Firstfruits

I read the book of James in my private Bible reading this week and thought about its statement regarding firstfruits: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (Jam 1:18). This experience motivated me…

In my last post (here), I showed that James considered Christians to be the twelve tribes—the messianic-age “Israel of God” (Gal 6:16). This post will use this identity to make three related points: (1) James wrote with the idea of Israel’s “perfection” in mind; (2) the sufferings he mentions were…

Our application of inmillennialism to this section of Revelation (Rev. 14:1–5) introduces the sixth mystic figure in this vision—the Lamb on Mount Zion (Rev. 14:1). The Dragon (Satan) has attempted to destroy the Man-Child (Christ) at his birth (Rev. 12:4; cp. Matt. 2:16). When the Man-Child ascended to heaven (Rev.…