Bible Study series: Mark 13:1-31. This is not his final Second Coming, but his judgment on Jerusalem and the temple. It happened from A.D. 66-70, in Jesus’s generation, just as he said. It would have been odd if he had not predicted this major upheaval. Roman generals stomped all over the temple and committed the “abomination of desolation.”
Bible Study series: Luke 10:13-16. Not every judgment is equal. Some sins are worse than others.
Let’s not abandon her. But America must not ignore the Palestinians, either. I answer objections throughout the post.
The term ‘biblical metanarrative’ can also be used instead of a ‘grand biblical narrative.’ Either way, they mean an overarching storyline, the main story of the entire Bible from Genesis to the Revelation. Is there one? If so, what is it?
It is mostly about the Lord’s Second Coming, but it also has other nuances that clarify the definition. What do two Greek lexicons say about it? A nontechnical article.
What are they? What are their motives and purposes? How do we discern the differences, when they seem so similar?
Let’s allow the clarity of Scripture to overturn needlessly complicated eschatological (end-times) interpretations that have dominated American Christianity for many decades. Further, is this replacement the same as the church replacing Israel? Read the post to find out. And look at the photos, too! (I updated this post with verses from Acts.)
God’s judgment scares people, and in a sense they are right. Reverential awe and fear are appropriate. But there is a solution for them to escape a negative judgment. I updated this post.
UPDATED. Have you been taught all your life that the rapture and Second Coming are distinct events, years apart? Is it difficult to change your cherished belief? The teaching about the Second Coming in the earliest apostolic community was unified and without complications. Here’s the plentiful biblical and nonsymbolic and direct evidence. In the Second Addendum, I tell you my recent decision.
What do those verses about being taken away and left behind really teach? The answer may shock many people who have been taught only one viewpoint. I also briefly look at Matthew’s version.
Here are biblical passages that show that people outside of ancient Israel and the law of Moses had a level of the knowledge of God, most likely because God revealed himself to them.
The context says that “things” means “works.” Here are commentaries and my take on this issue.
This theory says that the reign of Christ is not a literal thousand years, but is expressed in the expanding kingdom of God, using the church to span the globe in the hearts of believers. I updated this post.
The reign of Christ is not literally for a thousand years. The number is a figure of speech for a long, unknown duration when God’s purposes are accomplished. He is reigning right now.
There is a teaching circulating through the American church, particularly in the prophetic community, that prophets (and others) can “exercise” the “seven spirits of God.” What about this?
This summary post covers sample verses from Jesus’s teaching on the end times, throughout the four Gospels (excluding Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 17 and 21, which are covered in separate posts). He simplified. End-time Bible prophecy teachers complicate.
These chapters are on Jesus’s discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (AD 70) and then the Second Coming, which has not happened yet 2000 years later (and counting). Looking at the chapters side by side clarifies what he really taught. I updated this post.
God is loving and merciful, but how far do those attributes go at final judgment? Let’s explore this complex issue.
It’s going to be wonderful. A list of Scriptures and comments are included here. A bonus list of wonderful things, too.
You want a brand-new body right now? Your wish will be done—but only at the right time! Let’s learn what the Bible says.
What do the Scriptures say? Fifteen major things, just a sample, of what he is doing right now.
This is called the intermediate state. What happens to you during the in-between time, between your death and going to heaven and then your being reunited with your transformed, resurrected body?
These words and verses, both from the Old and New Testaments, reveal the doctrine of hell. It is not as straightforward as many preachers have told us.
Out of his great love for people, God in his mercy is forewarning everyone, whether the redeemed or unredeemed, that this judgment SHALL happen, based on their good or bad deeds and good or bad words. The Scriptures are unambiguous about it. How do we prepare for it? God offers solutions before we all face it.
Many interpreters believe that John 14:2-3 teaches the Second Coming or rapture before the Second Coming, but 14:23 decisively argues against this interpretation.
This interpretation breaks open the meaning of this much-disputed passage. Be sure to view the photos at the end. History come alive!
Matthew 24:4-35 is about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, while 24:36-25:46 is about the Second Coming or parousia, the close-out of the age, final judgment, and finally the New Messianic Age.
Those verses in Luke are compared with Matt. 26:26-28 and 36-44, which are about the Second Coming. This post also looks at Luke 21:34-36 and Mark 13:32-37, which are also about the Second Coming.
By far, Luke 21:5-33 clearly demonstrate that these verses, which parallel Matt. 24:4-35 and Mark 13:5-31, are an extended prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and not the Second Coming. It is best to read those verses in their own context and in light of Old Testament apocalyptic passages. Then we can have clarity. Please view the photos of the Arch of Titus and the Jewish Menorah, at the end.
This may be the shortest post in my series on Matt. 24-25, Luke 17 and 21, and Mark 13.
We must look at these verses in their textual and historical contexts. And we must not skip over the most stubborn verse in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke); then we can interpret this Scripture more clearly. Please view the photos at the end.
This theory interprets the millennium literally to be a thousand years, but before then a great tribulation takes place. Christ’s second coming happens after that tribulation.
This theory interprets the millennium literally to be a thousand years, but before then a seven-year great tribulation takes place. The Church will go through half of it (mid-) and then get “raptured” out.
This theory says that the millennium is interpreted literally to be a thousand years, but before then a seven-year great tribulation takes place. The Church will get “raptured” out before that tribulation.
“Four blood moons!” said popular books. If we interpret the following passages literally, then the cosmos (earth, sky, heavens, stars, worlds, seas, planets, sun, moon, and so on) would not exist as we observe it today. Instead, let’s use wisdom to interpret the Bible in its context.
Here is what you need to know about God’s dwelling place and key Hebrew and Greek words, all spelled out in clear English. Paradise is also discussed.
Things are not so clear-cut as I had thought they were. Please be sure to check out my photos of the Arch of Titus at the end; they show rhe Romans stomped all over the Jerusalem temple.
Will a generous and charitable grandmother who never got around to receiving Christ Jesus as Lord end up bobbing up and down in the lake of fire, next to Hitler, Stalin and Mao?
This theory is the standard one. However, one of the most stunning outcomes of my study of this theory is how little support it receives from Scripture, or the Scriptures can be interpreted differently than I first expected. Don’t believe it? Read every word of this post.
What will happen to your kind and generous but unredeemed grandmother after she is judged? Will she burn in hell-fires in eternal torment? Terminalists or conditionalists or annihilationists (all three terms mean the same doctrine) say no. There is another and better Scriptural option.
What will happen to your generous and gracious but unredeemed grandmother after judgment? Eternal, conscious punishment in the lake of fire next to Hitler, Stalin and Mao? Universalists say no. They claim to have a better and Scriptural option.
This is an old-fashioned look at a Hebrew lexicon and two Greek lexicons, but in an easy-to-read format for nontechnical readers of the Bible. The definitions are wide-ranging and unexpected.
Here is a compendium of various commentators, who tend to reach one conclusion.
It is not defined by what the world system or pagan religions say, nor is it what popular Bible teachers seem to preach.
It is very sad on a human level. But what is the answer biblically? Is there hope?
Here is a list of the principal works referenced or used at this site. More will be added as time goes on, so please check back.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 