Both John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth thus seem to have incorporated Jerusalem and the temple in positive ways as part of their missions, and especially as part of their prophecy of the coming Kingdom. They had good biblical reasons for doing so. Those passages in scripture that speak of God’s Kingdom also foreground Jerusalem, and specifically har bayit Adonai, the “mountain of the Lord’s house,” that is, of God’s “house,” the temple. Isaiah, for example, foresees the day when all humanity, both Israel and the nations, will gather there to worship God. “I am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory,” God says, speaking through the prophet. Assembling on “this mountain,” the mountain of the Lord’s house in Jerusalem, all of these peoples will feast together on a meal made by God himself. “Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,” God says of the last days, concerning the foreign-born who have joined themselves to Israel, “for my house”—that is, the temple—“will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” When the Kingdom comes, sing these biblical traditions, it comes in Jerusalem. - Paula Fredricksen

No need to watch for Russian helicopters, the Pope, or those pesky demonic locusts at your front door with women's hair and lion's teeth. Just read history. See how first-century Jews were thinking and what they wrote about. The book of Revelation will become much less confusing. - Josh Hawkins

 

Theology 101: Jesus Christ is the God-Man. Therefore, what Scripture says about perfect divinity applies to him; and what Scripture says about perfect humanity applies to him. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Paul describes life lived by faith in Christ’s sacrifice as being analogous to a “race” (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24; Gal. 5:7; 2 Tim. 4:7), wherein conversion is the starting line and the day of the Lord is the finish line. How you start is not as important as how you finish, though obviously you cannot finish without starting. Who puts blood on their door at dusk, but then goes down to frolic in the Nile before midnight? Who looks at the snake on the pole once, but then goes about tending to his wounds? The dead man does. The atonement only applies if faith is held unto the time of judgment. The Scriptures leave no room for the popular notion of “once saved, always saved." - John P. Harrigan