An audio lesson.
National prophecies about the Jews as a nation, and what the Messiah of the Jews, Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth will yet do with them. And NO! This is NOT about the millennium, but rather about things yet to happen in history.
After a time of great stress when two-thirds of the Jews are killed, then the Jews will at last turn to their own Messiah, Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth.
An audio lesson.
Yes, Micah speaks of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, and of the coming of the gospel, and of heaven and hell. Also Micah clearly speaks of Israel’s former dominion in the Middle East as to be restored.
No! This is not about any so-called “millennium.” Rather of things yet to happen in history.
Also Micah clearly speaks of two gigantic assemblies of ALL nations against the Jews, neither of which has happened YET!. Both of these are preceded by world-wide persecution of Christians. The first is during that great time of stress in which the Jews turn to their own Messiah, Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. The second is at the end of time.
An audio lesson.
Micah talks about good things which are coming, both the coming the gospel, the good news of salvation to all the nations of the earth, AND the ending of all wars.
Then goes on to show how prophecy typically relates the immediate subject under discussion related to ultimate destinies of all things. This is something which throws many people off, but it should not. Also, once understood, it makes the reading of many other prophecies both more readable and more understandable.
Also we begin to address in this lesson the fact that there are prophecies in Scripture of the gospel coming, and of heaven and hell, and also there are still UNFULFILLED prophecies about the Jews as a nation. And no! We are not talking about the so-called “millennium,” but rather of things which are still happen in history before the end of this universe.
Jewish Chronicles deals with how the Jews came to where they are today in history, and where all these things are leading.
An audio lesson.
This lesson starts off with the mystery of how the scribes and the Pharisees knew that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem, and describes the situation in Judah at the time of Jesus’ birth. Then it goes to laying the foundation for looking at the evidence which they laid out.
The basics of understanding Bible prophecy are addressed in Prophecy Principles, which is available from your bookseller.
An audio lesson.
How we have missed it in our values about love and marriage.
Abraham is old now, but needs a wife for his son Isaac. He doesn’t seem to trust Isaac to pick a wife for himself, after all he is only about 37 years old! Oh, my!
Many of our problems in life and in Christianity derive from our misconceptions about love, and about the human heart. These then distort our visions of life and prophecy, and a little bit of everything else.
An audio lesson.
Addressing the twin subjects of prophecy: “Present Jerusalem,” and “Jerusalem Above.” Both are subjects of both Old Testament and New Testament prophecy. This conflict will be resolved in history when the Jews as a nation accept their own Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God.
The basics of how Bible prophecy works is discussed in detail in Prophecy Principles.Available from you bookseller.
The story of how the Jews became sidetracked, and how they will finally turn as a nation to Jesus of Nazareth, is told in Jewish Chronicles, available from your bookseller.
An audio lesson.
A basic lesson on identifying themes and types in Scripture/
Listen to this audio lesson here, or click on the Audio Player to download as an MP3 file.
If you believed the prophecies of the first coming of Jesus, it would and did change your behavior. The prophecies told that certain things would happen, but did not tell when these things would happen.
Moreover many of the prophecies were given in such a form that, if you didn’t look carefully at the prophecies, and think them through, or if you didn’t carefully compare them with the rest of Scripture, you would never get it. Further it seems that God knew that some of the prophecies would not be understood before the fact.
For instance, Jesus death is clearly described in Psa 22:14-15, etc. So His death and suffering should have been understood. But the resurrection? After describing His death, there is a cry for help in Psa 22:21. Then it describes this crucified Savior as declaring God’s name in the assembly in Psa 22:22, 25, and it says God answered in pray in Psa 22:24! But how? Didn’t He just die in verses 14-15? So some sort of release from death is described, but not clearly.
Similarly, Isaiah 53 it describes the judicial murder of the Savior in Isa 53:4-8. In verse 8 He is clearly “cut off out of the land of the living,” and in verse 9 He was “with a rich man in his death.” Then after describing His death it says,
“… he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.”
Isa 53:10
But how? Didn’t He just die? So an escape from death one way or another is clearly implied. Similarly Jesus told his disciples of His coming suffering and resurrection, but it went clear over their heads, much as current prophecies may go over your head and mine! The closest to catching some of this was by Jesus enemies. The chief priest and scribes told Pilate,
“63 … “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 Command therefore that the tomb be made secure”
Mtt 27:63-64
So what was the intended function of these prophecies which it seems were deliberately obscure? It seems they were intended to authenticate Jesus life, after the fact! After the fact, all of this would have been clear.
There were many passages like,
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.”
Isa 35:5
It didn’t take a PhD in biblical studies for the crowds to see the point of Jesus healing people. So many saw and understood that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ of God!
Many things are told from multiple points of view, so if you don’t get it one way, you may get it another way. Few got it all. Many got enough to save their souls.
Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901
He wanted to serve his God, and his country and his king. He was a powerful warrior before the Lord, much feared and respected by the men and women of his own country. Further, God had told David that he would be the next king over Israel. Then came the hard part. It came about that King Saul now feared David, and wanted to murder his top soldier, to secure his own kingdom.
He had already been anointed as the next king by the prophet Samuel, 1Samuel chapter 16. This was really a prophecy. It had not happened yet. But David felt no need to do anything murderous and evil against Saul or his sons. God had assured him. David clearly believed it. There no need for him to do any evil things against anyone! God would make it happen at the right time.
Was he willing to fight for Saul, and for his country under Saul? Why sure! That would be a good thing to do. On the other hand was he willing to fight against his own king and country? No way? Further, David had multiple opportunities to murder King Saul? Murder? Wasn’t he promised the throne? Might not this be the way to throne. Not to David. That would be murder to David. He didn’t need to murder anyone. God’s promise was good enough.
“27 But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.”
Lk 6:27
You and I may do this in much tamer circumstances, but David did this on a battlefield, when he was running for his life from an evil king, when he had wrongfully been declared an enemy of the state. So it came about that he repeatedly spared Saul’s life when he easily could have taken personal revenge on his personal enemy. This story is told in some detail in 1Samuel chapter 18, all the way to 2Samuel chapter 1.
An example is in 1Samuel 26. Saul and his troops were pursuing David to kill him. Saul was sleeping within a circle of men within his camp, and everyone was so tired that they were soon asleep. All of them! David and Abisahi snuck inside the camp, and Abishai pleaded for permission to kill Saul with a single stroke. David contented himself with talking Saul’s spear and the jar of water at his head, and then retreating, and later, at a distance, showing Saul what he had done!
As the Lord says, “Vengeance is mine …” Deut 32:35.
Believing what God says in prophecy does matter! It is an ethical matter.
Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901
In the context of of knowing about when Jesus the Christ will come again, Jesus tells all of us,
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.”
Mtt 24:43
In this case we are indeed the homeowner, knowing things will happen but not knowing when. There are great many things that are unknown to us. There are for sure things which we are not told.
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Deut 29:29
What is revealed to us in prophecy is for the purpose of our being able to act as we should, respond to coming events in intelligent and responsible ways.
Additionally, we are told His grand plans, so that we can act in line with them … if we will. We are not just slaves in the house, but we friends, and were born to rule with Him
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for EVERYTHING that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.”
Jn 15:15 nf
And the Greeks word used here is “slave” (doulos), not just one of the many words for a servant. We should remember that we are dealing with recurring patterns of actions and reactions during the Christian age. Mystery Babylon the Great is described in Revelation and in the prophets as a religio-commercial entity which dominates the governments. It is implied (but not clearly stated), that she is already in existence during the first century of our age. Still, it is clear that she only reaches the height of her power toward the end of our age, and that she is fully active until very near the end of the Christian age (see Revelation chapters 17 and 18).
Similarly, the “mystery of lawlessness already works,” in the very first century of our age, 2Thes 2:7. These mysteries are to some extent restrained during most of our age, so that they “may be revealed” at the right time, 2Thes 2:6.
So these allied but opposing mystery religions have been seeking for over two thousand years to set in place their ultimate “fixes,” but with failure after failure, despite their seeming dominance in history. We do not know which of the cycles and events will produce the results which are prophesied. We are merely told what to look for.
Prophecy is NOT an optional extra. Believing what God says in prophecy does matter! It is an ethical matter. Or to put another way,
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:”
Lk 24:25 KJV
KJV is the King James Version, 1611.
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901
nf is my own translation based on the WEB.