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Judas is the primary pattern of the man of sin, because Paul uses the same term that Jesus used of Judas: "the son of perdition." In John 17:12 Jesus says of Judas, 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished...

Paul goes on to tell us what negative event must take place first, before the unveiling can take place. The answer will surprise most of you, no doubt. Verses 3, 4 say, 3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy [apostasia] comes first, and the man of...

2 Thessalonians 2:1 speaks of the "coming" of Christ, but here Paul uses a different Greek word. Earlier he had used the word apokalupsis, or "unveiling." But now he uses the term parousia, which means "presence." Young's Concordance renders it, "a being alongside, presence." Strong's...

Circumcision was also done on the eighth day, dating back to its institution with Abraham prior to Isaac's birth. Genesis 17:12 says,12 And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money...

Gen. 21:4, which says,4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. The act of circumcision signifies the cutting away of “the flesh,” our great enemy, so that we might walk by the Spirit of God. Gal. 5:17 says, 17 For the flesh sets its desire...

The good fig tree attempted to remain in the old land for a time, but conflict soon forced most of them to flee for their lives into other parts of the Roman Empire. The book of Acts tells the story of this persecution. Even so, the fig tree grew rapidly. There were 3,000 converted on the day of...

Josephus makes it clear that these religious zealots (the Sicarii) were among the ones most responsible for the disasters that came upon Jerusalem and the whole nation. Their doctrine of rebellion was " to look upon God as their only Lord and Master " ( Wars, VII, x, 1). They did not believe...

The Zealots were the Jewish extremists of the day. They were called Sicarii, which means "people of the daggers." They were assassins and terrorists. Everyone was their enemy that did not help them try to overthrow the Roman authorities. One of Jesus' disciples, Simon Zelotes, had been one of...

The Bible predicts the overthrow of "Babylon," first in terms of the literal city itself, then as a type of a much greater system of oppression. Jeremiah 50 and 51 speak primarily of the overthrow of the old city of Babylon, but in the book of Revelation we find John quoting these same passages...

When men are oppressed in life, they either vow never to oppress others as they were oppressed, or else they cannot help but oppress others in imitation of their own oppressors. It is noteworthy that abused children often grow up to abuse their own children. It is the same with whole nations and...

As their false messiahs failed to deliver them from the yoke, the people were disillusioned with those messiahs and bitter against God Himself. They considered God to be unjust for allowing the captivity to go on for so long. Religiosity prevented them from directing their anger and bitterness...

As I said earlier, the Judeans were paying tribute to the Romansat the time of Jesus' appearance in flesh. But lets go back to theroot of the problem so we can understand the Iron and WoodenYokes a little better.In the book of Judges we read how God judged Israel for disobedience, as God “sold”...

The Assyrians called the house of Israel “Beth-Ghomri,” or “Bit-Khumri” in all of their stone monuments and official records. All archeologists translate this name as “the house of Omri.” Omri was the father of king Ahab and was one of Israel's more prominent kings (1 Kings 16:23). In the old...

Next we see in Hosea 2:23 that the judgment of Lo-ruhamah (“no mercy”) is also to be reversed. “I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.” Here Hosea simply restates what had already been prophesied in 1:10. But most important of all, God is going to change Lo-ammi to Ammi, from...

One would think that at this point the situation would be absolutely hopeless for Israel. One would think that Israel would be lost forever. Once divorced, with Israel out in the world marrying false gods, the divine law stood as a strong barrier between God and these ex-Israelites, seemingly...

At this point the disastrous judgment of God was complete. Israel was cut off as a nation (Jezreel), utterly taken away, or removed (Lo-ruhamah), and no longer God's people, or God's wife (Lo-ammi). This is confirmed in Hosea 2:2, where God says to the children of Gomer-Israel, “plead with your...

Hosea 1:1 starts out by identifying the two nations of Israel and Judah. His prophecy came during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—kings of Judah—and in the days of Jeroboam, king of Israel. It is apparent that Hosea was well acquainted with the simple historical fact that the...

The primary concept to grasp is that of the iron yoke and the wooden yoke. The iron yoke is mentioned in Deut. 28:48 and described in the context of that passage. If Israel were to receive a iron yoke, it would mean that a foreign nation would come and war against them, destroy their nation, and...

Jesus Christ—the God and King of Israel—divorced the House of Israel and then sent her out of His house from 745-721 B.C. But He promised through Hosea and other prophets that she would be betrothed to Him once again (Hos. 2:19, 20) with a view toward remarrying her. As we have seen, this could...

It is evident that natural Israel is not to be found in the people called “Jews” today, who have done everything in their power to remain separate and distinct from Caucasian natural Israelites. In fact, their desire for separation has largely been based on the fact that natural Israel became...