The account of Joseph’s life from the young age of seventeen to his death at the age of 110 in the last several chapters of Genesis (37-50) is encouraging. Joseph clung to God in faith throughout all the ups and downs. When Joseph was betrayed, falsely accused, and forgotten by others, he still trusted God. When doing what was right seemed to bring about suffering, Joseph did not give up on God. When tempted by those around him with the fleeting pleasures of sin, he thought about God (Gen. 39:9). Sold into the land of Egypt, he did not realize until afterward how much his brothers hated him, why his father hadn’t come for him, how much Potiphar’s wife wanted him, or when things would get better. He also did not yet realize God was using him. God was able to use Joseph to save the lives of many, including the children of Israel (Gen. 50:20). What a tremendous account of God’s providence. What an example of faith.

It is no surprise, then, that Joseph is included in the examples of faith in Hebrews 11. But what is said about Joseph here is not any of the aforementioned particulars about his journey to becoming the highest-ranking official under Pharaoh in Egypt. Instead, Hebrews 11:22 says, “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” His faith is described in terms of what he did at the end of his life. When Joseph’s time on earth was nearing its end, his faith looked forward in assurance to that which was yet unseen (Heb. 11:1). He mentioned the future exodus of the Israelites, knowing God would fulfill the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 50:24). Though Joseph spent the majority of his life in Egypt, getting married and having children there, his true home was elsewhere. He wanted his remains to be carried from Egypt when the Israelites departed (Gen. 50:25). His body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:26). Just as they had solemnly sworn, Israel, by the leadership of Moses, took Joseph’s bones out of Egypt (Ex. 13:19). They were later buried at Shechem after Joshua had led Israel to settle the promised land (Josh. 24:32).

Instead of only thinking about today, we should orient our lives by first considering our final destination and working our way back to today. Preparing to die and be with the Lord in the future, involves living by faith in the present. Just as Joseph had confidence that his remains would be taken to the promised land after his death, Christians can look forward in confidence that God will make good on the promise to give rest to our souls and give us entrance into heaven (Heb. 4:1-9; 12:23). Come and be with us this week as we learn to live by faith in a faithless age, to consider preparations we should make as our lives and the lives of our loved ones on this earth approach their end, and look with confidence to the future of an eternal home with God.

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming” (1 John 2:18a). If one only considered this part of this verse from the NKJV, the conclusion one might draw is the Bible teaches the “Antichrist” is a great adversary of Christ that is coming just before the end of the world. The capitalization of “Antichrist” in the NKJV could perhaps further this idea that there is only one such figure.  However, the Bible has more to say on this subject. A careful examination of the possible meaning of these terms and phrases in 1 John 2:18 must be weighed, the rest of the verse should be read, and other statements by the same writer about this subject in his letters should considered. Proper study involves considering all that the Bible has to say on a subject before drawing a conclusion. While space forbids consideration of other passages which may be tied to this subject, let’s consider the statements John explicitly makes about antichrist to round out our understanding.

Notice the last part of 1 John 2:18, “even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” Thus, John goes on to say in the rest of the sentence that many antichrists had already come even in his day. Later in the same epistle, John identifies every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist, that his audience had heard would come and now already was in the world (1 John 4:3). In 2 John 7, many such deniers of Christ coming in the flesh had already gone out as deceivers into the world. Closer to the initial statement in this article is 1 John 2:22, which identifies liars who denied the Father and the Son as antichrist (this is singular with the article in the Greek, as some put it “this is the antichrist”).

These individuals John called antichrists in 1 John 2 were evidently part of a secession from true Christianity. They went out from God’s people; in this particular instance, the apostates were showing their true colors, manifesting a hidden problem that was already there (1 John 2:19). Thus, individuals who had withdrawn and now denied the Lord and opposed His church were called antichrists.

Consider a couple of phrases and terms in 1 John 2:18 that may mean something other than what one reads on the surface of one Bible version. First, taking “the last hour” in 1 John 2:18 as a reference to the time very near the end of the world seems difficult to harmonize with how many years have transpired since John lived. But the expression in the original language can mean “a critical hour.” Such an opposition and apostasy would be a critical period for God’s people. Moreover, the word translated “hour” can mean “time” (“it is the last time” KJV). The Christian age is the last of the three dispensations of history. The reference may be to time/hour in the present age of the world’s existence.^[1]

Second, whether the term “antichrist” should be translated with the English article “the” in front of it may involve more consideration than one might think. The KJV, ASV, NASB, and ESV all translate 1 John 2:18a as, you “heard that antichrist” is coming (notice without the article “the”). There is good reason in weighing the Greek manuscripts to favor those copies that do not contain the article; beyond that, even if the article is present in the Greek, abstract nouns have an article before them in the Greek, but no article should be used in the English translation (e. g. “salvation” in John 4:22). Thus, if John is speaking of a general disposition of unbelief or opposition to Christ, not a specific person, then he would be using the term antichrist as an abstract noun. In this case an article would be present in the Greek, but should not be carried over into the English.

All of this is to say that hearing a popular religious idea and a snippet of a verse that seems to teach it is not good enough in finding what God’s word teaches on a subject. Some digging and investigation are required to have a well-rounded and nuanced understanding of what God really says. Homework: use this article as a starting point, and consider other passages in the Bible about movements of apostasy and what first-century Christians were told about God’s timing in regard to these.

^[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1103.

When we see violence and corruption on a massive scale from rulers of the world, we can feel as if there is nothing we can do. While most of us are ordinary citizens that do not set policy or make major decisions that dramatically affect world affairs, Christians do have a premier resource of which we should be reminded. When Paul addressed Timothy regarding the church’s focus, he wrote, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Prayer is a tremendous aid for Christians. Christians need to be reminded of prayer in general, but particularly here Paul urges that in addition to prayers for all Christians should pray for kings and those in authority (v. 2). Some people have negative attitudes toward rulers. Many first-century Jews despised paying taxes to Rome, what they considered a heathen power. Some first-century Gentile Christians may have had the mistaken notion that because Jesus was their Lord, they did not need to heed any government. While there are limits to what a government can tell us to do since their authority is delegated by God Who has supreme authority (Acts 5:29), Christians must be reminded of the general principle of a respectful attitude toward those in power (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17).

The bigger picture Christians must understand is that God works in the world and can even have His hand in events associated with the rulers of the world. God put Pharaoh on the throne (Ex. 9:16). Pharaoh did not even acknowledge God (Ex. 5:2); however, God used Pharaoh. God does not take away the free will of world leaders, nor whisper something in their ears. Yet, a king’s heart is in His almighty hand (Prov. 21:1). Nations may never intend to be serving God, yet He can use them as instruments (Isa. 10:5-7). Often only God knows the reasons why He allows certain people to have power (Dan. 4:17, 25).

The reason Christians should pray for kings and those in authority is for peace (1 Tim. 2:2). To live a tranquil and quiet life where we can work, worship, and raise our families without violent attacks is a blessing we must not take for granted. God certainly does not approve of all the actions of world leaders. He has ordained governing authorities to function as a terror and punishment to evil works (Rom. 13:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:14).

While prayer often is a general term for addressing God, some other specific words are used in 1 Timothy 2:1. One aspect of prayer mentioned is giving thanks. Too often today people focus on the negative and get angry when they don’t receive that to which they feel entitled. Think instead of all the blessings for which we should be thankful and glorify God. But prayer involves more than expressing thanks. The request aspect of prayer taps into the powerful resource to bring about change. The word supplications refers to requests or petitions based on a deep sense of need. Intercessions are prayers to the Father on behalf of another. While Christ intercedes for Christians (Heb. 7:25), and the Holy Spirit intercedes for Christians (Rom. 8:26), Christians may also intercede for others. We can go to God in prayer on behalf of a fellow Christian (Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; Philem. 22; Jas. 5:16; 1 Jn. 5:16) or non-Christians (Mt. 5:44; Lk. 6:28). Christ is the only mediator that can represent God to man and man to God (1 Tim. 2:5), but all of us as Christians can offer intercessory prayers on behalf of others for good. When the righteous pray, the results are effective (Jas. 5:16). Don’t forget to pray.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            -Mark Day

The Christian Bible holds the Guinness world record as the best-selling book of all time, stating, “…research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.” They go on to say there are an estimated 80 million copies printed each year. That equates to ~219,000 copies printed around the globe every day. The Bible is indisputably the most popular book in human history, but that fact does not mean the Bible is of divine origin. Let’s briefly examine a few indicators that the Bible is in fact the word of God.

1. Internal Claims – the Bible itself claims to be the inspired word of God (2 Tim. 3:16), meaning it claims to have been “God-breathed” (theopneustos). This self-ascribed description is the first item to consider regarding the origin of the Bible.
2. Unity of Message – we think of the Bible as a single book, however in reality it is a library containing 66 books written by ~40 authors in 3 languages from various geographical locations on 3 continents composed over a span of ~1,500 years covering historical events that span ~4,000 years, yet there are no contradictions nor departures from the single, unified, consistent theme found throughout.
3. Historical Accuracy – from the accounts found in Genesis through the historical records provided by Luke in the book of Acts in the New Testament the Bible has provided an accurate depiction of historical events as verified by secular history. For example, Luke mentions 32 countries, 54 cities, 9 Mediterranean islands, and 95 different people in his record of Acts, and secular history concludes that Luke is accurate in all his claims. Stan Mitchell of www.forthright.net describes skeptic and historian Sir William Ramsay as stating, “The book of Acts, he declared, was full of errors, and to prove this contention, he traveled to Asia Minor to demonstrate Luke’s unreliability.” Mitchell goes on to state, “Ramsay the skeptic returned to Great Britain a believer. Every one of Luke’s facts checked out.” While historical accuracy does not directly indicate divine inspiration, a divinely inspired book must be historically accurate.
4. Scientific Accuracy and Foreknowledge – unbiased science is not the enemy of true religion, and God Himself proves this in His inspired word. From the time God told man to subdue and have dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28) man has been examining the glory of God throughout His creation (Rom. 1:20; Psa. 19). The Bible avoids errors in the fields of astrology, medicine, witchcraft, geography, and the like, which contemporary cultures contained at the time of its writing.
5. Predictive Prophecy – there are numerous verifiable prophecies regarding historical events that have been fulfilled. One such prophecy was made by Ezekiel in the year 597 BC regarding the fall of the city of Tyre. He predicted that Babylon would conquer the city, and he even went so far as to describe the way it would fall. Secular history verifies this historical event took place in 330 BC in the exact manner in which it was prophesied.

Space does not allow for a more detailed description of the divine properties contained within the pages of the Bible, but it is evident that the Bible contains features that prove it to be of supernatural origin. As Christians, we may take comfort in the fact that God has proven Himself in His word. For more detailed explanations of specific instances of predictive prophecy and scientific foreknowledge I would recommend examining material from Apologetics Press and World Video Bible School.