rightly dividing the word of truth part 7
Imagine with me walking into the library and grabbing these 2 books off of the shelf: A book on American History and Shakespeare’s sonnets. We wouldn’t approach these 2 books in the same exact way. They weren’t intended to be read the same way. That’s why they are in different sections of the library. They belong to different literary genres.
I would read Shakespeare’s sonnets knowing that the content is poetic and there is a specific structure consisting of 14 lines, each line containing ten syllables and written in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme. And I would read the history book as an account of the history of the nation of America, as a true story. We read those 2 different books from the same library differently. I read a history book like a history book and a poetic book like a book of poetry. We read them in light of their literary genre.
The bible is like a library with 66 different books of differing literary styles, different genres. And just as we wouldn’t read a history book the same way you would read Shakespeare’s Sonnets, we don’t read all of the books in the Bible the same way. We read them in light of their literary genre.
Thus, in our series of interpretive principles for rightly dividing the word of truth, principle #11 is genre analysis: we must read each portion of Scripture in light of its literary form.
Kay Arthur | The New How to Study your Bible (p 26) "Identify the type of literature. The type of literature determines the way you will handle the text. For instance, Hebrew poetry (such as the Psalms) is different from the historical books (such as Kings and Chronicles), and the historical books are different from the epistles (such as 1 and 2 Timothy), both in style and content. History books give background and tell of real events and how God dealt with real people, but you don’t build doctrine on historical events. Most of the doctrine for the church is contained in the epistles. So, recognizing the type of literature you’re studying is important."
Howard Hendricks | Living by the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible (p 42) "It's amazing to me how people ignore genre when they come to the books of the Bible. They treat them all the same. Yet there's a vast difference between the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms and the tightly argued epistles of Paul; between the grand, sweeping narrative of Genesis and Exodus, and the simple, poignant stories of the parables. There is allegory and love poetry, satire and apocalyptic, comedy and tragedy, and much more. The Holy Spirit used each of these forms to communicate His message. So if you want to grasp that message you must read each kind according to its proper rules."
Holman Guide to interpreting the Bible | David S. Dockery & George H. Guthrie (page 53) “Different parts of the biblical literature also were written using different literary methods and, therefore, were intended to accomplish different purposes. When we consider poetry, narrative, wisdom literature, or the epistles, for example, each has its own ‘rules of interpretation.’ Our goal with each is to understand what God intended to communicate through the human author, but to do so we must understand how the author intended his writing to communicate with his original audience.”
Let’s look at the various genres and some hermeneutical considerations for each.
LAW: the writing that details the commands for Israel under OC. The main thing to remember with the Law is that its commands were binding on OC Israel, but not binding on NC believers in Christ.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVES: a written record of history. We read these like we are reading a story – a true story. The historical narratives in the Bible are to be read in the same way that we would read our textbooks in our American history class, as a record of history, actual events that really occurred. The main thing to remember about the historical narratives is that their nature is descriptive, not prescriptive; in other words their purpose is to tell of past events not to teach moral lessons.
POETRY/WISDOM LITERATURE: these are to be read as poetry & wisdom. The passages in this genre include psalms, hymns, prayers, spiritual songs & sayings to aid in worship & tap into emotions and guide God’s people in a life of wisdom. Each of the 5 books that fall into this category require some specific hermeneutical approaches which I’ll share with you later.
PROPHETIC: The prophets were God’s covenant enforcement mediators. Their message was primarily to reinforce the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant to OC Israel. They also, told of coming judgment & restoration and the messianic age to come. The prophetic writings contain a lot of metaphor, imagery and symbolic language that is not to be taken literally. The primary consideration for the prophetic literature is best summed up in How to…(p182) “The prophets did indeed announce the future. But it was usually the immediate future of Israel, Judah, and other nations surrounding them that they announced rather than our future. One of the keys to understanding the prophets, therefore, is that for us to see their prophecies fulfilled, we must look back on times that for them were still future but for us are past.” Main hermeneutical consideration for prophets: study them in light of Mosaic covenant (Deut 28 blessings & curses) and history since their predictions pertain to historical events in our past.
EPISTLES: Letters to instruct in doctrine & behavior (sometimes to correct error). These should be read like letters. Main hermeneutical consideration for the epistles: though they benefit us and in a sense are for us, they were not written to us. We are reading someone else’s mail.
APOCALYPTIC: How to (p 251) “Most frequently the ‘stuff’ of apocalyptic is presented in the form of visions and dreams, and its language is cryptic (having hidden meanings) and symbolic…The images of apocalyptic are often forms of fantasy rather than of reality. By way of contrast, the nonapocalyptic prophets and Jesus also regularly used symbolic language, but most often it involved real images – for example, salt (Matt 5:13), vultures and carcasses (Luke 17:37), senseless doves (Hos 7:11), half-baked cakes (Hos 7:8), et al. But most of the images of apocalyptic belong to fantasy – for example, a beast with seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1), a woman clothed with the sun (12:1), locusts with scorpions’ tails and human heads (9:10), et al. The fantasy may not necessarily appear in the items themselves (we understand beasts, heads and horns) but in their unearthly combination.” Main hermeneutical consideration for apocalyptic literature is that it is symbolic, not to be taken literally.
Those are the main genres of literature we find in the Scriptures.
At this point I’d like to WALK THROUGH THE OT BOOKS AND POINT OUT THEIR PRIMARY GENRES AS WELL AS SOME ADDITIONAL POINTS OF CONSIDERATION FOR EACH. Now, I want to STRESS the word, “Primary.”
The bible is ORGANIZED according to the books’ PRIMARY literary form, but just about every book contains more than one genre.
GEN – DEUT = Torah or Pentateuch or Books of the Law. These 5 books are grouped together as “books of the Law.” The dominant feature of these books is The Law of Moses: those 600+ commandments for Israel under the OC. There are other genres within the Law, Gen – Ex 19 are almost entirely narrative; there are prophecies, such as Balaam’s oracle, poetry such as the song of Moses and Miriam. Dominant feature is law: Again, main thing to consider when approaching the texts detailing the Law is that those commands were binding for OC Israel, not us.
Why important? The better we understand the Law, the more we’ll appreciate books like Hebrews & Galatians, whose argument is centered on the Law. The more we will appreciate Christ as He is the ultimate fulfillment of high priest, Passover lamb, mercy seat and a multitude of other things that we wouldn’t comprehend apart from knowing the Law.
NEXT SECTION: JOSH – ESTHER = HISTORICAL NARRATIVE. The dominant feature in these books is historical narrative. These books are to be read as history, not a treatise on morality. When the author narrates David’s adultery with Bathsheba, he is not teaching a moral lesson. It is assumed that the reader already knows that adultery is wrong; that was taught in the Law. These historical books teach the history of the nation of Israel as they conquer the nations inhabiting the Promised land, live in the land, disobey God, get oppressed by a foreign nation, turn back to God and repent and God delivers them and do that over and over and over. You have within these books conspiracies, murder mysteries, stories of friendships, betrayals, the rise and fall of nations. These are some of the most enjoyable and easy books to read because stories are so engaging which is why we read our children stories.
Why important? As those who have been brought into the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2), these books narrate our history as God’s covenant people – we have a rich heritage contained in these narratives.
NEXT SECTION: JOB – SONG = POETRY & WISDOM. Let me give a brief word about each of these.
Job is written primarily as a discourse between Job and his friends. The greatest caution with Job is to be careful not to formulate our theology based on the words contained in ch 3 – 37 because much of that is said by Job’s friends, which God declares to be erroneous.
Psalms vary from psalm to psalm. How to…(p205) “Because psalms are basically prayers and hymns, by their very nature they are addressed to God or express truth about God in song. This reality presents us with a unique problem of hermeneutics in Scripture. How do these words spoken to God function as a Word from God to us? Since they are not propositions or imperatives or stories that get us in touch with God’s Story, they do not function primarily for the teaching of doctrine or moral behavior. Yet they are profitable when used for the purposes intended by God, who inspired them, by helping us to express ourselves to God and to consider his ways. The psalms, therefore, are of great benefit to the believer who looks to the Bible for help in expressing joys and sorrows, successes and failures, hopes and regrets.”
Proverbs are short statements that teach practical wisdom about life. The biggest interpretive guideline that I would impart to you is this: Proverbs are not promises.
· Proverbs are nuggets of wisdom, not absolute and universal truths.
· Proverbs are normally true, typically true, generally true, usually true; most of the time what you read in Proverbs you will see happening around you, not always. Proverbs are not promises.
o Train a child…
o A gentle answer turns away wrath…
Ecclesiastes is difficult. There are 2 primary views on how to interpret this book:
1. Negatively: an expression of cynical wisdom, which serves as a kind of “foil” regarding an outlook on life that should be avoided
2. Positively: an expression of how one should enjoy life under God in a world in which all die in the end
Song of Solomon is a lengthy love song, a ballad about human romance, written in the style of ancient Near Eastern lyric poetry. Some have allegorized the text and declared it to be an allegory of Christ’s love for the church. To quote How To…p246 “But even on the surface that is obviously not what the song is about. Rather, it centers on human love-love between a man and a woman, celebrating both this love itself and their attraction for one another.” Bottom line: read it like a love poem that that exalts monogamous, heterosexual marriage as the proper context for sexual activity.
So JOB – SONG = Poetry and wisdom with some special interpretive considerations to keep in mind for each.
These books are so comforting to believers. Due to their poetic nature have such a strong appeal to our emotions and can have such a powerful impact on our worship; by reading them we cannot help but fall more deeply in love with the LORD.
NEXT SECTION: ISAIAH – MAL = PROPHETIC. Isaiah – Malachi is considered “The Prophetic literature” or “The Prophets.” The primary genre for these books is surprise: prophetic. However, there are other elements, for example, much of Daniel is historical narrative. These books were written during a time period between about 800 & 400 BC. The prophets were men who God raised up as his servants, his spokesman to deliver messages to His people Israel.
Things to keep in mind when reading the prophets.
· We would do well to remember that much of their message:
o employed metaphoric imagery and apocalyptic language
o and was fulfilled in our past
· Remember that the prophets were God’s messengers sent to OC Israel to: reinforce their covenant, to pronounce judgment upon Israel for disobedience as decreed in the Law of blessings and curses (Deut 28-30 & Lev 26).
· Their message was also one of foretelling future events, such as impending disaster as God would bring destruction on nations as a means of divine judgment upon them
o Majority of these predictions were centered on 2 major events
o Destruction of 10 northern tribes Israel in 722 BC by Assyria
o Destruction of 2 southern tribes of Judah in 586 BC by Babylon
· foretelling the coming of the Messianic age.
Probably the most difficult genre for us to comprehend.
It may be tempting to avoid these books altogether. They’re difficult, they were enforcing the stipulations of a covenant we aren’t under, their predictions were for events in our past. So we probably shouldn’t read them, right? NO! Their interpretive difficulties can be overcome by becoming more familiar with the Law, the history of the nation of Israel and apocalyptic language.
Prophecy is amazing, especially as we see the trustworthiness of our LORD as He is a promise keeper, true to His word, a God who does what He says he will do. There is no God like our God; He declares the end from the beginning and states that which will be before it happens. Reading prophecy paints such a huge picture of a Sovereign God.
Let’s take a look at a passage and practice what we have learned so far. Look with me at
Isaiah 13:9-13 9See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. 10The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 11I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. 12I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. 13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
My presupposition is that this is speaking of the end of the world in our future. However, I need to set aside my presuppositions and look at the text objectively – I’m going to practice Principle #1: be objective with the text. I’m setting aside my preconceived notions. Okay…and done.
Principle #11: I’m going to read this text in light of its literary genre. It is a prophetic writing, which means that it was written by a messenger sent by God to Israel to foretell future events, such as divine judgment manifest in the destruction of nations by foreign armies and that the writer may be employing metaphoric and apocalyptic language. Consider the genre considered.
Principle #4: Audience Relevance – the text has relevance to its original audience – it was written for us, but not to us. Who was it written to? Ethnic Israel under the Old Covenant.
Principle #2: CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT! We must read the passage in context. You may say, David, we just read 5 verses, isn’t that enough context? Not quite. Let’s get more context – surrounding text, text that precedes and follows our text in question. Let’s jump back to verse 1 and start there. Why verse one? Is it because Isaiah put chapter divisions in his prophecy? No. We did that to help navigate. How did I know to start at the beginning of ch 13 and not somewhere in 12? Isaiah’s book is organized by oracles. There are several oracles, so to get the full context of a given section, you want to trace it back to where the oracle starts. If we needed to go back to chapter 5, in this case it would be worth it to set the context, but luckily this oracle starts in 13:1.
With all presuppositions aside, determined to be objective with the text, remembering that this is prophetic literature (which may be symbolic and apocalyptic) originally written to the nation of Israel, let’s read in context starting in verse 1:
Isaiah 13:1-17 1An oracle concerning Babylon (that sets our context; Isaiah tells us up front what it is that he is writing about – he is writing about an oracle concerning Babylon) that Isaiah son of Amoz saw: 2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. (who is them? Remember Principle #5 – pay attention to pronouns – we need to rightly assign the them to whom the them belongs; it could be Babylon, but that’s not conclusive – let’s keep reading)
3 I have commanded my holy ones; (in this case context of holy ones means set apart ones – set apart for God’s purpose) I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—those who rejoice in my triumph. (remember our context: an oracle concerning Babylon. God has summoned his warriors to carry out his wrath and this has something to do with Babylon – at this point it’s possible that God is either carrying out wrath against Babylon or using Babylon as his warriors to carry out his wrath – context will answer that)
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war. (Remember our setting: an oracle concerning Babylon. God is mustering an army for war and this has something to do with Babylon)
5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— (They come from faraway lands. Once again, pronouns – we still need to determine who is the “they”? It’s the same ones God beckons in verse 2, the warriors He set apart to carry out His wrath in v3, the great multitude massing together, the army the LORD has mustered for war. That is the “they” who come from faraway lands.) the Lord and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country. (God is mustering an army for war from faraway lands, who God is now calling the weapons of His wrath to destroy the whole country. Destroy what whole country? Remember our setting – this is an oracle concerning Babylon. The answer to that question at this point is that either the Babylonians are the army that God is mustering together for war and we don’t know which country they are going to destroy or Babylon is the whole country that is going to get destroyed and we don’t know which country God is mustering together to bring against Babylon as the weapons of His wrath)
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. (so according to our context, the Day of the Lord refers to this event when God brings destruction on another nation with the army he musters for war)
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man’s heart will melt. (will the blood pumping organs in every human go from a solid to a liquid? Every man’s heart will melt. Remember our genre – prophetic, metaphoric imagery – not literal)
8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. (who is the “them”? We have to correctly assign these pronouns to their proper antecedent. The ones that terror will seize are the ones of the nation whose whole country will be destroyed –v5- by God’s weapons of wrath, the army that He musters for war. Remember the context: an oracle concerning Babylon)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. (Which land? Which sinners? The land and the sinners of the whole country God is going to destroy in v5)
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. (Does this mean will there be a literal failure of the cosmic entities? Will the stars literally stop being bright? Here we have to keep in mind our literary genre – principle #11 – and our context. Isaiah is now using apocalyptic language, vivid language that describes an event in drastic metaphoric imagery not to be taken literally. Furthermore, this is in the context of an oracle concerning Babylon)
11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. (the world as in the whole planet? The wicked as in every single wicked person? All the haughty, all the ruthless? Remember our context – an oracle concerning Babylon in which God is mustering an army for war to carry out his wrath against another nation. The world, the wicked, the haughty, the ruthless, are according to the context, the same “them” that we identified earlier: those who belong to the country that God is decimating with a foreign army)
12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. (all men on the planet? No – all men of the nation that God is judging)
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger. (does this mean that the earth is to literally come off of its axis and fly off into the galaxy? Let’s not forget principle #11 to read according to our literary genre. Isaiah is again employing apocalyptic language to describe this event in which God brings judgment on a nation by means of a foreign army)
14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land. (side note – this text is best understood in light of the parallel passage in Jer 51. But I can tell you that by comparing Scripture with Scripture and doing historical analysis, this nation God is destroying has captives. Those captives are set free when this nation is judged.)
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. (again, we see the language of war as our context is that God is bringing a foreign army against a people)
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished. (to whom does the their apply? Those who belong to the nation being judged)
17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. (This verse answers our question: so according to this verse, the army that God is mustering as the weapon of his wrath is the Medes. At this point, since the oracle is concerning Babylon, it would seem that Babylon is the nation that God will be judging by bringing the Medes against them)
18 Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children. 19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
So this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy is an oracle concerning Babylon. God is bringing the Medes, a foreign army against Babylon in order to judge them. Isaiah uses apocalyptic language to describe this event – language that sounds like disaster of cosmic proportions – the darkening of the cosmic lights and the shaking of the earth from its place – language that shows the severity of this judgment upon Babylon.
Principle #3 is to interpret Scripture with Scripture. Let’s find another passage that speaks of the same events.
Flip over to Jeremiah 51. You may be wondering, how in the world might one know to go to Jer 51? www.biblegateway.com and do a word search on Medes. You will see every place that Medes shows up.
Jer 51:1-14 1 This is what the LORD says: “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.[a] (FOOTNOTES!!! Leb Kamai is a cryptogram for Chaldea, that is, Babylonia) 2I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster. 3 Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy[b] (The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them) her army. 4 They will fall down slain in Babylon,[c] (Or Chaldea) fatally wounded in her streets. 5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the LORD Almighty, though their land[d] (Or / and the land of the Babylonians) is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel. 6 “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD’s vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves. 7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad. 8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed. 9 “‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds.’ 10 “‘The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.’ 11 “Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The LORD will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple. 12 Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The LORD will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon. 13 You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be cut off. 14 The LORD Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with men, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.
This certainly confirms our interpretation of the text. Jeremiah is more clear and less apocalyptic than Isaiah, so Isaiah is best understood in light of Jeremiah.
Flip with me to Daniel 5. Why Daniel 5? Our search in www.biblegateway.com yielded results that included Daniel 5. For the sake of time, I will give you some context of Daniel.
One night, when Babylon was the superpower of the world the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, threw a huge party. He had the gold and silver goblets brought in that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem when God used Babylon to judge Israel in 586 BC. Then Belshazzar had them used for the people to drink wine out of. The party was a blast. They were celebrating, living the life, they were the nation of nations, the kingdom of kingdoms; nobody could stop them – they were secure, right? Then, something crazy happened and a hand appeared and wrote on the wall. It was pretty freaky. They called in Daniel to explain the writing.
Dan 5:25-30 25 "This is the inscription that was written: Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin. 26 "This is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. 27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. 28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." 29 Then at Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.
So we interpret Scripture in light of Scripture. We see that according to Isaiah and Jeremiah, God was going to judge Babylon, using the Medes. We see the fulfillment of that event in Daniel 5:30-31 in 539 BC when the Medes conquered Babylon.
I had presupposed that the Day of the LORD meant the end of the world – the end of time in our future. However, the phrase day of the LORD is used 2 times in this passage (v 6 & 9) to refer to the destruction of Babylon in 539 BC, an event that happened in the not too distant future. The language about the darkening of cosmic lights and the shaking of heaven and earth were apocalyptic language describing that event that occurred in our past about 2500 years ago.
Because of my findings from the text, I have to change my understanding of what the day of the LORD means. I always thought the Day of the LORD referred to the same event – the end of human history. However, we find a Day of the LORD in Ezekiel 30 that has to do with the destruction of Egypt, Amos 5 day of Lord refers to the destruction of Israel, Zephaniah 1 refers to the fall of Judah. About 18 times the Day of the LORD is mentioned in the OT and the pattern we find is that it refers to the fall of a nation, the destruction of a nation as the LORD brings the army of a foreign nation against a nation in judgment upon them.
My presupposition was wrong. This passage in Isaiah 13 was not about the end of the world, but about the destruction of Babylon. I’m glad that I set my presuppositions aside so that I could be objective. I read the text in light of the type of literature, knowing that it may have some apocalyptic language. As I read this in context I saw that it was an oracle that concerned God’s divine judgment against Babylon as He stirred up a foreign nation, the armies of the Medes against the Babylonians to destroy them. As we let Scripture interpret Scripture, we saw that sure enough God did this very thing in Daniel 5:30-31 and this was fulfilled in 539 BC at the fall of Babylon at the hands of Darius the Mede.
Once again, our God is an awesome God who does what He says He is going to do. He is a promise keeping God. Who else can declare the end from the beginning and bring it to pass. We indeed serve an amazing Sovereign God and King!
www.ncfgeorgetown.com Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church Georgetown, Texas Preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized eschatology fulfilled eschatology Preterist church Austin Texas. Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ churches in Austin area
