covenants & promises, israel, metaphysics, prophetic
Remember that Jesus told the people they needed to repent (change their mind), because the kingdom of the heavens was near (Matthew 4:17) – they needed to change their mind about how they could enter the kingdom. They thought that if they simply obeyed the Law,...
covenants & promises, hermeneutics, theology
There are at least five reasons that progressive dispensational (PD) represents a departure from a normative hermeneutic (literal grammatical historical) and reading of the Bible. The first two pertain to methodology in arriving at conclusions, and the latter three...
covenants & promises, ecclesiology
Question: Does Hebrews 13:20 refer to the New Covenant, and if so wouldn’t that provide evidence that the church is currently under the New Covenant today? Answer: Not necessarily, but possibly (and probably) and…no. Hebrews 13:20 does not directly refer to the...
covenants & promises, theology
The first six promises of the Abrahamic promise/covenant (Gen 12:2-3a) all pertain primarily to national blessing for Abraham’s descendants who are counted through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the nation of Israel – and will be fulfilled in an entirely still yet future...
covenants & promises, hermeneutics
Question: Is Genesis 12:2-3 actually a covenant? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to simply call these verses promises? Answer: If Genesis 12:1-3 is taken in a vacuum, then we might not consider it a covenant, simply because it is not specifically identified as a...
bible overviews, covenants & promises, israel
Daniel chapter nine finds Daniel examining the prophet Jeremiah’s declarations of a seventy-year exile (Jer. 25:14, 29:10), and responding humbly to the Lord in prayer, as the time of the exile was drawing to a close. The personal humility that Daniel demonstrates in...
bible overviews, covenants & promises, eschatology, exegesis/exposition, israel, salvation, theology
Understanding the Biblical usage of terms such as dispensation, covenant, and kingdom of God can go a long way in helping is recognize what God’s big picture is, and how He intends to fill in the details. Let’s take a look at some definitions and...
covenants & promises, israel, theology
Question: In Isaiah 42:6, doesn’t the phrase “I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations” (NASB) indicate that the Messiah was given to the Gentiles as a covenant, and thus the New Covenant is also extended to the Gentiles and the church...
covenants & promises, theology
The New Covenant promised to Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31:31–34 includes two components that some argue are fulfilled by the church. In Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put My law within them and on their hear I will write it…” and in Jeremiah 31:34, “They will not teach...
covenants & promises, ecclesiology, eschatology, salvation, theology
Based on Romans 2:28-29, some have concluded that being Jewish is a spiritual rather than ethnic matter, and that people become “spiritual Jews” when they become Christians. Romans 2:28-29 reads, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly neither is circumcision that...
