Optimism

A few days ago a reader sent me an interesting message. He said, “As I read through your blog … I was struck to ask you one single question—so what? So what if what you say about Jesus in Matt 24 is real, what does it mean for us?” Other…

Matthew’s gospel emphasizes the kingdom of heaven. “The central emphasis of the book is found in what is designated (uniquely in the Gospels) as … ‘the gospel of the kingdom’ (Matt 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; cf. 26:13).” To understand the gospel, we must understand the kingdom. In Matthew 19, Jesus uses four…

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” — Prov 29:18 (ESV) Prophecy leads God’s people to obey their Lord. But, several ingredients must be present. First, God must give us a vision. When Samuel was young, “the word…

As the apostles were writing the New Testament, God was bringing the Mosaic age to a close. He was also establishing the messianic-age kingdom of God. Matthew’s gospel emphasizes this age change. John and Jesus had announced the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt 3:2; 4:17). Jesus had taught…

The New Testament gives a surprising report of Roman centurions. It mentions six, each a “commander of 100 men in the Roman army.” They all had a positive connection to the kingdom of heaven. Matt 8:5–13 presents the New Testament’s first centurion. His perception of the kingdom caused Jesus to…

Jesus did not preach a theoretical kingdom. Centuries earlier Daniel declared God would set up his kingdom in the days of the Roman kings. It would consume all other kingdoms (Dan 2:44). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1–7:29) Jesus shows the tangible nature of that kingdom. The context…

“Matthew . . . is the Gospel of the King and His kingdom.” We have seen this in our previous posts on Matthew. For example, the “little horn” king (Herod) opposed the King (Matt 2). And, John the Baptist preached the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 3:1). In Matthew 4,…

Announcement A 17-page summary of our prophetic framework is now available. It shows how inmillennialism arises out of a natural reading of two New Testament passages. Please click the “Free” menu item above to download the PDF. The concept of the “last days” plays a unique role in inmillennialism. (We…

A friend asked me to develop a 15-page summary of inmillennialism, my framework for the interpretation of biblical prophecy. This post is the fourth and final part of that summary. I plan to soon post a downloadable PDF of the entire document. We started building our model of prophecy in…

Two major earthquakes have shaken my theological world. Elements that caused both appear in Revelation’s sixth vision (Rev. 17–21). One quake happened in my mid-twenties. It involved the doctrine of salvation. Bible teachers had taught me to believe Christ died for all men without exception. God loves everyone and wants…