The Revelation of Jesus: Bridegroom, King, and Judge (Revelation 1)

REVELATION 1: EIGHTEEN FACETS OF JESUS’ MAJESTY Revelation 1 is the foundational chapter to the entire book of Revelation. It is Jesus revealing His majesty. I have identified eighteen specific facets of His majesty which He reveals Himself. He understands that it is these facets of His majesty which will be necessary to equip our […]

THE EMERGING OF THE ANTICHRIST 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-5

Not until the great falling away and the anti-crist is revealed 1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as […]

Introducing The Book Of Joel

INTRODUCTION The theme of the book of Joel is the Day of the Lord and how to rightly respond to it. That’s the key—how to rightly respond. If the topic is the Day of the Lord only, then it leaves us with just an interesting theological discussion. But the point is that because the Day of the […]

Revelation 2:12-17 – Pergamum

Pergamum ruins 2:12 “To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum, also called Pergamos, a name from which we can derive the Greek prefix pur- meaning, “much” or “an abundance,” and the word gamos, which means “marriage,” e.g., monogamy, bigamy, polygamy, etc. This city of “much marriage,” was the capital of Asia in John’s time. […]

Which End Times Theory Stands Up?

  It is important to have a biblical view of the end times It is important to have a biblical perspective on the end times. What we believe about the end times greatly affects how we approach the work of the kingdom. Ideas have consequences. I do not ask anyone to accept my views, rather […]

The Temple – Its Ministry and Services as they were at the time of Christ – Part 1

  by Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889) Preface It has been my wish in this book, to take the reader back nineteen centuries; to show him Jerusalem as it was, when our Lord passed through its streets, and the Sanctuary, when  He  taught  in  its  porches  and  courts;  to  portray,  not  only  the  appearance  and structure of the Temple, but to describe its ordinances and worshippers, the ministry of its  priesthood,  and  the  ritual  of  its  services.  In  so  doing,  I  have  hoped,  not  only  to illustrate a subject, in itself most interesting to the Bible-student, but also, and chiefly, to sketch, in one important aspect, the religious life of the period in which our blessed Lord lived upon earth, the circumstances under which He taught, and the religious rites by  which  He  was  surrounded;  and  whose  meaning,  in  their  truest  sense,  He  came  to fulfil. The Temple and its services form, so to speak, part of the life and work of Jesus Christ; part also of His teaching, and of that of His apostles. What connects itself so closely with Him must be of deepest interest. We want to be able, as it were, to enter Jerusalem in  His  train,  along  with  those  who  on  that  Palm-Sunday cried, ’Hosanna to the Son of David’; to see its streets and buildings; to know exactly how the Temple looked, and to find our way through its gates, among its porches, courts, and chambers; to be present in spirit at its services; to witness the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice; to mingle with the crowd of worshippers at the great Festivals, and to stand by the side of those who offered  sacrifice  or  free-will  offering,  or  who  awaited  the  solemn  purification  which would restore them to the fellowship of the Sanctuary. We want to see these rites, as it were, before us—to hear the Temple-music, to know the very Psalms that were chanted, the  prayers  that  were  offered,  the  duties  of  the  priesthood,  the  sacrificial  worship  in which  they  engaged,  and  the  very  attitude  of  the  worshippers—in  short,  all  those details  which  in  their  combination  enable  us  vividly  to  realise  the  scenes,  as  if  we ourselves  were  present  in  them. For,  amidst  them  all,  we  ever  see  that  one  great outstanding Personality, Whose presence filled that house with glory. The New Testament transports us into almost every one of the scenes described in this book. It also makes frequent reference to them for illustration. We see the father of John ministering in his course in the burning of incense; the Virgin-Mother at her purification, presenting her First-born; the child Jesus among the Rabbis; the Master teaching in the porches  of  the  Temple,  sitting  in  the  Treasury,  attending  the  various  festivals,  giving His sanction to the purifications by directing the healed leper to the priest, and, above all,  as  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  applying  to  himself  the  significant  rites  of  the Sanctuary.  And,  as  we  follow  on,  we  witness  the  birth  of  the  Church  on  the  day  of Pentecost; we mark the frequent illustrations of spiritual realities by Temple-scenes, in the  writings  of  the  apostles,  but  more  especially  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  whose imagery is so often taken from them; and we still look for the accomplishment of the one yet  unfulfilled  type—the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  as  the  grand  harvest-festival  of  the Church. I  have  thus  placed  the  permanent  Christian  interest  in  the  foreground,  because  it occupied that place in my own mind. At the same time, from the nature of the subject, I hope  the  volume  may  fulfil  yet  another  and  kindred  purpose.  Although  it  does  not profess to be a Handbook of Biblical Antiquities, nor a treatise on the types of the Old Testament,  both  these  subjects  had  to  be  constantly  referred  to.  But  to  realise  the gorgeous  Temple  ritual,  in  all  its  details,  possesses  more  than  a  merely  historical interest. We are indeed fascinated by it; we  live over again, if not the period of Israel’s temporal  glory,  yet  that  of  deepest  interest  to  us;  and  we  can  vividly  represent  to ourselves what the Temple had been before its services had for ever passed away. But beyond this, stretching far back through the period of prophets and kings, and reaching up  to  the  original  revelation  of  Jehovah  amid  the  awful  grandeur  of  Sinai,  our  holiest recollections, and the very springs of our religious life rise among these ordinances and types, which we here see fully developed and carried out, and that under the very light of  His  Presence,  to  Whom  they  all  had  pointed.  I  say  not,  whether  or  how  far  later Jewish  practice  may  have  misapprehended  the  original  import  or  the  meaning  of  the Divine  ordinances.  That  was  beyond  my  present  task.  But  an  accurate  acquaintance with the sacrificial services at the time of Christ must not only tend to correct mistakes, […]

Overview of the Book of Revelation – Transcription

THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS RELEVANT FOR TODAY Well, tonight we are going to be looking at an overview of the book of Revelation and my premise is that the flow of the book of Revelation—the overall message—the flow of the book can be understood in less than an hour. A person can memorize the […]

SIMPLE OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

  I.          THE BOOK OF REVELATION: JESUS’ TRANSITION PLAN A.        The book of Revelation is Jesus’ transition plan to shift history to the age to come. He will not do this without the deep involvement of His people. This is our story. It is worth making the effort to understand it. Revelation is not hard […]

IF MOST OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS FULFILLED…

  WHAT’S THE POINT OF IT TODAY? Prophecy involves more than unfulfilled disasters, and has great implications concerning WHAT THE CHURCH COULD and SHOULD BE DOING RIGHT NOW. Many have heard the past fulfillment interpretation of the book of Revelation, and reacted prematurely saying that such a thought renders Revelation irrelevant to the church of […]

Thyatira: Commitment Yet Toleration of Immorality

INTRODUCTION We’re in Revelation 2, if you want to follow along in your Bibles, though I do have most of it in the notes here. Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus. We ask You for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We ask You for the spirit of impartation and inspiration […]