse 11, it shall come about when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son, and I will not take my loving kindness away from him as I took it away from him who was before you.

And I will settle him in my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. So David speaks. God speaks, the Lord speaks to David. He speaks to David of one who will build my house. After you die, one of your descendants will sit upon the throne. He will build my house. He’ll build my house.

God says, I will be his father, and he will be my son. And he will build my house, and I will establish his kingdom. Now who is the fulfillment of those words in 1 Chronicles chapter 17? Look in 1 Chronicles chapter 22. In 1 Chronicles chapter 22. And beginning in verse 6. He called, David called for his son Solomon, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. David said to Solomon, My son, I had intended to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, You have shed much blood, you have waged great wars, you shall not build a house for my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before me.

Behold, a son shall be born to you, and you shall, and who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name shall be Solomon. I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son. And I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Do you see that phrase? He will build a house for my name. God says that.

And he will be a son to me. 1 Chronicles 22, verse 10. It’s a fulfillment of that promise God gave. In 1 Chronicles 28 and verse 6, you see God speaking to Solomon or David speaking to Solomon. He says, Your son Solomon is the one who builds my throne and my corpse. I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. This is what I’m trying to establish. Can you see that that promise God gave to David in 1 Chronicles 17 has a fulfillment in Solomon. That Solomon is going to build God’s house, and he built God’s temple. He spent seven years devoted to building the temple of the Lord. He is going to build God’s house. God is going to have a special relationship with Solomon.

He is going to be a father to Solomon. And Solomon is going to be a son to him. God has a special relationship with him. And just as God said, I didn’t write this on the board, but in 1 Chronicles chapter 17, he said, I will establish his throne, and God says, I will establish his throne. In 1 Chronicles 22 and verse 10. So what you can see in all these passages is these passages have a level of fulfillment in Solomon. But this is a question. Are these passages completely or fully fulfilled in Solomon? Do they have a fulfillment greater than Solomon? I would say absolutely yes. Proof of this, I could go to Hebrews 1 and verse 5. Hebrews 1 and verse 5, as the Bible is talking about the superiority of Jesus to angels.

And it says, For to which of the angels did he ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you. To which of the angels did God say that. Apparently he said that to Christ, because Christ is greater than the angel. To which of the angels did he say, You are my son, today I have begotten you. And again, I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. That last phrase, I will be a father to him, he will be a son to me, are words God uttered to Solomon. But the greatest fulfillment, the greatest fulfillment of these words was not in God being a father to Solomon, but God’s unique relationship with Jesus. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.

I’ll be a father to him, he’ll be a son to me. Those words are pictured as fulfilled in Christ. Now, also, you notice a couple of other words that are said in Hebrews 1.5. You look at Hebrews 1.5 again. There are two verses quoted. Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17 is quoted. But also, Psalm 2.7, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Let me just ask you a question. You feel free to answer. You are my son, today I have begotten you. At what events in the life of Jesus do you see that quoted? At his baptism. As baptism, where else? Transfiguration. His baptism, his transfiguration. Also, if you look in Acts 13, 33, Acts 13, 33, the Bible says that it spoke of his resurrection.

You are my son. Today I have begotten you. But the point, in context, those words talk about a king of Israel who would sit upon the throne, who would be a son to God, and God would be his father. But the kings of Israel did not exhaust the meaning of those psalms. Those psalms had a fuller and deeper and richer fulfillment in Jesus. Now, I like to draw this picture on the board, and I hate to erase anything I’ve done, but I want to make this high enough that I want you to be able to see it. I like to draw these two lines that get further apart. And you can use this for all kinds of biblical accounts, and I do. But the promise, the promises to David, in 1 Chronicles 17, they have some level of fulfillment in Solomon.

We read the verses that show they have some level of fulfillment in Solomon. That’s 1 Chronicles, 1 Chronicles 28, verse 6. But they have their greatest fulfillment in Jesus. And we could write down all those other passages that we talk about that also referred to Psalm 2 and verse 7. But Jesus, this is what we mean by dual prophecy. Does anyone here at this point have a question that you want me to clarify right here? Anyone have a question you feel comfortable to ask? Yeah.

Well, no, no, no. No. Not right now, Frank. Right now, we’re focusing on a question. It doesn’t have to be, but it has to do with this concept. It doesn’t have to be about Solomon and Jesus, but this concept. Jeremiah 20 23, verse 5 and 6.

Okay. Yes, about Zedekiah, about the name, the Lord is righteousness and things like that. Yes, I think that is a passage that ultimately has fulfillment in Jesus. Now, you triggered something else. You triggered another passage. You triggered Jeremiah 23, 7 and 8. And so let me let me also. Do you know why I know? And this is going to lead to our discussion of types. And this is, this is a way, the reason that I’m saying this, I am not encouraging you. I am encouraging you, first of all, read your text. Read the Bible text over and over and over and make sure you understand what it says to whom it is said. And then think, how does this relate? How does this apply to the big picture of this book?

How does it reply? How does it apply to the big picture of the Bible? Now, that’s a very good question, Frank. But but what I want to show you in Jeremiah 23, 7, and 8, we’re going to get to Jeremiah 23. Let’s let’s start out with a concept here of tides. Do you know why I know? I’m not sitting here saying, I think.

3. Egypt Type of Bondage, the Exodus Type of Salvation

I’m saying I know this is a valid method of looking at the Old Testament. The reason I can say that is because the Old Testament itself uses it. Okay. Let me illustrate. All of you know, children of Israel went down into Egypt. 70 descendants of Jacob. And they were made slaves. All of you know that. Egypt in the Bible becomes a type of slavery and bondage. It becomes a type of slavery and bondage. In Deuteronomy 28, look at Deuteronomy 28, verse 68. Deuteronomy 28, verse 68. Deuteronomy 28 records the blessings and curses of the covenant. The blessings and curses of the covenant. If the people are faithful, they will be blessed, and he lists his lists the blessings. If the people are unfaithful, they’ll be cursed.

He lists the curses. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 68. The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships. By the way about which I spoke to you, you will never see it again. And there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, and there will be no buyer. What I am saying here in this passage is Egypt itself is used. Deuteronomy 28, 68. Egypt is used as a type of bondage. If you commit these sins again and rebel against God, God’s going to bring you back down to the land of Egypt. But it wasn’t so much Egypt literally, but Egypt as a type of captivity, a type of slavery. For example, look in the book of Hosea, the book of Hosea.

Now, sometimes in this book, Egypt refers to literal Egypt. Sometimes in the book of Hosea, Egypt is a type of slavery. But in Hosea 7 in verse 16, they turn but not upward. They are like a deceitful bow. Their princes will fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt. They’re going to go back to Egypt, he says. Hosea 8 in verse 13. As for my sacrificial gifts, they sacrifice the flesh and eat it. But the Lord has taken no delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins, and they will return to Egypt. Look at chapter 9, verse 6. For behold, they will go because of destruction. Egypt will gather them up.

Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver. Thorns will be in their tents. Now, he mentions Egypt constantly in these passages. But the people that Hosea is preaching to did not go into bondage to Egypt. Where did they go into bondage? Assyria. They went into bondage in Assyria. And I want you to notice how 9 3 uses these terms. In chapter 9, verse 3, they will not remain in the Lord’s land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria, they will eat unclean food. So they’re going to return to Egypt. They’re going to be taken back into bondage. They’re going to be taken back into slavery, and they’re going to eat unclean food in Syria. The real Egypt, the real place of bondage is Assyria.

But Egypt is used as a type of bondage. Now, I am getting to that question, Frank. I have not forgotten it. But Egypt is usually the type of bondage. I would say, on the other hand, the Exodus, the Exodus is used as a type of salvation. When God brings his people out of the house of bondage, out of the place of slavery, it becomes a type of God’s deliverance, a type of God’s salvation through all the Bible. Do you have your Bible open, Frank, to Jeremiah 23?

Okay, but okay, I understand. Jeremiah 23, 7 and 8, if someone will read that for us. Jeremiah 23, 7 and 8. Therefore, behold, David Myself, the Lord of Egypt. The Lord lives. Brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. The Lord live.

And the sea of the house of Israel out of the north country. And from all the countries, whether I have driven them. And they shall fail in their own land. Okay, very good. But God is saying, God’s telling Jeremiah, the people are going to go into Babylonian captivity, but I’m going to bring them out. Now, the same words of Jeremiah 23, verses 7 and 8 are also in Jeremiah 16 and verses 14 and 15. Jeremiah 23, 7 and 8, Jeremiah 16 and verses 14 and 15. Jeremiah preaches, you’re going to go in captivity because of your sin. You’re going to go into Babylonian captivity because of your sin. But one day I’m going to bring you out. And they’re no longer going to proclaim the Lord who brought his people out of the land of bondage in Egypt.

They’re going to proclaim the Lord who brought his people out of the land of Egypt. So the memory of God, all God did in the Exodus is going to be relived by his people as they experience another exodus and being delivered from Babylonian captivity. Look at Isaiah 48. Isaiah 48. And Isaiah 48, beginning with verse 20. Verses 20 through 22. The Bible says, go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, declare with the sound of joyful shouting, proclaim this, send it out to the end of the earth. Say, the Lord has redeemed his servant. They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts.

But God is telling his people, go out of Babylon, and He says, When you go out of Babylon, you’re not going to thirst. The God who made the water flow out of the rock is going to provide for you. What is the point? He is using the imagery of the Exodus. How God provided for Israel in the wilderness. And he’s saying, I’m going to do it again. I’m going to bring you out of slavery. I’m going to bring you out of captivity. I’m going to work another great act of salvation. Now, let me illustrate this another way. A couple of other ways, real quickly. Do you remember when the Israelites came out of Egypt, that the Egyptians broke off their gold earrings and things and gave them to the Israelites?

The Israelites viewed that as payment for all those years of oppression and slavery they experienced. You’re going to read that in Exodus 3 verses 21 and 22, Exodus 11, verses 2 and 3, and Exodus 12, verses 35 and 36. They broke off their gold earrings, they brought them to the Israelites, and they begged them to leave the land. Now I want you to notice something that happens in Ezra chapter 1. In Ezra 1, when the people come out of Babylonian captivity. This is when they came out of Egypt. But this is when they came out of Babylon. In Ezra 1, 5 and 6, the heads of the father’s households of Judah and Benjamin of the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit the Lord had stirred to go up and to rebuild the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem.

All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle, with valuables aside from all that was given as a free will offering. Do you see that as they come out of Babylonian captivity, just like the Egyptians had broken off their gold earrings and given them to the Israelites, so the people do that now when they’re coming out of Babylonian captivity. They are reliving the Exodus. The Exodus in the past. The way God saved them in the past becomes a tithe of their salvation now. All of you know, even the youngest of you. Know. I assume the feast that Israel engaged in. Any of you young people want to answer? What was the feast Israel ate when they were coming out of Egypt?

God says, when I see the blood, what was it? Passover. Very good. Passover. They celebrated Passover. Okay, I’m still on the same subject. Let me write it up here. Passover. The first Passover in Exodus 12. The last Passover recorded in the Old Testament is recorded in Ezra 6, verses 19 through 22. When the people come out of Babylonian captivity and go back to the land and build the temple. Finally finish building the temple, they celebrate the Passover. What God has done in the past becomes a type of salvation in the future. Okay? Now, keeping this in mind, I want to take this to the New Testament. I’m going to draw the same thing on the board that I drew just a moment ago. But I’m going to draw it a little bit bigger because I got more parts here.

All those years of art did pay off.

4. His Exodus Delivers Us From Sin

The exodus is a great act of salvation. It is a great act of God’s deliverance. But the exodus foreshadowed, the exodus that happened around 1445 BC, foreshadowed the return from Babylonian captivity that happened around 539 BC. Now, you younger people did well just a moment ago. Let me ask you another question. In the transfiguration, transfiguration, two characters appear with Jesus. You know the answer? I thought Roger. Two characters appear with Jesus. Who is it, Jeffrey? Who is it? Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah. Okay. Now, there’s one gospel that tells us what they were talking about. Only one. And that was Luke. And you know what they’re talking about? Jesus’ departure. Moses died. Nobody knew where he was buried. Elijah didn’t die at all. But was taken to a whirlwind to heaven.

But they were talking about Jesus’ departure, Jesus’ death. Do you know the you know the Greek word that’s used there? His exodus. That is the actual, that’s an accusative word. And all of a sudden I’m thinking I might have misspelled it, so I need to erase it. But that is in Luke 9, 31, they talked about his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. They talk about his exodus. And you know the point here. When the people were slaves in the land of Egypt, and they were oppressed and they were mistreated and they were beaten because they did not produce enough bricks, as terrible as that was. That is a picture of something worse. That is a picture of people who are slaves to sin.

And while God delivered his people from Egyptian bondage to deliver them from slavery and deliver them from oppression, Jesus’ death on the cross delivers us from a deeper oppression, from a greater problem. He delivers us from the problem of sin. He delivers us from the greatest of all problems. And in heaven, the Bible talks about those in heaven singing the song of Moses and the Lamb in Revelation 15, verses 3 and 4. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have been an Israelite to have been beaten because you didn’t produce enough bricks, to have been a slave your whole life. And then you see the waters cross, the waters part, and the dry land, walking over on dry land, and you see the Egyptians trying to do the same thing, and they’re drowned in the midst of the sea.

And the Israelites know those who have oppressed them will oppress them no more. And they burst forth in song. The Lord is my strength and my soul, the Lord has become my salvation. Who is like the Lord our God? They burst forth in praise. But one day, friend, if we remain faithful to him, we will share in that experience. We will share in that experience, as we will sing the song of deliverance from all life’s problems, from all life’s troubles, from all life’s difficulties. We will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. But God’s salvation that He worked in the Exodus is even a picture of the final salvation that we will experience. And praise God. Praise God for that. One writer says this, a typological understanding of the Old Testament is the belief that the same God who revealed himself in Christ has also left his footprints in the history of the Old Testament covenant people.

In other words, the stories of the Old Testament, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see Jesus doing similar things. We shouldn’t be surprised when Elijah goes to a widow and says, Bring me a drink. She goes to get him a drink of water. And he says, make me a cake of bread. And she said, All I have is a little f a little flour and a little oil and a cruise. And I’m going to make a cake for myself and my son, and we’re going to eat it, we’re going to die. This is all we have left in the house. And we’re going to eat it. And we’re going to experience starvation after that. And Elijah said, as the Lord my God lives, if you make a cake of bread for me first, and you bring it to me, that flour and oil will never run out as long as this famine lasts.

She trusts God enough that she takes her last flour and last oil to prepare a cake for Elijah. He eats it. And all the time that famine and drought last, her flour, her oil never run out. But doesn’t that remind you of an event where many people had gathered to listen to Jesus teach? And the Bible tells us that Jesus says to the disciples, What are we going to do about this multitude? What are we going to do? He knows what he’s going to do. But they go out in the crowd and they find, well, there’s a boy here with five loaves and two fish. But he says, What are those among so many? And Jesus says, Have the crowd set down. Matthew’s account, five thousand men.

With women and children, the crowd may have swelled, who knows, to ten thousand. But an enormous crowd. Could you imagine showing up at a potluck with five little loaves and two fish? And they were going to have a potluck beyond all potlucks. And Jesus takes those five loaves and two fish and prays and thanks God. And they eat. Everyone eats and is satisfied, and they have more left over when they finished than they did when they started. But you see, that old testament event is foreshadowed in Jesus. Is there something I didn’t make clear or something? Now understand, too, that Frank’s one question got me off 25 minutes from all the other questions. So you may be afraid to ask one. I understand that. I don’t know.

Okay. Let’s see if I can answer it quickly, Frank. Okay. Okay, you don’t have it. Jeffrey? Well, it doesn’t get old things.

Yes, absolutely. That ultimately all the Old Testament foreshadows him. All the Old Testament. Now, I used a quote last night from a teacher of mine, Terry Briley, who said any list of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus that doesn’t include the whole Old Testament is too short. I recognize that that is that’s a good statement, I think, but it leads to questions. And one of the questions, and it’s probably the last one we’ll have opportunity to deal with tonight, is how does the Song of Solomon talk about Jesus? How does the book of Song of Solomon talk about Jesus? Now, um, Ken was saying that he recently taught 26 classes, I think you said, or 26 classes through Song of Solomon. So you all are experts in Song of Solomon.

5. Ecclesiastes Raises Questions Only Jesus Can Answer

I found out through that. But let me tell you too, before we get to Song of Solomon, sometimes these books point to Jesus in different ways. Now, there are direct prophecies, like we’re going to talk about Isaiah 53 in the morning. A direct prophecy of Jesus. There are direct prophecies. There are hints and foreshadowings of Jesus. There are types of Jesus, there are dual fulfillments. There are all of these things. But there are different ways that the Old Testament points to Jesus. For example, the book before Song of Solomon is Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is the book that sounds like no other in some respects. The day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. I saw all the oppression that was done under the sun.

And I saw the oppressed, and there was no one to comfort them. And I saw the oppressors, and there was none to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead, who are already dead more than the living who are still alive. And better off than both of these is the one who’s never been born to see all the trouble that’s done under the sun. Now quoted from Ecclesiastes 4, 1 through 3 there. The writer of Ecclesiastes doesn’t sound like a fun guy to be around. How does Ecclesiastes, which is never specifically quoted in the New Testament, how can we legitimately say that Ecclesiastes points to Jesus? I would say it this way. That the book of Ecclesiastes raises questions or problems that only Jesus can answer. A subject that Ecclesiastes will not let us forget.

Whether it be your happiest day on earth, it will not let us forget the fact that we’re all going to die. I saw the wise man. And wisdom is better than folly, like light is better than darkness. But the wise man is going to die just like the fool, he says. And what’s the benefit of it all? In Ecclesiastes 3, beginning with verse 18, I saw that man dies just like the beast. He dies just like the animals. How is man even better than an animal? And he tells us in chapter 9, verses 2 through 6. He mentions about nine different categories in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 2. He mentions the one who sacrifices, the one who doesn’t sacrifice, the one who’s good, the one who’s bad, the one who’s righteous, the one who’s wicked.

They all share one thing in common, and that is they know they’re going to die. And if we all have that in common, if we’re all going to die, and we’re all going to be forgotten, as Ecclesiastes tells us, what is the use of any of it? What is the use? Think about the fact that all the characters today that are so well known by all of us in politics, in sports, are all going to be forgotten. They’re all going to die. They’re all going to be forgotten by succeeding generations. We’re all going to die. We’re all going to be forgotten. And therefore, what’s the purpose of it all? But can you see how Jesus answers that question? He comes to the grave of Lazarus, who’s been dead for four days.

And Martha says, Lord, if you’ve been here, my brother would not have died. He said, Your brother will rise again. She says, I know he will rise again at the resurrection, the last day. He said, I am the resurrection and alive. He who lives and believes in me will never die. And he demonstrates this by going to the tomb of Lazarus by telling them to remove the stone and shouting, Lazarus, come forth. And this man who’ve been dead for four days comes in his grave clothes. The fact that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, as John 11, verse 25 tells us, shows us that Jesus answers the questions that Ecclesiastes raises. I love Peter’s language in Acts chapter 2 when he tells us it was impossible for death to hold him in his power.

It was impossible.

6. Song of Solomon: Any Real Love Reflects His Love

He tore the bars away. Jesus my Lord. Jesus is the resurrection and life. Therefore, therefore, God will remember you. Others are going to forget. But God will remember. The Bible tells us there is no one who gives a cup of cold water in Matthew 10, 42 in his name that will be forgotten. In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 10, God is not unjust so as to forget your labor and love. God will not forget, and therefore your life has meaning. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Because there is a resurrection, nothing we do is in vain. Now, Song of Solomon. I do believe Song of Solomon, the best interpretation of it is not the allegorical interpretation, that it is a love story between God and Israel or Christ and the church.

I do believe it is a love story between a man and a woman. I don’t know if love story is the best term. Don’t hold me too tightly to that, but I believe it describes the love of a man and a woman. But let me ask you this question. Isn’t any real ultimate love in this world a reflection of God’s love? I want to tell you something. You may be blessed with a good mate and good parents and good children, but they don’t love you like God loves you. And they don’t want you to go to heaven with the same intensity that God wants that of you. And wants that for you. Because God is infinite and God can love infinitely. And the point, God’s any real love is a reflection of His love.

Conclusion

And if a husband and wife love us so much, if we can read that and be attracted to the beauty of this picture between the love of a husband and a wife, and if you know that by experience, isn’t that a picture of his greater love? Now you have listened really closely, and you have been a very good audience. Thank you for that. And we invite you to come back for more, Lord willing, tomorrow. But we’re going to have an invitation song. The number again was 322, 322 in your books. Centering on the thought we just had. No one loves you like God loves you and Christ loves you. As much as your parents love you, as much as your mate may love you, as much as your children may love you.

They cannot love with the richness and depth that God loves. And all true human love is a reflection of his love. It would have been a great thing to say goodbye to the slavery of Egypt and to become free. And tonight you have an opportunity to say goodbye to the chains of sin, to be saved, and to be pointing to heaven. You have that hope. If you believe that Jesus died and rose again, we invite you to turn from your sins into repentance and be baptized into him. And the brethren here will help you as we stand and sing.