Eschatology

Jeremiah 33 and the Certainty of God’s Future Promises to Israel

Does God have a future plan for Israel? The prophet Jeremiah answers that question with an emphatic affirmative. While the bulk of Jeremiah’s prophecies concern coming judgment, the Book of...
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Jeremiah 33 and the Certainty of God’s Future Promises to Israel
Eschatology

BLESSING AND DOMINION: The Role of Israel in God’s Restorative Purpose for Creation

The Bible is a storyline spanning Genesis to Revelation, replete with interactive themes similar to subplots that contribute to the main plot of a novel. Scholars summarize the key theme...
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BLESSING AND DOMINION: The Role of Israel in God’s Restorative Purpose for Creation
Eschatology

A Future for Israel in Romans 9-11

James Montgomery Boice relayed the account of Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, conversing with his chaplain concerning the reliability of the Scriptures.((James Montgomery Boice, Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993),...
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A Future for Israel in Romans 9-11
Eschatology

Ezekiel 37:15-28 and Elements of God’s Future Promises to Israel

The Prophet Ezekiel was called to an unusual but important ministry to the captives of Judah in Babylon. Despite his unusual methods (e.g., symbolic acts) and extraordinary visions (e.g., Ezek...
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Ezekiel 37:15-28 and Elements of God’s Future Promises to Israel
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Israel Ruins

Isaiah’s Amazing Prophecy of King Cyrus

Isa 44:28: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Isa 45:1: Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; Introduction: Imagine in 1830 that someone in the then 54-year-old United States of America predicted by name in writing that a future president, who himself had formerly been a Hollywood actor, would be instrumental in ending the Cold War with the Soviet Union some 150 years later—in the 1980s!
King and Priest

The Prophecy of the Eternal King-Priest in Psalm 110

The study of prophecy is always a favorite among believers. It is compelling and intriguing to see how prophets of God predict what will take place in the future. Fulfilled prophecy bolsters our faith and encourages us in the sovereignty of our great God. Only God has the omniscience to predict the future, and only God has the omnipotence to fulfill the prediction. Most prophecy in Scripture is directly tied to God’s plan and promises. This is the case with the prophecy found in Psalm 110.
Babylonian King

Israel’s Future Enemy: The King of Babylon in Isaiah 14:4–21

The Bible has much to say about Israel—past, present, and future. This small plot of land, this scattered people throughout the world, are precious in the sight of the Lord (Zech 2:8). The prophets prophesied a bright future filled with abundance and blessing. On the eve of blessing, however, will be a time of great trial. The persecutor of Israel will prevail, conquering rulers, brutally ruling over his own people, and leading a worldwide persecution of the Jewish people. Israel’s deliverer will not come from a political alliance, but from the true King of Kings who will usher in a time of eternal blessing.

God’s Kingdom Program in the New Testament: A Biblical Theological Overview Part 2

Introduction The kingdom of God is a complex biblical theme that spans across the two testaments. This article continues a very brief biblical/theological overview of the kingdom theme. The former article considered precursors to the kingdom theme, the foundation of the kingdom of God theme in the Davidic Covenant, and selected predictions of the kingdom in the Prophetic Books. Specifically, the previous article concluded that the concept of the kingdom of God (which is different than His sovereign rule over all creation), takes on definite shape in the Davidic Covenant, which promises that David will have a descendant who will rule over an earthly and eternal kingdom (2 ‍Sam 7:16).

God’s Kingdom Program in the Old Testament: A Biblical Theological Overview Part 1

Introduction The kingdom of God is a prominent and multi-faceted biblical theme. Kingdom concepts can be found in virtually every biblical book, and it touches on a wide range of biblical ideas. While it is debatable whether the kingdom of God is the over-arching theme of the Bible, it certainly is a theme that transcends several eras of biblical history and binds together several strands of biblical revelation. The goal of this article is to give a brief biblical/theological overview of the kingdom theme in the Old Testament.

Preparing for Life’s Final Transition: God’s Expectations to Honor Aging Parents

My wife, Tricia, and I have been in an interesting and important phase of our lives for the last few years—caring for aging parents. In 2020, Tricia’s parents, Larry and Nancy, moved in with us, and we became their primary care providers. Just over five short months after they moved in with us, Nancy unexpectedly passed away. Larry, who struggled with Parkinson-like symptoms, stayed with us through the next year, but eventually his health and care needs reached a point where we needed to transition him to a care center.

Worship God: Comparing Worship Then and Now

Worshipping God is fundamental to God’s people. God wants the redeemed of all ages to honor and serve Him with reverence and joy. Unfortunately, worship is one of the most controversial subjects in churches today. Instead of uniting the church, “worship wars” have scarred denominations and fragmented the church. These types of disputes are nothing new. The fault lines of worship controversies have marred nearly every turning point in church history. In this article I would like to compare the worship between Israel and the church.

Fundamentalism and the Hermeneutics of Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism

Introduction Fundamentalism has never embraced one uniform system of theology. My purpose here is to provide an overview and comparison of Covenant Theology (henceforth, CT) and Dispensational Theology (henceforth, DT) used by many fundamentalists throughout its history. While some fundamentalists today attempt to eschew any (rigid) theological system, in actuality everyone uses some type of grid (a set of suppositions) to interpret Biblical passages. Often the difference between those who embrace established theological systems and those who do not is that the latter do not realize they are using such a grid and have not thought through the Bible in a systematic way.

Sound Exegesis— Sound Living

Shaky Exegesis— Shaky Living During the earthquake of modernism that shook and collapsed the orthodoxy of many churches and denominations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, another earthquake was also taking place off the shores of Christianity—the birth of modern secular psychology. This earthquake happened along similar fault lines as the earthquake of theological modernism. Its upheaval ultimately resulted in a tsunami—Christian integrationist psychology—that not only swept over many evangelical churches and parachurch organizations, but also swept into fundamentalism.

The Baptist Fundamentals (1920/1921) and Hermeneutics

In 1920 Curtis Lee Laws proposed that those who cling to and earnestly contend for “the great fundamentals” of the Christian faith be called “fundamentalists.”1 For twenty-five years, Laws served as the editor of the Watchman Examiner, a Baptist publication. The most commonly cited list of the “fundamentals of the faith,” however, is the Five Point Deliverance (1901) used in the fundamentalist-modernist debates within the Presbyterian denomination.2 Yet in June of 1920, conservatives within the Northern Baptist Convention hosted a “Pre-convention Conference on Fundamentals of Our Baptist Faith” in Buffalo, New York, that resulted in a volume entitled Baptist Fundamentals (Judson Press, 1920).