An end before the End

– Part 3 of a series: Is this the end?   Salvation distress and glory for the Jew first To the Jews were given, ‘the adoption as sons … the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the […]

God’s promise to Abraham and its fulfilment

The Lord God revealed that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), but His redemption plan only comes into view with the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. Two religions emerge in Genesis 4. The first accepts the consequence of sin, namely death, and depends on the atonement – the […]

Satan bound for a thousand years

The events described in Revelation 20 and their placement in the sequence of end-time events are difficult and controversial.  A messenger comes from heaven and binds Satan for a thousand years. (Most English translations use ‘angel’ where the Hebrew and Greek texts read ‘messenger’.) Who is the messenger? Malachi prophesied:  suddenly the Lord you are seeking will […]

Christmas – A festival of Jewish Origin? by the Rev Dr. Alfred Edersheim

Originally published in The Leisure Hour, London, England, No. 1147, December 20, 1873, pp. 810-812. CHRISTMAS–A FESTIVAL OF JEWISH ORIGIN? WHY DO WE KEEP IT ON THE 25TH DECEMBER, AND WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ITS OBSERVANCE? Of the various questions debated in church history, scarcely one has been discussed with more partisan keenness, or […]

Ishmael and Isaac – born of the flesh, born of the Spirit

If the strife between Arab and Jew began with Ishmael and Isaac, then reconciliation begins there too. Scripture speaks of the brothers’ separation but also mentions their reunion at Abraham’s grave. “And Abraham expired and died in a good old age, old and satisfied. And he was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac […]

Are the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ resurrection deeply conflicted?

Asher Norman’s twenty-second reason for rejecting Jesus as Messiah[1] is that “the resurrection accounts are deeply conflicted.” Norman concludes: “Amazingly virtually every detail of the resurrection accounts in each Gospel is directly contradicted by at least one other Gospel. Christianity literally stands or falls on the veracity of the resurrection. If Jesus was not resurrected, […]

ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION: Encounter on a train

The year was 1939. I was travelling by train from Cernauti to Bucharest, and on the seat opposite sat a renowned rabbi from Cernauti. When he saw me reading the Bible, he asked me who I was. “A Christian Jew,” I told him. He was highly astonished. “If you are a Jew, why did you […]

The Ten Commandments and the New Covenant

In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt – on the very day – they came to the desert of Sinai (Exodus 19:1). The first Passover celebration when the Israelites were delivered from their slavery in Egypt was on the fourteenth day of the first month [of the Hebrew calendar] (Exodus 12:2). The Law […]

The Passover – no foreigner may eat of it

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.  Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any […]

What the Rabbis say… concerning Adam’s sin

What consequence did Adam’s sin have for the human race?  Did our relationship with God change fundamentally, as a result? If so, can we ever return to our original condition, or reverse the consequence through our own efforts? Judaism and Christianity give different answers to these questions. Most rabbis today teach that Adam’s sin brought […]