April 22, 2023

When Does Hosea’s “Two Days” Start?

Why are we certain that the beginning of Hosea’s two days does not begin with the time that the nation was torn by the Romans (mangled and carried off-5:14 and “torn”-6:1)?

The case is absolutely decisive. You’ll see. In all other interpretations that I’ve seen, the two days is a nebulous metaphor that has little to do with signifying time of any meaningful duration, usually suggested as a metaphor for the brevity of the exile.

So why not start the two days of divine desertion with the destruction of 70? As Travis said, “why not 132 A.D.? It’s just as reasonable. After 70, the Jews recovered, repopulated, and rebounded with yet another, swiftly crushed rebellion against Rome. Then began the age-long exile of “many generations” (compare Isa 61:4 with Eze 38:8).

No, in order to mean anything concrete or significantly limited and definite, the terminus-a-quo must go back to Israel’s fall at the stumbling stone, the national rejection and crucifixion ending the 69th week. That is when He departs to the Father’s right hand, waiting till …

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reggiekelly

August 24, 2022

Thoughts on the Mystery of Heavenly Hindrance

Only weeks apart, I received the same question from two dear friends. It is a question many have asked, and it is one that has the potential to cast great light on much else. Here’s how one friend put the question:

“It is clear the nameless one (described in Dan 10:4-11:1) is the Lord Jesus given clear unity with Revelation 1. How do you understand His being delayed and receiving help from Michael to release the word?”

Even among those commentators who see verses 5-9 as depicting a pre-incarnate appearing of Christ, most will argue that beginning at verse 10, another figure has come into view. The proposed change from Christ to an angel is assumed only because it is thought to be inconceivable that the pre-incarnate Son could need angelic assistance to push past the resistance of the demon Prince of Persia to complete his errand to Daniel (Dan 10:13).

[And what a strategic errand it was! It was to be an exceptionally long, uninterrupted (two chapters), unparalleled, narrative style prophecy that would lay out in astonishing detail “what shall befall your (Daniel’s) people in the latter days.” No wonder the demonic realm was so invested to impede the messenger’s mission. It is important to note what this mighty, history-determining breakthrough of divine revelation cost Daniel, as well as the place that sovereign providence had brought him in preparation for it.]

Yet, does the view that an angel has stepped in in place of the glorious Christ really solve our problem? It still leaves the question, why would the holy angels, sent by God, ever be successfully detained? Wouldn’t it be expected that the only assistance they would need to fulfill their mission would be amply supplied by God Himself? What then is this mystery of demonic resistance? What is its purpose in the great scheme of God’s eternal purpose? Why the struggle? …

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tomquinlan

February 18, 2022

Simple Layman

Travis Bennett started a new YouTube Channel called “Simple Layman” back in early 2020. He and Reggie Kelly worked diligently during the early months of the Covid 19 crisis on a series called “Teaching the Prophetic Timeline” You can check it out HERE.

Well… they are at it again in 2022, going through the book of Isaiah. They’ve been cranking through the Sessions in the last few weeks, so check it out. HERE’s a direct link to the Simple Layman YouTube Channel.

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tomquinlan

October 2, 2021

Restoring the Context [VIDEO]

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reggiekelly

August 28, 2021

The Signs Before THE Sign

In order for our view of the two days to be vindicated, we would have to see the signs that precede the principal sign that Jesus gives, all within a very short period of time. By understanding this particular, centermost event, all other principal events of the end are aligned and set in order.

I am speaking of the “abomination of desolation”. This is the event that Jesus directs His disciples to “read and understand” (Mt 24:15). Jesus well knew that by obedience to His solemn command to identify and understand this event, it would become possible for His sheep to recognize a number of other preliminary signs that must precede and lead up to the abomination of desolation (Mt 24:15 with Dan 8:11-14; 9:27; 11:31: 12:11).

It is these well defined events, one that is particularly unmistakable, that will alert, awaken, and mobilize the saints for their finest hour of witness and triumph over Satan and the man of lawlessness. There is a divine strategy that God has invested in making the approximate time of His coming unmistakably clear to His saints when these key, preliminary signs will be in clear, unmistakable fulfillment.

But I don’t want to begin my answer by simply laying out the order of events leading to Christ’s return. We have done that often elsewhere. Instead, I want to point out the interpretive key that is essential to support and defend our view of the end from all other competing interpretations, both now and across the annals of church history.

It is crucial that this be in the hands and understanding of God’s people for the sake of the many that will be called upon to give an answer, as we expect that the manifest fulfillment of the prophecies on the open stage of history will prove the greatest evangelistic tool since the days of the early church (Dan 11:32-33; 12:3; Rev 7:9, 13-14).

This critical key of interpretation is found in the most unexpected place. By God’s design, the event that so clearly and indisputably holds all else in proper alignment is also the most misunderstood and commonly dismissed. I speak of the indispensable sign of the sacrifice.

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tomquinlan

August 27, 2021

The Sign of the Sacrifice [VIDEO]

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reggiekelly

July 14, 2021

ESV on Dan 9:25-26?

Unless God supernaturally intervenes, translation work is not an exact science.

Yes, the ESV has some poorly translated spots here and there, but no more than most others. Except in the case of Dan 9:25 ESV, Dan 9:26 ESV. (Compare with Dan 9:25, 26 KJV) That isn’t just a poor translation; it’s bad! Yet, even there, there are arguments, coming mostly from liberal Christian and Jewish Hebrew scholars that make a case for it to be translated precisely as it is in the ESV. This translation has “given great occasion to the enemies” of the messianic interpretation.

That translation made the anti-missionaries happy, giving legitimization by Christian translators to what Jewish Hebrew scholars have been protesting all along. Of course, speaking from a strictly “technical” linguistic standpoint, it can also be JUST as legitimately translated the way KJV, NKJV, NASB, and nearly every other Christian translation in history has translated it UNTIL the ESV came along and makes this massive concession and capitulation to what Jewish scholars have been insisting all along to be the result of Christian bias, tampering with the text, giving it a forced, “unnatural” meaning. But unnatural to who?

They argue that it is the Christian who has the vested interest to “force” the text to yield a meaning that would be unnatural unless one was already predisposed to see in it one Messiah rather than two. For Jews who have no such vested interest (?), it is argued that one should see two messiahs, not Israel’s long awaited anointed Davidic ruler of ancient promise, but two priestly figures or anointed leaders, one after the first seven weeks (49 years) and another after the 62 weeks (434 years), with the latter anointed leader killed, usually by some usurper.

So what’s the tiebreaker between (some would argue) equally technical options? Well, it’s context! context! context!

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reggiekelly

May 21, 2021

Who is the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2?

Reggie’s response to an excellent comment (quoted at the bottom of this article) on the video “The Downfall of the Devil is in the Details of Daniel.” Someone’s been listening in class! 🙂 In the interest of brevity and people’s natural lack of stamina for involved discussions, I would only […]

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