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Lent: Day 14 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 24-35

...atus from prophecy This chapter, and the ones that follow, aim to defend the true power and status of Christ, and dismiss the claim that Jesus performed his “mighty works by magical art, and by this appeared to be the Son of God”, and was thus only a mere man empowered by demons. To do this, Justin gives a very brief look at the prophets of old who foretold of this coming, healing power and that he would die and rise again, saying that He was foretold by all the major prophets down through the generations, and specifically prophesied about coming by Moses, “the first of the prophets”. After giving a brief overview of Jesus’ birth and how it fulfills...

Four Blood Moons and everyone loses their minds

...od Moons" prophecy While it does seem quite coincidental that certain major events in Jewish history have happened during these lunar eclipses, I won't completely discount that this might be more than just coincidental timing, as Gen 1:14-15 does state that the celestial bodies are made by God for "signs and for seasons" and as ways to track time, but I won't hold my breath for "Armageddon" or the Second Coming, as Hagee expects. This time, Hagee suggests that a Rapture will occur where Christians will be taken to heaven, Israel will go to war in a great battle called Armageddon, and Jesus will return to earth. Hagee planned a special televised event o...

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...So here we are at the final part of this Coming of Jesus series. If you’re new here, you can start from the beginning by clicking here, or carry on reading as I will give a brief overview of what’s been covered so far.   This series has covered many topics and themes of eschatology, starting with Daniel’s prophecy of the Messiah’s first coming to this world, all the way through to the prophecies of another coming. It’s been a very interesting and eye-opening journey of discovery, at least for myself, if no one else. I didn’t start this study with a particular doctrine or conclusion in mind, but rather went in with the minds...

Does The UN Statue Resemble The End Times Beast From Daniel And Revelation?

...There’s been a lot of fuss on the internet lately about this new statue that the UN has erected outside their headquarters on the Visitor’s Plaza. I’ve seen screenshots of the original tweet shared on Facebook and other social media platforms, as well as copious articles flooding my newsfeed, all suggesting the same thing: this is the beast from Daniel 7. This of course carries with it the implication that it is also a fulfilment of that prophecy and therefore we should expect something more to happen soon, like “the antichrist” to rise up and consume the world. Or something along those lines. I don’t follow the Dispensational “end times” view a...

Lent: Day 16 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59

...ight each prophecy and give the Scriptural references which are used in Apology as proofs for Jesus's Messiahship. Finding the actual quotes is sometimes difficult because Justin has a habit of combining various verses from different chapter of the same prophet into one sentence! Christ’s Life and Death Foretold Jesus’ life and ministry foretold from a combination of Isa 35:5-6, Isa 32:4 and Isa 26:19 – “At His coming the lame shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerer shall be clear speaking: the blind shall see, and the lepers shall be cleansed; and the dead shall rise, and walk about.” And his death from Isaiah 57:1 “Behol...

Did the Qumran community predict the coming of Jesus?

...I'm going to start a new category here for "General Interest" which will be for things I see or read about that I think are interesting or informative about the Bible, Christianity or the Faith in general; but which aren't necessarily topics I could, or would need to, write a full blog post about. I'll kick off this new venture with an brief look at something I read the other day from the Dead Sea scrolls which is very interesting – Qumran text 4Q521. It gives us a glimpse of early Jewish expectations of the coming Messiah from the time before Jesus arrived, and shows just how Jesus did actually meet those expectations. For example, when John asks his disci...