The Alleluia of the Saints in Heaven (19:1-3) 19:1-3 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. In response to the invitation of...

The partial restoration of the nation Israel to their ancient land in the middle of the twentieth century should be recognized by all careful students of the Bible as a most remarkable event. It seems to be a token that God is about to fulfill His Word Concerning the glorious future of His chosen people. As has been pointed out in previous discussion, the return of Israel to their ancient land and the establishment of the state of Israel is the first step in a sequence of events which will culmi...

Warning Against Judaizers (3:1-3)

The apostle opens the third chapter with an exhortation: “Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” The introduction of the word finally would seem to indicate that the apostle was about to reach the conclusion of the epistle. Instead, what appears to be grammatically and in thought a long digression follows beginning with verse two and continuing through the third verse of chapter four when he again brings up the theme of rejoicing in the Lord.

Significance and Setting of the Sermon, 5:1 The purpose of Matthew to present the truth relating Jesus as the King and the message of the kingdom is the guiding principle in placing the Sermon on the Mount here so early in Matthew’s gospel. Many events recorded later in the gospel actually occurred before the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is given priority because it is a comprehensive statement of the moral principles relating to the kingdom which Jesus proclaimed. As Ke...

Prophecy a Biblical Study Those who have studied prophecy as a whole will realize that the subject of the premillennial return of Christ is much too vast to complete in one chapter. It is possible, however, to give a summary of the essential facts of this tremendous doctrine. Some today are saying that it does not make much difference what we believe about the coming of the Lord and that the emphasis on the premillennial return of Christ is a misguided effort. They urge that we concent...

If God has provided a wonderful salvation through Christ as revealed in the Bible, how can anyone be sure that he has received Christ and is the beneficiary of this marvelous grace of God? The question of what one must do to be saved was asked long ago by the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:30. Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison in Philippi, with their feet fastened in the stocks. In this painful condition they could not sleep, so they sang praises to God. Scripture records t...

Second Thessalonians 2:13-17 Chosen from the Beginning Having laid before the Thessalonians the wonderful hope of the coming of the Lord, Paul now takes up the immediate task of living for God. While waiting for Christ to come for His church, there is a task to perform, a life to live, a testimony to give. These things should be our present concern. In verse 13, thanks is given to the Lord for having chosen these Thessalonian Christians: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for ...

The most important aspect of the prophetic context of the millennium is the personal return of Jesus Christ to the earth. The tribulation which precedes it is a dramatic preparation for that coming and is climaxed by the glorious appearance of the Lord in the heavens accompanied by the saints and the holy angels. Though the second coming may not be as important to the total program of God as the first coming, it certainly is without precedent in manifestation of the glory and power of the ...

Propitiation is the biblical doctrine embodying the concept that the death of Christ fully satisfied the demands of a righteous God in respect to judgment upon the sinner. The doctrine is not found with great frequency in the New Testament, the word propitiation appearing only three times in the Authorized Version (Rom 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10 ) and four times in the American Standard Version (Heb 2:17 added). One might be misled into the unwarranted assumption that this is a minor doctrine ...