The Next Decade may be your Last on Earth

The most descriptive passage in the New Testament concerning the second coming of Jesus is in 1Thessalonians 4:15-18:

1Thessalonians 4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, cannot precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Exodus 19:1-16 in the Old Testament is an allegorical parallel to 1Thessalonians 4:15-18. The passage in Exodus contains chronological information about the second coming. The people were given two days to wash and sanctify themselves before the Lord descended in the clouds on the third day.

Exodus 19:16 “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud; so that all the people that were in the camp trembled.”

In both 1Thessalonians 4:15-18 and Exodus 19:1-16, the Lord is depicted as descending in the clouds in unison with the sounding of a loud trumpet. The two days in Exodus chapter 19 represent two thousand years for the human race to be baptized and sanctified before the Lord returns in the clouds. The earliest date for the ascension of Jesus is typically given as AD 31. Using Exodus 19:1-16 as an allegory, the Lord will return after 2031 and before 3031. While a thousand years is a large time interval, the allegory depicts the Lord descending in the morning of the third day indicating the expected return is much closer to 2031.

Hoping to meet you in the clouds,

Dr. J. Clontz – Finding Jesus in the Old Testament: Proving the God Exists

Were the Miracles that Jesus Performed Real?

 

There is evidence that the miracles Jesus performed were real. Many people are familiar with the Biblical information about the miracles of Jesus. However, what is less well known is that there is also information from the Talmud and other rabbinic sources that the miracles of Jesus were real.

In the gospel of John, the Jewish leaders are depicted as acknowledging the miracles of Jesus:

John 11:47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him...”

The Bible isn’t the only document that depicts the Jewish leaders discussing the miracles of Jesus. Rabbinic sources depict Jewish leaders surmising how Jesus accomplished his miracles. However, they don’t question that the miracles were real. There are also discussions concerning healing miracles wrought by early Christians and whether it is lawful for a Jew to seek out a Christian to be healed. Once again, there was no doubt that the healing miracles were real. The Jewish polemists hypothesized that somehow Jesus possibly learned how to magically heal people during his stay in Egypt. Interestingly enough, this also provides extra biblical evidence of Jesus’ being in Egypt at one point. The Jewish polemists also decided that it would be better to live with a malady than to be healed by a Christian. What this means is that both Christians and Jewish leaders believed that the miracles of Jesus and early Christians were real based on the evidence that they and those they trusted personally witnessed. Christians believed that this was accomplished through the power of God while Jews weren't sure how this was accomplished even though they knew it was real.

Dr. J. Clontz – Editor, The Comprehensive New Testament

How to Study the Bible

I would recommend that anyone who wants to study the Bible read the whole Bible all the way through before trying to study it. There are prophecies and stories that intertwine through out and it is virtually impossible to grasp what is being presented without a complete view of the entire work.

Anyone studying the Bible should keep in mind that it is presented as God communicating with humanity and your immortality is at stake. So don’t ever assume that any information in the Bible is trivial, mundane, or irrelevant. Everything is important and if you don’t know why something is important then you possibly don’t understand what you are reading. This brings us to the often overlooked concept that the Bible is a spiritual document and not a history book. It looks like a history book and at first blush it reads like a history book. The Bible was created to convey spiritual information from God to humanity using an historical backdrop to present the information.

The literal historical text can be understood by everyone. The spiritual information can’t be understood unless a person receives the Holy Spirit. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, he met with two men on the road to Emmaus and he told them all of the prophetic information about himself in the Old Testament:

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

We aren’t provided with the information that Jesus told the two men. Later that same day Jesus opened the minds of the apostles so they could understand the scriptures while he talked with them about the Old Testament prophecies pertaining to him:

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds, so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

Ultimately, unless God opens your mind you will not understand the scriptures in the Old Testament that pertain to Jesus. In fact, you won’t even realize where many of them are and you will read right past them. For instance, when you read the story of Adam do you see the references to Jesus? According to Paul in Romans 5:14, Adam is a type for Christ. Another example is when you read the story of Moses do you see the references to Moses? According to Peter in Acts 3:22, Jesus is the prophet like unto Moses and fulfilled the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15.

A person without the Holy Spirit will not be able to see the parallels between Jesus and Adam or between Jesus and Moses. All they will see are stories that appear to have information about people who people who lived long ago. Whereas, a person with the Holy Spirit will see information about Jesus in both the story of Adam and the story Moses.

2Corinthians 3:14 “But their minds were hardened; for to this very day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because only in Christ is it removed. 15 Even to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away… 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”

By enumerating all the other appointments of Moses I can demonstrate that they were types, and symbols, and declarations of those things which would happen to Christ, of those who it was foreknown were to believe in Him, and of those things which would also be done by Christ Himself.

Justin Martyr – Dialogue with Trypho 42

The Old Testament Scriptures, and those written by Moses in particular, do everywhere make mention of the Son of God, and foretell His advent and passion. From this fact it follows that they were inspired by one and the same God.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV.10

The first testament was not given without reason, or to no purpose, or in an accidental sort of manner; but that it subdued those to whom it was given to the service of God, for their benefit (for God needs no service from men), and exhibited a type of heavenly things, inasmuch as man was not yet able to see the things of God through means of immediate vision; and foreshadowed the images of those things which [now actually] exist in the Church, in order that our faith might be firmly established; and contained a prophecy of things to come, in order that man might learn that God has foreknowledge of all things.

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV.32

The things that took place of old in the wilderness, under Moses, in the case of the tabernacle, were constituted types and emblems of spiritual mysteries, in order that, when the truth came in Christ in these last days, you might be able to perceive that these things were fulfilled.

Fragments from the Scriptural Commentaries of Hippolytus - of the visions of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, taken in conjunction.

Dr. J. Clontz [Typology, The New Testament According to the Old Testament Prophets]

Prophecy about the burial and resurrection of Jesus

Did you know that there is a reference in the Old Testament to the burial and resurrection of Jesus that predates the events by over a thousand years?

His body would be placed in a cave and a stone would be placed over the mouth of the cave.^KJ10 Men would be stationed by the mouth of the cave to guard the king of Jerusalem.^KJ11 The large stone would be rolled away from the mouth of the cave and Jesus, the king of Jerusalem, would come out of the cave alive.^KJ12 The cave where His body had been placed would be preserved and memorialized forever.^KJ13

KJ10. Joshua 10:27 / Matthew 27:57-60, Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-54, John 19:38-42, Acts 13:29

KJ11. Joshua 10:18 / Matthew 27:62-66

KJ12. Joshua 10:22-23 / Matthew 28:2-10, Mark 16:3-9, Luke 24:2-8, John 20:1-17

KJ13. Joshua 10:27

[Typology - The New Testament According to the Old Testament Prophets]

Prophecy about the Stoning of Stephen

Did you know that there is a reference to the stoning of Stephen in the Old Testament that predates the actual event by 1000 years?

After the Word of God was brought to the congregation, the congregation would begin to stone them. When the congregation stoned them the glory of the Lord would appear.
Numbers 14:10 / Acts 7:57-8:1
[Typology - The New Testament According to the Old Testament Prophets]