Building on the Foundation

  When was Creation? When was the Flood? When was the Exodus? When did King Solomon live? And where does the Bible tell us? Before we dive into these questions, the purpose of this post isn’t to put together a detailed timeline of Biblical events. That would require a far longer study. No, the purpose of this post is simply to give the reader a general idea of when key Biblical events took place. To answer these questions, we need to start with a date we already know and work from there. Unlike many researchers, and for reasons beyond the scope of this post, I reject many of the dates of Egyptian and Assyrian history. The later dates of Babylonian and Persian history are more firmly established. Based on analysis of Babylonian records, as well as details provided by Jewish records, it can be determined that King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian army destroyed the Jerusalem temple in 587 BC. This spelled the end of the Kingdom of Judah. Of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, the Book of Je...

  What is the role of the Christian woman in the home and in the congregation? Is she, as many say, “useless?” Is she just there to make the meals and set up potlucks? This is the view that many in the various churches take. Women were just put here for the benefit and service of men. On the flip side of this issue, there are those who believe that women are to be at the forefront and the leaders, even to the point of taking control of either the family or congregation if the masculine leadership fails. Is either of these views correct? Well, let’s take a look at what we’ve got written in our instruction manual, the Bible.  The first story that I want to look at is in Judges, and it is the story of Deborah. This is a favorite story of those who seek to promote egalitarianism and push men and women into roles that they were not created for. This is a tremendous story that perfectly illustrates the role of the Christian woman, especially when taken in context with the rest of th...

  This is Part 7, the final part of this series on the tabernacle. That doesn’t mean we’ve learned all there is to know about it, mind you; there’s always much more to learn from God’s Word! We frail humans could never plumb the full depth of God’s mind and His Word, not in ten thousand lifetimes! But this wraps up our current study of the tabernacle in relation to the Holy Days, the days of Creation, and the ten commandments. Last time , we saw that, on the Day of Atonement, Jesus Christ returns to the earth with His 144,000 saints, slays the Beast and his armies, and casts Satan into the bottomless pit. He will return from the heavens, the Holy of Holies, and stand on the Mount of Olives where He was crucified. Under the Old Covenant, this was foreshadowed each year when, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest returned from the Holy of Holies to the altar of burnt offering and sprinkled it with blood. Jesus Christ’s thousand-year reign, then, also begins on this same day, the D...

  As we explore the tabernacle, we begin to see that God uses patterns, symbols, and pictures to teach us about His plan. By now, it should be clear that God’s goal is to draw mankind out of the east (sin) and into the Holy of Holies (His presence; His family). This requires a step-by-step process of sanctification, for no sinful creature can dwell with the Almighty (Psa. 5:4). Jesus Christ’s blood atones for our sins. We repent, get baptized, receive the Holy Spirit, and begin to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). That takes us through the altar, the laver, and into the Holy Place, as well as through the corresponding first three holy days: Passover, the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost. The fourth holy day, the Day of Trumpets, as we saw last time , corresponds to the Holy of Holies. That’s when the first resurrection happens and Yeshua/Jesus takes the firstfruits before His Father’s throne. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice...