There are two kinds of Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, one that anticipates a kingly Messiah who would rule forever (Ps. 89:3-4, Ps. 89:35-37; Isa. 9:6-7; Ezek. 37:25; Dan. 2:44; Dan. 7:13-14), and one that predicts that the Messiah would die for the sins of the people (Isa. 52:13-53:12; Dan. 9:26). Such prophecies do not contradict each other. They just point to … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 1:6-8, Luke 24:25, Luke 24:44-48, Deut. 19:15, Acts 1:9-26, Prov. 16:33. Memory Text: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NRSV). Jesus’ mission on earth was finished. God would soon … Continue reading –>
The Victory of the Gospel Many historians believe that the three most crucial decades in world history occurred when a small group of men, mostly Jews under the power of the Holy Spirit, took the gospel to the world. The book of Acts is an account of those three crucial decades, which spanned from the … Continue reading –>
Further Thought: The second coming of Jesus isn’t the epilogue, the appendix, or the afterword to the sad story of human sin and suffering in this fallen world. Instead, the Second Coming is the grand climax, the great hope of the Christian’s faith. Without it, what? The story of humanity just goes on and on, one … Continue reading –>
Before raising His friend Lazarus from the tomb, Jesus uttered these words: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25, NKJV). Rather, though, than just asking people to take His word about such an incredible claim, He then proceeded to raise Lazarus from … Continue reading –>
However central and crucial the Second Coming is, according to the Bible not all Christians see the event as a literal, personal return of Jesus Himself. Some argue, for instance, that the second coming of Jesus occurs, not when Christ Himself returns to earth but when His Spirit is made manifest in His church on … Continue reading –>
Read Titus 2:13. What great hope do we have, and why? Describing his beliefs about the origins of our universe, a lecturer explained that about 13 billion years ago “an infinitely dense tiny mass popped out of nothing, and that mass exploded and from that explosion our universe came into existence”. Just how this “infinitely dense … Continue reading –>
Though many Jews in the time of Jesus expected the Messiah to overthrow the Romans and establish Israel as the most powerful nation of all, that’s not what the advents of Jesus, either the first or second, were to be about. Instead, God had something so much bigger in store for His faithful people than … Continue reading –>
However much we tend to think of the second coming of Jesus as a New Testament teaching alone, that’s not true. Of course, only after the first coming of Jesus, after His death, resurrection, and ascension were we given a fuller and richer revelation of the truth surrounding the Second Coming. But, as with so … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 13:6, Isa. 13:9; Matt. 24:30-31; Dan. 2:34-35; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; 2 Thess. 1:7-10. Memory Text: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). The poet T. S. Eliot began a poem with the line: “In my beginning … Continue reading –>
