Tuesday, August 1st | The Examiner

Hello, everyone! Today is Tuesday, August the 1st. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm Jon Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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Anywhere you get your podcasting content from, we're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Ecclesiastes 7, verse 10. Do not say, Why were the old days better than these?

For it is not wise to ask such questions. Now, boomers, everybody, boomers, Gen X. Now, let me tell you, back in my day... I don't want y'all to take offense to this. I do not want y'all to take offense to this, because I'm just a millennial, right? So, I've got no clue how the world works.

Solomon's talking to you. You know, Solomon says this, but there's a lot of things that I've seen millennials leaning toward for the nostalgia. I'm like, hmm, but weren't the old days better than this?

Well, here's the thing. Now, boomers didn't have social media. Gen X is kind of coming up. They were around when social media was getting its thing. But now, social media can capitalize on nostalgia. Nostalgia has always been marketable. But now, we're seeing nostalgia be really heavily marketed. They're even putting nostalgia... Nickelodeon has that 90s blast to the past, all your old favorite cartoons. Relive all that nostalgia. Not only do we know that you want all this stuff, we're going to straight up tell you what you're feeling, and we're going to give it to you.

It's like, this is great! But Solomon says, yeah, don't do that. Don't ask why the old days were better than these. It's not wise.

Gardner-Meadow. One of the things I think about the old days, and it makes me think about Saturday morning, a bowl of cereal, watching cartoons... Yeah, Solomon never watched Hey Arnold. To be fair, I know he was the wisest man who ever lived. He never watched Hey Arnold.

He didn't grow up on Doug funny and Rugrats and all that stuff. I feel like if he had, he'd be like, a little bit of nostalgia every now and then. The point there, though, is relevant for all of us, no matter what age group you fall in. It doesn't benefit anybody to just stay staring at the past. It's fine to remember and look back fondly on things. But if you're stuck like, oh, I wish we could go back, I wish we could do this, God's plan for you is in the future. God's plan for you is out here.

If we're looking in the rearview mirror, we're going to miss it. Yeah. What was one of those breakfast cereals that you wouldn't eat nowadays? Oh, gosh. Probably favorite for me was either Fruity Pebbles, or Crunch Berries.

You know what's funny? I was going to say Captain Crunch, because back then, I didn't realize it, but it would tear the roof of my mouth all up. Every time. It's like eating razor blades, every time.

Yeah. It's like eating gravel, razor blades, and just sharp, jagged rocks. And just crystallized sugar. I might as well just pour the sugar in my mouth. But as a kid, it was the greatest thing on the face of the planet. It blasted me into a whirlwind of peanut butter and chocolatey taste. Deep pull.

Very nice. That was actually... I know someone's going to call me out. That's actually Reese's Puffs. Yeah. Which is also a good cereal. I had to say it. And all those cereals are available now. And I can remember distinctly, as a kid sitting down with a bowl, I'm like, this is the greatest cereal on the face of the planet. And now, if I eat them, I'm like, I'm going to regret this in about 15 minutes. I had a bowl of Reese's Puffs a month ago, and it tore my stomach up. I can't handle it no more. 30-year-olds don't do well with a bowl of the same cereal. I can't imagine waking up first thing in the morning sitting down and eating a bowl of Reese's Puffs.

Just a straight sugar. I did it. I did it. And my mama let me.

That's crazy. Yeah. Hey, me too. And I'm letting my kids do the same thing.

I'm like, whatever. Enjoy while you can. We're going to grab Dr. Shaw in just a minute. But if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

Or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Hey, everyone. My name's Ellie.

And I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview Today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview Church is to lead all people into a life-changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

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Or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you, and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. If you've never listened to the Clear View Today Show before, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, a professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.

You can find all of his work on his website. That's Abbadan Shah.com. Dr. Shah, people have been texting in since yesterday's episode. So excited about this series.

So excited to dive into these autopsy reports. People are really quick to jump on Revelation. I think they're quick to jump on anything that has to do with prophecy or any times. I've had people ask me, why don't you preach on prophecy? And I remind them for two and a half years, I preached on nothing but prophecy. I covered everything from Ezekiel to Matthew 24 to Daniel, 1 Thessalonians, Zechariah, of course, Revelation.

I've covered it all. First Corinthians 15. So I've done prophecy for so much that I have backed off, not because I don't believe in prophecy, but I think prophecy is very important. There are blessings that a church receives when they study prophecy. Blessed are those who keep the words of this prophecy. But it's good to study so that you can live, number one, a holy life. Prophecy should lead you to holiness and not continue in sin.

If you know that the master is coming soon, why are you living on holy lives? Well, no, I'm trying to be holy. Well, let's not just think about sexual immorality. How about your words? How about gossiping? How about negative behavior, bitterness, unforgiveness? Those are also things that God will test you when he comes and says, How are you living?

Well, you've got all this junk in your life. So prophecy, number one, should lead us to holiness, but also prophecy should lead us to evangelism. If you truly believe that Jesus is coming soon, don't you want everyone to be ready to meet him?

That should be the biggest push. The urgency and the unexpectedness of Jesus is coming back. That should motivate us to share the gospel at any and every opportunity. And yet people are just, I want to have my laminate bookmark that I can put in my Bible that has the timeline of Revelation.

But you're not getting the push behind what we're talking about. I think one thing that's kind of interesting is how hard you've hit on Jesus fulfilling everything in the Old Testament. The Old Testament being so critical to understanding Jesus. Yet at the same time, we don't typically apply the Old Testament to Revelation. Do you think that comes from the fact that a lot of people think that that's done, the ethnic Israel is just kind of done for, and they don't really put that in Revelation at all? Well, sometimes they put that too much into Revelation and they think, Oh, this was meant for them, but now it's meant for the church and it's done. So it can be both.

And I want to say it as clearly as possible. Revelation is about the future. It's about the future. It's not about some prophecies in the past. Some people believe that by the way, that Christ already came and that's not biblical. So Revelation is about the future. Also to understand Revelation, we need to understand the Old Testament because a lot of the lingo resembles the Old Testament. So in that sense, some of those people are right.

Yes. It sounds like the Old Testament. We should also consider first century Judaism. Some of the things that the book of Revelation talks about, especially those seven letters, they're very indicative of the time in which those letters were given first century Judaism, but also the Greco-Roman setting. Some things will not make sense unless you go back and study the history of people living in Asia Minor in Turkey, the Greco-Roman world.

Greco in the sense of Greek culture, Roman in the sense of Roman rule. Those are some of the cultural backgrounds you need to be familiar with in order to understand this book. And then the context of the local church. These prophecies were not given just for individual believers. Of course they are, but they were given to a body of believers. In fact, seven bodies to be exact. To the seven churches of Asia Minor.

Yeah. I think one of the things we talked about yesterday that I've been thinking about and I've been just letting ruminate in my mind is that it's so centered on Jesus. Like we said, we find that completion of the Old Testament in the character, I guess, for lack of a better word, of Jesus. But at the same time, we don't see Jesus in the gospels the same way we see him in Revelation. In the gospels, he's this wise, hippy-dippy teacher who teaches love and patience and tolerance and understanding and all this stuff. That's a very skewered, incomplete picture, because here in Revelation, Jesus has a very authoritative, powerful stance.

He's talking to these churches in a very authoritative, examining way. I feel like a lot of times when people are studying the Bible, especially studying the life of Christ, they see what they want to see in Jesus. They see him as who they want him to be. So if they see him as that free-spirited teacher who roams around with his disciples, then that's the picture they're mapping on. They miss those passages where Jesus goes into the temple and starts overturning tables and says, I'm here to do my Father's will. They skip over those because it doesn't fit their mold of what they think Christ should be like.

Very, very true. Keep in mind, he is the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament as he's of the New Testament. By the way, that leads me to clarify a point. The way I study prophecy, and I have been doing this for years and years, I'm not a dispensationalist.

I'll go on record on saying that. Do you want to say just very quickly what dispensationalism is? That God dealt with different peoples in different ages, in different ways, to bring them to salvation. So they may even sort of say that salvation has already always been through Jesus Christ, but in different times it was through different means, like the law. Or if you go to the Garden of Eden, it was just simply not touching the fruit, and then the law, and so on and on.

I don't believe that's very accurate. And neither am I a covenantal, where I believe that it's different covenants. I believe that Jesus Christ has always been the way. People before him were waiting for his coming, and since he came 2,000 years ago, we look back to his coming. That he came, died, buried, rose again, and finished the work of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And so, only one plan of salvation, but it was also through Jesus, and people knew.

So I don't go, I don't claim that it was just sort of different means. People may not have known about Jesus, but as long as it was some kind of sacrament. No, I believe prior to Jesus coming, people knew someone was coming who would die for their sins, and that someone was God in flesh. And now we know for sure, because all the prophecies are fulfilled in Christ, and he, on the road to Emmaus, explained everything and said, this is, this was me, this was me, this was me. So I believe people knew someone was coming to give their life, and that someone was a son of God.

And now we look back and know that he did come. One other thing about prophecy is we need to keep the distinction between Israel and the church. Sometimes people try to hold to this doctrine of supersessionism, that somehow the church has superseded Israel, and I don't believe that's correct. There are prophecies still to be fulfilled for ancient Israel, and we need to honor that.

So these are some parameters that I would suggest people to keep in mind and be as consistent as possible when you're studying prophecy. So now going back to the whole thing about Jesus, he is the same one who Daniel encountered in the Old Testament and John encountered in the New Testament. And I think that's the, that's kind of the sticker is that it's not two different Testaments. It's one comprehensive story with the same central character, giving the same message. That's right.

I love those, that comparison in writing between Daniel and between John's writing and Revelation. This picture of Christ that they both hold up independent of one another, but yet, I mean, it's obvious that this is the same person they're talking about. Right.

Right. I mean, think about even how the encounters take place, the identity. Revelation 1.9, it says, I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.

So listen to how he identifies himself. How about Daniel? Daniel 10, 12. In those days, I, Daniel was mourning three full weeks.

I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine, on and on and on. Yeah. It's like if they're going to come out and say, this is a miraculous vision that I've been given, but I'm standing behind it. I'm putting my name on that vision, which is crazy because like if I had like a vision like that in this day and age, I don't know if I'd be able to post this anonymously somewhere online.

Maybe I ate something bad. I'm going to post it and let somebody else kind of take that and run with it. Right. And then the time, Revelation 1.10 says, I was in the spirit of the, on the Lord's day. Daniel 10, 4, now on the 24th day of the first month.

Now, what I want us to understand here is that both John and Daniel did not have some fairytale dream vision. Like a long time ago. Once upon a time. Now this was at an actual place in an actual time. It didn't take place in a galaxy far, far away.

Long, long ago. It's not some fable they invented. They put that timestamp on there because they're like, this is, this really happened. People can verify that I was there. I mean this, you can prove this.

Yeah. Place Revelation 1.10 on the Island that is called Patmos. Daniel 10, 4, I was by the side of the great river that is the Tigris. So one is in the Aegean.

Another one is near the Tigris river. And they're both, they're both taking place during a period of just like, of like exile. Like they've, they're, they're desolate. They're alone.

They're scared. They're, they're, you know, they used to be part of this vibrant community, but now they've been exiled. And then the books, both of them talk about a book. So Revelation 1.11, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. And what you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia.

And as you know, the list, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Tulliadocia. And Daniel 10.21, but I tell you what is noted in the scripture of truth. Wow. So these are not the books of life in heaven. No, these are the books that they are writing. So both are writing a book.

Wow. I just want us to understand the parallels. So you cannot study the book of Revelation in isolation.

You have to begin with the foundation of the Old Testament. Yeah. This, this is not like a cool little gimmick. Like look how similar these are.

Isn't that cool? This is like, if you're going to take on the task of studying Revelation, you have to understand that you don't study it in a vacuum. You don't study it isolated by itself.

You can't just pick out that one as your book of study. You've got to understand it in its larger context. I remember as a, I remember being in youth group and, and they would, they would do stuff like this where you say, see, look at the, look at how they're the same. And I always walked away with like, that's kind of interesting. Yeah, that's cool.

It never, it never clicked or was made that next step of the, you have to read them as one. Right. There are ramifications in the sense of, so now here are your hermeneutical guidelines because of the parallels. Now read and study these letters like this.

That's what we're trying to get to folks on the, on the YouTube as well as the radio podcast. The reason we're doing this comparison is so that when you study Revelation, don't do it as some of your favorite prophecy teachers or your pastor or whatever. I mean, that's great, but make sure you have the foundation of the Old Testament. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. Misunderstandings are, there's no room for them when they're, when it comes to studying scripture. That's right.

Yeah. So this, this comparison between John and between Daniel's writings, it, it, both are focused on, on Christ. Both, both are focused on, I mean, they talk about things that are yet to come, but, but both center on this, this person of Jesus, as he, as he's revealed himself to them. I mean, just Revelation, 1910 says, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. For the witness of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. You want to know what prophecy is all about? The one that is being given by the Holy Spirit, it is the witness of Jesus, the third, second person, the Godhead who is watching events unfold because he is outside of time. He's giving us how things will happen for us time bound people. So the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. What is their, for John and Daniel, what is their reaction to this first like encounter with Jesus?

It's the same. I mean, listen to Revelation 112. Then he, then I turn to the voice or turn to see the voice that spoke with me. You see the, the sense that he's going about his life or he is stuck in this exile and he's like, whoa. So also Daniel, in Daniel 10 five, I lifted my eyes and look and looked and behold, remember, John is in exile on the Island of Patmos, but Daniel also is in exile in Babylon. So how interesting. Very similar.

Yeah. Both of them are in exile. What is exile by the way? You're stuck somewhere where you don't want to be.

You've been ripped away from your homeland, from your security or your normal way of life has been taken away from you and you have been completely disheveled. But in that moment, God shows you that this is not the end, that he is working towards something else. So both for John and for Daniel, exile was preparing them for the future. I think it also fed into their, their reaction when they see Jesus, because they're in this hopeless place and they're kind of at, they're kind of at their lowest where all kind of seems to be lost.

And then they see this King of glory and they just are like, I fall down just out. Like what does, what does John say? He's like, I felt that as though I were dead.

And I'm like, yeah, I think, yeah, that's the only reaction I would have such a hopeless place. Daniel, read that for us. Daniel 10 seven. What does it say? It says, and I Daniel alone saw the vision for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great terror fell upon them.

So they fled to hide themselves. And the verse eight goes on. Therefore I was left alone and I saw this great vision and no strength remained in me. Just like, just like John, he says, I fell at his feet as dead as if I was dead. And Daniel says the same thing.

Yeah. For my vigor was turned to frailty in me and I retained no strength. And it's crazy because these were people who were close to God. They weren't like weary sinners who saw, like Paul, like on the road to Damascus, a sinner who's like, I just have to drop and bow. Like they were already close to God.

And yet at the same time, they just became completely and utterly lifeless in his presence. So again, this is an application that I don't want us to miss. And the application is this so much better for you to meet Jesus as savior and King, the humble shepherd who calls us to come. He welcomes, he's, he's softly and tenderly waiting for me to come to him.

If you don't meet him like that, one day you will meet him as the judge, like John encounter, like Daniel encounter. And they dropped almost as if they were dead. Yeah. Yeah. One of the most interesting things to me when you read these prophecies is just the way they describe the person of Jesus.

Cause they go into such detail and the imagery is so alive and real. I almost feel as though it's like on the one hand it's yes, it's this Jesus that we picture in our minds, but then it's this like otherworldly mythical grand, like glorious description of, of who he is. Yeah. I mean, it tells us here in Revelation 1 12 and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the son of man. Now listen to Daniel 7 13.

Now, even though it's kind of earlier, still part of the same prophecy, Daniel 7 13, I was watching in the night visions and behold, one like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. How interesting that the same title is used, which is son of man. Yeah.

Cause we used to son of God. Right. You know, we're used to, he's the son of God, but he's also the son of man. That's right.

And I think I feel like a lot of humanity there. And that's a part that I often ignore. How interesting that Daniel describes him that way before Jesus was, was born as a, as a baby. Oh, that's true.

He describes him as a son of man. That's true. Right. Very interesting.

Yeah. And then the rest of the descriptions are also very similar. Let's go with John first in revelation, revelation 1 13, that he was clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. Now remember the golden part, his head and hair were white like wool. Remember that as well as white as snow and his eyes like a flame of fire. Remember that as well.

His feet were like fine brass. Remember that as well as it refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters. Also remember that he had in his right hand, seven stars out of his mouth, when a sharp two edge sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

Remember that as well. Now let's go to Daniel 7 nine. I watched till the thrones were put in place in the ancient of days. Remember the hair being white like wool. Jesus is the ancient of days. His garment was white as snow.

We read that just a little while ago. And the hair of his head was like pure wool. And that what John saw, his head and hair were like white like wool. Listen to verse five. This is Daniel 10. I lifted my eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose waist was girded with gold of a fast.

Remember the band of gold? His body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire. We just read that his eyes like flame of fire in John chapter one, verse 14. And then his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color. Well, look at verse 15 of Revelation one, his feet were like fine brass and the sound of his words, like the voice of a multitude. And what does it say in Revelation one and verse 15?

His voice as the sound of many waters. You know, heretics, they always aggravate me. They talk about Jesus not being fully God or Jesus not being in the Old Testament and Jesus being, I mean, come on.

He's right there. How do you dispute that? Yeah. You don't read something like that and be like, well, I don't think he was actually fully God.

He might've been a little bit of one or a little bit of the other, maybe like a Hercules situation going on. Yeah. I don't think so. Yeah.

Yeah. But it's Jesus. And then even the reaction, the instructions that are given in Revelation one verse 17, but he laid his right hand on me saying to me, do not be afraid. I'm the first and the last time he who lives and was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore. Amen.

I have the keys of Hades and of death. And then Daniel 10, 12, then he said to me, do not fear. And that interesting same command. Do not fear Daniel from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come because of your words and then talks about other things. But I appreciate you, the way the word you used there.

That's the same command. It's not an encouragement. Hey, Hey, don't be afraid. It's going to be okay.

It's like, it's okay. Don't be scared. We've said that on the, that's not, yeah, we've said that on the show before, but it's a, it's a good way. Cause we're talking about the way to study this. That's the way that you think about that command.

It's a command. Do not be afraid. And then in Daniel 10, 14, I want to point out something because I said earlier that we need to keep the distinction between ethnic Israel and the church. Listen to Daniel chapter 10 and verse 14, it says, now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people, your people, the Jewish people, the descendants of the tribe of Judah, of the tribe of the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So your people in the latter days for the vision refers to many days yet to come. So for all those people who think the church has replaced Israel, explain to me what Daniel is talking about. So we need to make sure we keep that distinction, know where you have to go.

Okay. These prophecies are for the church. These instructions are for the church and these are for God's people, ethnic Israel. And so again, Revelation, I believe much of that prophecy refers to ethnic Israel going through tribulation and Daniel chapter 10, verse 14 corroborates that and we need to maintain those distinctions.

Yeah, that's right. And maybe in the days ahead, we can kind of dive deeper into those. I would love to. Absolutely.

It's important for us as we're talking about autopsy reports, we've got to understand the one who is writing the autopsy reports. If you guys enjoyed today's topic, you have questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. Click that link at the bottom, donate to the Clear View Today show and be a part of what God is doing, reaching the nations with the gospel of Jesus. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.