The Mileses

Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries

eschatology

Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy

Among the evidence that the Bible is infallible is the startling accuracy of the prophecy revealed to Daniel, which he records in Daniel 9:24–27. This prophecy, known as Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, was revealed during the Babylonian exile “in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus” (Dan. 9:1). At the beginning of the chapter, “Daniel deals with multiple interwoven texts and how exactly they all fit together. He wonders how the seventy-year prophecy relates to God’s larger plan concerning the complete reinstatement of Israel.”1 Daniel knew that the exile would last 70 years (Dan. 9:2) as Jeremiah had written (Jer. 25:1–14).

Jeremiah repeats the language of Deuteronomy and Kings in discussing the need for repentance, seeking God with all one’s heart, in addition to describing the complete restoration from exile (Jer. 29:10, 13; cf. Deut. 30:1–4; 1 Kings 8:48–50)… The intertextuality of Jeremiah with Kings and Deuteronomy clarifies what Daniel is wondering in Daniel 9. First Kings 8:30 and Deuteronomy 30:1–6 focus upon the ultimate end of exile. By contrast Jeremiah 29 predicts a return from Babylon after seventy years but does not directly associate the seventy years (Jer. 29:10) and how it will ultimately be restored per Deuteronomy and Kings (Jer. 29:12). The Lord does not, however, guarantee in Jeremiah that they will be ultimately restored when they return to the land after seventy years.2

Daniel confessed that he and Israel had sinned (Dan. 9:3–19) and God responded by sending Gabriel to deliver a message that fills in some gaps of what will happen after the return from exile and when it will happen:[Read More]

Theologians Weigh In: Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

In Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus defines “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” as the attribution of Beelzebub to the work of the Holy Spirit when He healed a blind and mute demoniac to authenticate His offer of the kingdom to Israel. This passage is often misunderstood through soteriological rather than doxological lenses when teachers downplay or even reject the kingdom significance and instead hold to a soteriological reading of this vital passage. John Piper describes his soteriological view of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit from a Calvinistic New Covenant Theology perspective:[Read More]

The Biblical sustainability of the de jure interpretation of Col 1:13

Across the theological spectrum it is agreed that easy texts are to interpret the difficult texts. The challenge for the interpreter is to discern which passages are easy and which are difficult. Since the only other occurrence of “kingdom” in the book of Colossians occurs in the final greetings in chapter 4,3 the meaning of “kingdom” likely occurs in an easier text somewhere else. The Bible develops the idea of a literal kingdom, the “kingdom of God,” established on land from Genesis all the way through the New Testament, so one would anticipate that this is the same kingdom in Col 1:13. There is an alternative theory, however, that Paul here is speaking of a spiritual facet of the kingdom, rather than the Millennial Kingdom. This theory that there is a spiritual facet of the kingdom is not necessarily in conflict with postponement theology. Much of this dissertation has responded to external threats to dispensational theology, but since a Spiritual Facet of the kingdom can coincide with postponement theology, Col 1:13 will be treated with the spirit of unity as an in-house dispute. Some fine dispensational scholars, propose that this Spiritual Kingdom is  God’s rule in the heart of the believer and that it is composed of all believers, and only believers, of all time.[Read More]

Rabbinic insight on Matt 5:17ff

Here is an excerpt from some research on the Sermon on the Mount. Positive feedback may be submitted through email and negative feedback may be submitted by shouting at your nearest wall.

Just kidding. We would love to hear your negative feedback as well 🙂[Read More]

The Kingdom, a word study, and a story about King Darius running away from Ukrainians

This post is extracted from some research I’m doing related to the kingdom.

φθάνω (Matt 12:28; Luke 11:20)

A host of clear biblical passages teach that the kingdom is literal and earthly. Two obscure passages that have become key to overthrowing the plain meaning of the text are Matt 12:28 and Luke 11:20, both of which record Jesus telling unbelievers that the kingdom ἔφθασεν ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς, which the KJV translates, “is come unto you” in Matthew and “is come upon you” in Luke. To the assertion that Jesus made it plain that the kingdom had already come, Millar Burrows responds:[Read More]