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 […]
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 […]
Romans Chapter sixteen
The apostle Paul was once a proud, male Jew and a Pharisee who strictly observed the Law of Moses. Male Jews were granted an honoured privilege as far as access into the Temple in Jerusalem under the old covenant was concerned – but it is evident that such privilege and responsibility unfortunately led to self-righteous […]
Romans Chapter fifteen
VERSES 1-4 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on […]
Romans Chapter fourteen
VERSES 1-4 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not […]
Romans Chapter twelve
VERSE 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, […]
Romans Chapter eleven
VERSES 1-6 I ask then: Did God reject his people? Why does Paul, at this point in his letter, pose the question: Did God reject his people? Paul went to great lengths to explain in the previous chapters that all people, whether Jew or gentile, were slaves to sin – and that the Law did […]
Romans Chapter ten
VERSES 1-4 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, […]