1993 – Volume 4
The Mountain of the Lord
The Mountain of the Lord Beginning in Micah 4:1 we read: “In the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the [...]
The Resurrection Body of Jesus
It is the view of most in Christendom that the body with which Jesus was resurrected from the dead was some kind of glorified flesh. Though extremely popular, this view presents a number of scriptural questions. Very few Christians would deny that Jesus gave his life as a ransom, that is, because of the penalty of death pronounced upon Adam (and his progeny) for [...]
Satan the Serpent and the Woman
What beginning is referred to in John 8:44, which states that Satan was a liar from the beginning? Lucifer was perfect from the time he was created until the day iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15). His defection commenced here on earth, in the physical Garden of Eden, and is associated with the dawn or “beginning” of human civilization. The failure of Lucifer [...]
A House in a Walled City
“And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold,- within a fully or may he redeem it. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it [...]
The Silent Years
The Old Testament is the history of the people of Israel. Of its 39 books, only Genesis is not concerned with that story, encapsulating the history of nearly 2500 years from creation to the formation of Israel into 50 short chapters. The Israelites were God's people. They were the ones for whom he specially cared. Theirs were the patriarchs, priests, judges and kings. But [...]
144,000 Children of Israel
Why is it sound doctrine to believe that the 144,000 of Revelation 7:4 and 14:1 represent the church and not literal Israelites? The reasons (some better than others, but cumulatively strong) are as follows: (1) The very fact that Revelation 7:4 says "of all the tribes of the children of Israel" is reason to believe that it means something else. We are clearly told [...]
Jesus’ Birth and Herod’s Death
Bible Students have long believed that Jesus was born in 2 BC (SS, Vol. 2, pp. 54-62 [B54-B62]). But many modern historians have dated his birth at from 4 to 7 BC. The reason for this is that Jesus was born before Herod died (Matt. 2:1), and it has been thought that Herod died in the spring of 4 BC, following an eclipse of [...]
Cain and Abel
Cain was Eve's first child. “I have gotten a man from the Lord” said Eve reverently, according to the A.V. of Genesis 4: 1. God had already promised Eve that her seed would become the means of undoing the damage that had been done in Eden, that he would “bruise the serpent's head,” which could only mean the overthrow of sin and the restoration [...]
Chronology Lessons from the Book of Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a prophet of God to the Hebrews in Babylonian exile, and he was a priest. (Ezekiel 1:1, 3) (A) The Lord began Ezekiel's prophetic office in a very marked way (Ezekiel 1:3-onward). Ezekiel recorded the day (5th), the month (4th), and year (5th), of king Jehoiachin's captivity (612 BC), which was Ezekiel's fifth year of captivity as well. Yet Ezekiel synchronizes king [...]
The Holy Incense Ingredients (Exod. 30:34-38)
In ancient and medieval civilizations there existed little hygiene. The close proximity of chicken coops, animal stalls, and garbage heaps to family living quarters was the order of the day. Inadequate sewage drainage and disposal, and the noxious vapors of perspiration in body and clothing, of beasts of burden, and of human waste, added to the tenacious presence of flies, mosquitoes, and insects everywhere [...]
Chronology of the Hebrew & Septuagint
When many today prefer the Chronology of the Septuagint instead of the Hebrew Bible, it is good to examine this subject closely. The Septuagint is the oldest known Greek translation of the Old Testament. It is believed to have been done by 72 educated Jews of Alexandria in Egypt in the third to the first century before Christ. They have departed considerably from the [...]
Sinful Flesh (Romans 8:3)
The possibility of any claiming that this text suggests Jesus had sinful flesh is easily offset by other texts (e.g. Hebrews 7:26). But the strongest argument is within the verse. The reasoning at the beginning of the verse is (to paraphrase): “The law could not succeed because fallen flesh was not able to keep it.” How illogical, then, that God should send another one [...]
From a Reader
Dear Brethren: Greetings in our Present Lord. In the August, 1992 issue, “J.N. of California” spoke of Lamech, how he had two wives and that he slew “a young man to his hurt,” etc., Genesis 4:23,24. It will be well to note that there are two Lamechs in the Bible. The one referred to in Genesis 4th chapter was from Cain’s lineage. The other [...]
The Creation Allegory
“In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1 Many Bible stories are allegorical. Not that they did not literally happen, but that the events they contain were so overruled by God as to contain a deeper allegorical lesson in addition to their historical facts. Examples of this include the life of Abraham and the book of Job. The Creation [...]
The 450-Year Period of the Judges
Here is a problem in Bible Chronology which, in some measure, should exercise the minds of students. The Apostle Paul declares that God gave judges to Israel. “He gave unto them judges about [during] the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul ... forty years.” (Acts 13:20, 21) [...]
The Great Company
In Revelation 7:9, the Apostle John sees “a great multitude which no man could number.” He is asked to identify the white-clad, palm-bearing (a symbol of victory) multitude, and, with characteristic humility, tacitly acknowledges his inability to proffer a response. He refers the reply back to the questioning “elder,” who obviously possesses superior insight into the matter. It is apparent to John that the [...]
A Prophecy Nearing Fulfillment (Isaiah 2l:5-10)
In Song of Solomon 2:12 the time of mating is called the “time of the singing.” This book is the love song of Jesus and his future Bride. As the time nears for the marriage, the focal rays of prophecy converge in a climactic fashion, and there comes a quickening need for these predictions to terminate in prophetic events. As the birds begin to [...]
Prefactory
The following prefatory to the 1905 publication of Hymns of Millennial Dawn may be of historical interest to many of our readers. We published in 1890, with several more recent editions, a volume entitled “Poems and Hymns of Millennial Dawn” without music. The same collection of hymns with the music is now urgently needed, and therefore appears in this volume. The poems, although highly [...]
Getting Ready to Move
The house in which I have been living all my lifetime is getting very much out of order and repairs do not seem to last long, and a light wind causes it to tremble (Eccl. 12:3-7), so I am getting ready to move (2 Cor. 5:1-4). The house to which I am moving is of such surpassing loveliness that no language can describe it [...]
The Throne of God
REVELATION 4:1-3 “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.' At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting [...]