Well, good morning and welcome to Christian Life Academy. This is the second Sunday of the month, and so we are once again looking at our biblical theology track, which is how we go about interpreting the Bible. So this is the study of hermeneutics, which of course has nothing to do with anybody named Herman. It is the science of biblical interpretation. And so as we read our Bibles and want to understand them as Christians, we are forced to interpret what we are reading. And our goal as we read and interpret the scripture is to get at the divinely intended meaning. So as important as authorial intent might be as it concerns the human author, getting at God's intended meaning, at the divine author's intended meaning, is far more important. And as we have seen, quite often the Holy Spirit has embedded into the scripture meaning and purpose that is greater than the human authors could have or would have been able to know. So, as we go about reading our Bible, that's our goal, is to get to what is God's intended purpose and meaning in the text. And to do that, we use a number of tools. And so, we begin with the literal sense of Scripture, trying to discern what do these words mean. And so, we want to look up the various words, their definitions, look at how the sentences are constructed, the grammar of the text, how it is used in context, its literary context, and its historical context, to understand what do these words mean simply on the face of them. And this literal sense of Scripture, we have found, is the controlling sense. So any further senses or meaning we find in the Scripture must be controlled by the literal sense of the Scripture. But we move beyond the literal sense to what we have termed the Christological literalism of the text. We're looking for Christ in the text. How does the text speak of Christ? How does it point us to Christ? And so to do that, in the last couple of times, we've discussed the subject of typology. How do we see Christ in the Old Testament? How do the persons of the saints in the Old Testament, how do the ceremonies of the Old Covenant law, How do various places or events in redemptive history point us forward to Christ? That's what typology is all about. It allows us to see Christ foreshadowed in the events of redemptive history. And so we looked at Hebrews 10.1, which talks about the types and shadows of the old covenant, but Christ is the reality. So that's what we've done with typology. Now we move beyond that as well in the coming months, we'll get to looking at the moral sense of scripture, which is how are we supposed to respond to what we have found in the scriptures, and then the eschatological sense, or how does this text give us hope for the coming kingdom. Both of those aspects are really more application than they are interpretation, but they flow out of the literal and the Christological sense of the text. So, there are a couple of assumptions that we make as we go into interpreting the text, particularly of the Old Testament, and looking for Christ there. One assumption that we're making is that though there are many human authors involved in the writing of the Scriptures, there is one divine author. And therefore, as we look at our Bibles, we are going into it with the understanding that there is one author and that this is one unified whole. That Christ is the central figure and that all of the many narratives and themes that we find throughout the entirety of scripture are in some way related to Christ who is the central figure of the entire book. And if typology allowed us to see Christ prefigured in the Old Testament, then what we're dealing with this morning, I'm going to use a big word, but we're going to hopefully help you understand it, is the prospological exegesis of the Old Testament. And what this simply means is that if typology allowed us to see Christ in the Old Testament, prospological exegesis allows us to hear Christ in the Old Testament. This is actually a term that the early church fathers borrowed from Greek literature. as the Greeks would study plays or dialogues that had been written and try to discern who was speaking at any given moment in that play or in that dialogue. That's what this is. Prosopological means it's discerning the voice of the speaker is what this is about. So as we look at the Old Testament, we want to discern the voice of Christ speaking to us in the Old Testament. And so, as we do this, we're again going into this with the understanding, with the assumption that Christ is literally there in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, that He is present as the eternal Son of God, as the wisdom and the Word of God, that He was there speaking to the saints in the Old Covenant just as He is with us. and speaking to us. I'll be sharing a number of quotes with you this morning. And this first one comes from Craig Carter and his book, Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, which I've recommended to you in the past. And he references 1 Corinthians 10, 4. Which, let's just turn and I'll read that to you, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4, so that we have the context of what he's speaking about. Actually, we'll read verses 4 through 5, or 1 through 5, sorry, 1 Corinthians 10. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness." So Paul here is speaking about the nation of Israel as it was brought out of Egypt, journeying to the promised land during this period of wilderness wandering, as they ate the manna in the wilderness, as they drank the water that flowed from the rock. And Paul says, that they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So here's what Dr. Craig Carter says regarding this verse. He says, when Paul says, and the rock was Christ, in 1 Corinthians 10.4, he is using a figure, but is nonetheless speaking literally. The rock in the wilderness was figural language that witnesses to something real. not just for us or for Paul's first century audience, but also for the children of Israel in the wilderness on the way to the promised land. Christ was with them and is with us literally. This has been made possible by his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension. When we penetrate beyond what Augustine calls the letter of scripture to its spiritual meaning, we perceive the literal truth of the presence of Christ in the salvation of his people. The spiritual sense thus becomes an aspect of the literal sense, and the literal sense is not detached from history, but is grounded in the history of Jesus Christ. So what Carter is telling us here is that if we are to interpret the Old Testament correctly, the literal sense of the text cannot be detached from the history that is recorded there or the history in which it was recorded. It cannot be detached from its human author, but at the same time, it cannot be fully understood apart from the divine author's intent and the history of the incarnation of Christ. The incarnation, the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ is the key to unlocking and interpreting all of scripture. And so as we read our Old Testament, we have to read it with that in mind, and we have to understand that Christ was present with them in the Old Covenant, the same way He is present with us. We're on this side of His incarnation, they were on the other side, but just as we partake of the Lord's Supper and Christ is present with us as we do so, as they ate the manna in the wilderness and drank the water from the rock, Christ was present with them in a very real way. So, Christological literalism, as we read the Old Testament, is grounded in that idea. And so as we seek to discern the voice of Christ in the Old Testament, this is what we're doing this morning. And particularly in the wisdom literature and the prophets, we hear the voice of Christ speaking directly to us. So let's turn to Psalm chapter 40. And we're going to go through a number of Psalms this morning as we seek to understand how this works. but Psalm chapter 40. So this is a Psalm of David, we're told, and we'll just read the first nine verses or so. Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. My ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not require. Then I said, behold, I come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart. I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness and the great assembly. Indeed, I do not restrain my lips. O Lord, you yourself know." And then the psalm continues, but the question is, who is speaking here? This is a psalm of David, but are these the words of David or are they the words of Christ? Well, if we turn back in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10 and let scripture interpret scripture for us, Hebrews chapter 10 will find this discussion concerning the law of the Old Covenant, the sacrificial systems of the Old Covenant. And beginning in chapter 9, verse 28, we read this, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Now in chapter 10, for the law, having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. So we've looked at this passage before. This is typology. The law was a type. Christ is the anti-type. He is the reality. of the shadow that was the law. Verse two, for then would they not have ceased to be offered, for the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come. In the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God." So he's quoting from Psalm 40. And the author of Hebrews says, therefore, when he came into the world, he said. And so the question is, who is the he? Is it David or is it Christ? Now if we continue reading here in Hebrews, he goes on and says, previously saying, sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. That is, he takes away the first covenant and establishes the second. By that will, that is the will of God that was done by this person speaking, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So the question is, did David, the author of Psalm 40, Did David take away the old covenant and its sacrificial system and establish the new covenant by the sacrifice of Christ's body? Obviously not. David did neither of those things. Christ did those things. And so the He who came into the world and the He who spoke these things, according to the author of Hebrews, is Christ. So when we read Psalm 40, these are the words of Christ speaking, not the words of David. Let me read another quote to you. This one is from Justin Martyr, an early church father, and this is in his first apology. This was a letter, a short book that he wrote to the Roman emperor to try and train the Roman emperor in Christianity to argue for the truth of Christianity and the emperor had some questions about how Christians related to the Old Testament. And so Justin Martyr says this, he says, whenever you hear the sayings of the prophets spoken as from a person, you must not suppose the sayings to be spoken from the inspired persons themselves. In other words, David, as a prophet, writing in the Psalms, and you hear these words spoken in the first person, we must not assume that these words are spoken by David, but from the divine Logos who moves them. For sometimes he speaks as one announcing in advance things which are about to happen. Sometimes he speaks as from the person of Christ. Sometimes as from the person of the people giving answer to the Lord and his Father. such as is seen in your own writers, when one person is the writer of the whole, but many people are put forward as participating in dialogue." So there he's making the analogy to a Greek play or drama in which there is an author who wrote the thing, and yet he is presenting to us dialogue that is spoken by different characters in the drama. And so that's one analogy that Justin Martyr is making to how we ought to read the Old Testament, particularly the prophets. But he's also arguing here that the Logos, the Word of God, which is Christ, is the ultimate author of the scriptures, not the inspired human author. He also says that the inspiration may include casting things in a past tense, which are actually future, to the human author, and we'll see this in a few moments when we look at Psalm 22, as David describes in past tense the coming crucifixion of Christ. Just a Martyr also says that sometimes as we discern the voice of Christ in the Psalms, he appears to be speaking directly in the person of Christ, and at other times he appears to be speaking with the voice of the divine God, completely and sometimes he appears to be speaking as the voice of the people responding to God which makes entire sense because Christ is the head of the church which is his body and that's what heads do they speak for the body right so Christ speaks as God because he is God he speaks as Christ the mediator of the new covenant and he speaks as the head of his body which is the church this is how Justin Martyr read the Old Testament and read the Psalms and the prophets. To quote Craig Carter once again, he says, the Psalms do not merely speak of Christ, rather in the Psalms, Christ actually speaks. And so we can see this in the Old Testament as we read our Bible. And we've seen this, that this is what happened in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, as the author of Hebrews used Psalm chapter 40. Here's another quote from Michael Cameron in his book, Christ Meets Me Everywhere, and he is addressing the same topic. And he says, Christians read the Psalter as the book of Christ, not only as an objective account of fulfilled prophecy, but also as a spiritual revelation of his human soul. In fact, as a virtual transcript of his inner life while accomplishing the work of redemption. Paul particularly taught Christians to read the Psalms as echoes of the voice of Christ. Second century writers like Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus continued this Christological reading. So did Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen in the third century. In the 4th century, the Christ of the Psalms was important to Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazanzias, Gregory of Nicaea, and John Chrysostom. In the East, and Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, and Ambrose of Milan in the West. So the early church fathers were reading the Psalms in this way, hearing the voice of Christ speaking in the Psalms. He goes on in that book to present Augustine as the primary influence in the next thousand years of church history and how we ought to read the Psalms. Augustine's commentary on the Psalms is phenomenal, particularly for how he hears the voice of Christ speaking to us in the Psalms. So what I want to do is look at a number of Psalms now in the time that we have remaining, and we will be referring to Augustine's comments multiple times. But turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 22. We can see this also, by the way, not just in the Psalms, but in the Proverbs. If we think about Christ as the wisdom of God and the word of God, when wisdom speaks in the Proverbs, that's Christ speaking to us. When the prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel and others are speaking, Christ is speaking to us in the prophets. But here in the Psalms, let's look at Psalm 22. And this is a Psalm of David, we're told, there in the pre-script. And we see in verse one, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's a familiar verse. We recognize this because Christ spoke this verse on the cross. Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear, and in the night season, and am not silent. But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. And the psalm continues, and then when we get down, beginning in verse 14, or even in verse 12, we see this. Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths like raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and feet. There it is in past tense describing the future crucifixion of Christ. I count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Now David wrote this, but this is obviously Christ speaking concerning his crucifixion. And he quoted verse one while he hung on the cross. Here are Augustine's comments on this psalm, just one small excerpt. Beginning there in verse one, he says, now what follows is spoken in the person of the crucified. for from the head of this psalm are the words which he cried out while hanging on the cross, sustaining also the person of the old man whose mortality he bear, for our old man was nailed together with him to the cross." Augustine goes on to make the point that In such Psalms as this, we see moments where Christ speaks about sin or iniquity, and we think, well, how could that be the voice of Christ? He was without sin. But Augustine says in that moment, he is speaking as the head of his body. and he took our sins upon him on the cross. And so when he speaks about his iniquities or his sins in the Psalms, he's really speaking about our sins which were laid on him at the cross so that he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in him. Let's turn over and look at Psalm 16, just a few pages back. Psalm 16, another Psalm of David. And I think I'll just read the whole thing, it's 11 verses. Let's see if we can discern the voice of Christ speaking here. Preserve me, O God, for in you I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another God. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance in my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Now you may remember, because we've discussed this psalm in the past, that when we get to Acts chapter 2, Peter quotes this psalm, applies it to Christ, and says, David is dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day. This is Christ speaking in the psalm. It is Christ whose soul was not left in Sheol. Christ is the holy one who did not see corruption, who was shown the path of life in his resurrection. This is Christ speaking to us in Psalm 16. Let's look at one more and then we're gonna do a little bit of work in one for the remainder of our time, but turn to Psalm 31 quickly. Psalm 31, and we'll just read verses one through five. And again, this is addressed to the chief musician, a Psalm of David. In you, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for your name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for you are my strength. Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Again, we find that Christ quoted these words in verse 5 as He hung on the cross. And Augustine comments on this psalm and says, When we hear those words of His in the gospel and recognize them as part of this psalm, we should not doubt that here in this psalm it is Christ Himself who is speaking. The gospel makes it clear. He had good reasons for making the words of this psalm his own, for he wanted to teach you that in the psalm he is speaking. Look for him in it." And Augustine goes on to exposit this psalm and to find the voice of Christ in it. What I want to do now, though, is I want us to turn to Psalm chapter 3. This is a short one, it's eight verses. And in this psalm, I want us to find the voice of Christ speaking. And I particularly picked this one because this psalm is not quoted in the New Testament. So we don't have a passage anywhere in the New Testament where a New Testament author says, this is Christ speaking. But I want to ask the question, is this Christ speaking or is this David? And we find that this is an interesting one because the prescript tells us this is a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. So there is a historical context to this psalm. Let's read these eight verses. Lord, how they have increased to trouble me. Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me there is no help for him in God. Selah. But you, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me from his holy hill. Selah. I lay down and slept. I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. Selah. Now we can read this psalm with that prescript telling us that David wrote it either when he was on the run or in remembrance of when he was fleeing from his son, Absalom. And we can see the historical context of this psalm, right? That David is crying out to God. He is trusting God to be his shield. He is laying down and sleeping in the wilderness as he flees Jerusalem, trusting that the Lord will watch over him and sustain him in his sleep. He is asking the Lord to arise and to strike his enemies, even though that enemy is his son in this case. But the question is, is can we discern the voice of Christ here? Is Christ speaking to us in this psalm? Well, interestingly, when we come to Augustine's interpretation of this psalm, when he says, I lay down and slept, I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. This is what Augustine comments. He says, And since it was written, of Christ's disciples, the sons of the bridegroom fast not as long as the bridegroom is with them, Matthew 9, 15. It is no wonder if by his undutiful son be here met that undutiful disciple who betrayed him, from whose face, although it may be understood historically that he fled, when on his departure he withdrew with the rest to the mount. Yet in a spiritual sense, when the Son of God, that is the power and wisdom of God, abandoned the mind of Judas, Then the devil wholly occupied him, as it is written, the devil entered into his heart, John 13, 27. It may well be understood that Christ fled from his face, not that Christ gave place to the devil, but that on Christ's departure the devil took possession. Which departure, I suppose, is called a flight in this psalm because of its quickness. So, and he goes on, so he is finding the voice of Christ speaking in this psalm. When it says, I lay down and slept, Augustine is understanding that as a euphemism that is used throughout scripture for death, right? And when he awoke, and for the Lord sustained me, he is seeing Christ's resurrection in those words. How they have increased to trouble me. Many are those who rise up against me. He's picturing Christ on the cross surrounded by his enemies, his own people that have risen up against him. There is no help for him in God. And what did they say to Christ while he hung on the cross? Well, if he is truly God's son, let him come down from the cross. Augustine is seeing Christ here in verse seven. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. In Colossians, scripture tells us that in Christ on the cross that God triumphed over all his enemies. So Augustine is seeing, he's hearing the voice of Christ speaking in this psalm in the person of Christ crucified. But Augustine doesn't stop there. He says this is a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom. There's a historical context, a literary context. We can see this. David wrote this about his own flight from Jerusalem as Absalom fomented rebellion against him. But we can also read this in the voice of Christ, the person of Christ, as he was betrayed by Judas and hung on the cross, surrounded by his own people who have turned against him. But, Augustine goes on and says we can discern the voice of Christ in two additional ways in this psalm as well. After he goes through the whole psalm, verse by verse, and hears the voice of Christ crucified in the psalm, he then says this, this psalm can be taken as in the person of Christ another way, which is that the whole Christ should speak. I mean by whole, with his body, of which he is the head, according to the apostle, who says, you are the body of Christ and the members, 1 Corinthians 12, 27. He therefore is the head of this body. So he's saying we hear the voice of Christ speaking as the crucified one, but he says we can also discern the voice of Christ speaking as the head of his church in this psalm. And so Augustine goes on to say, In the prophet, then at once, the church and her head, the church founded amidst the storms of persecution throughout the whole world, which we know already to have come to pass, speaks. So he hears the church speaking through Christ its head, saying, O Lord, how are they multiplied that trouble me? Many rise up against me. wishing to exterminate the Christian name. Many say unto my soul there is no salvation for him in God, for they would not otherwise hope that they could destroy the church, branching out so very far and wide, unless they believed that God had no care thereof. But you, O Lord, art my taker, in Christ, of course, for into that flesh the church has been taken by the Word, who was made flesh and dwelt in us. For that in heavenly places he has made us to sit together with him, Ephesians 2.6. When the head goes before, the other members will follow. For who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Justly then does the church say, you are my taker and my glory. For she does not attribute her excellency to herself, seeing that she knows by whose grace and mercy she is what she is. And the lifter up of my head. of Him, namely, who the firstborn from the dead," Colossians 118, ascended up into heaven. This is the prayer of all the saints, the odor of sweetness which ascends up to the sight of the Lord. For now the church is heard in this psalm. And he continues, so he's saying we hear the voice of Christ speaking as the crucified one, but we also hear the voice of Christ speaking as the head of his church who is surrounded by enemies, who is persecuted, and who must trust in God throughout the course of this life to defeat our enemies and to preserve us as we persevere through this life. Very interesting that Augustine hears the voice of Christ speaking in that way in this psalm. Then he says, each one, two of us may say, when a multitude of vices and sins leads the resting mind into the law of sin, oh Lord, how are they multiplied that trouble me? Many rise up against me. And since despair of recovery generally creeps in through the accumulation of vices, as though these same vices were mocking the soul, or even as though the devil and his angels, through their poisonous suggestions, were at work to make us despair, it is said with great truth, many say unto my soul, there is no salvation for him in God, but you, O Lord, are my taker. For this is our hope, that he is vouchsafed to take the nature of man in Christ my glory. He goes on at great length here to describe how we can hear the voice of Christ speaking for his people individually in this psalm as we are surrounded and beset by sin and trouble in this world and must look to God to preserve us and to be our shield and our glory and the one who lifts up our head. So Augustine hears this psalm in four different ways. He hears it as the voice of David writing as he fled from Absalom, but then he hears this as a psalm of Christ when he was crucified, a psalm of Christ's body, the church, when it is persecuted, and a psalm of Christ's members when they are beset by sin and trouble in this world. So, the first one is the literal sense of the text. David wrote this psalm about the time when he fled from his son Absalom. And yet, the three other senses that Augustine sees in this psalm are to see this as prophetic speech on the part of David, Christ speaking through David a thousand years before the crucifixion, and describing his inner life of his human nature as he hung on the cross, describing the life of his church in the millennium to come, and describing the experience of each one of his individual members of his body as they are beset by sin and trouble in this world. What Augustine is saying is that David wrote truthfully about his own experience as a child of God in this world, but he wrote better than he knew because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as Christ spoke through him for all of the church. through all of time and history. And so this way of reading the Psalms is something we see commended to us in the New Testament. We see it in the practice of the early church fathers all the way up through Augustine. And Augustine influenced the next thousand years of church history to read the Psalms in this way. It really wasn't until the Enlightenment that we might term the Endarkenment. that the church began not to read the Psalms and discern the voice of Christ in them, but rather to go, no, this is a Psalm of David and nothing more. It's obviously much more than merely a Psalm of David. This is the voice of God speaking to us through his word. So as we read the Old Testament scriptures, we can see Christ, through the typological shadowing and foreshadowing of him, but we can also hear him speaking to us in the words particularly of the wisdom literature and the prophetic literature. So that's it now for our discussions of the literal sense and the typological or Christological sense of scripture. And from this point, we're going to move into the further senses that really are more application-based. How do we respond to what we're reading? How do we find application in the text for our lives? So that's what we'll address next month when we return to this subject. But let's close in a word of prayer.