Remoter context

There’s a rule in Bible study called the rule of subsequent narrative. That is, there will be an account in scripture in one place and later on, in a remoter context, there will be something added that wasn’t in the original story.

For example, Jesus Christ says in John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

It doesn’t say it’s quoting a passage. It doesn’t say “as it is written somewhere.” It says as the scripture teaches. It doesn’t say it’s written down in a specific verse although in Isaiah 58:11 is a real specific verse it could be making reference to, although it’s not a quote.

The verse reads, “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

“The Bible’s full of these kinds of things,” says Jordan. “They’re not mistakes. They’re additional information that’s given later on. It’s still true; it’s just not all given in one place. One of the reasons for that is the Bible’s meant to be studied. If the Bible was written like a book of theology, you know what you’d do with it? You’d put it on your bookshelf and never read it again.

“I don’t read any theology book all the time. Why would I? Maybe sometime I’ll refer back to it if I have some reference question, but it’s not something you have to pore over. The Bible’s written in such a way that to really understand it you’ve got to keep poring over it and poring over it.”

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Jude 9 informs, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”

Now, that passage can be found back in the last chapter of Deuteronomy. When Moses died, Satan and Michael contend over his body.

“Some people say, ‘Well, maybe it wasn’t his physical body; maybe it was the nation Israel,” says Jordan. “I Corinthians 10 talks about how when they came across the Red Sea, they were baptized under Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and so that nation when it came across, it’s called in Acts 7 the ‘Church of the Wilderness.’

“Some people say the body of Moses was really the nation of Israel once it had become that separated nation—that set apart people of God. Either way you take it, Satan and Michael are contending over the body of Moses.

“Go back in book of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers and read all day long ‘til your eyes bug out on the table and you’ll never find that statement back there! You wouldn’t know this event took place except that it’s written subsequently in the Book of Jude.”

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If you drop down to verse 14 in Jude, it says, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

It says Enoch was seventh from Adam because there’s another Enoch who was Cain’s son. The Enoch from Genesis 5 didn’t die; God took him and translated him. Hebrews 11 talks about how he walked with God after the birth of Methuselah.

“You begin to understand when you read Hebrews 11 that something happened at the birth of Methuselah that changed Enoch’s life,” says Jordan. “It says ‘he began to walk with God.’ Enoch prophesied, meaning he had a message from God. So there was some communication between God and Enoch and then Enoch and people around him.”

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The name Methuselah means “when he dies it shall come.” When Methuselah died, the Flood and its judgment came. Enoch is prophesying about this, saying “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all ungodly.”

“Every time I read that verse, I think, ‘There were some ungodly dudes back there! Just over and over again!’ But here’s the prophecy about the judgment of God. One’s going to be at the Flood and the other is going to be at the Second Advent, which the Flood was a type of.

“Enoch prophesied of that but that’s the verse where people get all bent out, saying, ‘Well, there’s a lost book of the Bible called the ‘Book of Enoch’ that should be in there.’ No, this is the rule of subsequent narrative. You wouldn’t know Enoch did this stuff except the Book of Jude wrote it down for you.”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . .)