End Time Insights

In 2 Timothy , Paul discusses the future resurrection of believers as he responds to denials of this “ sound teaching ” by deceivers who were disrupting the Assembly, denials he treats as little more than idle chatter .  In doing so, he demonstrates that his later theology remains well within the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings of his earliest letters. From the beginning, belief in the resurrection was central to the doctrine of salvation taught by Jesus, his Apostles, and the early Church.

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.