Two Horizons Open the study

Open the Scriptures the way Jesus did.

Matthew says Hosea 11:1 is about Jesus. Hosea was talking about Israel leaving Egypt. Two Horizons lays out 138 places where the New Testament reads the Old, what each text meant then, what the apostle saw in it, and why the move holds. For Bible teachers, and for anyone learning to share the gospel.

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Walk one reading: Hosea 11:1 into Matthew 2:15

  1. The Law 77 readings

    Genesis 15:6Romans 4:3

    In its own timeAbraham believed God’s promise of offspring and God counted it to him as righteousness.

    In ChristAbraham is the paradigm of justification apart from works; ‘to the one who does not work but believes’.

  2. The Prophets 82 readings

    Hosea 11:1Matthew 2:15

    In its own timeA retrospective statement: God loved Israel as a child and called the nation out of Egypt at the exodus.

    In ChristJesus’ return from Egypt ‘fulfils’ Israel’s exodus because he is the Son who recapitulates and completes Israel’s story.

  3. The Psalms 49 readings

    Psalm 110:1Matthew 22:44

    In its own timeA royal psalm: YHWH installs the king at his right hand and promises victory.

    In ChristIf David calls the Messiah ‘Lord’, the Messiah is more than David’s son; the text overflows a merely Davidic referent.

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Luke 24:27
Matthew 1:22-23 reads Isaiah 7:14Matthew 2:17-18 reads Jeremiah 31:15Matthew 5:17-48 reads Exodus 20:13-14Matthew 12:39-41 reads Jonah 1:17Matthew 21:33-46 reads Isaiah 5:1-7Matthew 27:9-10 reads Zechariah 11:12-13Mark 4:11-12 reads Isaiah 6:9-10Mark 14:27 reads Zechariah 13:7Luke 4:25-27 reads 1 Kings 17:8-24Luke 22:37 reads Isaiah 53:12John 1:51 reads Genesis 28:12-17John 6:31-58 reads Exodus 16:4, 15John 10:11-16 reads Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23-24John 15:1-8 reads Psalm 80:8-16Acts 1:15-26 reads Psalm 69:25Acts 2:30-36 reads Psalm 132:11Acts 7:2-53 reads Genesis 37-50Acts 13:46-47 reads Isaiah 49:6Romans 1:17 reads Habakkuk 2:4Romans 4:3-8 reads Genesis 15:6Romans 5:12-21 reads Genesis 2:16-17Romans 9:6-13 reads Genesis 21:12Romans 10:5-8 reads Leviticus 18:5Romans 11:1-10, 26-27 reads 1 Kings 19:10-181 Corinthians 5:13 reads Deuteronomy 17:71 Corinthians 10:4 reads Exodus 17:61 Corinthians 15:24-28 reads Psalm 110:12 Corinthians 3:7-18 reads Exodus 34:29-35Galatians 3:6-9, 14 reads Genesis 15:6Galatians 3:15-18, 19-25 reads Exodus 12:40Ephesians 4:8-10 reads Psalm 68:18Ephesians 6:14-17 reads Isaiah 11:5Colossians 2:11-17 reads Genesis 17:10-14Hebrews 2:5-9 reads Psalm 8:4-6Hebrews 4:1-11 reads Psalm 95:11Hebrews 8:1-6 reads Exodus 25:40Hebrews 10:1-10 reads Leviticus 16Hebrews 11:17-19 reads Genesis 22:1-181 Peter 1:10-12 reads The prophets generally1 Peter 2:9-10 reads Exodus 19:5-61 Peter 3:18-22 reads Genesis 6-8James 2:21-25 reads Genesis 22:9-12Revelation 1:12-18 reads Daniel 7:9, 13Revelation 21:1-22:5 reads Isaiah 65:17-19

Every one of 138 readings, from 23 New Testament books and 26 Old Testament books, shows what the text meant then.what the apostle saw in it.the move that joins them.the warrant in the text.

The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, the three parts Jesus named that evening (Luke 24:44).

The Law

77 readings draw on Genesis to Deuteronomy

Then he believed in the lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:6

For what does the Scripture say? “abraham believed god, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:3

In Genesis, Abraham trusts God’s promise of a son, and God counts that trust as righteousness. Paul reads Abraham as the pattern for everyone who believes: right with God by faith, not by works.

Paradigmatic example · Abraham’s trust is the shape of all faith

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The Prophets

82 readings draw on the Prophets, Joshua to Kings and Isaiah to Malachi

When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

Hosea 11:1

He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “out of egypt i called my son.”

Matthew 2:15

Hosea looks back: God loved Israel as a son and called the nation out of Egypt. Matthew sees Jesus, God’s Son, come out of Egypt too, and finish the story Israel began.

Corporate solidarity · the Son relives Israel’s story

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The Psalms

49 readings draw on the Psalms and the Writings

The lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

Psalm 110:1

‘the lord said to my lord, “sit at my right hand, until i put your enemies beneath your feet”’?

Matthew 22:44

David hears the LORD seat someone he calls “my Lord” at His right hand. Jesus asks how the Messiah can be both David’s son and David’s Lord: the psalm speaks of more than a king of David’s line.

Prosopological reading · the psalm’s “my Lord” is the Messiah

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Beginning with this Scripture

And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:31

An Ethiopian official was reading Isaiah 53 on the desert road. Philip did three things, and they are the same three things this study teaches.

  1. He asked what the man was reading. Start with the text in its own time.
  2. He began from that Scripture. Find the move the text itself allows.
  3. He told him the good news about Jesus. Arrive at Christ without forcing it.

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

Acts 8:35
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How a reading holds, in four steps you can check.

The textHosea 11:1God called His son, Israel, out of Egypt
What licenses the moveExodus 4:22“Israel is My son, My firstborn.”
The moveCorporate solidarityWhat is said of the nation is fulfilled in the one who embodies it
What the apostle sawMatthew 2:15Jesus, God’s Son, out of Egypt
  1. Read it in its own time. The Old Testament text keeps its first meaning; the study states it before anything else.
  2. Find what in the text licenses the move. One of 15 features you can point to in the Old Testament itself.
  3. Name the move. One of 10 relations the apostles used, from prediction to typology.
  4. Hear what the apostle saw. The reading ends at what God did in Christ.
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Why it isn’t allegory. Five rules every reading must keep.

  • It ends at Christ. The fulfilment is something God has already done in Jesus, not a new idea read into the text.
  • The first meaning stands. The Old Testament sense is stated and never denied; the fuller sense is added to it.
  • The warrant is in the Old Testament. Every move points to something the Old Testament text itself shows.
  • Israel’s promises reach the church through Christ. Never around him.
  • Nothing contradicts plain teaching. A figural reading serves the plain sense of the whole Bible, never overrules it.

Claimed echoes, where no words are quoted, are also tested against the seven criteria Richard Hays set out.

Inside the study

The method, used on new questions. 4 worked studies.

  1. The Old Testament case for baptismBackward · 6 Old Testament sources · ceiling: strong
  2. Joseph (Genesis 37-50) read toward the rejected and exalted DelivererForward · 4 Old Testament sources · ceiling: strong
  3. The Old Testament case for the Lord's Supper beyond PassoverBackward · 6 Old Testament sources · ceiling: strong
  4. The Old Testament case for Paul's qualifications for overseers and deaconsBackward · 6 Old Testament sources · ceiling: strong

Questions

Is it free?
Yes. There is no account, no sign-up and nothing to install. Open the study and read.
Who is it for?
Bible teachers preparing a lesson or a sermon, and anyone learning to open the Old Testament with someone the way Philip did.
Is this a commentary?
No. A commentary explains one passage at a time. Two Horizons lays out the method behind 138 of them, so you can see the same moves at work across the New Testament and use them on other passages.
Where do the categories come from?
From the readings themselves. Each of the 8 axioms is stated in the New Testament and already at work in the Old, and each relation and warrant is named from the cases that use it.
Can I study a passage that isn’t here?
Yes. The Workbench takes the features you can show in any Old Testament passage and returns the moves they allow, with the readings that share them.
Which Bible translation does it quote?
The New American Standard Bible (1995), used by permission of The Lockman Foundation.

They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:32

Begin with Moses.Read all the way to Christ.

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Open the study