During December, many focus on the first part of Isaiah 9:6 — ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given’ — but this verse continues to say that ‘the government shall be upon his shoulder’. Something very similar is written in Luke 1:32-33: ‘He will be great and...

Two end-time prophecies are becoming very relevant, even today. In both cases these literal prophecies will be literally (or directly) fulfilled towards the end of the seven-year Tribulation Period, or just thereafter. But in both cases, it appears that the scene is...

Suppose you are going to die soon and you have an opportunity to write one, maybe two more letters to your loved ones, what would you like to say to them? Will you be sad or thank them, will you write about your love for them or witness about the Lord? Suppose...

The title of the last book in the Bible is immediately introduced: ‘The revelation of Jesus Christ’ (1:1). God the Father revealed to Jesus Christ so that He will show to his servants ‘the things that must soon take place’ (1:1). Christ then communicated or signified...

The Gospel of John was written ‘so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name’ (20:31). The fourth Gospel was therefore written for both believers as well as unbelievers. As for the purpose of the...

The book of Jude was probably written by the half-brother of Jesus (cf. Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) who became a believer in Christ only after Jesus’ resurrection (cf. John 7:2-5). Jude is not an apostle like his brother James (Galatians 1:19; 2:9-12; Jude 17) but, like...

Whereas 1 Peter exhorts believers to stand in the true grace of God during the trial of suffering, 2 Peter warns believers that the coming peril is not an obvious, frontal attack coming from the world without, but rather a subtle danger coming from false prophets and...

As to the historical background of Peter's first letter, Nero set Rome on fire in AD 64 but he insisted that Christians did it. With Christianity increasingly moving away from Judaism — a religion allowed in the Roman Empire (Tenney 1985:344-345) — Christians now...

The book of James was probably written by the brother of Jesus (cf. Matthew 13:55) who became a believer in Christ only after Jesus’ resurrection (cf. John 7:2-5). James waited for Pentecost (Acts 1:14), saw the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:7), became an...

The earliest manuscripts of this grand, majestic and sometimes puzzling sermon-epistle contain the title ‘To the Hebrews’. The original audience was Jewish, for it is ‘hard to imagine that a return to Levitical temple Judaism was a temptation for first-century Gentile...

Onesimus, a slave from Colosse, not only ran away from his master (Philemon 11), but probably also stole from Philemon (18). The name “Onesimus” means ‘useful’ but, by running away, this slave became useless to his master. In the Roman Empire of 2 000 years ago, such...

Paul's first imprisonment in Rome ended in AD 61-62 and the Lord strengthened Paul so that ‘through me the message might be fully proclaimed’ and that ‘all the Gentiles might hear it’ (2 Timothy 4:17). In AD 62-67 Paul visited at least the following places: Macedonia...