The idea of the course was to recover the context of the apocalyptic gospel of the first century as a call to flee to Christ from the wrath to come, and thus make personal appropriation of the messianic salvation in expectation of the imminence of Jersualem’s destruction, which represented the imminent tribulation to first century Jewish expectation. Well, we are there again. We have come full circle. We stand and witness once more under the shadow of an imminent world disaster over Jerusalem. Thus the same issues that confronted first century Israel are back in the forefront.

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… If there were occasions where one of the prophets would predict what would happen in an individual person’s life, this was certainly the exception and not the norm. For the larger part, the prophets were led to declare the future experience of the nation based on the law of the blessing and the curse revealed in the covenant. You might say they were the enforcers of Moses. Prophecy was a phenomenon that operated within the context and framework of the covenant. The Hebrew prophets of Israel were in continuity with the Spirit in Moses (“a prophet like unto me”) pointing on to the ultimate prophet like unto Moses, namely, Jesus. Their concern was to guard the covenant for the sake of the nation’s witness to the truth and glory of the God who elected them to that end. I think it is much the same with prophets that the Lord has given the church. Their principal concern is not to predict happenings in the personal lives of individuals, but the focus is on the spiritual health, direction, and obedience of the corporate body in their particular locality of witness. …

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… Far from being the “Ark of Safety” (a term used by many to encourage the present ‘Aliyah’), the Land will be the first target and greatest concentration of Antichrist fury. We have this burden that it is critical that believers in the Land today understand that Jewish survival will depend on escape into surrounding wilderness locations (Isa 26:20; Dan 11:41; Mt 24:16). This message will have a direct bearing on the physical survival of the elect remnant of Israel. It is the responsibility of a prophetically instructed church (Dan 11:33) that has taken seriously the Lord’s command to pay attention to Daniel (“Let the reader understand”, Mt 24:15). Ultimately, it will be seen that many were saved alive through the words of Jesus directing His disciples (the church) to pay attention to Daniel. To Him be all the glory that a people were alerted and prepared to direct Jews not only to the urgency of flight, but also to the testimony of Jesus (“the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” Rev 19:10). …

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The want of purpose, particularly eternal purpose, is the world’s great crisis. We have something here that the world desperately needs. If we are debtors to all men, then it behooves us to prepare to give answer for the hope that is in us. Such basic preparation does NOT require great mastery of all the details, or solutions for every difficulty, but just sufficient competency in the prophetic scriptures to make the miracle of prophecy known and accessible to the average person. It is a powerful tool that has been too neglected in our approach to evangelism. Showing the gospel from the evidence of fulfilled prophecy was the ‘modus operandi’ of the early church. That’s my heart for a course of study that some friends are working with me to put together.

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…At Pentecost it became clear that the Spirit promised in connection with the coming day of the Lord had come ‘already’ in unexpected advance of that day. Now it could be seen that the Spirit and the new baptism of power and life is inextricably bound to the new revelation of Jesus as the Messiah and mediator of the everlasting righteousness. It could now be seen that only the righteousness provided through the cross of Christ can avail for an everlasting justification (But how then were Old Testament saints justified if not by same precious blood?). Hence, the Spirit becomes the sign that seals and vindicates God’s once and for all acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice, who is now shown as the exalted Servant and Lord over all. …

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… After his long night of wrestling (Jacob’s trouble) with the Angel of the Lord, Jacob goes out with a limp (touched in the thigh of his strength) to meet Esau, the brother of the blood oath, who now falls on his neck with kisses and weeping. What a picture! So when Jacob has come to an end of his power (Deut 32:36; Dan 12:7), he will find the implacable hatred of his estranged and outraged brother has also come to its end in a glorious day of reconciliation and healing in the face of Jesus Christ. …

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[...] You happen to have caught me just as I am working through one of the first books I’ve had the pleasure of reading in quite a while. I think its one that you would particularly enjoy, if only for its ability to revive some of the themes of mutual interest in eschatology. Its “A Case for Historic Premillennialism; An Alternative to Left Behind Eschatology,” edited by Craig Blomberg and Sung Chung.

I’ll forward this recommendation to our larger group of friends with the caution that it is academic in character and approach, and might seem tedious to some. I suggest that any that think they might be interested first go on line to Christianbook.com, or Amazon.com, and check out the table of contents and read some excerpts before buying.

By no means is this a blanket endorsement to such a diversified collection of essays. It is only some iron that may sharpen those that have a specialized interest, or that labor and in this field. One of the essays might be of particular interest for those interested in a concise historical survey of Jewish views of the after life and the ‘messianic age’. It will inform but sadden. [...]

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[...] In considering judgment on nations and particular localities, we should remember the pattern we observe in scripture. However righteous and set apart, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel were required to taste the bitterness of exile along with the rest of the apostate nation. Therefore, though the end of an individual may be quite different in the ‘long run’, he or she may well be required to suffer in the judgements that descend on a nation whose iniquity has come to full. That is the pattern we see in Israel’s exile, and I can’t see where it would be too different in a world where the church is called to be a ‘diaspora’ people, scattered throughout the earth as a witness people. Why, even the church’s sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s table are suitably quite portable. We are a pilgrim people, in every place, and often on the move.

The church is called to be a light in a dark world. What part of the world does not lie in wickedness? Where does one go to hide their loved ones from the judgment that hovers over a cursed land? If we flee from certain levels of societal debauchery that seems to especially concentrated in some cities or nations more than others, we might well be fleeing to a worse place where God has marked a perhaps more hidden but just as hateful kind of pride. [...]

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… The New Covenant, also called the Everlasting Covenant, envisions nothing short of the salvation of ‘all’ Israel. “And so all Israel shall be saved: … for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sin” (Ro 11:26-27). In the context of Paul’s argument, a future event is in view. It is based on nothing other than the covenant. Hence, there can be no doubt that at least something of the covenant remains unfulfilled where Israel is concerned. Whatever is understood of the phrase, “and so all Israel shall be saved,” one thing is clear: For Paul, there can be no final fulfillment of the covenant that stops short of this future ‘fullness’ (compare Ro 11:12 w/ 25-29). We need to understand what Paul means by “and so all Israel shall be saved,” as interpreters are divided over just about every word of this much disputed phrase. …

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[...] Ezekiel shows that when the Spirit is poured out at the day of the Lord, the face of God will never again be hidden from the nation that is now saved to the last man (Ezek 39:22-29 with Isa. 54:13; 59:21; 60:21).

This is the time that the sealed book (Dan 9:24; 12:4, 9) is revealed to Israel. But the sealed vision is not sealed to all. During the days of the tribulation, there is a remnant ‘that understand among the people’ (11:33; 12:3, 10). They will know the secret (the mystery of the gospel) and through their witness many will be turned to righteousness. A comparison of Zech 12:10 with Mt 23:39 will show that the end of the age waits till the beleaguered survivors of Israel receive the same revelation of the gospel that came down from heaven at Pentecost (1Pet 1:12). This is the rock on which the church is built; it is the revelation of Christ that cannot come by flesh and blood.

So I believe the two days of Hos 6:2 coincide with the events that span the time between Christ’s two advents to Israel. Although history is littered with one shameful debacle of failed prediction after another, the time is coming when the question of the time will no longer be a question for the true church. The last seven years is clearly marked by a highly descript sequence of definite events that nothing in the past has come near to fulfilling (e.g., Dan 11:21-45). It is paramount that we know the distinctive character of the end time events in order to avoid the false alarms of prophetic speculation, and to recognize the real thing when it does come. [...]

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