2021 – Volume 32
Was Jesus born on the Feast of Trumpets?
ROSH HASHANAH AND YOM KIPPUR The Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah is also called the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24) as well as the “head of the year” for it is the Jewish civil New Year. It leads up to the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the month. This first month is about renewal, inner renewal, and atonement, divine atonement. Rosh [...]
Turn to Ashes
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the concept of sacrificing animals is an integral part of worshipping God. The straightforward procedure is to build an altar, put wood on it, light the fire, slay an animal, and then place it on the altar to be consumed. The worshipper thus demonstrates his desire to gain God’s approval by offering an animal sacrifice that cost him something. That [...]
The Hour and Day and Month and Year
The Unintended Reformation to World War I “Christianity remained in the sixteenth century what it had always been — a shared way of life, not simply as an ideal but in practice, inescapably social because of Jesus’s central command: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12). And the Bible was God’s word, his saving truth for human beings with implications for [...]
Moses, the Reluctant Servant
“I will send thee” (Exodus 3:10). With good reason, Moses is highly esteemed as the servant of Jehovah. He was the agent God used to free the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. He then led them for forty years in the wilderness. He is called the meekest, or humblest, man in the earth (Numbers 12:3). So it may be of some surprise to [...]
The Seven Churches of Revelation 2-3
Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Address To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: Christ These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: These things saith the first and [...]
Rubbed Upon the Touchstone
The use of the word torment in the Bible has mislead many to believe in the false teaching of eternal torment. In the King James version, the Greek word basanos (G931, βασανος) is commonly translated torment or tormented. However, the concept of hell as a place of sorrow and pain is inconsistent with the true Biblical teaching that hell means the grave, a condition [...]
Two Pillars and Two Testaments
Solomon’s Temple is a symbolic representation of the glorification of the church at its completion, when the temporary and transportable Tabernacle in the Wilderness is replaced by the more permanent structure of the temple. The similar but expanded features of the temple also illustrates the progress of each member of the church throughout Gospel Age, beginning outside of God’s arrangement in the camp to [...]
Resolving Differences at the Garden Tomb
“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6). In comparing the Gospel accounts of the Garden Tomb experience some apparent differences appear. For example, the Matthew account says Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” came to the tomb of Jesus to anoint his body (Matthew 28:10). Mark adds Salome (Mark 16:1), [...]
The Prophet Haggai and the Harvest
“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest" (Haggai 1:1). The name Haggai means “Festive” or “Festival.” Haggai was one of the 12 Minor Prophets [...]
The Hebrew Record
“The days of Seth were 912 years” (Genesis 5:6). The book of Genesis provides numbers for the lifespans of the 10 patriarchs from Adam through Noah, inclusively. Another record, the Sumerian King List, also supplies year numbers for a list of pre-flood leaders.[1] However, their list omits the first man, Adapa (Adam), and also the last patriarch, the Sumerian flood hero, Ziusudra (Noah of [...]
I Have Sinned
“I have sinned ... Jehovah is righteous” (Exodus 9:27) This particular declaration, which is a confession of sin, occurs eight times in the Scriptures. We might think that such an expression would be a positive indicator of a new course. But in reviewing the occasions where it occurs, we find a surprising reversal. (1) BY PHARAOH Exodus 9:27 — “And Pharaoh sent, and called [...]