The following is an excerpt from a paper for an upcoming volume on Bible difficulties related to eschatology. This particular paper deals with the parables of the mustard seed and leaven. I take the view that these two parables depict the current evil age rather than the future Messianic kingdom. Part of this reasoning is that leaven typically represents corruption in the Bible. The most common response that I’m hearing is “But the Bible says that the kingdom is like leaven, so leaven must be the good kingdom here.” Here’s my response to that:
eschatology
Four Objects Related to the 70-Year Chronology
Lately, I have been doing some work with the Book of Ezra, which begins with Cyrus’ decree that was issued, “that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished” (Ezra 1:1). Ezra does not actually quote Jeremiah, but assumes that the reader is biblically literate. The work that I am doing will explore the biblical issues further, but as I studied for that project, I came across some archaeological items that are worth discussing here.[Read More]
Works-Universalism: Contradiction or Middle Ground?
We have developed a quadrant model for describing soteriological compromises. The biblical message of salvation is summarized as Faith Alone in Christ Alone (FACA). Two ways to reject this are by rejecting the sufficiency of FACA or the necessity of FACA. Each of these two sides has differing extremes: On the side that rejects sufficiency, a near alternative is Works-Assisted Condition while a distant alternative is Works-Assisted Merit; on the side that rejects necessity, a near alternative is Christian Pluralism while a distant alternative is Christian Universalism.[Read More]
Thoughts on Russia, Ukraine, and the Bible
Russophobia is emerging around the world. There are individuals in the Russian government who are making evil decisions that affect Russia and other countries—Putin comes to mind, as do others who may not be as familiar to Western readers—but these are not grounds to resent Russian people. Within the Russian population are plenty of believers who are doing excellent work in a dark place. They are to be commended (if not now, then they will certainly be rewarded later).[Read More]
Trends in Ecotheology (Excerpt)
The following is an excerpt from a paper entitled, “Kingdom Postponement: A Watershed Doctrine for the Dispensational Worldview,” presented at the 2021 Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics.[Read More]
Postponement Theology and Rabbinic Literature
Last weekend, we had an ISBH webinar on Dispensationalism and Rabbinic Literature. It was a good time; we had some great speakers in English and German. We are currently working on translating everything and getting it posted online.
I did a session on Postponement Theology and Rabbinic Literature, which I am posting here.