Dr Paul Allen

Hebrews 1:1–2; 9:26 . The author to the Hebrews begins his homily with the assertion that God’s revelation has taken a major turn in the recent past: while he had spoken to the Israelites and the Jewish people in the past through prophets “at many times and in various ways,” he has now been speaking to his people through his Son (Heb. 1:1 NIV).  The author dates God’s speaking through Jesus his Son as having happened “in these last days” (ep’ eschatou tōn hēmerōn, Heb. 1:2). The demonstrative pronoun (toutōn, “these”) indicates that the last days have begun: “in these days which are the last days.”  The entire period between Jesus’ first coming and the future consummation of God’s purposes constitutes “the last days.” When the author asserts that Jesus Christ, our High Priest, did not have to suffer many times but appeared once for all “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26 NIV), he relates Jesus’ appearance both to the “foundation the wo...

The apostles were convinced that they were living in the last days. In the Old Testament, the expression “the last days” refers to the future time of God’s final intervention in Israel’s history and in the history of the world. The earliest Christians dated the beginning of the end times to the coming of Jesus, particularly his death and resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit, a complex of events that constitutes the fulfillment of God’s promises of Israel’s restoration and humanity’s salvation. T he End Times Have Begun with Jesus’ Coming: Acts 2:16–21 One important passage in the New Testament teaching that the end times began with Jesus’ coming is found in Peter’s speech given on the day of Pentecost. After clarifying for the Jews who had gathered from around the world that the speaking in unlearned languages by Jesus’ followers is not the result of drunkenness (Acts 2:15), Peter asserts that the audiovisual phenomena of the sound from heaven, the tongues of fi...

All Bible-believing Christians are expecting the rapture; we all just define that event differently. 1) What is the rapture? The word ‘rapture’ comes from the Latin rapturo, meaning, “I seize, I snatch, or I carry away” which is the Vulgate’s translation of the Greek word harpadzo, meaning “I catch up, I carry away.” As a half-Greek etymology geek I can’t resist mentioning that English sailors sourced their word “harpoon” from the Greek for the implement used to snatch a large fish out the water. “Harpadzo” or “Rapturo” is rendered “caught up” in  1 Thess 4:16-17 where Paul says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord, (ESV).” Also, 1 Cor 15:51-53 refers to the fac...

The prophecies that link Jesus’ return with clouds emphasize that Jesus’ second coming is a theophany. When Jesus returns to earth, God returns. And the reference to clouds emphasize that Jesus’ return will be a public event. It cannot be missed; it will be seen by all people.  While it is possible that the clouds will be a literal, atmospheric phenomenon, this seems unlikely given the assertion that all people will see Jesus returning and that all believers will meet Jesus when he comes in the clouds.  This assertion seems to suggest a symbolic meaning of the “clouds” mentioned in these passages, but it also makes a literal understanding of Jesus’ return difficult to comprehend. Despite these difficulties in comprehending the details of Jesus’ return, there is no doubt, however, that it will be physical (literal), public, and incontrovertible. Schnabel, E. J. (2011). 40 Questions about the End Times. (B. L. Merkle, Ed.) (p. 254). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic ...

While Jesus, the two men in white robes (angels), and Paul leave no doubt that Jesus’ return will be a “literal” (physical) event that will take place in time and space, they do not clarify how that “space” should be understood. In our present experience, only a limited number of people can witness a physical event such as the appearance of a person, satellite television notwithstanding. What people see on the television screen is an image of a physical event, but not the physical event itself (apart from the fact that such an interpretation is anachronistic and thus irrelevant for understanding the biblical text written in the first century). Jesus’ first coming was full of surprises: only shepherds were present, not the powerful chief priests of Jerusalem nor the learned scribes or the pious Pharisees. And when he was crucified even his followers gave up, sad and disillusioned, only to be surprised on Easter morning by Jesus’ resurrection. The Old Testament Scriptures had not prop...

The angels told the disciples that Jesus will return “in the same way” in which he ascended to heaven (Acts 1:11). Does that mean that he will return on the Mount of Olives, “a Sabbath day’s walk from the city” east of Jerusalem (Acts 1:12 NIV), where this event took place? The prophecy in Zechariah 14 seems to confirm this: “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem.… Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him” (vv. 4–5 NIV).  However, the angels’ reference to the “manner” of Jesus’ ascension refers to the heavens and to the cloud, not to the location of Jesus’ return. The context of the angels’ explanation clarifies that the task that the disciples have been given is more important than the details of Jesus’ return. Indeed, even more important than waiting for Jesus’ return in Jerusalem.  The question “why do you stand here looking into the sky?” (Acts 1:11 NIV) reminds them that they have been commissioned by ...

Jesus, the angels, and Paul mention clouds in connection with Jesus’ return (Luke 21:27; Mark 14:62; Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 4:17). As Jesus’ ascension to the Father was marked by clouds that hid him from the sight of the disciples, so his return could be accompanied by literal clouds as well. However, if the clouds are literal, Jesus’ return would be an event in a particular region: if Jesus’ return took place in the city of Jerusalem in Israel, accompanied by clouds, his return could be witnessed only in that city, nowhere else. The explanation that satellite technology makes a worldwide viewing of Jesus’ return is technically correct, but it is inadequate as an explanation for what Jesus, the angels, and Paul could have meant and what his readers could have understood. When Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers that “we who are still alive and are left” will meet Jesus “in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:17 NIV), he does not seem to understand the “clouds” as a meeting point above a part...

The Spirit of False Prophets/Antichrist (Deceit) (1 John 4vv. 1b, 3) In the early years of Christianity, before the New Testament was completed (AD 100) and before the first creeds of the church were formulated (AD 325), there were no official, universal theological benchmarks for evaluating Christian preaching and teaching.  To complicate matters, the early Christians were pneumatics; that is, they believed themselves to be filled with the Spirit of God, which provided divine backing for their messages. This is why Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 that Christians should, on the one hand, not despise prophecies of the Spirit, while, on the other hand, they should discern whether the spokesperson truly was inspired by the Holy Spirit. John is calling for much the same in 4:1–6: his community needed to discern whether a speaker was inspired by the Holy Spirit.  For John, however, there was indeed at least one theological benchmark: if the person confessed that Chris...

One of the theological reasons for Jesus’ return is connected in a fundamental way with God’s creation and the fall. At the end of the sixth day of creation, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31; the phrase “very good” in Hebrew is tob me’od).  The next time that the Hebrew term for “very” (me’od) is used in the book of Genesis is in the statement “Cain was very angry” (Gen. 4:5), a disposition that quickly led to the first murder in history. The fact that Cain was “very angry” was a vivid demonstration of the fact that God’s creation was no longer “very good.” The event that changed God’s “very good” creation was the decision of Adam and Eve to act in deliberate disregard of the will of God, following the Serpent rather than obeying the One who had created a perfect world (Gen. 3:1–6). The consequences of the fall were swift, decisive, and numerous (Gen. 3:7–19). First, the relationship of Adam and Eve with God was fractured: th...

Peter's Denial by Rembrandt, 1660. Jesus is shown in the upper right hand corner, his hands bound behind him, turning to look at Peter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hebrews 1:1–2; 9:26 The author to the Hebrews begins his homily with the assertion that God ’s revelation has taken a major turn in the recent past: while he had spoken to the Israelites and the Jewish people in the past through prophets “at many times and in various ways,” he has now been speaking to his people through his Son (Heb. 1:1 NIV ). The author dates God’s speaking through Jesus his Son as having happened “in these last days” (ep’ eschatou tōn hēmerōn, Heb. 1:2). The demonstrative pronoun (toutōn, “these”) indicates that the last days have begun: “in these days which are the last days.” The entire period between Jesus’ first coming and the future consummation of God’s purposes constitutes “the last days.” When the author asserts that Jesus Christ, our High Priest, did not have to suffer many times but ...

Cover for a NIV Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In Romans 13:11–12, Paul appeals to the Christians in the city of Rome to understand “the present time” and explains that “the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” ( NIV ). The “night” is the present evil age (see Gal. 1:4); “the day” is the day of the Lord . Paul’s assertion that “the day is almost here” (Rom. 13:12 NIV) means that the day when God will bring to an end human history as we know it is fast approaching.  Paul is convinced that Jesus might return within a very short period of time. Paul does not seek to narrow down the time frame within which Jesus will return, nor does he base his exhortation on the assumption that Jesus’ return would take place very soon. But he clearly believes that Jesus’ return ...