What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All the great religious leaders of history have one thing in common: they are dead. Only one man has risen from a grave never again to taste death. Jesus Christ died, was buried, remained in the grave for 3 days, then was raised to life again.
Jesus is unique. He is the only one proven to be the Son of God because God validated His Kingship and accepted His payment for our sins all with one incredible stroke: He raised Jesus from the dead!
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with this evidence about who Jesus is:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1:1-4
Because Jesus Christ is very much alive, five things are true right now that wouldn’t be true if He were just another dead religious leader like Confucius, Mohammed or Buddha.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive…Prayers are answered, We can talk to Jesus 24/7
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The Great Pyramid, as originally constructed, was built of granite overlaid with white limestone, and its exterior surface was smooth and unmountable, and it appeared like a building let down from Heaven. But it has been robbed of its white casing stones for building material, and you can mount on the layers of stone, as on steps, to the summit, from which the top stone is missing. Up to the year A.D. 825 its interior was a mystery, its entrance being closed by an accurately-fitted, pivot-working stone whose location was unknown.
At that time the Mohammedan Caliph, Ali Mamoun, came to Cairo to reside. He was so wrought upon by the stories that reached his ears of the fabulous wealth that was locked up in the Pyramid that he decided to break into its interior. According to tradition the entrance was on the North side, and naturally supposing that it was in the centre of the North side, Ali Mamoun set his laborers to work at that point; but it was afterward discovered that for Astronomical reasons the entrance was 24 feet to the Fast of the centre line. Ali Mamoun's workmen started in about 30 feet above the ground. The tunnel was driven in about 100 feet with no signs of a hollow interior, when, as the workmen, discouraged, were about to give up the undertaking, a sound was heard in the interior, and not far away, as of a stone falling. This fired them with new zeal, and shortly they came to a passageway on the floor of which they found a beautifully-chiseled prismatic stone, which evidently had fallen from above and disclosed an upward passage, whose entrance, however, was closed by an immense granite "Port-cullis," with a hole bored through it, but the hole was filled with wedge-shaped granite blocks impossible to remove. To overcome this obstacle the workmen tunneled around the granite "Port-cullis" in the softer stone, only to find another stone filling the passageway. After this was removed, and several others that came sliding down, the passageway was clear for an upward ascent, which let them into the passageways and chambers of the interior of the Pyramid. But to the disgust of Ali Mamoun the interior contained no riches, no furniture of any kind, except an empty "Coffer," and there were no inscriptions or hieroglyphics on the walls to bear witness to its being a tomb.
For over 10 centuries the Great Pyramid remained as to its construction comparatively unknown. In A.D. 1865, Prof. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, with his wife, encamped on the site of the Great Pyramid and began to make exterior and interior measurements. He found that the Pyramid was located on the 30th degree of North Latitude, and that its triangular sides faced exactly the four points of the compass. The Pyramid covers 13 acres of ground, equal to about 4 city squares, and is located in about the land centre of the earth.
The Great Pyramid is built on the solid rock. The rock was leveled around the base lines, and cornerstones, sunk 8 inches in the rock, were placed in position. The cubit of measurement is the Hebrew cubit of 25 ? 025 inches. The length of each side of the base is 365 ? 2422 cubits, the exact number of days in the SOLAR year, including the extra day every 4 years, and also allowing for the periodical dropping of a leap year at intervals. The slope of the sides of the Pyramid is of such an angle that they meet at the apex at the predetermined height of 232 ? 52 cubits. Why this fraction of a cubit? So that if twice the length of a side at the base, be divided by the height of the Pyramid, we shall have the figures 3 ? 14159, (365 ? 242 × 2 ÷ 232 ? 52 = 3 ? 14159), which, when multiplied by the diameter of a circle, gives its circumference. Now the perimeter of the base of the Pyramid (365 ? 242 × 4 = 14009 ? 68) is exactly equal to the circumference of a circle whose diameter is twice the height of the Pyramid (232 ? 52 × 2 × 3 ? 1416 = 14609 ? 68). So we see in the equality of these figures the solution of the mathematical problem of how to SQUARE THE CIRCLE.
The angle of the slope of the sides is as 10 to 9. That is, for every 10 feet you ascend up the slope of the Pyramid you rise in altitude 9 feet, and if you multiply the altitude of the Pyramid by 10 raised to the 9th power, you have 91,840,000, which in miles, gives the exact distance of the sun from the earth.
There is a twofold year, the "Sidereal," or year of the stars, and the "Equinoctial," or year of the seasons. They differ by about 50 seconds each year. That is, the stars in their rising and setting are retarded about 50 seconds a year, so that for the "Sidereal" and "Equinoctial" years to come around and again coincide, will take 25,827 years, which is known as a "CYCLE," and when we add together the diagonals of the Pyramid's base, in Pyramid inches, we have 25,827 inches, or as many inches as the Cycle has years.
In 1839 Sir John Herschel, assuming that the long, narrow, polished, descending passage, marked B B on Diagram "C," was meant to be levelled at the "Polar Star" of the date of the construction of the Pyramid, made a calculation and found that such was the case. That star has since been proven to be "ALPHA DRACONIS," the Polar Star of the year B.C. 2170. But "Alpha Draconis" by itself does not fix the date, but its combination with another star does. For a long time it was supposed that the sun of our Solar System was stationary, and that the planets and comets circled around it. But now we know that it is not stationary, but that it is circling, with all the members of our Solar System, around some central point in the Universe. This central point is now believed to be the Star "ALCYONE," the central star of the Pleiades. And it was to this star that the apex of the Pyramid pointed on the meridian at midnight of the year B.C. 2170. This combination of these two stars ("Alpha Draconis" and "Alcyone") will not occur again until the "PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES," or until 25827 years have rolled around,
But as at the time of the date of the building of the Pyramid (B.C. 2170) the "Polar Star" was a trifle to the East of the centre of the North side of the Pyramid, it was necessary to put the entrance passage at that point, and that accounts for why the tunnel driven in from the centre of the North side by the workmen of Ali Mamoun failed to hit the descending passage.
Entering the Pyramid we find that the descending entrance passage leads in a straight line down to a chamber marked "H" (Diagram "C"), which has been cut out of the solid rock, and is about 100 feet below the base of the Pyramid. This chamber appears to be unfinished, as it has a passageway leading out from the opposite side that stops short, and the bottom of the chamber is rough and unfinished.
The entrance passage is not quite 4 feet high, and a trifle over 3 feet 5 inches wide.
Descending this entrance passage, about 985 inches from the entrance an upward passage of the same size (D), leads upward at about the same angle as the descending passage, a distance of 1542 inches, when it opens out into a Grand Gallery 1882 inches long, that is 28 feet high, 6 feet wide at the bottom and narrows toward the top, the narrowing above the base sides being produced by 7 courses of stones, each course overhanging the one below.
About 3 feet from the entrance to the "Grand Gallery," on the West side, is a torn and ragged opening that leads into a well (W), that passes through the masonry of the Pyramid and solid rock in a serpentine manner, down to the chamber marked "H." Midway of this well is a cavern-shaped opening (S) made in the solid rock. Just above the mouth of this well a horizontal passageway (J) leads to a chamber (Q) called the Queen's Chamber. This chamber is 205 inches wide, 226 inches long, and has a triangular-shaped ceiling, and a vertical line let fall from the apex of the Pyramid passes through its centre.
At the top of the sloping floor of the "Grand Gallery" there is a vertical step (E) 3 feet high, the top of which leads to a low passageway (T) that opens into an "Ante-Chamber" (M), from which, by another low passageway (P), entrance is had into a large chamber (K), twice the size of the "Queen's Chamber." This chamber, called the "King's Chamber," is constructed of polished red granite, and is 412 inches long, 206 inches wide, and 230 inches high. It contains the only piece of furniture in the Pyramid, a stone "Coffer" (C), lidless and empty and cut from a solid block of red granite, polished within and without. It is an oblong rectangular trough, without inscription or ornament, and of a size that it could not possibly have been taken in or out of its place since the Pyramid was built. The King's Chamber has two ventilating tubes (VV), that connect with openings on the outside of the Pyramid, and keep the Chamber at the standard temperature of 68° Fahrenheit all the year round. The roof of the King's Chamber is composed of 9 heavy blocks of granite supported on the side walls, and above the roof are 5 hollow spaces (G), covered with massive stones, and so arranged as to carry the weight of the superincumbent mass of masonry. The "King's Chamber" is on the 50th layer of masonry, and the "Queen's Chamber" on the 25th. That the so-called King's and Queen's Chambers were not intended as Mortuary Chambers is seen when we, examine the Second and Third Pyramids (Diagram "C"), for in those pyramids, built for tombs, the Mortuary Chambers are built in the foundation of the Pyramid, as if those who built them knew nothing about the chambers and passageways in the centre of the Great Pyramid.
Now why all this interior arrangement of passageways and chambers? There was no architectural need for them unless the Great Pyramid was intended for a storehouse of historical or material treasure, or a mausoleum of the dead, of which it gives no evidence, for there are no interior decorations or hieroglyphics upon its walls or passageways, which are to be found in all the other pyramids that were built for tombs.
In Isaiah 19:19-20 there is a remarkable prophecy that most commentators fail to notice
"In THAT DAY shall there be an ALTAR to the Lord in the MIDST of the Land of Egypt, and a PILLAR at the BORDER thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a SIGN and for a WITNESS unto the Lord of Hosts in the Land of Egypt."
That this prophecy has not as yet been fulfilled is clear from the date mentioned-"THAT DAY," which is 3 times repeated in the context (verses 21, 23, 24), and which refers to the "Day of Lord" which is still future.
The prophecy declares that in "That Day" there shall be an "ALTAR" and a "PILLAR" in the MIDST of the LAND OF EGYPT (not Palestine), and at the BORDER thereof, and "IT" shall be for a SIGN and a WITNESS. The word "IT" conveys the idea that the "ALTAR" and "PILLAR" are not two different objects but are one and the same. While the word "Altar" in the Hebrew means the "Lion of God," and could refer to the "Sphinx," which is nearby, the "Great Pyramid" is pre-eminently the "lion" in massiveness and strength among buildings, and its shape also answers to the description of a "PILLAR," or mammoth pyramidal obelisk.
Then the position of the "Great Pyramid" harmonizes with the location of the "Altar and Pillar," which was to be in the MIDST of Egypt and at the BORDER thereof. In 1868 Professor H. Mitchell, of the United States Survey, was sent by the Government to report on the progress of the Suez Canal. Struck with the peculiar curvature of the shore line of the Delta of the Nile, he took a good map and drew a curved line touching all the prominent points of the coast, and found that it formed an arc of a sector whose centre was located at the site of the Great Pyramid.
Thus, without any knowledge of the Biblical prophecy, he confirmed the fact that the Great Pyramid was located at the centre or in the MIDST of Egypt, and as the Delta, or Lower Egypt, comprised the section of Egypt included in the sector, and the Great Pyramid stands 'on the BORDER between Upper and Lower Egypt. therefore the Great Pramid is both in the MIDST of Egypt, and on its BORDER. It would seem then that beyond question the Great Pyramid is the "Altar and Pillar" that the Prophet Isaiah declared should in the last days of this Dispensation be a "SIGN" and a "WITNESS" unto the Lord. If this be true then it becomes us to prayerfully, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, who spake through the Prophet, try to discover what the Great Pyramid as a "WITNESS" has to reveal to us.
THE GREAT PYRAMID AND CHRIST
In a remarkable passage in Job the earth is compared to a building. The question is asked Job
"Where wast thou when I laid the FOUNDATIONS of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the MEASURES thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the LINE upon it? Whereupon are the FOUNDATIONS thereof fastened? Or who laid the
'CORNER-STONE'
thereof; when the 'Morning Stars' sang together, and all the 'SONS OF GOD'
SHOUTED FOR JOY?"
Job 38:4-7.
The building referred to in the above passage must therefore be one with which Job was familiar. And to what can it better refer than to the Great Pyramid of which, as we shall see, Job was the probable builder, for what other form of building is there that has FOUR FOUNDATION STONES, and a CAPSTONE, or HEAD CORNER-STONE, but a pyramid?
In the above passage the "Foundations" are distinct from the "Corner-Stone," and it was not until the building was completed by the laying of the chief "CORNER" or "CAPSTONE," that the "SONS OF GOD," the angels, shouted for joy, as doubtless did the builders of the "Great Pyramid" when it was finished and dedicated.
The Great Pyramid is the only form of building that conforms to the symbolic description of the "SPIRITUAL BUILDING," spoken of in Scripture, of which Christ is said to be the "CHIEF CORNER-STONE."
"Ye are built upon the FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, Jesus Christ Himself being the
'CHIEF CORNER-STONE'
in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an 'HOLY TEMPLE' in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together, for an
'HABITATION OF GOD' through the Spirit."
Eph. 2:21-22.
There is no "CHIEF CORNER-STONE" in architectural construction but in a building of Pyramidal form, and in shape it is exactly like the building it tops out. To its angles is "ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER." Being five-sided there is no place for it in the building until the finishing touch is given, and therefore the builders rejected it until needed.
So we read of Christ-"The stone, which the builders DISALLOWED (REFUSED Psa. 118:22), the same is made the HEAD OF THE CORNER ("Chief Corner-Stone" Verse 6), and a 'STONE OF STUMBLING,' and a 'ROCK OF 'OFFENCE.'" 1 Pet. 2:7-8. Rom. 9:32-33. The "Capstone" of a pyramid until needed would be in the way, and a "Stone of Stumbling," and "Rock of Offence" to the workmen. So with Christ. Paul says-"We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a 'STUMBLING BLOCK,' and unto the Greeks 'FOOLISHNESS,'" or a "Rock of Offence." 1 Cor. 1:23.
The "Capstone" of a pyramid is 5 sided and 5 pointed, with one sharp point always sticking up. Anyone falling on it would be "broken" or injured, and when on its way to its lofty position, were it to fall on anyone, it would "GRIND HIM TO POWDER." Matt. 21:42-44. From what has been said we see that the Great Pyramid is symbolic of the Spiritual Building of which Christ is the "Chief Capstone."
THE GREAT PYRAMID AND DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH
Here we must tread softly lest we be charged with "Time Setting" and subject ourselves and our subject to ridicule. The interior measurements, while carefully and accurately made, can only be used approximately, for there are other things to be taken into account in drawing conclusions from them. All we shall essay to do is in broad outlines to suggest what the interior arrangement of passageways and chambers may be intended to teach Dispensationally, leaving to others who may come after to verify them.
As the polished descending passageway pointed in B.C. 2170, the date of the building of the Pyramid, to "ALPHA DRACONIS," the "chief star" in the Constellation of the "DRAGON" or "GREAT SERPENT," we see that the Pyramid reveals the existence of the "DEVIL," and as the passageway continues downward to an unfinished Chamber (H), which may, be intended to represent "Hell," we see that mankind, marching down that passage, would be under the sign and dominion of the Dragon with "Hell" as their destination.
About quarter way down the descending passageway we come to an ascending passage. This seems to indicate an upward trend of a part of the human race, and is believed by many to represent the period from the Exodus to the Birth of Christ.
The edges of the mouth of the well are ragged, as if its cover had been violently forced upward from below. The well then may represent the grave, and the open and ragged month the Resurrection of Christ, who could not be "holden of death," and the cavern ("S") the "UNDERWORLD," where His soul and spirit went to meet the penitent thief in its Paradise compartment. See the chapter on "The Spirit World." The seven overhanging courses of stone that form the sides of the "Grand Gallery" may represent the "Seven Church Periods." If the "Grand Gallery" represents the present Dispensation, and the low horizontal passageway ("T"), in which it ends, represents the "Tribulation," then we would naturally expect some outlet from the "Grand Gallery" for the "Rapture of the Church." Upon investigation, such an opening was found in a corner of the ceiling leading into the open spaces over the ceiling of the "King's Chamber." See ("R"). This opening was tilled with the remains of bats, showing that only winged beings could find an exit there.
The end wall of the "Grand Gallery" at this point leans inward as if to indicate that the Rapture of the Church will precede by some years the "Tribulation Period." That the "Grand Gallery" was constructed with such grand proportions, out of all harmony with the '"Tomb Theory." seems to indicate that it was constructed with special reference to the Present Dispensation.
If the low passageway ("T") represents the "Tribulation," and the "Ante-Room" the "Millennium," the low passageway represents the Apostasy of Gog and Magog at the close of the Millennium, and the "King's C hamber" ("K") the New Heavens and the New Earth, or the Eternal State.
The "King's Chamber" is so called because it was supposed to have been built to contain the body of the King, and the "Queen's Chamber" to hold the body of the Queen. But as we have seen the Great Pyramid was not constructed for a tomb. In the "King's Chamber" we find the only article of furniture in the Pyramid, a "COFFER." It is a lidless, empty box, cut from a solid block of red granite, and polished within and without, but without ornamentation or inscription. Its inside length and width is large enough to receive the Sarcophagus of a man 6 feet tall, but there is no indication of its ever being used for that purpose. The remarkable thing about it is, that its interior capacity is exactly equal to that of the Ark of the Covenant of the Tabernacle, or one-fiftieth of Solomon's molten sea. Here again we note an agreement between the Pyramid and the Scriptures, as if the "Coffer" and the "Ark of the Covenant" were designed by the same Divine Architect.
From the mouth of the well a horizontal passageway leads to the chamber, called the "Queen's Chamber." One-seventh of the way from the "Queen's Chamber" it drops to a lower level and forms the unfinished floor of the "Queen's Chamber." This horizontal passageway is supposed to represent the Jews in their present dispersed condition. and the beginning of the passageway about 70 inches from the commencement of the "Grand Gallery," the date of their dispersion, A.D. 70. The fact that this low horizontal passageway terminates in the "Queen's Chamber" seems to confirm the teaching of Scripture that the Jews will again become a great and leading nation.
Paul tells us in Rom. 11:25, that "BLINDNESS IN PART is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in," and a remarkable thing, connected with the "Queen's Chamber," is that it was noted for its foul air and noisome smell for lack of ventilation, but in the year 1872 a visitor to the Pyramid noticed in the south wall of the Queen's Chamber a crack, into which he inserted a piece of wire that met no obstruction. A workman was sent for who, with a hammer and chisel, cut into the wall and disclosed an air tube, evidently purposely made, and extending back about 7 feet, and then turning upward. The mouth of this tube, for 5 inches back from the side of the chamber, for some mysterious reason, had been tilled up, and the existence of the tube left unknown. At the same location, on the opposite wall of the Chamber, a similar tube was discovered hidden behind the surface of the wall. Why were these tubes thus hidden if it were not with some symbolic intent?
How beautifully then do they symbolize the blindness of the Jews that is to remain as Scales upon their eyes until they are converted, and as their conversion is not to be until after they have been restored to their land, symbolized by the "Queen's Chamber," we see how the removal of the scales from the mouth of the tubes beautifully symbolizes the removal of Israel's blindness. The "Queen's Chamber" might therefore well be called the "JEWS' CHAMBER."
The position of the "Queen's Chamber," almost directly under the ending of the "Grand Gallery," would seem to teach that the gathering back of the Jews would begin about the time of the ending of this Present Dispensation, which harmonizes with the teaching of the Scriptures.
The strange thing about the "Great Pyramid" is, that, if it were simply built for the sepulchre of a king and his wife, why does it record so many mathematical and astronomical facts, and why were the interior passageways and chambers so constructed and arranged as to harmonize with the prophetic teachings of the Scriptures?
WHO BUILT THE GREAT PYRAMID?
The "Great Pyramid" was built during the reign of Cheops, and Herodotus tells us that it took the labor of 100,000 men 20 years to build it, and that during its building the idol temples of Egypt were closed. Manetho, an Egyptian priest, records how at that time-"the Deity was displeased with us; and there came up from the East in a strange manner, men of an ignoble race, who had the confidence to invade our country and easily subdued it by their power without a battle. And when they had our rulers in their hands they demolished the temples of the gods."
Herodotus tells us that they called the pyramids after "PHILITION," a shepherd who at that time fed his flocks about the place. This "PHILITION," or "PHILITIS," appears to have been the Architect of the Great Pyramid. He was an Arabian, but went up to Philistia in Judea with those who went up, and was known in Manetho's time as "PHILITION," the Philistine. Who then was "PHILITION"? Some have identified him with Shem, others with Melchisedec, but the writer believes he was "JOB." Job was the greatest man in the East, or Arabia. Job 1:3. His age (he lived to be nearly 250 years old) places him back before the days of Abraham (B.C. 2000), who lived to the age of 175 years, and locates him as living at the time when the Great Pyramid was built. And in the 38th chapter of Job, the Almighty speaks to Job as if he was the identical person who built the Great Pyramid, laying its foundations, and placing its "Capstone" in position, while the people shouted for joy. That Job had great meteorological and astronomical knowledge is clear from the way God spoke to him about the snow (vs. 22), and the rain vs. 25-28). and the ice (vs. 29:30). and the heavenly bodies (vs. 31-32), and the weather probabilities (vs. 33-34), and electricity (vs. 35), and there can be no question but what God would impart to such a man as Job, who was so God-fearing and spiritual, that he was both a prince and a priest, all the Scriptural and prophetical knowledge that is embodied in the arrangement of the passageways and chambers of the Great Pyramid. It does not follow. however, that Job knew the symbolic meaning of the construction of the Great Pyramid any more than the Prophets understood their prophecies. 1 Pet. 1:10-12. The Almighty may have given to Job the plan of the Great Pyramid, as Moses was given the plan of the Tabernacle and its furnishings on Mount Sinai.
There is no question but what the people of Job's day were well versed in the mechanic arts. It was not long after the Flood, and the skill of the artizans of Noah's day, and of the Babel builders had not been lost. This is evident from the Temples and Palaces of Egypt that were built in those days. But the Great Pyramid was unlike any of them. It was a new kind of Architecture, the first of its kind, and such as the world had never seen before. The plainness of its outlines, and the slope and smoothness of its sides. and the absence of all ornamentation, was a striking contrast to the Egyptian style of Architecture. Whence came it? It must have come from some source not Egyptian. Why? Because there was a purpose in its building. It was built to record mathematical, astronomical, and Scriptural knowledge, that should bear witness to the inspiration of the Scriptures in these last days. That accounts for its peculiar architectural shape, and the character of its inferior construction. To that end it was sealed up that in the closing days of this Dispensation it might disclose its message to an unbelieving world.
CONTENT DISCLAIMER:
The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
Posted on Dec 3, 2004 by Good News 106 comments
Is it even possible that December 25 could be the day of Christ's birth?
Shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:7-8). Shepherds were not in the fields during December.
History convincingly shows that December 25 was popularized as the date for Christmas, not because Christ was born on that day but because it was already popular in pagan religious celebrations as the birthday of the sun.
The biblical accounts point to the fall of the year as the most likely time of Jesus' birth.
But is it possible that December 25 could be the day of Christ's birth?
"Lacking any scriptural pointers to Jesus's birthday, early Christian teachers suggested dates all over the calendar. Clement. . . picked November 18. Hippolytus . . . figured Christ must have been born on a Wednesday . . . An anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around A.D.
A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that December 25 is an unlikely date for Christ's birth. Here are two primary reasons:
1. We know that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:7-8).
Shepherds were not in the fields during December. According to Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, Luke's account "suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night"
Similarly, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary says this passage argues "against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted" shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields at night.
2. Jesus' parents came to Bethlehem to register in a Roman census (Luke 2:1-4).
Such censuses were not taken in winter, when temperatures often dropped below freezing and roads were in poor condition. Taking a census under such conditions would have been self-defeating.
Given the difficulties and the desire to bring pagans into Christianity, "the important fact then . . . to get clearly into your head is that the fixing of the date as December 25th was a compromise with paganism" (William Walsh, The Story of Santa Klaus, 1970, p. 62).
Did Jesus Christ birth occur on December 25th? Can we even know when Christ was born? Should we really be celebrating His birth?
Watch the video "When Was Jesus Born?"
If Jesus Christ wasn't born on December 25, does the Bible indicate when He was born?
The biblical accounts point to the fall of the year as the most likely time of Jesus' birth, based on the conception and birth of John the Baptist.
Since Elizabeth (John's mother) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36), we can determine the approximate time of year Jesus was born if we know when John was born.
John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Historical calculations indicate this course of service corresponded to June 13-19 in that year.
It was during this time of temple service that Zacharias learned that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a child (Luke 1:8-13). After he completed his service and traveled home,
Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:23-24). Assuming John's conception took place near the end of June, adding nine months brings us to the end of March as the most likely time for John's birth. Adding another six months (the difference in ages between John and Jesus) brings us to the end of September as the likely time of Jesus' birth.
December 25th was picked as the date for Jesus's birthday because it aligned with the pagan festival of Yule. It made it easier for pagans to convert.
Historians hypothesize he was most likely born in the summer because of the info we have.
Easter eggs and the bunny are Ostara traditions.
It’s pretty common knowledge he was likely born sometime in September. Xmas is on 12/25 because it originated from the pagan holiday of Yule, which celebrates the winter solstice.
When Christians took over pagan communities and essentially forced them to convert, they took their holidays to make the transition smoother.
Yule was typically celebrated by decorating trees with red and green. They’d also burn “Yule logs.”
Easter is taken from the pagan holiday Ostara, which celebrates the spring equinox and was celebrated with symbols of rabbits and eggs to symbolize fertility.
Whispers of the Time
Although the Bible doesn’t specifically tell us when Jesus was born, it does provide some “whispers” of when He might have been born.
1) It was not likely to have occurred after October.
The weather in Israel turns very cold in the late fall, and it would have been too cold for the flocks to have been in the fields overnight.
Luke 2:8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
2) It’s also unlikely that the Roman official, Caesar Augustus, would have issued a decree for a census in December (Luke 2:1).
The census required people to travel to the city of their birth (Luke 2:3) and the terrain of Judea would have been difficult, or even impassable, during winter months. Jesus expressed this when warning about fleeing during tribulation:
Matthew 24:20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter…
3) A clue that Jesus’ birth might have been in September is the He came to tabernacle (dwell) with us.
September is the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, celebrated in remembrance of the Israelite’s time of wandering in the desert This feast is a time of remembering when God dwelt among them and provided for them, and a time of looking forward in joy to the coming of the Messiah and the Messianic age.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
For these reasons and more, most Bible students believe Jesus’ birth was more likely in September during the Feast of Tabernacles than in December. In September, the sheep would have been in the fields overnight, travel in Judea would have been possible, and, significantly, God came to dwell with His people.
John the Baptist’s Birth Provides Insight
Additionally, the timing of the birth of John the Baptist lends further support that Jesus was born in September. Luke tells us that John’s mother, Elizabeth, was Mary’s cousin and the wife of Zacharias, a priest of the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5, 8-13, 23-24).
Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah.
Determining the Time of John’s Birth
To begin to understand when John was born, we start with the clue that his father was of the priestly course of Abijah. Priests were divided into 24 courses for their service in the Temple, and they served for one week, beginning on the Sabbath (1 Chronicles 24:7-19)
We know from the Talmud (rabbinic teachings) and Josephus (a reputable Roman-Jewish scholar and historian) that the Temple was destroyed by Titus on August 5th, 70 AD, and that the first course of priests had just taken office. Since the course of Abijah was the eighth course (1 Chronicles 24:10), it can be determined by counting backward that Zacharias would have ended his duties on July 13th, 3 BC.
Luke 1:23-24 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months.
Elizabeth hid herself for five months, uncertain about how her pregnancy would be viewed. The Bible tells that in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her…
Luke 1:31 behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Soon thereafter, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and stayed with her until Elizabeth’s ninth month. Mary departed just prior to John’s birth.
If John was born nine months after Zacharias completed his course (July 13, 3 BC), he would have been born in April, 2 BC. If his birth occurred 280 days from July 13, 3 BC, the date would have been April 19-20, 2 BC, which was Passover that year.
We know that Elizabeth was in her sixth month when Mary conceived and went with haste to visit her.
Luke 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
Luke 1:39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda
Because Elizabeth was in her sixth month, and Mary was already pregnant, John would have been five months older than Jesus, which would place Jesus’ birthdate in September, 2 BC at the time of the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles, fitting with the Scriptures that says Jesus came to tabernacle (dwell) with us.
Conclusion
Of course, this reasoning is all very interesting, but remember that no one knows for certain the exact date of Jesus’ birth. The details the Bible does provide makes it likely that Jesus was born in September. But remember that the actual date on which we celebrate Jesus’ birth is not what is important. What really matters is that we remember and praise God for what He has clearly revealed to us, that which we know to be true — Jesus came to earth to live among us, fully God and fully man. He experienced everything that we experience and yet He lived a sinless life in obedience to the will of His Father. He lived to be our example and gave His life to be our Saviour. He paid for our sins so we can be forgiven and have eternal life with Him.
One Final Thought
Assuming that Jesus was born at the Feast of Tabernacles (late September), there is still a very good reason to celebrate on December 25th, which would be nine months prior to a late September birth. Late December would be the time when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived. Since we know that life begins at conception, late December would have been the time when Jesus entered into our world. Our December 25th celebration is really a time of celebrating the Lord’s incarnation, which began at conception, and it’s a reminder of the importance of fighting against abortion and upholding the sanctity of life of the pre-born. Life is sacred and must be protected. . . from the time it begins at conception.
Coming from a non religious home Christmas was not a big day even though we later had a Christmas tree with real candles and a pail of water standing by no gifts were exchanged that day.
The Dutch brought Saint Nicolaas to America were he became santa claus.
Nicholas’s existence is not attested by any historical document, so nothing certain is known of his life except that he was probably bishop of Myra in the 4th century. According to tradition, he was born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and, when young, traveled to Palestine and Egypt.
He became bishop of Myra soon after returning to Lycia. He was imprisoned and likely tortured during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Diocletian but was released under the rule of Constantine the Great. He may have attended the first Council of Nicaea (325), where he allegedly struck the heretic Arius in the face. He was buried in his church at Myra, and by the 6th century his shrine there had become well known.
In 1087 Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged remains from Myra and took them to Bari, Italy; this removal greatly increased the saint’s popularity in Europe, and Bari became one of the most crowded of all pilgrimage centres. Nicholas’s relics remain enshrined in the 11th-century basilica of San Nicola at Bari, though fragments have been acquired by churches around the world. In 2017 researchers dated one such relic fragment, a piece of hip bone, from a church in the United States and confirmed it to be from the 4th century.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti: Saving Myra from Famine
Saving Myra from Famine, detail of a panel from Four Stories from the Life of St. Nicholas, tempera on wood by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, c. 1330–32; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Discern the real St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, from the gift-giving Santa Claus of yuletide
Discern the real St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra, from the gift-giving Santa Claus of yuletide
Learn about the life of the historical St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra.
Nicholas’s reputation for generosity and kindness gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. He was reputed to have given marriage dowries of gold to three girls whom poverty would otherwise have forced into lives of prostitution and to have restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a tub of brine.
In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe. He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, in Switzerland, and Moscow.
Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him—one, built by the Roman emperor Justinian I at Constantinople (now Istanbul), as early as the 6th century. Nicholas’s miracles were a favourite subject for medieval artists and liturgical plays, and his traditional feast day was the occasion for the ceremonies of the Boy Bishop, a widespread European custom in which a boy was elected bishop and reigned until Holy Innocents’ Day (December 28).
This section of the “Beatitudes” is one of the most loved portions of the Gospel. It forms the beginning of what has come to be known as the “Sermon on the Mount” which is recorded in Matthew 5-7. The preaching of this sermon may have come a little later in the chronology of the life of Christ; but Matthew placed it here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry because it forms such a grand proclamation of the kingdom. It is the first of the five major discourses that Matthew includes.
We first need to fill in what Matthew has included between this passage and the last one we studied. Matthew followed the account of the temptation of Jesus with a brief note that Jesus began to preach a message of repentance because the kingdom of heaven was near (4:12-17). In order to reach a wider audience, He moved from Nazareth to the city of Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, but more importantly, on the main highway through the land. His declaration of beatitudes would come, but not until He called for repentance.
Matthew then reported the calling of the first disciples, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, who were fishing (4:18-20). Jesus promised to make them fishers of men, for He was beginning to build His kingdom. He then called James and John, also fishermen, who were mending nets in their boat (4:21-22). The authority of the king to call people to follow Him is clearly portrayed by these events.
Then Matthew reports the popular success of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (4:23-25). He went throughout the region proclaiming the message of the kingdom, and authenticating His claims by healing people. Throngs of people responded to His ministry from as far away as Jerusalem.
So that brings us to the present lesson, from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus saw the crowds coming to Him, so He went up on a mountainside and sat down, the well-known posture of the teacher. The traditional location of this “mount” is the low hills behind the region of Capernaum and the other fishing villages on the shore. His disciples came to Him, and so Jesus began to teach them. And what follows is the material of Jesus’ teaching.1_ftn1
This is the first and longest message of Jesus that we have in the gospel. Jesus had been announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and He had been calling for people to repent. Now, in what has been described as the manifesto of His kingdom, Jesus unveils the foundations and character of life in that kingdom. Here He teaches the ethical guidelines for life in His kingdom; and the guidelines point to the quality of righteousness that characterizes life in the kingdom, now in part, but fully in the future.2_ftn2
The discourse was intended for the nation of Israel, the crowds who had been flocking to Jesus. But it was delivered immediately to the disciples. Jesus here considered His disciples the “true Israel” (the spiritual Israel) which is already present and beginning life in the kingdom; and He considered the crowds the “Israel” of the future, the Israel that is hoped for, who should repent and follow the king. Or to put it another way, Jesus spoke to all the people of the true will of God, the righteousness that they must all exhibit if they repent and enter His kingdom, but which the disciples had already begun to perform. So the entire sermon is directed to all. And its theme is the righteousness that is the standard of his kingdom.
So in some ways this sermon will tell people just how righteous they must be to enter the kingdom, and what that righteous life should look like for citizens of the kingdom. But it does not include the details of how this righteousness may be attained.
The sermon begins with the beatitudes.
Matthew 5:3–12
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
“I served … as a military intelligence officer and Russian and German linguist in the U.S. Army. Through the experience of war, I now value more than ever the words of Jesus Christ: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9). We are all God’s children, all brothers and sisters.”
—Richard, economic developer
The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount
The Beatitudes help us better understand the blessings God has in store for us and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Each beatitude looks at different circumstances of life and how all Christians are blessed through their faith. Through these 8 Beatitudes, Jesus teaches of virtues and values in life that will result in blessings and rewards. These beatitudes are not singled out for specific people - they are blessings applicable to all Christians.
These Scriptures will encourage you and give you hope as you face each day knowing that you are called blessed! No matter your age, job, or family role, if you apply the beatitudes to your life you will experience a joyful, fulfilled life! You can read the full Bible passage below where the words of Jesus are recorded, however, here is a short summary of the beatitudes.
The 8 Beatitudes and Their Meaning
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
The poor in spirit are those who feel a deep sense of spiritual destitution and comprehend their nothingness before God. The kingdom of heaven is theirs, because they seek it, and therefore find and abide in it. To this virtue is opposed the pride of the Pharisee, which caused him to thank God that he was not as other men, and to despise and reject the kingdom of heaven. There must be emptiness before there can be fullness, and so poverty of spirit precedes riches and grace in the kingdom of God.
2. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
The blessing is not upon all that mourn but upon those who mourn in reference to sin. They shall be comforted by the discovery and appropriation of God's pardon. But all mourning is traced directly or indirectly to sin. We may take it, therefore, that in its widest sense the beatitude covers all those who are led by mourning to a discerning of sin, and who so deplore its effects and consequences in the world as to yearn for and seek the deliverance which is in Christ.
3. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth
The humble would receive far greater than the arrogant and prideful. Not only do the meek enjoy more of life on earth because of their ability to be content, but they will possess and enjoy the earth after Jesus' return and triumphal entry.
4. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Because of Christ, we can cling to the promise of everlasting righteousness in heaven. While we are called to live like Christ, we also have forgiveness of sin.
5. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Mercy is an active virtue that Christians can show to each other because we have been given mercy ourselves. Since God has forgiven our offenses, we should forgive others and show mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
The pure in heart are those who are free from evil desires and purposes. They can see and experience God's presence because they are free from self-righteousness and arrogance.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
The term includes all who make peace between men, whether as individuals or as communities. It includes even those who worthily endeavor to make peace, though they fail of success. They shall be called God's children because he is the God of peace who sent His own Son as the Prince of Peace.
8. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Those who suffer because of their loyalty to the kingdom of heaven are blessed by being bound more closely to that kingdom for which they suffer.
Most of us approached the Beatitudes as if there's some sort of platitude [inaudible 00:00:18] phraseology and principles on how to live life. I mean that's usually how they're approached, but that is very far removed from what they actually are.
I'll give you an example. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. That's not what they expected to come before theirs is the kingdom of God. What they expected to hear was, "You're Abraham, therefore yours is the kingdom of God." What Jesus said was, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Well, they believed in self-righteousness because of who they were. Jesus says, "No, it's actually the broken people, those who recognize their need for God, the poor in spirit, people who are spiritual beggars inherit the kingdom." He didn't say, Abraham, He didn't say the descendants of Abraham, and He didn't say Jews, and He didn't say Pharisees. He didn't say good people. He didn't say moral people, He said broken people. Those are the ones that inherit the kingdom of God.
So Jesus' audience is sitting there having learned what they've learned from their tradition, and Jesus drops this grenade and it touches every nerve in the audience because every single one of them underneath the facade of their life realizes they actually are poor in spirit. And so He turns the thing upside down.
They realize, as the Bible will go on to explain, that they need righteousness which is much greater than their own, which is exactly what Jesus says in Matthew chapter five unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Basically what He said was, "You're not getting in in your own righteousness."
And so the Beatitudes go through and they just throw off all of these misunderstandings about what constitutes a devotion to God and what man truly needs. It is the Beatitudes, which ultimately get Jesus killed as He explains them in every possible way that He can as they flow. That is their principle and core meeting through all of His teaching and put Him on the cross, and save those by His death who are poor in spirit.
What Is the Meaning of the Beatitudes?
During His ministry on earth, Jesus preached powerful sermons that exposed error and breathed revelation. In His Sermon on the Mount, our Lord revealed eight mysterious promises that accompany Kingdom living. In awe and wonder the disciples marveled at Jesus’s explanation of the beatitudes, knowing that the blessings were already theirs—while masses of mountainside seekers hung on Jesus’s words of hope.
“Never before had His audience heard such marvelous truths presented in such an interesting and meaningful manner. They longed to have those promises incarnate in their lives. And so do we,” says Chuck Swindoll in The Beatitudes: Three Observations.
The word beatitude comes from the Latin word beatitudo, meaning blessedness. Eight times during the opening lines of Jesus’s revolutionary Sermon, He repeats the phrase “blessed are”. The message He means to convey through these proclamations of blessing—or beatitudes—is a simple one, but it flies in the face of everything the spiritual leaders were teaching at the time.
With each conditional promise of provision came an instruction in true righteousness, illustrated by one small character trait.
Up to that point, the Jewish people had been raised on long lists of strict rules and regulations taught by the Scribes and Pharisees through the law of Moses. But no one had ever been able to fulfill all the requirements of the law and obtain righteousness. No. Not one. Yet, Jesus was taking these impossible laws, boiling them down to their truest essence, then baiting the proclamation with promises of provision from God, rather than judgment. He spoke to His audience as if these collective traits were not only attainable but theirs for the taking.
The unregenerate listeners were mesmerized. They could hear the revelatory truth in Jesus’s words—feel it. They’d already witnessed His miracles and knew Jesus possessed God’s power. They instinctively believed in the promises He preached and longed for them. But how could they possibly live this countercultural lifestyle and become these perfect people Jesus described? To do so their righteousness would have to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).
Meanwhile, Jesus’s disciples basked in the news of all they’d inherited through Christ. They realized on that day that the promises Jesus spoke of were a byproduct of the true blessing—the ability, through Christ’s power, to live a life of righteousness.
What Are the Beatitudes?
Jesus had just begun His ministry. After numerous healings, demon extractions, miracles, and teachings, the Son of Man had gained an enormous following. A crowd of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon flocked around him in hopes to be touched by Jesus’s healing power—which literally flowed from Him (Luke 6:17-19).
When Jesus saw the crowds, He went to a nearby mountainside and prayed all day and night. When morning came, He called his disciples to him and designated twelve of them as apostles (Luke 6:13). The hordes of followers still clamored for Jesus’s attention, so He gathered His disciples, sat them down on the mountainside, and began teaching them within the hearing of the masses (Matthew 5:1,2).
Jesus began His teaching with eight statements of correlating blessing, instruction, and promise, which have come to be known as the beatitudes. Here’s a brief summary of each of Jesus’s powerful declarations:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Jesus began His sermon with this statement because it’s the key to all the others. For centuries the Jewish people had relied on their own spiritual integrity to fulfill the laws of Moses. The problem is after sin entered the world that feat became impossible.
The laws were given by God through Moses to bring mankind to the understanding that humans possess no inherent goodness of their own, and they have no ability to draw close to a Holy God apart from perfection (Romans 7).
Jesus gives His listeners the keys to the Kingdom with this first statement, by prescribing the only means by which the spirit of man can be revived. To be “poor in spirit” one must admit their own utter spiritual destitution. They must be broken and contrite over the realization that they possess absolutely nothing to commend themselves to the Father and have no right to His Kingdom.
That separation causes such emptiness and pain, that those who experience it will often attempt to self-medicate through distraction, vain pursuits of pleasure, or even drugs. But only when we acknowledge and embrace the mournful state of our sinful hearts, can we find the comfort of our Redeemer. Our Godly sorrow leads us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-11).
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Jesus spoke these words to a group who would have found this statement perplexing. Theirs was a world where Caesars ruled by force and armies killed to claim land. Today’s lost world would find the declaration equally odd. In a culture where rights are everything and pride is a virtue, the brand of meekness seems like an insult that suggests weakness.
But the meekness Jesus spoke of—and lived out—was far from weak. He chose to surrender His rights and submit to the Father’s will, He poured Himself out for those He came to save, He became a servant even unto death so that the power of God could be displayed through Him. Through His meekness, He literally saved the world (Philippians 2:6-11). Only through the surrender of our will to the Father’s can we experience the power of meekness.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). The words translated as “hunger” and “thirst” here are related to words that describe someone dying of starvation and one in danger of death through dehydration. This likens to David’s outcry in Psalm 42, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”
Many today, like those on the hill listening to Jesus’s message, desire to tap into Jesus’s power for personal needs like healing, prosperity, or wisdom. But Jesus knew that the only thing that would truly satisfy their souls, and ours, is the righteousness of God.
Jesus is God’s righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). He came to earth as the bread that gives life to the world, and those who partake in His living water never thirst again. When we seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness first, He promises to take care of all our other needs (Matthew 6:33).
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). The pagan Roman world of Jesus’s time despised pity, likewise the Pharisees doled out mercy with extreme prejudice because they saw the suffering of others as a consequence of sin (Matthew 23:23). But Jesus prescribed a new way of dealing with people. This kind of mercy—the unmerited kind—would have been a foreign concept, yet it opened the door for Jesus’s ultimate example of mercy to be revealed in the form of His saving grace.
“While God’s work of creation demonstrated His mighty power, God’s work of redemption revealed His marvelous love, shown through His mercy and grace. This very love of God is indispensable for the existence of life and the salvation of humanity,” says Philip Wijiaya in What Is the Difference Between Grace and Mercy?
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). The Hebrew word for peace, Shalom, means much more than just absence from strife. It means completeness or wholeness. Apart from Christ, it’s impossible to live at peace with others because He is our Shalom. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:14-16).
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus followed this last beatitude with several verses that expand on the idea of persecution to include insults, lies and enduring all kinds of evil for His namesake (Matthew 5:10-12).
Persecution was a familiar concept to Jesus’s disciples in that day. Through Christ’s strength, they daily bore the burden of horrific oppression and torture for the sake of the Gospel. While rare in the U.S., it might surprise you to know that in other parts of the world Christian persecution is considered one of the largest human rights issues of our era.
According to Open Doors, a ministry dedicated to the radical idea that every Christian belongs to one Church and one Family, within the last year “4,761 Christians were killed for their faith, 4,488 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked, 4,277 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned.” As the Body of Christ, if one of us is persecuted so are we all.
We have the responsibility to support our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer persecution (Hebrews 13:3). We should do this with the awareness that “while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived,” there may be a day coming when we are the ones standing in the need of prayer. For “If you live a godly life, you will be persecuted. You can count on this. It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when and how much. (2 Timothy 3:12),” Greg Laurie reminds us in The Promise of Persecution?
Why Did Jesus Preach on These?
As Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, starting with the beatitudes, He was not offering His listeners a new set dos and don’ts for Godly living.
On the contrary, the whole purpose of Jesus’s message was to offer a new way—revealed truth—and everlasting life. The character traits defined in the beatitudes were every bit as unattainable as Moses’s commands had been. But they all pointed to the One who could change that.
Jesus was offering the seekers in the audience a glimpse of the power His Spirit could work through them. The Kingdom of Heaven was within their grasp. Jesus showed them what it looked like so they would hunger for the freedom His salvation would bring.
Through Christ’s indwelling Spirit those who were once bound to the deeds of the flesh, and perishing under the burden of the law, would be set free to live in Jesus’s righteousness, as God’s own children (Romans 8:11-15).
Transcript
Dr. Reagan: What are the key events in the end times that the Bible tells us will occur? Are any of them happening today? And if so does that mean we are near the time of the Lord’s return? Stay tuned for an interview with one of America’s foremost Bible prophecy experts.
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Part 1
Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus our Blessed Hope and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. We have in store for you what I know is going to be an interesting interview. Our special guest for a second time is the person who I refer to as the Dean of American Bible Prophecy Experts. His name is Noah Hutchings and he is the director of a Bible prophecy ministry in Oklahoma City that is called Southwest Radio Ministries. Noah, welcome back to Christ in Prophecy for a second week.
Pastor Hutchings: Thank you, Brother Reagan.
Dr. Reagan: We really enjoyed talking with last week about your wonderful book, 40 Irrefutable Signs of the Last Generation. But this week we want to shift gears, we don’t want to talk about signs of the times, we want to talk instead about the end time events that the Bible talks about. I am also glad to have with me Nathan Jones who is our Web Minister here at Lamb and Lion. And in that capacity he not only maintains our website but he is on that website everyday ministering to people all around the world, answering their questions and debating with them. He has an interesting, I tell people send him the most difficult questions you possible have, be sure to send them to Nathan. And you get them don’t you Nathan?
Nathan Jones: Yes, sir, quite a lot.
Dr. Reagan: Ok, well Nathan how about you kicking off this interview?
Nathan Jones: Alright sir good to have you back on the program. We are talking about end time events and one of the most controversial end time event seems to be the Rapture of the church. Could you tell us a little about the meaning of the Rapture and why it is controversial?
Pastor Hutchings: Well of course the theories or opinions or teachings about the Rapture, the Rapture as referred to by you and me of course is the, at the end of this dispensation the dead in Christ shall rise and we will go up to meet the Lord. That is the–
Dr. Reagan: He will come for His Church.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes, He comes for His Church. There are several views about that, I’m sure some of them are rather controversial. You know you get into a discussion with those who believe in a Post-Trib you know you can get into some rather interesting dialogue.
Dr. Reagan: Well basically what you are saying is that there is a lot of controversy as to the timing of the Rapture.
Pastor Hutchings: That is true.
Dr. Reagan: Some would say it is going to be before the Tribulation. Some in the middle of the Tribulation. Some near the end of the Tribulation, and some say it’s just all going to be one thing with the Second Coming at the end of the Tribulation. What is your view point?
Pastor Hutchings: We are Pre-Trib, meaning that we hold to the Pre-Trib position that when the Church Age has come to an end the Rapture will occur, the translation of the Church to Heaven. Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica they were under great persecution and he told them the hope that would be, the final hope is the Rapture of the Church. The dead in Christ will rise first, and that we will rise to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. If the Church was going through the Tribulation, as some believe, the Post-Trib position, why would Paul try to give them comfort by referring to the coming of Christ?
Dr. Reagan: Yes, yes.
Pastor Hutchings: Because they still have to go through the Tribulation the Church has. So I know there’s a lot of different opinions. But we believe that the Church Age will end, the Christian era will end before the Tribulation begins.
Pastor Hutchings: Well you look at the book of Revelation for example the first three chapters concern the Church. I think it is a prophetic history of the Church Age. And then you go into Revelation 4 which is the beginning of the Tribulation period. You go through chapter 19 for the Tribulation period to end. Between chapters 4 and chapters 19 the Church is not mentioned one time. The Christian is not mentioned one time.
Dr. Reagan: There are references to Saints.
Pastor Hutchings: Well there are references to Saints, of course a Saint, we’re all saints. We are all set apart.
Dr. Reagan: Well those would be people saved during the Tribulation.
Pastor Hutchings: Well they will but they will be saved for refusing to take the mark of the Beast, or worship his image.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
Pastor Hutchings: But that is not a commandment now.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
Pastor Hutchings: So, the Church is not mentioned in the Tribulation setting.
Dr. Reagan: But he mentions it again after the Tribulation.
Pastor Hutchings: After the Tribulation. Sure we read about the 144,000 Israelites will be saved and set apart. There will be Saints in the Tribulation, mean there will be some saved, that is simply what the means. You’re a Saint because you have been sanctified and set apart.
Dr. Reagan: Well I’ve always felt like that one of the major arguments in behalf of a Pre-Tribulational Rapture is imminence. The Bible says that Jesus can come any moment, any moment. But if you don’t believe in a Pre-Tribulational Rapture He cannot come any moment because there are a whole lot of things that have to happen. Like there has to be a temple built in Israel. There has to be the Antichrist. There has to be the Tribulation. The only way that Jesus can come any moment is for you to believe in a Rapture before the Tribulation.
Pastor Hutchings: That is absolutely true. And I think if you study the Pauline Epistles and the messages through the churches I can’t find anywhere in there that Christians are admonished that they have to be careful about not worshipping the mark of the Beast, or about a Tribulation period.
Dr. Reagan: And never are we told to look for the Antichrist; we are told to look for Jesus Christ.
Pastor Hutchings: Look for Jesus Christ, that’s true.
Dr. Reagan: What about you Nathan. What are you feelings about the Pre-Trib Rapture?
Nathan Jones: Well I think the Pre-Trib Rapture makes sense. I mean we are talking about the bride of Christ, the Church, and God loves the bride. Jesus is to marry the bride. Well you don’t bring…I heard Don McGee say this recently, I thought this was great, he says, “You know He’s got most of the bride with Him right now in Heaven, but part of the bride, that’s us, is still on earth. Well you don’t beat up part of your wife for seven years under your own judgments and expect afterwards she’s going to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to marry you.'” It just doesn’t happen. God wants all of His bride to be with Him during, up in Heaven and protected from His wrath.
Dr. Reagan: Well that raises a good point because you now the idea that the Church, some people say, “Well the Church has to go through the Tribulation to be purified.”
Nathan Jones: Jesus’ blood.
Dr. Reagan: Well if we’re not purified by the blood of Christ.
Nathan Jones: Amen.
Dr. Reagan: We certainly don’t need the Tribulation.
Pastor Hutchings: There is no reason for the Church to go through the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: Well I hear people all the time say that the Church needs to be there because otherwise the people won’t hear the Gospel. But there’s many ways that people hear the Gospel during the Tribulation right?
Dr. Reagan: Hey, there is going to be Bibles around all over the place.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Reagan: Plus we’ve got two witnesses in Jerusalem who will be proclaiming the Gospel.
Nathan Jones: Or the Gospel Angel that to me that is the big one, and angel that actually goes to everybody in the Tribulation and shares the Gospel so that no person by the end of the Tribulation is without excuse.
Pastor Hutchings: Israel will go through the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, unfortunately.
Pastor Hutchings: Because of course they today, as I mentioned I’ve been to Israel many, many times. And Israel today less than 1/3 of 1% believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. They still are rejecting. They are taught in school in Israel the schools the children are taught, that would the Messiah have destroyed the Temple? Would the Messiah have collaborated with the Romans to destroy Jerusalem? They say of course not. So Jesus is not the Messiah. And they are looking for the Messiah to come.
Dr. Reagan: As you know as well as I do, as many times you have been to Israel that there are thousands of guides there who have their heads full of Scripture, they have to in order to be qualified as guides. And one day something is going to happen that is going to move that from here, to here.
Part 2
Dr. Reagan: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Noah Hutchings the Director of Southwest Radio Ministries in Oklahoma City. Noah I want to shift now to another end time event. We have been talking about a very joyful one called the Rapture where Jesus is going to appear and take His Church out of this world both the living and the dead. Let’s talk about one that is not so joyful and that is an event that is called the Tribulation. What in the world is the Tribulation? And how long do you think it will last? What is its purpose? Just talk about the Tribulation for a few minutes.
Pastor Hutchings: Well the Tribulation of course as we have already mentioned comes after the Church is gone. And according to the Scriptures there you go 42 months, and then another 42 months and you have, so we know from the Scripture context there that the Tribulation period will be 7 years. And Jesus said it would be a time such as the world has never seen, or never would see. And we can’t begin to imagine what it is going to be like. Of course that will be when the Antichrist is ruling, and all nations and people are commanded to worship the Antichrist. And we read about those that will not have food, those that will be killed. So it is going to be a time of the most awful period, as Jesus said it would. And of course as we mentioned before there is no reason for the Church to have to go through this period, which we don’t believe it will. But we know that there will be a one-world government, all nations will be under the authority of one person, the Antichrist and his kingdom. And everyone will be commanded to worship this person on the threat of death. And everyone will have to take his mark and number or be killed or they can’t buy or sell. And already we see there is a big controversy now about computer chips. I think it is down in Texas one girl refused to wear a computer chip on her person. The kids wear it, and she said, “Well I don’t believe I should take that because the Bible says I shouldn’t take it.” So it’s going to be a terrible period. We read about the hunger, the wars, the people who will die. We can’t begin to imagine.
Dr. Reagan: What’s the purpose of it?
Pastor Hutchings: The purpose of course I believe one is that Israel will be brought to an understanding that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Pastor Hutchings: We read, “Behold He comes with the clouds and every eye shall see Him, and also they which pierced Him.”
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: “And they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son.”
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: That is not happening today.
Dr. Reagan: What is the purpose for the Gentile nations during the Tribulation? What purpose does God have?
Pastor Hutchings: The Gentile nations of course right now are all separate worshipping different gods. It’s not a world that God intended it to be. It’s a world where Satan is rampant and the world will be prepared through the Tribulation period, the entire world for the coming of Christ. The nations won’t be nations anymore as such. The Lord Jesus Christ will come back and reign for a 1,000 years according to Revelation 20.
Dr. Reagan: Nathan I think you’ve got a really tough question you wanted to ask him about the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: Well I mean we talk about 21 judgments from God. We talk about most of the earth environmentally being decimated. Most of the human population being decimated in just the seven year time span. If God is a God of love and mercy and justice, why would He do that?
Pastor Hutchings: Well God as you mentioned is not only a God of love, He is a God of justice. And it’s not a matter of God doing this, but man bringing judgment upon himself.
Dr. Reagan: God storing up His judgment.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes. And when this period is over it will be ready for the coming of Christ. The world right now would not want Jesus Christ to come.
Dr. Reagan: One of the things that has always really touched my heart about my study of the Tribulation is that the Bible clearly teaches that even when God pours out His wrath His ultimate purpose is not to punish. His ultimate purpose is to bring people to repentance so that they might be saved. And a lot of people are going to be saved during the Tribulation period because again they are going to be brought to the end of themselves and repent and turn to God.
Pastor Hutchings: That is certainly true. And we read about the 144,000 Jews you know who evidently will be saved and believe and go into all the world as witnesses for Christ. You don’t see that happening today, but it will happen in the Tribulation period.
Dr. Reagan: That’s right. Well it’s just amazing to think that even when God pours out His wrath that’s His purpose, His fundamental purpose is to bring people to repentance.
Nathan Jones: It’s a shame that it takes that much to bring people to finally accept God though.
Dr. Reagan: Well it is but that’s the nature of man that is just the nature of man. Is that sometimes God has to hit you over the head with a 2×4 to get your attention.
Pastor Hutchings: As you can look over the world today here in the United States, 24 hours a day there is Gospel teaching on the radio, on television. The churches are still open. But you know according to the latest statistics church membership and attendance is declining.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: Not only in this country but in other countries. And Christians as Dr. Franklin Graham recently brought out are coming under attack, and what we believe all over the world.
Dr. Reagan: You know every time I think of the Tribulation I think of this verse in Isaiah 26:9, “When the earth experiences the judgments of God the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
Pastor Hutchings: Yes.
Part 3
Dr. Reagan: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Noah Hutchings about end time events.
Pastor Hutchings: Well of course we read in Revelation 20 you know, that after Christ comes He will reign upon the throne of David for a 1,000 years. That’s a 1,000 years is a millennium. The Millennium is something that Israel looked forward to in the Old Testament, that the King of David or a lineage of David would come and sit upon the throne of David and there would be peace on the earth for a 1,000 years, a millennium. And the wolf and the animals wouldn’t eat each other. And it would be a peaceful world.
Nathan Jones: I got that on Isaiah 11:6. “The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion and the fatling will be together and a child will lead them,” at a time of peace.
Dr. Reagan: Amen.
Nathan Jones: So that to me tells me that we’re not living in the Millennial Kingdom now, right?
Pastor Hutchings: Yes, there are many reasons why we are not living in the Kingdom age.
Nathan Jones: Well share some of those reasons because my kids I wouldn’t send them out to you know stick their hands in the viper nest, or hang out with lions.
Pastor Hutchings: And Jesus is not reigning from Jerusalem.
Nathan Jones: Now some would say He is reigning spiritually. Why do you say He’s not doing that now?
Pastor Hutchings: Well He is to reign literally, upon the throne of David.
Nathan Jones: Ok.
Pastor Hutchings: You read in Matthew and Luke His lineage going all the way back to David that is the reason for that. So He offered that to Israel at His first coming, but Israel said, “We will not have this man reign over us.” And they took Him and crucified Him. So He has to come again to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy that a king from the lineage of David will reign on David’s throne and there will be peace in the world for 1,000 years. And there will be, it will be a wonderful world.
Dr. Reagan: Well I’m glad you mentioned the Old Testament prophecies because many, many people believe the only place in the Bible there is any mention of Jesus reigning is in the book of Revelation. And the Old Testament is full of prophecies about the Messiah reigning over all the world.
Pastor Hutchings: That is true.
Dr. Reagan: Only new information in Revelation 20 is how long the reign is going to be, a 1,000 years.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes, and you read in the book of Hosea about I think a prophecy about Jesus being crucified, and His coming again.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: So, it’s throughout the Old Testament the prophets, and you read in Jeremiah and Ezekiel their mission was to make Israel acceptable so this great King the Lord Jesus would reign.
Nathan Jones: Does that mean the Millennial Kingdom then is only for the Jew? Who lives in the Millennial Kingdom?
Pastor Hutchings: Well we read that all nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the King. So it not only be for Israel it will be for all nations.
Pastor Hutchings: Well of course there is a spiritual teaching throughout the Bible and everything that is written. But there is also a literal fulfillment that we have to accept. The prophecies in Isaiah 53 about Jesus, they literally come to pass. And the Jew has been scattered in all the world that literally come to pass. They would return, that is literal. Therefore we have to accept that what the other prophecies in the Bible have a literal fulfillment concerning this coming kingdom that Jesus is to return and establish here on earth at the end of the Tribulation period.
Dr. Reagan: Right. Well I grew up in a church that taught that the Bible means exactly what it says from beginning to end unless it’s talking about the Second Coming of Jesus and it never means what it says.
Pastor Hutchings: Now, a lot of churches as you mentioned believe that the Church inherited all the promises made to Israel. And the Church is modern Israel, and there is no Second Coming because the Church has fulfilled or is fulfilling all the promises.
Nathan Jones: Yet Israel is back in the land again. That means something, it is important.
Pastor Hutchings: That’s an important sign.
Dr. Reagan: Well I tell you. I had a fellow one time put it to me this way and I never forgot this. He said, “If Bible prophecy does not mean what it says, then how can you ever know when it is fulfilled?”
Pastor Hutchings: Yes.
Dr. Reagan: I mean you can’t, I mean if it doesn’t mean what it says you’ll never know whether or not it has been fulfilled. And so people for example the Bible says in the end times there are going to be two witnesses of God who are going to be in Jerusalem in the Tribulation proclaiming the Gospel. Now does that mean what it says? Well Amillennialists say, “Oh, no, no that doesn’t mean what it says that refers to something that happened in 70 AD.” “Well who were those two witnesses?” “Well we don’t know for sure but they might have been this, or they might have been that.”
Pastor Hutchings: And before you know they said, “Well the Scripture says that all nations, races and tongues will see their dead bodies in the streets of Jerusalem.” Before they said, “How could this be possible? You are going to bring several billion people to Israel and show them?” But now then through television that is possible.
Dr. Reagan: Absolutely, we are seeing prophecies that can be fulfilled today that we could never have seen fulfilled naturally in the past because of modern technology. You keep on going back to modern technology. So does Nathan and it really does help us to understand Bible prophecy as we have never understood it before.
Part 4
Dr. Reagan: Welcome back to our interview of Noah Hutchings the Director of Southwest Radio Ministries in Oklahoma City. Noah tell our viewers how they can get in touch with you and your ministry.
Pastor Hutchings: The easiest way is simply go to the internet at swrc.com.
End of Program.
Dear reader's those of you who have followed Pastor Thompson about the Revelations can see that both these opinions are the very same..............jenny
Transcript
Dr. Reagan: Are we living in the season of the Lord’s return, and if so, how can we know for sure? Stay tuned for an interview with the Dean of American Bible prophecy experts.
Read More
Part 1
Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus, our Blessed Hope, and welcome to Christ in Prophecy! We have an exciting interview for you this week. Our special guest is the person I refer to as “the Dean of American Bible prophecy experts.” His name is Noah Hutchings, and he is the director of a Bible prophecy ministry in Oklahoma City that is called Southwest Radio Ministries. Noah, welcome to Christ in Prophecy.
Pastor Hutchings: Thank you sir, it’s my pleasure.
Dr. Reagan: Well we are really glad to have you with us. It’s a joy and an honor to have a man of your stature on our program. You know folks, we have each week on this program my colleague Nathan Jones. Nathan is our Web Minister here at Lamb & Lion. And in that capacity, he not only maintains our website, but he ministers to people daily all over the world as they access us through our website to ask questions about Christianity, Bible prophecy, or challenge you about Islam or Hinduism or whatever. Nathan how about you getting this interview kicked off by asking the first question, ok?
Nathan Jones: Alright, we’d like to welcome you to our show Pastor Hutchings. I have a question for you: Do you believe we are living in the last days, and if so why?
Pastor Hutchings: Well certainly I do believe that these are the end times, that the Lord could come any day. And of course Jesus said that this Gospel would be preached in all the world and then the end would come. For the first time in history the Gospel is being preached in all the world through missionaries, through radio, through television. So I think there is a really no excuse for anyone in all the world not knowing that Jesus Christ came.
Dr. Reagan: You know in that regard several years ago, probably 20 years ago I bought a short wave radio. I had never had one. And I turned that thing on and I was just astounded as I turned that dial I heard the name of Jesus in every language of the world. The atmosphere of this planet is saturated with the name of Jesus.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes. One other item is that we are told in Scripture and Jesus Himself said that the Jews would be scattered into all of the world. And then at the end of the age, the last days, they would come back. I’ve been to Israel 54 times. Lead tours to Israel 54 times you will find Jews there who have returned from every nation in the world.
Dr. Reagan: Well those are certainly two major signs that we are living in the season of the Lord’s return. You know people are always criticizing Bible prophecy teachers because they say they’re sensationalists and all they do is set dates. And then the dates come and pass and it is hurtful to Christianity. But you’re not a date setter are you?
Pastor Hutchings: I’ve never set a special date, no.
Dr. Reagan: It’s one thing to say we’re in the season of the Lord’s return, another to set a date, right?
Pastor Hutchings: Yes. I don’t agree with date setting, and I think all who have are sorry they did.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Nathan Jones: Yeah.
Dr. Reagan: Yes, they are. And it brings a lot of reproach upon the name of Christ when people do those sort of things. And you know it is amazing the Bible says that no one knows the day except the Lord Himself. And yet people always seem to think they know the day.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes, Jesus said that no one knows. He didn’t even know, only the Father knows.
Dr. Reagan: Yes. So when you say that we are in the season of the Lord’s return you’re not setting a date you are just saying that all the signs point to the fact that we are living in the general season when the Lord will return.
Dr. Reagan: And never are we told to look for the Antichrist; we are told to look for Jesus Christ.
Pastor Hutchings: Look for Jesus Christ, that’s true.
Dr. Reagan: What about you Nathan. What are you feelings about the Pre-Trib Rapture?
Nathan Jones: Well I think the Pre-Trib Rapture makes sense. I mean we are talking about the bride of Christ, the Church, and God loves the bride. Jesus is to marry the bride. Well you don’t bring…I heard Don McGee say this recently, I thought this was great, he says, “You know He’s got most of the bride with Him right now in Heaven, but part of the bride, that’s us, is still on earth. Well you don’t beat up part of your wife for seven years under your own judgments and expect afterwards she’s going to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to marry you.'” It just doesn’t happen. God wants all of His bride to be with Him during, up in Heaven and protected from His wrath.
Dr. Reagan: Well that raises a good point because you now the idea that the Church, some people say, “Well the Church has to go through the Tribulation to be purified.”
Nathan Jones: Jesus’ blood.
Dr. Reagan: Well if we’re not purified by the blood of Christ.
Nathan Jones: Amen.
Dr. Reagan: We certainly don’t need the Tribulation.
Pastor Hutchings: There is no reason for the Church to go through the Tribulation.
Dr. Reagan: I know, I know.
Pastor Hutchings: Why should we go through the Tribulation?
Nathan Jones: Well I hear people all the time say that the Church needs to be there because otherwise the people won’t hear the Gospel. But there’s many ways that people hear the Gospel during the Tribulation right?
Dr. Reagan: Hey, there is going to be Bibles around all over the place.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Reagan: Plus we’ve got two witnesses in Jerusalem who will be proclaiming the Gospel.
Nathan Jones: Or the Gospel Angel that to me that is the big one, and angel that actually goes to everybody in the Tribulation and shares the Gospel so that no person by the end of the Tribulation is without excuse.
Pastor Hutchings: Israel will go through the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, unfortunately.
Pastor Hutchings: Because of course they today, as I mentioned I’ve been to Israel many, many times. And Israel today less than 1/3 of 1% believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. They still are rejecting. They are taught in school in Israel the schools the children are taught, that would the Messiah have destroyed the Temple? Would the Messiah have collaborated with the Romans to destroy Jerusalem? They say of course not. So Jesus is not the Messiah. And they are looking for the Messiah to come.
Dr. Reagan: As you know as well as I do, as many times you have been to Israel that there are thousands of guides there who have their heads full of Scripture, they have to in order to be qualified as guides. And one day something is going to happen that is going to move that from here, to here.
Part 2
Dr. Reagan: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Noah Hutchings the Director of Southwest Radio Ministries in Oklahoma City. Noah I want to shift now to another end time event. We have been talking about a very joyful one called the Rapture where Jesus is going to appear and take His Church out of this world both the living and the dead. Let’s talk about one that is not so joyful and that is an event that is called the Tribulation. What in the world is the Tribulation? And how long do you think it will last? What is its purpose? Just talk about the Tribulation for a few minutes.
Dr. Reagan: What’s the purpose of it?
Pastor Hutchings: The purpose of course I believe one is that Israel will be brought to an understanding that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Dr. Reagan: They are going to be brought to the end of themselves and finally turn to God.
Pastor Hutchings: We read, “Behold He comes with the clouds and every eye shall see Him, and also they which pierced Him.”
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: “And they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son.”
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: That is not happening today.
Dr. Reagan: What is the purpose for the Gentile nations during the Tribulation? What purpose does God have?
Pastor Hutchings: The Gentile nations of course right now are all separate worshipping different gods. It’s not a world that God intended it to be. It’s a world where Satan is rampant and the world will be prepared through the Tribulation period, the entire world for the coming of Christ. The nations won’t be nations anymore as such. The Lord Jesus Christ will come back and reign for a 1,000 years according to Revelation 20.
Dr. Reagan: Nathan I think you’ve got a really tough question you wanted to ask him about the Tribulation.
Nathan Jones: Well I mean we talk about 21 judgments from God. We talk about most of the earth environmentally being decimated. Most of the human population being decimated in just the seven year time span. If God is a God of love and mercy and justice, why would He do that?
Pastor Hutchings: Well God as you mentioned is not only a God of love, He is a God of justice. And it’s not a matter of God doing this, but man bringing judgment upon himself.
Dr. Reagan: God storing up His judgment.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes. And when this period is over it will be ready for the coming of Christ. The world right now would not want Jesus Christ to come.
Dr. Reagan: One of the things that has always really touched my heart about my study of the Tribulation is that the Bible clearly teaches that even when God pours out His wrath His ultimate purpose is not to punish. His ultimate purpose is to bring people to repentance so that they might be saved. And a lot of people are going to be saved during the Tribulation period because again they are going to be brought to the end of themselves and repent and turn to God.
Dr. Reagan: Ok, let’s take a pause. We’ll come back and talk about your great book.
Part 3
Nathan Jones: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy and our interview with Noah Hutchings about the signs of the times that point to the soon return of Jesus.
Dr. Reagan: Noah you have just written a fabulous book. It’s called, it’s this book here called, 40 Irrefutable Signs of the Last Generation. And I mean it is great. I just love it. It’s to the point. It has beautiful illustrations all the way through it. I compliment you on it, it’s a great job. Why did you name it that title? How did you come up with that title?
Pastor Hutchings: Well one reason I wrote on that subject with that title you know people still don’t relate to the Bible and prophecy, many Christians don’t. And Peter wrote I believe in the 2nd epistle that in the last days there will come scoffers saying, “Where is promise of His coming?” In spite of all the signs in the world the end is near, the last generation, they would still say, “Where’s the promise of His coming?” So I thought I’m going to write some signs that no one can dispute, irrefutable signs of the Second Coming. And then I said well how many am I going to deal with? And I thought 40 would be a good number because 40 is the number of probationary judgments.
Dr. Reagan: That’s right.
Pastor Hutchings: 40 days and Nineveh is going to be destroyed. And you trace that there are multiples of four you know?
Dr. Reagan: Well you know I think that one of the reasons when I saw this book advertised that I wanted to get it immediately because several years ago I spoke at a Steeling the Mind Conference and they asked me to speak on the topic “50 Reasons Why we are Living in the End Times.” And we put out a video by that name, 50 Reasons Why we are Living in the End Times. So when I saw this 40 Irrefutable Signs, I thought I’ve got to get that and compare it to mine and see how it all came out. But you’re so right when you talk about 2 Peter being fulfilled in our day and time with people scoffing. But you see the thing that breaks my heart is that when I used to read that I thought, “Well that means unbelievers.” But the Church today is full of people scoffing. Pastors who say, ah you know that is a bunch of nonsense, I’m not going to talk about Bible prophecy. And here we are with Jesus at the very gates of Heaven ready to return.
Pastor Hutchings: Brother Reagan, you raised an important point there. I don’t think there is one church in a hundred now that ever mentions the subject of prophecy, or the times that we are living in, or that Jesus could come back in our lifetime.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, boy, oh, boy.
Pastor Hutchings: But it’s a subject that’s neglected.
Dr. Reagan: It certainly is. Well you know you’re book is divided into three parts. Part one talks about 24 signs in the secular world. The second part talks about 12 signs related to Israel. And the third part is entitled, terminal apostasies. Now let’s talk about the first part first. You talk about 24 signs in the secular world. What would be some of those? Now you don’t have to name all 24 but just give us an example of a few.
Pastor Hutchings: Well of course there is the increase of knowledge.
Dr. Reagan: Exponential
Nathan Jones: Daniel 12:4.
Pastor Hutchings: Daniel said that in the last days that many would run to and fro and knowledge would be increased. Without the increase of knowledge there wouldn’t be a television set. You and I would not be sitting here. There wouldn’t be a radio.
Dr. Reagan: Satellites.
Dr. Reagan: Nathan has been doing a lot of work on that recently, haven’t you Nathan?
Nathan Jones: Signs of the times, yes I will be talking about it at our conference this year in June that the signs of technology are proving that we are in the last days because the technology we have today, make like you said earlier those judgments during the Tribulation possible.
Dr. Reagan: What would be another one of those secular signs?
Pastor Hutchings: Of course in national signs of course Israel has been in all the world and back in their land. And there are wars and rumors of wars. Jesus said there would be pestilences in the last days. You say well don’t we have all these medical advances for flu, and pneumonia, and all these other disease that we get. Well that is true. But still we have the greatest plague the world has ever known, AIDS. I think that something like 40 million people have already died of AIDS. Now if that had been small pox or some other disease it would be something terrible. But they cover it because it is a protected disease. And I think that is one of the signs in the last days.
Dr. Reagan: Well you also, part 2 of your book your focus on 12 signs that relate to Israel. You must believe that Israel is a very, very important thing to have a whole section just devoted to it.
Pastor Hutchings: Oh, yes, actually I wrote a book about 25 Messianic signs in Israel.
Nathan Jones: There is a number theme going on.
Pastor Hutchings: But I deal with 12 of them, the major signs in this book.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
Pastor Hutchings: There are so many of them; that they would be scattered into all the world, come back from all nations. The land would blossom and bud and fill the whole world with fruit. That is literally happening.
Dr. Reagan: And their language being revived.
Pastor Hutchings: Their language being revived, they are speaking Hebrew again. And they sure haven’t come to the knowledge of the truth yet that they might be saved.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
Pastor Hutchings: And there are at least 25 major signs I deal with 12 of the major ones in this book.
Dr. Reagan: Wow, and then your third section has to do with terminal apostasies, now what in the world is that all about?
Pastor Hutchings: Well you know you read in Scriptures in certain places where a nation or a people has gone so far, it says God gave them up to a reprobate mind, or turned His face from them; like He did Israel. I think a nation or people can go so far, that God turns His face from them and brings judgment. And in that section I deal with things that we are doing here in the United States. For example we are teaching children in school that the earth has evolved, and everything evolved and that disputes the Scriptures that God is the Creator.
Dr. Reagan: And we’re not even allowed to give an alternative viewpoint.
Pastor Hutchings: Yeah, and Jesus said if you do this to one of these little children, if you harm one of these little children that is the worst thing that you can do. And we are doing the same thing. And you have abortion. I was reading in the paper this last week a special report that there is one organization; I won’t mention it has counted for 333,000 abortions this last year.
Dr. Reagan: Well I will mention it, Planned Parenthood.
Nathan Jones: And they are very proud of it too.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah, they were bragging about the fact they performed more abortions than ever before.
Pastor Hutchings: I think it should be called Planned Non-Parenthood.
Nathan Jones: Yeah.
Dr. Reagan: That’s a good point, yes.
Dr. Reagan: For example our toleration and even promotion of homosexuality, and same-sex marriage.
Pastor Hutchings: That is certainly true.
Dr. Reagan: And that is one of the signs that Paul gives in the book of Romans of a nation that is about to collapse as a nation that tolerates that sort of stuff.
Pastor Hutchings: And over and over in the Scriptures, Sodom was given as an example, you don’t do this.
Dr. Reagan: Yes, yes.
Pastor Hutchings: Or what happened to Sodom will happen to you. In Romans 1 Paul says, “That in a nation that does this is worthy of death.”
Dr. Reagan: Ok, so we have the secular signs. We’ve got the signs of Israel. And then we’ve got the four signs that you call terminal apostasies that really beg for the judgment of God to come upon a nation.
Pastor Hutchings: And regretfully, we are involved in all four here in this country.
Dr. Reagan: Well you know that reminds me of a sign that you mentioned in there and that is the sign of Noah. You’re Noah, sign of Noah, that in the end times society will become as immoral and as violent as it was in the days of Noah.
Pastor Hutchings: Yes, you know our newspapers, TV and radio are full of everyone, everyday being killed and all that’s happening.
Dr. Reagan: Violence and immorality in movies and TV. Last night I flipped on the TV and I saw advertisements of programs to come, new programs this year. I couldn’t believe my eyes. One of them was called, Scandal, and it was all about who is sleeping with whom, and all this sort of thing. Another one was called, Revenge, the whole program is about somebody each week getting revenge. The third program, so help me, was called Californication, a play on the word of California, Californication is the name of the new program. We are just wallowing in a cesspool in this country right now. And we export that all over the world.
Pastor Hutchings: That is absolutely true, our radio programs, our TV program here. And a lot of other countries have always looked to this nation as an example. And what kind of example are we setting now?
Dr. Reagan: Not a very good one. I’ve often said we the United States of America that claims to be a Christian nation we are the moral polluter of planet earth.
Pastor Hutchings: Right and we might wonder, “How long will God allow this?”
Dr. Reagan: Right.
Part 4
Dr. Reagan: Well, folks, that’s our program for this week. I hope it’s been a blessing to you. In just a moment our announcer will tell you how you can obtain a copy of Mr. Hutchings’ great book, 40 Irrefutable Signs of the Last Generation.
Nathan Jones: Pastor Hutchings which of those signs did you enjoy writing about the most?
Pastor Hutchings: I think possibly the sign that Israel would be scattered into all the world. And at the end of the age before the Lord comes back they would return from all nations and Israel would again blossom until the whole world was through.
Dr. Reagan: Well I’ll tell you what we are going to invite you to come back next week, and we are going to talk about that some more, ok?
Pastor Hutchings: Amen.
Dr. Reagan: Alright. Well folks, that is our program, I hope you will be back with us next week the Lord willing. This is Dave Reagan speaking for myself and Nathan Jones saying, “Look up, be watchful, for our redemption is drawing near.”
End of Program;
Contributed by William D. Brown on Aug 4, 2011
Denomination: Baptist
Summary: Here in our text the Lord Jesus gives details about what the conditions in the world would be like just before He returns. It will be as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. And let me say that we don’t have to have some kind of masters degree in
Likewise also {same as} as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
• The Lord highlights two major signs of the end here in our text:
He will come suddenly when people do not expect Him to return. Most people will be going about their normal activities, unaware of the times, -- when He returns, society will be degenerate and wicked just as it was before the Flood and before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Homosexuals now feel greatly empowered with an openly supportive President in the White House.
It seems obvious to me that God is with drawing His hand of blessings from this nation, and not only do we have the homosexuals openly revealing their sins but we have an administration in power now that has given a cold shoulder to Israel, what can any society expect God to do? He told Abraham in Gen.12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,--
Listen I want to read to you a news letter that I’ve recently received from “THE PROPHETIC OBSERVER” from Brother Noah Hutchins of SouthWest Radio Church out of Oklahoma, this is to do with Obama and his homosexual agenda, and let me say before I begin reading that I’m reading you this to show all of us what hour we’re in on God’s prophet calendar, I think you’ll have to say that we are certainly close to the rapture of the church.
“One of the first official acts of Barack Obama upon becoming president of the united states was to issue a proclamation designating June, the traditional month of brides, as LGBT (or homosexual) Month. According to Obama this was done to honor this minority segment of the U.S. population 1.7 percent) as this nation’s most important citizens.
The full text of the proclamation was carried in June 27, 2009, edition of “Sanfrancisco Pride”
• The reason for dedicating a month to honor homosexuals was-stated in the opening sentence:
This opening statement regarding the actual role homosexuals have played in U.S. history and the president’s appraisal of their alerting other citizens to the need of solving the AIDS curse on humanity is beyond rational comprehension.
Obama’s narcissistic mindset aims to change the truth into a lie and a lie into the truth. It is a known fact that AIDS was first recognized as a new disease in 1981, when a number of young gay men in New York and Los Angles were diagnosed with symptoms not usually seen in individuals with healthy immune systems. Originally named GRIDS for GAY RELATED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROM, AIDS is mainly transmitted through s*xual activity and has already caused the death of hundreds of millions of people world wide.
• The president continues in the next section of his homosexual proclamation:
I am proud to be the first president to appoint LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public service.
The fact is that the Senate complained that Obama was appointing "czars" without confirmation. The record also indicates that he has appointed over 150 homosexuals to high government offices with administrative responsibilities. It is difficult to name anyone in the new administration who is not a homosexual
• As to future plans for the homosexual segment of the population, the president continued:
My administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world . .. These measures include supporting civil unions . . . ensuring adoption rights, and ending existing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policies in a way that strengthens the armed forces and national security.”
Mr. Obama admits, or professes, that he is not just a member of the Democratic Party, but he is also a member of the LGBT Party and that he will work to accomplish all homosexual goals while in office.
There’s more but I think that’s enough for all to see that wants to see that our country is in big trouble with God.
• What has God said already about such as this, do you think He has changed His mind?
Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Paul includes lesbianism in the condemnation:
Romans 1:26 For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature--
Jude 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire
When a nation descends into perversions like homosexuality, its decline accelerates, its fibers weaken and it becomes ripe for disaster, either natural or political/militarily.
2nd tim.3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
The founding fathers of this nation would turn over in their graves if they only knew what’s going on here now, at one time we were ONE NATION UNDER GOD but that no longer is true, Obama himself said that America is no longer a Christian only nation.
we must get rid of this corrupt administration and pray that God will send revival to our land, now I realize that God puts up kings and takes down kings in order to carry out His last day plans, I only hope and pray that He will allow us to try and straighten out our nation, we have become the arm pit of the world, nations used to look to the United States as a leading and up right nation but it’s swiftly headed in the other direction, who would have ever thought that our nation would end up being the biggest debtor nation in the world?, our politicians through under handed dealings and for filthy lucre has sent our jobs over seas, hardly nothing is made here any longer, name me a few, I’M from South Carolina and this part of the country was at one time called the Textile Center of the world, now most of out textile plants are closed down, the owners could not compete with cheap imported cloth, thanks to our out standing politicians, this nation has made China the rich country that it is today, China, India and other countries are now making our cloth, I’m not belittling any of these countries they did what was right for their country.
And I also think that because of our allowing any and all foreign religions to come into our country and build their Mosque’s and all the other religions that are not of God has caused most of our problems, all this is an insulate too the True and Living Jehovah, and remember that He said that He is a jealous God.
Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:--I realize He said that to His chosen people Israel, but we are also Gods children today if we’re saved.
Prov.1:29-31 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
I have a heavy heart because of all this ungodliness we have on ever hand, most of our leaders don’t realize what’s going on it has come so subtly, that’s the way the devil works, just sit tight all is well is his message, we must expose his lies and the agents he has working for him knowingly and unknowingly.
Editor’s Note: As Europe scrambles to wean itself off Russian oil and gas and tries to confront Russia for its use of energy to blackmail European countries, the European Union signed in Cairo on June 15, 2022, a Memorandum of Understanding with Israel and Egypt, aimed at using the energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean to cover the shortfall in energy supplies to Europe. This, of course, angered Russian officials. So, Vladimir Putin went to Tehran, Iran where he met with President Ebrahim Raisi and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to solidify his alliance with Iran and Turkey. Will these events trigger the prophesied Gog/Magog war? Could the oil and natural gas in Israel be the spoil spoken of in Ezekiel 38:12? With Israeli oil back in the news, we thought it would be appropriate to reprint portions of an article which Noah Hutchings wrote in February of 1998.
The first place oil is found in the Bible is Genesis 11:3, where the Scripture reveals that the builders of the Tower of Babel used slime as mortar to hold bricks in construction together. Slime (as interpreted by almost any credible Bible dictionary) in biblical usage was bitumen, or asphalt, a semisolid oil residue that seeps to the surface. The Tower of Babel was constructed on the plain of Shinar, or southern Iraq, where today there are vast oil fields.
Crude oil which is pumped out of the ground is a fossil fuel, meaning that it is the decayed residue of animal and plant life. It is evident from the location of the Garden of Eden given in Genesis 2:10–15 that it was in the general area of what is now Kuwait. There is more oil under the ground of Kuwait than any other place in the Persian Gulf basin and, therefore, this area must have in the distant past been a veritable jungle of both animal and plant life, substantiating the biblical account of the Garden of Eden. Aside from Kuwait, the entire Middle East is a vast reservoir of oil. Much of the oil has been discovered and fields developed, but much of the oil in the Middle East, including Israel, has not been discovered or developed.
The Oil of Asher
The old land of Asher that extended from what is now the Haifa region northward to Lebanon along the Mediterranean Sea was in the shape of a foot attached to the part of the leg just below the knee. The foot was in the Haifa area, and it is here where oil and natural gas are being pumped. We read in Deuteronomy, “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy 33:24–25).
In taking our concordance and tracing all the references to feet in the Bible, we can readily understand just how important this part of the body was to the individual. A person just did not hop in his car or catch a bus or a plane to get from one place to another. The general public did not even own a camel, horse, or donkey. The most common and acceptable method of travel was on foot, and it is evident from Scripture that the feet were washed and anointed quite frequently. It appears that Judas objected to Mary, the sister of Lazarus, using costly ointment to anoint the feet of Jesus rather than using the less expensive olive oil.
To have good feet in excellent physical condition was indeed a blessing in Bible times, but this blessing upon Asher could have a double meaning, as many scriptures do, and especially could this be so considering all the encompassing blessings on Jacob, his children, and their descendants recorded in the previous chapter: “For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance …