Two ages

My Blog Overview contains the following statement: “This blog seeks to encourage Christians to embrace the kingdom of God and its King, Jesus Christ, as the central elements of their message to the modern world … through discussions related to the interpretation of prophetic passages throughout the Bible.” It also…

Paul believed a significant prophetic event would happen in his near future, perhaps during his lifetime, and he based that belief on the words of Christ. Inmillennialism, a prophetic view based on the Olivet Discourse and 1 Corinthians 15, accounts for this perspective. As I have said (here), the Apostle’s closing…

Our survey of 1 Timothy brings us to another passage that contrasts two ages: Paul says, “Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Tim 4:8). Commentators have long assumed that…

  A skeptic of inmillennialism might lodge an objection based on Jesus’s Great Commission. After his resurrection he said: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of…

We reject Ralph Waldo Emerson’s dictum that “consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” He claimed Moses and other great thinkers “set at naught books and traditions” by speaking “what they thought.” Emerson said they gave no heed to consistency.  This is a falsehood. Moses spoke what God revealed to him.…

Commentators often say the kingdom of God is Matthew’s major theme. For example, Donald A. Hagner says, The central emphasis of the book is found in . . . ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ (Matt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; cf. 26:13), namely, the good news that the reign or rule of…

As the apostles were writing the New Testament, God was bringing the Mosaic age to a close. He was also establishing the messianic-age kingdom of God. Matthew’s gospel emphasizes this age change. John and Jesus had announced the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt 3:2; 4:17). Jesus had taught…

A friend asked me to develop a 15-page summary of inmillennialism, my framework for the interpretation of biblical prophecy. This post is the second part of that summary. The next two or three posts will provide the rest. I plan to then post a downloadable PDF of the entire document.…

Paul wants the Hebrew believers—and us—to know that Christianity excels Judaism. Our previous posts examined his two opening arguments: Christ excels the agents—angels (Heb. 1:4 – 2:18) and Moses (Heb. 3:1 – 4:13)—through whom God gave the law. This post will examine Paul’s next step as he argues that Christ…

We are exercising our prophetic model, inmillennialism, in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. The apostle argues for the superiority of God’s revelation in the “last days” of the Mosaic age over others, especially the law. One reason is the superiority of Christ as the agent through whom God gave the…