End Time Insights

The description of the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost stresses the theme of fulfillment. On that day, what was foreshadowed by the ancient feast began to receive its promised substance. The bestowal of the Spirit was an epochal event that marked the start of the Age of the Spirit, and the Gift of the Spirit fulfilled what the annual Levitical feast symbolized.

Certain members of the Corinthian congregation denied the future resurrection of the righteous. Paul responded by stressing how necessary our resurrection is and by appealing to the past Death and Resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection was and remains the precedent for our future resurrection. We will be raised bodily when he “ arrives ,” and his appearance will mean nothing less than the termination of Death itself.

In the Gospel of John , Jesus is the Logos , the “ Word become flesh ” in whom the “ Glory of God ” resides. He is the Greater Tabernacle foreshadowed by the Tent carried by Israel in the wilderness, the place where the Glory of Yahweh was seen. John’s declaration anticipates his later passages that link him to the Father. Thus, the man who gave his life for all humanity on the Cross is the true and full manifestation of the Glory of the Living God who created all things.

Jesus is the one who unveils the Mysteries of God, and only he is qualified to reveal the nature of the “ unseen God .” In him, all the promises of God find their substance. He is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and provides the correct understanding of Bible prophecy, and this is especially so in the  Book of Revelation  where the sacrificial “ Lamb ” reigns over all things.

The Book of Revelation applies several terms to the Church that is under assault from within and without. The men who have been redeemed by Jesus form a new priestly company that transcends all national, social, and cultural boundaries, and “ tribulation ” and persecution are not aberrations to be avoided at all costs, but integral parts of what it means to belong to the Kingdom of God. Persevering in the “ Testimony of Jesus ” through affliction goes to the heart of what it means to follow the “ Lamb wherever he goes .”