F. F. Bruce

God has said that the kingdom of God, as it now exists, will transform the earth through our obedience to the Great Commission (Matt 28:18–20). One day, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9). Three of the four…

In our last post (here), we proposed that Paul meant for his “rapture” passage—1 Thess 4:13–5:11—to comfort the Thessalonians regarding the relationship of their dead to the parousia (i.e., coming/presence) of Christ. Here is the heart of his answer: We say this to you by a revelation from the Lord:…

We have arrived at a passage—1 Thess 4:13–5:11—that mentions several important prophetic events. In this famous “rapture” passage, Paul discusses the coming (i.e., parousia = presence) of the Lord (1 Thess 4:15), the resurrection (1 Thess 4:16–17), the day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:2), and sudden destruction that would…

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…

The scribes and Pharisees criticized Jesus’s disciples for violating a Jewish hand-washing tradition. In his response, he quoted Isaiah 29:13:  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from…

Matthew has prepared us for the parables of Matt 13. He has given us Jesus’s discussions of the Mosaic and messianic ages. Jesus spoke of the age transition in Matt 9. He said the disciples would not finish their mission to Israel before he, the Son of Man, came. He…

Inmillennialism requires us to view many Scriptures in a new way. It challenges some of our underlying assumptions. For example, few people think of the “last days” as the final period of the Mosaic age. Inmillennialism says we must adopt the perspective of the biblical writers to understand their meaning.…

The “rapture passage” (1 Thess 4:13–5:11) creates problems for the current prophetic models. Their interpretations implicate Paul in error. They portray him as naïve and inconsistent. They do not take the Olivet Discourse to be “the word of the Lord” to which Paul appeals (1 Thess 4:15), even though the…

Current prophetic models imply Paul made mistakes about the “the day of the Lord.” They say that, on that day, deceased Christian will rise to leave their graves empty. Living Christians will receive glorified bodies and fly to join them. Paul thought he and/or his contemporaries would live to see…

We are applying our proposed prophetic model—inmillennialism—to the gospel of Matthew. The second chapter of that book shows the fulfillment of four prophecies. All were “last days” prophecies. And, Herod played a major role in their fulfillment. These facts led us to look for Herod in Old Testament prophecies. Our…