2007 – Volume 18
The Letter to Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-10)
THE TITLES OF CHRIST IN REVELATION In the book of the Revelation, Christ reveals himself to the Church according to their moral condition, and the title which Christ assumes in addressing each church anticipates what is vital and with moral significance to them. For example, in the writing to Pergamos we read, "By the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith [...]
Tyre and Sidon
The history of these twin cities of Tyre and Sidon illustrate the evils of abominable idolatry linked to a commerce driven life without the restraints of God's spirit. Their primacy as economic powers of the ancient world presented a continual reproach to the children of Israel. And yet, this should not have happened. It happened because Israel never fully entered upon the blessings tendered [...]
Harmonizing Habakkuk 3:9
"Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah ..." (Habakkuk 3:9, AV) Considered by most translators and commentators as an obscure and difficult to translate passage, Habakkuk 3:9 has confounded interpreters for centuries. The United Bible Societies Bible Translator Handbook states that "with so many possibilities to be found in reputable translations (and many other [...]
The Voice of the Lord (Psalm 29)
David in his palace in Jerusalem observes and vividly describes a severe thunderstorm as it sweeps across the entire land of Palestine from Lebanon in the north to the south of Israel. Floods from such storms cause considerable damage in the Biblical lands. Sometimes it may not rain for two or three years, but when it does, it turns into a deluge, destroying the [...]
Messenger of Millennial Hope (By Charles F. Redeker)
Pastoral Bible Institute, 1425 Lachman Lane, Pacific Palisades, California 90272, USA • Published November, 2006 Ninety years ago the founder of the Bible Students, Pastor Charles Taze Russell, died. The organization he established became fragmented and subject to strong personalities who felt they knew how to best continue his legacy. These differences between the groups who trace their roots to the Pastor's ministry continue [...]
The Testimony of Hegesippus
The Gospel accounts describe the reaction to Jesus' ministry in his hometown of Nazareth and lays out the natural family of our Lord in detail: "ls not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these [...]
Newton: Bible Student and Scientist
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was born in Lincolnshire on Christmas day nearly two months premature, and posthumous to his father. In the superstition of the day, all three of these circumstances were considered to portend a child of exceptional abilities, and so he was. He was born in the last year a witch was publicly burned at the stake in England. When he went to [...]
The Tribes of Israel – Asher
Asher springs from the pitiless infighting and the destructive rivalry bred of the deception Laban played on Jacob. Originally, Jacob had not planned on his polygamous union with both Rachel and her older sister Leah. The less-loved wife Leah adopted the stratagem of escalating her importance in the eyes of the community and Jacob by adding sons through surrogate motherhood. By the end of [...]
Days of Daniel
A popular account of the Allenby campaign by Owen Wister, The Romance of the Last Crusade - with Allenby to Jerusalem, points to the interest in the apparent fulfillment of Biblical prophecy with the conquest coming in 1917.1 First, it is necessary to point out that for the hopes of the Lord's people comprising the true church, the interpretation of the Days of Daniel [...]
God’s “Only;’ His “Darling”
Many years ago, God asked of Abraham a heavy thing. "And he [God] said [to Abraham], Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee, into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:2). "And he [the Angel of the Lord] said, [...]
Of the Day of Judgment and World to Come
Extracted from Yahuda Ms. 6, folio 12-19, part of The Synchronisms of the Three Parts of the Prophetick Interpretation (Sotheby Catalogue, Lot 244). RESTITUTION The mystery of the restitution of all things is to be found in all the Prophets: which makes me wonder with great admiration that so few Christians of our age can find it there. They understand not that the final [...]
The World to Come
(Continued from previous issue, and its longer title, "Of the Day of Judgment and World to Come." At the beginning of this segment we reproduce part of the paragraph closing the last issue, to connect the thought. This article is of historic importance, but the reader is cautioned to weigh specific interpretations.) This city [new Jerusalem] must be understood to comprehend as well Christ [...]
Soles of The Feet of the Priests
As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests ... shall rest in the waters, the waters ... shall be cut off (Joshua 3:13). The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened; they were to walk by faith. They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to [...]
Paul’s Striving for Laodicea
"For I wish you to know [that is, to understand] how greatly I agonize [or strive in every way] for you and for them at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh" (Colossians 2:1). Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are very much alike. In these three epistles of the Apostle Paul we find many of the same thoughts and [...]
The Liberation of Jerusalem, 1917
"I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD ... [they will] return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and ... shall possess it" (Jeremiah 30:3). On December 9th the city of Jerusalem surrendered to the British Third Army under General Sir Edmund Allenby. So important was this victory in World War I that news [...]
Jacob’s Speckled Sheep
Professor Yehuda Felix of Jerusalem, who devoted his life to research of the world of botany and zoology in the Bible, passed away on December 2, 2005 at the age of 83. He was among the founders of the Land of Israel Studies Department at Bar Ilan University, and headed it for many years. He authored some 20 books and dozens of articles; his [...]