There are some Christians who will go to the mat telling you that you should always interpret the New Testament by using the Old Testament. This actually makes a ton of sense. After all, the Old Testament was written first, and the whole New Testament is built upon the old. So, yeah, that seems to make sense. Unless, of course, you think the New Testament writers were, you know, inspired or something.
Basically, it boils down to who we should count on for interpretations: the men who received prophecies they didn't always understand (1 Peter 1:10-12), or those whose minds were "opened to understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45)?
Me? I'll go with Peter, Paul, and John any day. The basic idea is this: if the inspired New Testament Writers interpreted a passage in the OT, they were right about it.
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
32 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.
This should sound familiar to anyone familiar with Peter's sermon in Acts 2. That's because he quoted it. Remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost? Remember the gift of tongues? Peter explained it by quoting this passage.
17 "In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy."
Fortunately, he left out all that weird stuff about the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood. Because, there's no *way* that stuff happened back then.
Except, one little problem. Peter *did* quote the rest of the passage. What's up with that? What did Peter mean by it? Well, basically, he's telling us that all that cosmic language was symbolic...not literal. >Gasp!< Did he just say to not take the Bible literally? Yes, I did. Take it as literally as the passage indicates it should be taken. If an apostle pronounces a fulfillment of a prophecy, he does it correctly. Trust him.
