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Four times, the book of Revelation identifies its author as “John” (1:1, 4, 9; 22:8). This was an extremely popular name at the time. In fact,John was fifth most common among names for Jewish men in Palestine in this period.The fact that John does not further identify himself (e.g., as John Mark, John son of Zebedee, or John of Jerusalem) shows that he must have been well known to his audience. He only says that he is “your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient e …

The end time prophecies contained in Scripture have led Christians in every age to wondered whether they will be the ones to face such tribulations. The historic answer is yes. Jesus warned us that we would have to face persecution (John 15:20), and no generation of Christianity has been exempted. However, in the nineteenth century, dispensationalists began teaching that Christians will not have to face this trial. Instead, before the great tribulation begins, they will be caught up to heaven a …

By its nature, prophecy can be difficult to interpret. It uses many symbols, and these can be taken in more than one way.The key to understanding biblical prophecy is to determine itsliteralsense—that is, what it meant in itsoriginalcontext, what the prophet was trying to communicate to his audience for their benefit. Normally Old Testament prophecies have their primary fulfillment within the generation to which they were given or within a few generations. However, they can have additional fulfi …

Did you ever wonder why twelve apostles and only twelve? Good rule of thumb for future reference? Numbers in the Bible (especially the number twelve) are almost never a coincidence.Let's start at the very beginning.“And when day was come, he called unto him his disciples; and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles): Simon, whom he [later] surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John [the sons of Zebedee], Philip and Bartholomew [Bar Tolomais, that is, our own Nathanael], …

The final book of the Bible, Revelation, was written by St. John while he was in exile on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:9). It contains information about our future, but perhaps not as much as many people suppose. The book was addressed to a group of seven churches in the province of Asia Minor (in modern Turkey) for a specific purpose: “to show to [Christ’s] servants what must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1). It thus encourages Christians to hold fast to their faith in the face of persecution and th …