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This is an excellent question! The book of Exodus tells the story of how the tribe of Levi was separated to serve the Lord. Exodus 32:26-29 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD ...

Dispensationalism basically suggests that at different ages (eras or dispensations) in human history, God has interacted with people in different ways, through various covenants: Edenic (innocence) Antedeluvian(consciousness - people did what they wanted) Civil Government(After the flood, the rainbow covenant was for all people) Patriarchic (Abraham and ...

As I mentioned elsewhere, the concept of a closed canon of scripture, which goes hand-in-hand with the notion that "we already have all the revelation we need and therefore God will not have to send any new prophets to teach us" has always historically been connected with apostate groups. It seems a bit inconsistent to think that something that has always ...

In many languages, the book is called "Apocalypse", which is Greek for "Revelation". It seems that the modern English convention is to use a translated, rather than transliterated, title. I am not aware of any title other than "Apocalypse", or a translation of "Apocalypse", for this book, in any language. In the early English translations, there is some ...

According to the book of Genesis God created the heavens and the earth. God gave form to the universe. God filled the earth with living beings. God created light. God created us. Scripture doesn't state that He will duplicate his children's toys. That which God has created, He will create anew (including us). In Revelation 21 it continues with a thorough ...

Yikes! This is the danger of taking verses out of context! If we look at Revelations 21:5 in context, this is what we see: Revelations 21:1-5 (NIV) Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven ...

No, you've confused the issue because you aren't familiar with the vocabulary involved. The "new heaven and new earth" referenced here IS the "heaven" of generic terminology. Pop-culture Christianity likes to think of this as some separate place where everybody is floating on clouds, but this imagery is not the picture painted by Scripture. The language of ...

Jonathan Edward's Ontological Argument In his "Essay on the Trinity" (and private notebooks and public sermons), Jonathan Edwards suggested a form of ontological argument for each of the three persons of the Trinity. Anselm's argument starts from a definition of a hypothetical God who perfects all excellences and proceeds to show God must actually exist ...

Sounds like you are talking about Preterism. Essentially, this is that all the events described in Revelation have already happened, in the first century. Since Revelation was written towards the end of the first century, if this view is true then its readers would have been reading about events that had already happened.

The seven churches are described in Revelation 2 and 3. My opinion is that the seven churches not only refer to churches that existed then, but are representative of churches that have existed in different places since then. Here's what Revelation Commentary says about the seven churches: With two thousand years separating the seven churches of Asia ...

First, of the seven churches in Revelation individually addressed, not all are condemned/rebuked. The church in Smyrna (Rev 2:8-11) is not condemned. Likewise, the church in Philadelphia is not rebuked (Rev 3:7-13). We do know that those churches no longer exist today, so at some point their candlestick was removed. Whether or not the 5 did repent at least ...

Here are two books that provide a variety of viewpoints: http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Four-Views-Parallel-Commentary/dp/0840721285 breaks it down into historicist preterist futurist idealist http://www.amazon.com/Four-Views-Book-Revelation-Marvin/dp/0310210801 breaks it down into preterist idealist classical dispensationalist futurist progressive ...

It sounds like you're referring to the White Throne Judgment and the Bema Seat Judgment, which are typically believed to be different judgments by Evangelical Protestants. The White Throne Judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15. This, to the traditions that believe in the two judgments, is the judgment that everyone faces, where you are judged to be ...

We do not know. Without Divine revelation, we cannot know. We may never understand exactly "why" God is a Trinity of Persons, and the question might not make sense with respect to God. The very fact that God is a Trinity is divinely revealed knowledge. In Catholicism (and I would guess many other denominations), it is confessed that this fact can never be ...

There are multiple schools of thought on how to interpret Revelation, but one that should be kept in mind when "assessing" it, is that one fully valid interpretation of Revelation is that it has NOTHING to do with our future at all. It is an apocalyptic book to be sure, but there is a pretty wide amount of scholarship that says that Revalation should ...

I've found a few sources for answering this question. The one I'm choosing to use as a reference is this one from Clay Watts, as it includes some views that are largely ignored in the other sources I've found. The Figurative/Idealist view: The order of events is a non-issue because the end-times prophecies are to be taken figuratively, not literally. The ...

This use of Palm branches was common among ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews. It seems from the Hebrew use, palm branches symbolized ’rejoicing’ during the Feast of Tabernacles. During the feast Hebrew people were commanded to take branches of palms, with other trees, and rejoice before God.(Leviticus 23:40) However this was just not palm branches, but ...

There's a lot of discussion and debate about this especially due to the nature of the end-time prophecies, but one verse that does back a one world religion at least implicitly. Rev 13:8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was ...

The Judgment Seat of Christ is for the saved, while the Great White Throne judgement is for unsaved. However, that doesn't necessarily mean these are two separate events. Judgment Seat of Christ 2 Corinthians is written to believers; Paul opens the letter with "Paul...Unto the church of God which is at Corinth". In chapter 5 Paul exhorts the Corinthians to ...

They are both speaking of the same thing, it is just that the "Judgment Seat of Christ" is how Paul refers to it while the "Great White Throne" is how John the Revelator refers to it! NT scholar Craig Keener says of 2 Corinthians 5:10: Paul's allusion here is directly to the standard OT and Jewish image of the day of judgment, in which GOD's throne ...

The darkening of the sun (and the other signs) are repeatedly emphasised as heralding the day of judgement, by the prophets and in the New Testament, including by Jesus himself. Regarding your Genesis 8:22 reference, I think an important part of that verse is the first bit: "As long as the earth endures". All of these prophecies are about the end of the ...

Great question! It is a commonly held interpretation that parts of Revelation are to be understood in light of 1st century persecution. Often this interpretation is done by people who do not buy into dispensationalism and what might be seen as an overspiritualzed attempt to interpret a symbolic book literally instead of in the context in which it was ...

I'm not sure that I correctly understand your question, so forgive me if I'm off on a tangent here. There is, of course, plenty of debate about the meaning of Revelation. The section on the mark of the beast at least seems to have a plain, literal interpretation: At some time people will be required to have some mark put on their hands or foreheads to be ...

The details argued by E. B. ELLIOTT are a good example of historic interpretations. He places the seven seals during the period of John’s writing of the Apocalypse until the time of the barbarian invasions of Rome. The interpretation can be summarized as follows: First Seal – While Horse with bow and crown conquering – Continued expansion of Rome (~ A.D. ...

Traditionally: The twenty-four elders represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. The four living creatures represent universal creation; on some accounts, the four evangelists. From the Navarre commentary on RSVCE page 54: Christian tradition going back as far as St Irenaeus has interpreted these four creatures as standing for the ...

I have still not found any good answer to this question. But I post some hints that have been helpful to me. Hoping that it might be helpful for someone else and maybe intriguing to give a better answer. The following is a quotation from Steve Gregg, Revelation - four views, 1997, p. 33-34. The contemporary conservative protestant scene Conservative ...

Besides these three persons, no fourth in the divine nature can be asserted Says St. Thomas Aquinas. And why? Because of the "proceeds" The Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are alike, except in their relation to one another These relations of origin one must understand not as a procession which inclines to what is without - for what ...

CS Lewis discusses this in Mere christianity! (excellent book) From what I remember: There is the 'Father.' The 'I AM that I AM' The prime mover, the ultimate reality, the fountain from which all flows. He just is. The son: Lewis talks about a thing being 'begotten not made': before our timeline begins, Jesus is 'the firstborn of all creation.' when you ...

It is important to remember that the Trinity as a doctrine was inductively defined. That is, the doctrine exists because it explains (most Christians would argue) the data present in the New Testament, namely that Yahweh, Jesus, and the Spirit all "are God," but that God is "one" (cf. Deut 6:4-5). In order to avoid sounding like polytheists, Christians had ...

Is there any Biblical evidence as to why God "decided" to be a Trinity, as opposed to a Duo or a Quartet? The Bible doesn't say much about transcendent nature of God and relations between Hypostases. It doesn't also say anything about God "deciding to be Trinity" or "why is God a Trinity". These are things beyoun human understanding. However God ...