Hot answers tagged prophecy
23
Murder and killing are not necessarily the same thing. The King James Bible adds confusion to this debate by translating Exodus 20:13 as:
Thou shalt not kill.
Which historically has been interpreted to mean a commandment against all forms of killing, including capital punishment, war, and in some cases, even against killing animals. In the context of ...
22
Before it meant the son of a king, or someone who was not yet king, the original sense of the word 'prince' was someone of the highest rank. (It's related to the word 'principal'.)
The Hebrew word שָׂר used in the original seems to have the same idea in it.
21
Prophecy about Jesus' return within 56 years
Per the History of the Church, vol. 2, p. 189, he said
...and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh--even fifty-six years should wind up the scene.
That was in 1891.
Prophecy that the temple would be built in Missouri within Smith's Generation
...
20
The very next story in each of those passages is the transfiguration. My interpretation: The kingdom is here! Jesus is alive and reigning through his church and in the hearts of the saints. Because the Kingdom has an already/not-yet character, it has not yet come in its fullness, but it is here. And Peter/James/John saw in the transfiguration a preview of ...
19
Yes, you're absolutely right! Jesus never broke any bones. That's a fulfillment of the prophecy from Old Testament and it's written about in John.
John 19:36 (NIV)
These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,"
The prophecy that John refers to is found in Psalms 34:20:
Psalms 34:19-20 ...
16
There are three key positions in ancient Israel, that of Prophet, Priest, and King. A prophet would hear from God and speak to the people. A priest would hear from the people and intercede for them to God. A king would, of course, rule.
Jesus fulfills all of these positions. He spoke of His own death and even of future events, like when He spoke of the ...
15
Yes!
The Dead Sea Scrolls are not themselves a unique set of content, but rather a collection --rather like someone's private library-- of various texts from the time period that were all preserved together and help us understand the state of those texts at a specific point in time.
One example would be the Isaiah scroll, a basically complete copy of the ...
11
Without doing too much digging and research I can think of one example.
In Matthew 2 the priests and teachers of the law knew that the Christ was to be born in Bethelehem as per their interpretation of the prophecy in Micah 5.
Matthew 2:3-6 (ESV)
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem
with him; 4 and assembling all the ...
10
The Scripture isn't clear on why, but here are a few suggestions that make sense to me.
Choosing a specific people allowed God to demonstrate His power through all of the military battles, and possibly most dramatically via the release if His people from Egypt.
Choosing a specific people demonstrates His sovereignty - The fact that He can choose Whom he ...
10
This is the matter of some debate, and there are at least three theories about it that I'm familiar with. I actually found a study online that explains all of them here.
Some relevant sections (copied and pasted since the author explains it better than I would):
The one that is popular in my denomination:
One explanation that is popular among ...
9
The Epistle of Barnabas is not considered canon. Sticking purely to canon, the bible is very explicit that we do not know. The world could end tomorrow. Or this afternoon. Or 10,000 years from now:
Matt 25:13
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man comes.
Mark 13:32
No one knows about that day or ...
8
I think a possible explanation would be that some of the disciples did see the heavenly Kingdom of God through visions they received during their lifetimes. John's account in Revelation is probably the best example, as he vividly describes a kingdom - including Jesus' ascension to the throne.
The "some" here would suggest that more than one disciple would ...
8
Gospel means "good news." Understood rightly, this bit of news to Adam and Eve was certainly good news. The snake - the epitome of sin - had tricked Adam and Eve. Because of the snake (and their own sinful actions, of course) they were being kicked out of the garden. By trying to become like God, they had become like the snake - sinful and evil.
But God ...
8
Old Testament prophecies are sometimes 'thematic', by 'type' or 'metaphor' as in the case of these three days. There are various places in the Old Testament that give special meaning to three days. The gospels however only refer to the prophecy of Jonah. Christ said that Jonah would be the 'sign' that God would give the Jews, as a rebuke for their ...
8
Jesus' body was in the tomb (Matthew 27:59ff; cp Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19).
Jesus' spirit was in Paradise (Luke 23:42ff) - else He could not have truthfully promised the thief crucified with Him that "today you will be with Me in Paradise". See also Luke 16:19-31.
Jesus paid our debt in completion while on the cross - while He absorbed the full wrath of ...
8
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like
to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's
astonishment he wrote, "His name is John."
He had all the time prior to this to write it out to her. That is most likely how he would have communicated it to her. Zechariah writing here is just to show everyone else.
...
8
The passage is most likely referring to the nation of Babylon.
Per ESV Study Bible Note:
Jer. 6:22–23 great nation. Babylon. the farthest parts of the earth. Babylon’s army had outposts all over the ancient world. This army has no mercy; its horses are so numerous that their thundering hoofs sound like the roaring sea (4:13, 29).
8
The Latin phrase civitas septicollis, or "seven-hilled city," is an allusion to Rome. According to Joseph Lomas Towers in his Elucidiations of Prophecy, Ch. XIII, p. 199,
Rome was as well known by its situation on seven hills or montes, as by the name of Rome itself; Urbs septicollis was never mistaken for any other city, Roman authors have so fully ...
7
It is good to remember that God is consistent. He does not change. This works out to our benefit. For example:1
Malachi 2:6 (ESV)
For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
One of the ways in which this is good for us is that we are not trying to hit a moving target when it comes to understanding His will. His ...
7
Very little is said in the Bible of where Jesus was and what he was doing during the three days, but here's what we do know:
He promised the thief on the cross that they would be together in paradise after death. (Luke 23:39-42)
When Mary recognized him in the garden after his resurrection, he told her that he had not yet been to heaven. (John 20:15-17 ) ...
6
If one doesn't think about these scriptures as indicating the second coming, but perhaps events directly following His crucifixion one possible interpretation of “the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” could be the appearance of Christ at resurrection.
And “see the kingdom of God come with power” could be the awesome power of God tearing the veil of the ...
6
God made a lot of choices throughout history and it helps to understand the broader perspective.
The First Man and Woman
He created Adam and Eve 1) in His image, 2) to populate the earth. The results were to be a world full of people in the image of God, worshiping Him, exercising dominion, ruling and bringing things to fruitfulness.
However, Adam and ...
6
The short answer is "yes, there are".
There are quite a few other places that prophecy about the end times, particularly in Daniel 7-12, Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.
Matthew 24:14 specifically prophecies that the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire world prior to the end:
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the ...
6
It's a combination of a couple of things.
First, there's a passage in Matthew 24:38-41:
For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and
took them all away. That is how it will be at the ...
6
Christians of many persuasions recognize this text as a definite and peculiar sign concerning the last days. Yet even though the majority of them can agree that the abomination of desolation is an important sign, they can't seem to agree on its specific nature. Even preachers are thrown into a quagmire of confusion - looking for something that no one is very ...
6
In Ezekiel 36, the prophet has a vision of a valley of "dry bones." When asked if these bones could yet live, Ezekiel wisely says, "You alone know, O Lord." After this, the Lord miraculously makes the bones come together and come alive.
It is explicitly stated that this refers to Israel. Ezekiel, speaking for the Lord says:
“‘But you, mountains of ...
6
Yes. Daniel, who wrote during the Babylonian Empire prophesied that Messiah would come after four succesive Kingdoms. One which had already existed, the Babylonian, would be taken over by the Persian, then the Persian taken over by the Greek. The Greek then taken over by the Roman, then Messiah overthrowing the Roman. This is not just a Christian ...
6
My response comes from this article about OT prophecy about Jesus from Nazareth.
It basically states that there is no direct Old-Testament reference to Nazareth. The article postulates two explanations:
1) It was a reference that Jesus would be despised.
He says 'prophets,' plural. It could be that Matthew was referring to several Old Testament ...
6
The basis of this identification comes from Revelation 17:9-10.
This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
The "seven mountains on which the woman is ...
5
Peter gives us some insight into this:
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace
that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit
of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the
Messiah and the glories that ...
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