In the same way that God used the hidden wisdom of the cross to defeat the principalities and powers (1Cor 2:7-8) and the mystery of Jesus’s identity to expose and judge the religious pride of many in first century Israel (Mt 11:25-27; Mk 4:11; 8:27, 30; 9:9; Lk 22:70; Jn […]
You Know What is Restraining
[…] After reviewing the order of events, Paul says, “and now you know what withholds.” What withholds what? I believe Paul is saying that the necessary prior revelation of the Man of Sin is withholding (holding back) the Day of the Lord. Paul has just reviewed with the Thessalonians the very order of events of which he informed them at his earlier visit. “Do you not remember that when I was with you, I told you these things.” Commentators plead modest ignorance of what it might have been that Paul told the Thessalonians at his first visit. But this seems no mystery at all. He told them then what he is telling them now again, i.e., that the Antichrist must comes first […]
The Mystery of God
We’re were discussing Rev. 10:7 this morning. Do you see “the mystery of God” as “He preached to His servants the prophets” that was no longer “delayed” and was “finished” the same as “the mystery of Israel?” Do you think the angel in Rev. 10:7 is the same as the […]
The Order of the Return (Part 2)
How do you differentiate the “third-part left in the land” (Zech 13:8-9) from those brought back to the land from the Diaspora in Isaiah 66:19-20? To answer this question we need to establish the time of Israel’s national salvation, because this is also the time of another worldwide return that […]
Unto the End of the War, Desolations are Determined
Reggie, I woke up this morning meditating on these verses in Zech. 14:1,2. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue […]
Imminence
[…] The disciples that asked this question of Jesus on the eve of the Ascension were either not present when He gave the prophecy from the Mount of Olives, or they had forgotten His words. Only days before, Jesus had taught the disciples that “the end” would be preceded by an unequaled tribulation signaled by the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel (Mt 24:15-16, 21). But first, the gospel must be preached to all nations before the end can come (Mt 24:14).
At the time the disciples asked the question of Acts 1:6, the mystery of Christ’s twofold coming to Israel had not been revealed (Acts 3:18-21; Ro 16:25-26; 1Pet 1:11-12). They didn’t know that the risen Jesus was about to ascend to the right hand of God and there remain until His return (Acts 3:21). Even on those occasions when the disciples had heard the Lord speak of ‘going away,’ it was never imagined that this would be by way of death and resurrection and subsequent ascension.
To understand the dilemma, we must remember that the great puzzle for first century Israel was how the messianic redemption could be accomplished BEFORE and apart from Israel’s national deliverance […]
How Should We Then Pray?
If we are correct in our interpretation, then the temple mount issue is decisive for the fulfillment of scripture. The unequaled tribulation that ends in Christ’s return cannot begin until a sacrifice is removed and the abomination placed in the temple of God at Jerusalem (Dan 8:11; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; […]
Knowing the Terror of the Lord We Persuade Men
“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” (Rev 9:6). Paul said, “knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2Cor 5:11). Do we know the terror of the Lord? Perhaps this is […]
Avoiding the False Alarms of Prophetic Speculation (More on…)
[This statement is added to an earlier article of the same title] I have just read another article of urgency warning of an imminent war, which I do not doubt, but what concerns me is that attached to this ever present, and now even probable possibility, is the expectation that […]
Future Calamity to Israel and Genesis 9:11
I am having difficulty reconciling Genesis 9:11 and the interpretation that calamity to Israel is yet in the future. Either Genesis 9:11 should be literally interpreted as covering the Earth only with water and no other means [such as fire, earthquake, …] or is such a total calamity as we […]
