As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“the spread of a thin, undertheologized pop-dispensationalism and the decline of scholarly dispensationalism—are the essence of what I mean by the ‘fall’ of this doctrine in the last half century.” - Daniel Hummel
Read the series.
The greatest banquet in the history of the world will occur at the beginning of Christ’s 1,000-year kingdom in the Holy Land. The menu was announced 2,700 years ago (Isa. 25:6), and our Lord confirmed that the beverage would be the “fruit of the vine” (Matt. 26:29).
“In the last installment … we examined the argument (a convincing argument, in my opinion) made by John Hart in Evidence for the Rapture that Matthew 24:29–41 was not intended to portray future events in chronological order.” - DBTS Blog
“Because we’re finite and unique and because we’ll never know everything….we’ll still likely have different tastes in food and clothes and music and thousands of other things.” - Randy Alcorn
“Many of those who believe in a pretribulational rapture (myself included) have been hesitant … to see that rapture in verses 37–41 because, whatever verses 37–41 describe, it would appear to follow the events of verses 29–31.” - DBTS Blog
In Romans 11, Paul finally answers the question he’s been dancing around since ch. 9: what is God’s plan for the people of Israel?
“Never view the world circumstances or any events with a temporal viewpoint. Recognize that God is constantly seeing the big picture while we normally see what is taking place day by day.” - P&D
To me, one of the strangest oddities of the year of 2020 was the call for safety in the face of COVID-19.
“Stay safe,” we were cautioned. Here in Wisconsin, our governor even issued an order titled “Safer at Home.”
This seemed to me to be an extraordinary choice of wording—because COVID-19 results from a virus. I’m sure that experts disagree on the best methodologies for warding off infection from a virus. But one thing that you certainly cannot do to escape it is to stay safe. Your only hope is to stay healthy.
Cloud surfing? Harp strumming? Singing in an everlasting worship service? Melting into nothing in the celestial light of God? Is this how we will be enjoying eternity?
Some guesses about our eternal activities are nebulous, and others cross the border into the ridiculous. None of these pictures inspires me to anticipate eternity with joy. George Orwell observed,
In the wake of events unfolding in the Middle East, many are wondering what the Bible says regarding the final, future salvation of Israel—and how the exigencies that we are all witnessing on our television screens right now relate to that future.
It is also common for evangelicals to raise this concern: Why should we be distressed for the nation of Israel today—when they are a people in unbelief?
To answer these questions, let’s simply consider the bookends of the coming seven-year tribulation, the 70th week of the prophet Daniel (see Dan. 9:24-27).
Discussion