Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Jesus was asked three questions by His disciples: 1). When is the end of the world? 2). What will the end times be like? 3). What signs will announce Christ's return? There are general principles we can glean that are helpful for Christians today, but Jesus had the future of Israel and the Day of the LORD judgment in mind as He answered their questions. What this means is that we cannot force the Church of Jesus Christ into this passage because the Church was not yet in existence. Christ's Church was birthed at the feast of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down as we read in Acts 2 and onward. The full revelation of the Church, its doctrines and duties was revealed when Jesus spoke through the apostle Paul, as we previously studied. Acts 1:6-8 make it clear that Peter and the other disciples were looking for Jesus to return and establish the Messianic kingdom. They did not yet know about the Church and how it fit into God's plans. Prophets of the Old Testament did not ...

Jesus said false teachers will crop up and say here is Christ, or He is over there. This instructs us that there will be many false teachers setting a date for Christ's return. We must never listen to a man or woman who says they know the date and the hour of Christ's coming as Judge. Matthew 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.   Here is another area where Christians must be discerning.    Over the last few centuries, hundreds of false teachers have set an exact date for Christ's return, including well known author, Hal Lindsay. He wrote a pamphlet titled "88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988." 1988 came and went but there was no return of Christ because Mr. Lindsay did not know. He certainly sold a lot of books by using sensationalism, but like every single date setter, he was wrong. If we hear any teacher, or pastor or anyone claiming to speak for God, who sets a date for Christ's return, we...

Matthew 24:30-31  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  We need to look at this text again because there are important connections with Jesus' teaching for us. At the Day of the LORD judgment all people and nations will see Jesus coming with great power and glory. He will send His angels to gather the elect, who are primarily Jewish people who believed God's Word and remained faithful to Him.  The elect will be mostly believing Jews, who will be gathered from all corners of the earth. Matthew 13:36-43  Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable o...