Is the Rapture a Biblical Teaching? The Surprising Jewish Roots of the Rapture in the Greek Old Testament

Is the rapture Biblical? That depends on what you mean by “rapture.” Many Christians have heard of the rapture of the Left Behind series of books and movies.  This is the idea that there will be a secret, first coming of Messiah in which he catches up the believers into heaven. Only after that, after a “seven-year tribulation period,” will he return in his second, public coming.  This teaching is quite popular right now in conservative churches. But the idea of a secret rapture is quite recent, dating back only to the 1800’s.* What did Christians believe before that?

When Was Daniel’s 70th Week Fulfilled? (Q&A)

The following question is from one of our recent seminars on the Book of Revelation. The question assumes that the 70th week of Daniel 9:24-27 will take place in the future. This teaching is popular in conservative churches.  This is, however, a relatively recent teaching, first appearing the 19th century.  Before that, Christians taught that the 70th week of Daniel had already been fulfilled. And they had good evidence to back it up, as mentioned in the answer below. The original series of three questions and answers has been consolidated to make for easier reading.

Q:  I heard the teacher say that Daniel’s seventy sevens [the seventy weeks in Dan. 9:24-27] have been completed. Could you please clarify the following questions:

The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11

Who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11? They shoot fire from their mouths, they stop rain from falling, they turn water into blood, they even strike the earth with plagues (Rev. 11:5-6). But despite their great powers, the two witnesses are eventually killed by a horrible, beastly enemy, and then lie dead and unburied for three and a half days (Rev. 11:7-9). Yet after the three and a half days, they raise from the dead and ascend into heaven (Rev. 11:11-12). This is gripping reading, but what does it mean? Who are the two witnesses?

Can We Command God? Isa. 45:11 (Q&A)

Q:  A classmate sent me an online poster titled “You Will Command Me” (Tetzavuni) and said we can command Jesus to do healing, not ask!  The poster has different translations of Isa. 45:11, including the original Hebrew.  Is this true?  How to explain the Hebrew here? –Ruth C.

NOTE:  The poster includes an English translation from the Darby Bible:  “Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me” (Isa. 45:11)

A:  It’s certainly true that many translate the end of this verse as “you command me concerning the works of my hands.” But meaning is derived from context, and so we need to look at the context to figure out what this means.   

The passage appears in the middle of a prophecy about Cyrus, the Persian ruler who defeated the Babylonians (in 539 BC).  God says that he will “subdue nations” before Cyrus, even though Cyrus doesn’t know the God of Israel:  “though you have not known me” (Isa. 45:1,4).  And why will God support Cyrus in this way?  In order to prove that “besides me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5-6).  Not only does the prophecy mention Cyrus by name, it also mentions that he will rebuild Jerusalem and let the Jewish exiles go free (Isa. 45:13).  These are tremendous miracles that actually happened more than a hundred years after Isaiah’s prophecy was given.

The Lament of the Land (Micah 7)

The warning of coming judgment is a common theme in the Bible.  But only in a few places is this expressed as the land itself crying out because of the sins that have taken place on it (Isa. 33:9; Jer. 12:4, 23:10; Hos. 4:3, Joel 1:10; Zech. 12:12).  Here in Micah, the land speaks directly to lament the tragedies it has suffered and those that were coming in the future.

This unusual prophecy caught the imagination of Jesus.  He quoted a portion of it in his own prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 10:34-36, Luke 12:51-53).  It’s outcry of the land contains an important message for us today when people and nations are once again at risk of spoiling their land through sin and incurring the judgment that will follow.

Micah spoke shortly before the devastating Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel.  This northern kingdom, which had broken away after the time of Solomon, ruled the northern ten tribes for two hundred years.  But almost immediately, it began a dangerous spiritual decline. Micah’s message came at a time of political turmoil:  The northern kingdom had been ruled by five rulers in the space of twenty years.  Two of these had ruled for less than a year, and three of them had gained the throne by murdering its former occupant.  False prophets filled the land with false hope (Micah 3:5-7).  And this spiritual and moral corruption was spreading south to Judah.  But despite the judgment and destruction that Micah warns was coming, in the end God will restore his people.

The Lament of the Land is the climax and final chapter of the book of Micah (Micah 7):

Israel and Prophecy (Video)

Finally!  Here's a video of some of our Jewish Roots of Christianity Seminar (4a).  It's in English with a Chinese translation.  Continue below (or click "read more") to see the video.

What is the “Dead Body” where the Vultures Gather? (Luke 17:37)

Birds of Prey in Israel

“Where the dead body is, there also the vultures will be gathered together” (Luke 17:37, also Matt. 24:28).

Have you ever wondered what this verse means?  The picture it paints is familiar from old Western movies:  vultures circling in the sky over a dead body that slowly descend to feed on it.  Yes, vultures do gather around a dead body.  But Jesus mentions this at the end of some teaching about the time of his return (Luke 17:22-37; also in Matt. 24:23-28).  A dead body and vultures don’t seem to fit the subject.  Even the disciples had trouble following him.  The full verse says (in Greek), “And answering, they said to him, ‘Where, Lord?’  But he said to them, ‘Where the dead body is…’” (Luke 17:37).  They were expecting an answer to their question.  But instead he mentioned a dead body and vultures.  

The Millennium and the Pit in Isaiah 24

The Millennium doctrine of Revelation 20 seems strange to many Christians because a specifically one thousand year future period is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.  Yet a future time in which the Messiah will rule on this earth is a common prophetic theme.  It’s only the length of this period of time that isn’t mentioned elsewhere.  But the prophets foretold not only the coming reign of the Messiah.  They also mentioned other details of the Millennium teaching long before the time of the New Testament.

A Generation of Generations

There are many beautiful expressions in the Bible that slip by translators for one reason or another.  One of these is the phrase “a generation of generations” (dor dorim).  Most translate it “through all generations” or something similar.  This does capture the idea in a general sort of way.  But as Jesus taught, in God’s Word even the smallest letter and stroke of the pen is important (Matt. 5:18).  In fact, this simple expression captures an amazingly beautiful insight into the resurrection:  that the final generation of mankind will be a single generation made up of many generations.

Hell, Hades, and Gehenna: A List of Verses

Confused about hell?  It’s no wonder.  Most English translations, and many other languages, use one word, "hell," to translate the names of two radically different places: Hades and Gehenna.  They couldn’t be more different:  one is spiritual, the other physical; one is temporary, the other eternal.  So how can we get these two straightened out?  We’ll start with a short description of each one, and then list all the verses where they appear, so you’ll know exactly what the Bible is talking about.

Jesse Tree/Advent Calendar Bible Verses

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, or whether you celebrate Jesus’ birth in December or not, it’s good to occasionally look back at the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) and be reminded of what an awesome event it was.*  More than just a cute baby born in Bethlehem, he was the Messianic Son of David, the fulfillment of prophecies stretching back through the ages to the Creation itself. 

* December 25th first became the date for the celebration of Jesus’ birth in the 4th century.  Before this, January 6th was the date of celebration.  The connection between December 25th and January 6th is still marked by the festal period known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.  The New Testament itself doesn’t mention the date of Jesus’ birth.  

Beginning in the Middle Ages (10th cent.), Christian art expressed the anticipation of Jesus’ coming with the Jesse Tree.  This was a symbolic tree or vine that represented the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1 that the Messiah would be “a branch…from the stump of Jesse.”  The spreading branches represented Jesse’s descendants, the ancestors of Jesus listed in the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.  The prophets that prophesied his coming were also often shown, as in the illuminated manuscript shown here.  (For more pictures, see the Wikipedia article Jesse Tree).* 

* This led to the idea of representing one’s ancestry as a tree, resulting in the idea of a family tree.

In recent years, the tradition has started of putting up a Jesse Tree in the weeks before Christmas and hanging on it symbols of Jesus’ ancestors and the prophets that prophesied his birth.  This is usually done during the month of December, with a new symbol being added each day accompanied by a Scripture reading.  This is an improvement over many Advent calendars because it includes the prophecies and events all through the Bible that point to Jesus’ birth.  This makes it more clear to children and others why this birth is so extremely important.

Who is the Antichrist?

The Antichrist has been one of the most popular figures of endtimes speculation for more than a thousand years.  Yet many of the commonly-held teachings about the Antichrist were developed long after the time of the Bible.  What does the Bible itself teach about the Antichrist? 

Psalm 97 and the Return of the Messiah

Most of us think of prophecy as something coming in the future.  So in our Bibles, Old Testament prophecies are translated in the future tense.  What else could they be?  But the writers of the Hebrew Bible had a different view of prophecy than we do.  When they wrote prophecy, they used a verb form most often used for past events.*   Why would they do that?  It seems that the most important thing about prophecy for them was not that it was coming in the future, as we think of it, but that it was something completed, fixed and finished in the mind of God—God said it, and that finishes it—even though the fulfillment might be far in the future.

Did Jesus Believe in the Millennium?

The modern portico on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  Jesus likely debated the Sadducees in a similar location in the ancient and much larger portico of Herod's Temple.

The Millennium doctrine—that the righteous will reign with Messiah for a thousand years—is one of the most disputed teachings of the New Testament.  A problem for some is that it appears to spring up out of nowhere in the book of Revelation (Rev. 20), a book filled with many puzzling symbols.  This has made it easy for many to neglect or even to reject this important expectation of the Early Church.  But did Jesus himself believe in the Millennium? 

The Valley of Jezreel in Prophecy

A view of the Jezreel Valley from Mt. Carmel

Hosea 1 tells of the awesome importance of the Jezreel Valley both in prophecies already fulfilled and others that will be fulfilled in the future.  What will happen here, and how are these things connected with God’s plan and our future?