Look and Live! (7 of 10)
Will You Be Counted
Jerry Vines
Numbers 21:4-9
10/03/04
As you know, the Old Testament is a beautiful illustration book. It is a book that is filled with wonderful pictures. If you will learn in your Bible study to look for these pictures in the Bible, it will greatly increase your enjoyment and understanding of scripture.
There are beautiful pictures given to us in these narratives in the Old Testament. This does not mean that the stories are not real. It doesn't mean that they were imaginary. They actually happened.
You have here actual history, facts. But there is more than just history in these facts. There is also theology. These accounts give us literal truth, but they also give us spiritual truth. What I mean by that is they actually happened, but there are spiritual lessons which can be learned in these historical happenings.
There is a word for it. It is the word "types" or pictures; that is, pictures which teach spiritual lessons. For instance, in I Corinthians 10 this very account is referred to in the ninth verse. You have to be careful with the types of pictures and not make more of them than scripture makes of them. You have to keep in mind that there is a progressive revelation in the scriptures. What I mean by that is God's revealed truth is progressively unfolded all the way through the Bible, and you don't get the total picture until you move into the New Testament. So everything must be interpreted in light of the full revelation we find in the New Testament.
This means then that as you study these beautiful pictures, you do not build doctrine on the picture itself. That will get you in trouble. But the picture illustrates doctrine which is fully expanded in the New Testament.
These six verses we are going to study this evening fall into this category. Jesus, our Savior, used this passage of scripture, this picture, as an illustration of spiritual truth. In fact, He teaches that this ...
Will You Be Counted
Jerry Vines
Numbers 21:4-9
10/03/04
As you know, the Old Testament is a beautiful illustration book. It is a book that is filled with wonderful pictures. If you will learn in your Bible study to look for these pictures in the Bible, it will greatly increase your enjoyment and understanding of scripture.
There are beautiful pictures given to us in these narratives in the Old Testament. This does not mean that the stories are not real. It doesn't mean that they were imaginary. They actually happened.
You have here actual history, facts. But there is more than just history in these facts. There is also theology. These accounts give us literal truth, but they also give us spiritual truth. What I mean by that is they actually happened, but there are spiritual lessons which can be learned in these historical happenings.
There is a word for it. It is the word "types" or pictures; that is, pictures which teach spiritual lessons. For instance, in I Corinthians 10 this very account is referred to in the ninth verse. You have to be careful with the types of pictures and not make more of them than scripture makes of them. You have to keep in mind that there is a progressive revelation in the scriptures. What I mean by that is God's revealed truth is progressively unfolded all the way through the Bible, and you don't get the total picture until you move into the New Testament. So everything must be interpreted in light of the full revelation we find in the New Testament.
This means then that as you study these beautiful pictures, you do not build doctrine on the picture itself. That will get you in trouble. But the picture illustrates doctrine which is fully expanded in the New Testament.
These six verses we are going to study this evening fall into this category. Jesus, our Savior, used this passage of scripture, this picture, as an illustration of spiritual truth. In fact, He teaches that this ...
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