Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 2017. Does God practise divine favouritism, choosing to love some people more than others, or is that impression something we bring to the text rather than something the text actually teaches? I ask this because Scripture does describe God choosing Israel out of all the nations, calling David “a man after his own heart,”…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 1189. The apostles’ handling of prophetic fulfilment can look bewildering to a modern reader trained to expect a strict one to one correspondence between a prediction and its outcome. Matthew tells us that the flight of the holy family into Egypt fulfilled Hosea’s line, out of Egypt I called my son, a verse that…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1130. Dispensational hermeneutics gets accused, fairly often and rather confidently, of playing a shell game with the biblical text: reading the Old Testament literally when it suits the argument and switching to symbol whenever a plain reading becomes awkward. I have heard the charge from the pulpit of churches that hold to a very…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 1082. Biblical archaeology has quietly become one of the most persuasive answers I can give a sceptical friend, because it deals in something they cannot simply wave away: dirt, pottery, inscriptions, and dated strata pulled directly out of the ground. For centuries critics dismissed much of the Bible as myth and legend, claiming that…
Reading Time: 9 minutesQuestion 4058. The Spirit in the Millennium is a subject Scripture addresses more directly, and more beautifully, than most believers realise, and I want to trace what the Old and New Testaments actually promise about this coming era rather than leaving the question in vague, general terms. Understanding the Spirit’s role in the eternal state…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 4132. The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is one of the most dramatic and theologically charged visions in all of Scripture. Bones scattered across an open valley, a prophet commanded to preach to the dead, a vast army rising – the vision lodges in the imagination long before you have worked out…
Reading Time: 7 minutesQuestion 10108 Romans 11:26 contains one of the most discussed phrases in eschatological theology: “And in this way all Israel will be saved.” The question of who exactly is included in this “all Israel,” and the mechanism by which their salvation occurs, requires careful attention to the surrounding context, the consistent biblical pattern of how…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11044 The question of whether Christians should keep the Jewish festivals is one that surfaces regularly, particularly among believers who have developed a deep appreciation for the Old Testament and its richness. Some feel drawn to observing Passover, Tabernacles, or the Day of Atonement as acts of worship. Others insist these feasts are binding…
Reading Time: 7 minutesQuestion 10065 The re-establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 is one of the most significant prophetic events in modern history. After nearly 2,000 years of dispersion, the Jewish people have returned to their ancient homeland exactly as the Old Testament prophets predicted. This restoration points towards the fulfilment of God’s remaining promises to…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10005 The covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 is one of the most consequential moments in the entire biblical narrative. Everything that follows in the story of redemption, from the formation of Israel to the coming of Christ to the shape of the prophetic future, is connected to what…