The terms “tribulation” and “wrath” are NOT synonymous in Paul’s letters or the Book of Revelation. “Tribulation” is what the disciples of Jesus endure for his sake. “Wrath” is the horrific fate that awaits the wicked at the final judgment. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes that God did not appoint them to “wrath.” Yet, in the same letter, he states that believers are appointed to “tribulation.”
Continue readingLast Days
Hold Fast to the Word
The first literary section of the Letter to the Hebrews concludes with an exhortation and an ominous warning. Any would-be disciple of Jesus who fails to heed the far “better word” that God is now speaking in His Son will suffer an even “sorer punishment” than the rebellious Israelites received when they disobeyed the Mosaic Law. At Mount Sinai, the Torah was mediated to Moses by angels. Nevertheless, it was God’s word – He was its source – and therefore lawbreakers were punished severely.
Continue readingUpon These Last Days
According to Hebrews, God has spoken His decisive and superior “word” in His son. Moreover, He did so “upon the last of these days.” This clause refers to the end of the period epitomized by the Levitical code with its priesthood and repeated animal sacrifices, a system of worship that was centered in the Tabernacle, and later, in the Temple in Jerusalem. With the exaltation of the Son to the “right hand of the Majesty on High,” a new and final era of salvation has commenced.
Continue readingGod Has Spoken!
The Letter to the Hebrews exhorts believers not to abandon Jesus when difficult times come by emphasizing the superiority and finality of what God has accomplished in His “Son.” The word “spoken” in Jesus is superior to the earlier and preparatory revelations provided “in the prophets.” The Letter does this by comparing the Levitical system with its incomplete provisions and repeated sacrifices to the “better” priesthood and “once for all” sacrifice of the “Son.”
Continue readingTimes and Seasons
Did Jesus command his followers to know end-time chronologies, the “times and seasons”? Must they decipher key “signs” and use them to calculate the time of his return so they may prepare in the nick of time for that day’s arrival? Did he and his apostles leave us with a comprehensive list of signs whereby we can decode God’s prophetic timetables?
In his Olivet Discourse, Jesus warned his disciples that many deceivers would come and “deceive many,” false prophets who would show “signs and wonders” and use them to misdirect even the “elect.”
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