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Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis to Revelation

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Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis to Revelation WAYNE A. BRINDLE, MANAGING EDITOR ® Copyrighted material Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis To Revelation.OT.indd 1 9/7/11 1:12 PM Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) Verses marked nkjv are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Verses marked kjv are from the King James Version of the Bible. Verses marked asv are from the American Standard Version of the Bible. Cover design by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota Cover photos © Steve Allen / Brand X Pictures / Alamy; Mark Duffy / Alamy TIM LAHAYE PROPHECY LIBRARY is a series trademark of Tim F. LaHaye and Beverly J. LaHaye. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the trademark TIM LAHAYE PROPHECY LIBRARY. EXPLORING BIBLE PROPHECY FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION Formerly titled The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary Copyright © 2006 by Pre-Trib Research Center, Tim LaHaye, and Ed Hindson Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LaHaye, Tim F. [Popular Bible prophecy commentary] Exploring Bible prophecy from Genesis to Revelation / Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson. p.cm. Originally published: The popular Bible prophecy commentary. c2006. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-7369-4803-6 (pbk.) 1. Bible–Prophecies I. Hindson, Edward E. II. Title BS647.3.L35 2011 220.1'5—dc23 2011032364 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 / LB-CF / 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyrighted material Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis To Revelation.OT.indd 2 9/1/11 12:21 PM CONTENTS Introduction . 7 Nahum. 291 Old Testament Prophecies Habakkuk . 292 The Law Zephaniah . 296 Genesis. 13 Haggai . 298 Exodus . 25 Zechariah . 300 Leviticus . 37 Malachi . 316 Numbers . 47 New Testament Prophecies Deuteronomy . 53 The Gospels The History The Gospels . 325 Joshua . 65 The Acts Judges . 68 Acts . 373 Ruth . 70 The Letters 1 Samuel . 71 Romans . 391 2 Samuel . 77 1 Corinthians. 404 1 Kings . 83 2 Corinthians . 416 2 Kings. 88 Galatians . 419 1 Chronicles . 93 Ephesians . 423 2 Chronicles . 94 Ezra . 96 Philippians . 429 Nehemiah . 97 Colossians . 435 Esther . 98 1 Thessalonians . 441 The Poetry 2 Thessalonians. 452 Job . 101 1 Timothy . 457 Psalms . 103 2 Timothy . 460 Proverbs . 120 Titus . 463 Ecclesiastes . 121 Philemon . 466 Song of Solomon. 122 Hebrews . 467 The Major Prophets James. 479 Isaiah. 125 1 Peter . 482 Jeremiah . 151 2 Peter . 488 Lamentations . 169 1 John . 493 Ezekiel . 170 2 John . 496 Daniel . 219 3 John . 497 The Minor Prophets Jude . 498 Hosea . 269 The Revelation Joel. 276 Revelation . 503 Amos. 281 Obadiah . 282 Bibliography . 547 Jonah. 286 Chart Index . 553 Micah . 287 Topical Index . 554 5 Copyrighted material Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis To Revelation.OT.indd 5 9/1/11 12:21 PM GENESIS Genesis is the book of beginnings. It tells the story of the beginnings of the human race and the Hebrew nation. It also lays the foundation for the beginning of biblical prophecy. Genesis offers a rich tapestry of prophetic promise, predomi- nantly messianic prophecy. The first book of the Bible fires an attention-seizing opening salvo of messianic prophecy of both the figure of the Messiah Himself as well as the magnificent messianic age to come. Indeed, Genesis establishes the template from which all other prophetic expectations spring. Specific, temporal prophecies are assuredly found within the pages of this foundational volume, but the majority of prophetic action in this text concerns vast, enduring themes that span protracted timetables, such as the Abrahamic Covenant, Israel’s future hope, and, of course, the aforementioned promised Messiah. good and evil, as Walvoord points out, neither THE WARNING ABOUT THE TREE of them realized that eating the fruit would Genesis 2:16-17 result in their “knowing the good without being able to do it and knowing the evil The Lord, after creating Adam as the without being able to avoid it” (Walvoord, pinnacle of His creation, executes His ini- Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, p. 20). Instead tial command. The instruction contains both of the anticipated instant wisdom, they experi- divine consent and prohibition, blessing and ence immediate shame, guilt, and alienation warning, stretching the limits of Adam’s yet from one another and God (3:6-13). As God untapped moral capacities. Adam would be had promised, from that moment onward, allowed unlimited access to the fruit of every death would plague Adam and his progeny tree within the Garden of Eden, with the sole (3:19; 5:5). exception of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The command concludes with the conditional warning that death would result from violation of the prohibition (2:16-17). THE PROPHECY ABOUT Eventually, both Adam and Eve succumb THE MESSIAH to the serpent’s temptation. They willingly Genesis 3:15 disobey the Lord’s command by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge Genesis 3:15 foresees a coming Messiah, of good and evil. Although Adam and Eve born of a woman, who will defeat Satan. This thought the fruit would give them the satani- earliest and foundational messianic prophecy cally promised divine ability to comprehend is found a mere three chapters into the Bible. 13 Copyrighted material Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis To Revelation.OT.indd 13 9/1/11 12:21 PM 14 The Law Following the moral failure of Adam and Eve erer for humanity, Eve’s reaction to the birth and in conjunction with the explanation of of her firstborn son, Cain, is not surprising. the harsh and enduring consequences wrought Most versions of Scripture add additional by their disobedience (3:6-13,16-19), this proto- words to this text (“with the help of,” niv, evangelium (“first gospel”) provides hope for nasb, rsv or “from,” nkjv) in an attempt the redemption of the fallen human race. It to make the translation clearer. While this proclaims the coming of a Savior who will is certainly an interpretively and grammati- enter the human race and defeat the power cally valid decision, such an addition is not of Satan. grammatically necessary and actually detracts The Lord declares war on the motivating from the messianic implication of the Hebrew cause of Edenic sin, the serpent (Satan), who text. The simplest reading of the text sees the is identified by the apostle John as “the serpent Hebrew particle et as the accusative indication of old” (Revelation 20:2). In the Lord’s curse of object. The text of Genesis 4:1 would then on the serpent, we see an initial glimpse of have Eve stating, “I have obtained a man, the the divine plan for humanity’s redemption. Lord” (Hebrew, et-YHWH). This passage contains far more than the mere This grammatical understanding, while origin of the antagonistic relationship between not held by the Septuagint (Greek translation mankind and snakes. It is the theological of the original Hebrew text), is shared by the explanation for the conflict between good and other ancient Jewish sources. For example, evil. A descendant of Eve would be born who both the ancient Aramaic Jerusalem Targum would successfully wage holy war against Satan and Targum Jonathan paraphrase this text and his offspring. Although both holy warrior to read, “I have gotten a man, the angel of and evil adversary will sustain punishing injury YHWH.” Fruchtenbaum (Messianic Chris- (to heel and head, respectively) in the conflict, tology, p. 16) notes that the discussion of this the damage dealt to Satan will prove fatal. verse within the Midrash on Genesis reveals The bruising of the Savior’s heel is especially ancient rabbinic interpretive discomfort with insightful in relation to the bruised heels and accepting the plain, unembellished grammat- torn flesh of crucifixion victims. Although the ical construction of the text. He argues that identity of God’s chosen warrior is shrouded in “Eve has clearly understood from God’s words mystery, this individual will be the offspring of in Gen. 3:15 that the serpent will be defeated a woman—a prophetic reference to the virgin by a God-man. She obviously thinks that birth of Christ. Cain is Jehovah. Her basic theology is correct: The New Testament clearly teaches that Messiah would be both man and God.…She the Messiah’s resurrection will most assuredly has assumed that Cain, her first child, was the signal the final victory over Satan (Revelation promised God-man.” 20:10). Indeed, the apostle Paul encourages the believers in Rome that God would shortly crush Satan underneath their feet (Romans 16:20). The “RAPture” of ENOCH Genesis 5:24 The narrative of Genesis briefly intro- Eve’s EXPECTATION duces the reader to Enoch, a man whose life- OF THE MESSIAH style is characterized by a deeply intimate Genesis 4:1 relationship with the Lord (“Enoch walked with God”). Without warning, the text In light of the aforementioned prophecy abruptly records that Enoch “was not, for concerning the promise of an ultimate deliv- God took him” (5:24). In contrast with the Copyrighted material Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis To Revelation.OT.indd 14 9/1/11 12:21 PM Genesis 15 text’s matter-of-fact citation of the death of a anew (6:7,17).
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