Understanding The Bible 1. The Purpose of the Bible 2. The Land of the Bible 3. The Story of the Bible – Old Testament 4. The Story of the Bible – New Testament 5. The Message of the Bible 6. The Authority of the Bible 7. The Interpretation of the Bible Intro & The Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit The Christian's Disciplined Study The Teaching of the Church The Natural Sense The Original Sense The General Sense (part 1) ☛ The General Sense (part 2) 8. The Use of the Bible

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.” Luke 17:22-24 “So, if they say to you, ‘Look,he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:26-27

Mosaic Law Ceremonial regulations Civil statutes Moral instructions

[T]here are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” Hebrews 8:4b-5 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Hebrews 9:23-24 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never...make perfect those who draw near. Hebrews 10:1

“Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?*” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) Mark 7:18b-19 * Greek: goes out into the latrine

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,* he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4 * Or “and as a sin offering”

I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. Acts 26:22b