Coming of Christ

The last paragraph of Paul’s first letter to Timothy shows his underlying prophetic perspective. As I’ve said, the pastoral nature of this epistle keeps this viewpoint in the background, but it sometimes crops out. The Apostle’s conclusion (1 Tim 6:13–21) is such a place. In this post, I will discuss…

As I was finishing the previous post (here), the following statement grabbed my attention: “Till I come (Gk. erchomai), give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Tim 4:13). After a bit of thought, I recognized the reason for my sensitivity to this exhortation. In this non-prophetic context, Paul’s…

Dr. Tom Nettles describes James’ view of the “last days” and the coming of the Lord in his foreword to my book: “Behold the judge is standing at the door” (James 5:9). I read these verses today and considered seriously the possibility that James, the pastor of Christians in Jerusalem,…

Christians need an optimistic view of God’s kingdom. We need to know that Christ’s opponents—including satanic conspirators who manipulate currencies, use COVID and its vaccinations for political purposes, and otherwise attempt to rule the world—will fail. False religions, and false doctrine within the church, also war against the kingdom of…

Jesus foretold the Temple’s fall. The disciples asked two questions: when would “these things” happen and what sign would there be (Mark 13:1–4).  Jesus answered the sign question first (Mark 13:5–27). He listed Israel’s birth pains (Mark 13:8), the preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mark 13:10), the abomination…

Two patterns emerge in Jesus’s list of signs related to the Temple’s fall: they became more intense and more figurative (Mark 13:5–27). Regarding intensity, he began with signs that were not immediate precursors of that event. These would give way to signs that would affect the apostles directly. These would…

Our effort to develop a biblical prophetic model has reached a critical juncture. We will use the imagery of Hebrews 3:1–6 to show the central idea of this post. In that passage, Moses’ house signifies his management of the Old Covenant. The writer of Hebrews said Christ’s house—his administration of…