New Testament scholar Daniel Wallace provides a brief note on the possibility of the number of the beast being 616, not 666, here. Wallace also refutes Walid Shoebat’s sensational and fallacious claim about a New Testament manuscript and a supposed Arabic insertion, here. Also, James White one of today’s most effective Christian apologists on Islam […]
Book of Revelation
Revelation 16:15 “Look! I will come like a thief! . . .”
“(Look! I will come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.)” (Rev 16:15 NET) Posttribulationists frequently use Revelation 16:15 to support their position. They argue that Rev 16:14–16 indicates that […]
A Reply to Ken Gentry’s Preterism
Steve Hays makes some salient points against preterism here. One point that is often overlooked by preterists is: iii) Gentry says the futurist interpretation renders the prophecies of Revelation irrelevant to the 1st century generation of readers. But by parity of argument, the preterist interpretation renders the prophecies irrelevant to later generations. If what was […]
Using a “House” Metaphor as the Method to Studying the Second Coming
We are finishing up our class on the Doctrine of the Second Coming at Jesus Bible Institute. The first day of class I used a house metaphor to describe how one should approach Scripture in studying the doctrine of the Second Coming. It is not the only method, but I think it is the best […]
Why Do The Ungodly Try to Run and Hide Themselves in the Caves During the Sixth Seal?
(12) Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; (13) and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken […]
Against Amillennialism — On the Freedom and Binding of Satan in Revelation 20:2–3 Compared with Revelation 12:9
(See also www.alankurschner.com/3) The debate between premillennialism and amillennialism is not about whether the 1,000 years mentioned in Revelation 20 refers to a literal 1,000 years. Both positions agree with each other that it denotes at least a period of time. How long is not the issue. To be sure, I do believe that the […]
“But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet…” —Revelation 10:7
I have argued previously that the day of the Lord will not be a simple, literal 24-hour day, as many postribulationists claim. The day of the Lord will be a complex-whole when God works out his purposes of deliverance of his people and judgment upon the ungodly over an extended period of time, beginning with […]
The Fifth Seal — And “Those Who Die in the Lord From This Moment On!”
(9) Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. (10) They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge […]
Response to Renald Showers on Ezekiel 14:21 — First Four Seals and “Four terrible judgments–sword, famine, wild animals, and plague”
For this is what the sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments–sword, famine, wild animals, and plague–to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals! (Ezek 14:21 NET) Yesterday, on Jimmy DeYoung’s radio show, Prophecy Today, he had pretribulationist Renald Showers on his show for about five […]
What’s So Important About Pre-Millennialism?
“WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT PRE-MILLENNIALISM?” Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. President-Emeritus Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary One of the most common misconceptions in Biblical interpretation today is that “the thousand years” (hence: the “millennium”), of which John speaks in Revelation 20:1-7, are mentioned nowhere else in the Scripture. And since it is generally agreed that no major […]
Do the Twenty Four Elders in Revelation 4:4 “Represent” the Church?
In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. (Rev 4:4 NET) In the fourth chapter of Revelation, we are introduced to a magnificent scene in the throne room of heaven. John witnesses […]