Monthly Archives: February 2026

Two More Important Things About the End

Posted on 24/02/2026 | Leave a comment

This article is very brief.

Following my post about the End please read some additional exciting remarks.

Please study these words Jesus said to the disciples in the Olivet Discourse:

But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Mat 24 13-14.

The word for ‘world’ that Jesus used here is oikoumene.  It’s meaning is found in Luke 2:1 where we read that Caesar Augustus sent a decree to tax the whole world (oikoumene).

This cannot mean the whole planet! For Jesus and all Jews it can only refer to where Rome was ruling. By AD70 the gospel had certainly been preached throughout the whole Roman Empire.

How do we know that? Paul many times declared this had happened (see e.g., Rom 10:18, 16:26; Col 1:6, 23).

Who is the audience here? The disciples of course, Peter, James and John, who were present then. Jesus’ words will be fulfilled sometime in the first century. Mat 24:32-35. He was not warning us, right?

Now there are two very important things here:

Firstly, Jesus said the one who endures to the end will be saved. He was warning them about the trials they and others would experience so they would not perish.

Then those who endued to the end would be saved. That can only mean the end would come within their lifetime, right?

Secondly, Jesus plainly told them when the End would come. It would come when the gospel of the kingdom ‘would be preached in the whole world’.

If the End has come 2000 years ago, it logically follows that the second coming of Jesus has already taken place!

Prove me wrong please.

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The Last Days

Posted on 15/02/2026 | 1 comment

Today a key confusion in eschatology is people mix up this biblical term “end of the age” with “end of the universe.” In the Olivet Discourse, the disciples asked about the “end of the age”—i.e., the Mosaic age centred on the temple and sacrificial system. Jesus never said the physical universe would end. In fact, he implied the opposite. He said there will never be a greater time of trouble than the one associated with Jerusalem’s fall (Mat 24:20). That statement only makes sense if history continues afterward.

The term, ‘the last days,’ refers to the end of an era, an age. It does not refer to the end of history, time or the end of the world! The Jews thought in terms of ‘this age’ and the ‘age to come’ (see Mat 12:32. Mark 10:29–30, Luke 18:29–30, Luke 20:34–36, 1 Cori 2:6–8, Eph 1:21, Heb 6:5, Titus 2:12–13).

Here are the occurrences of the term ‘the last days” in the New Testament:

Acts 2:17) Peter quotes Joel, stating that in “the last days,” God will pour out His Spirit.” Peter

wanted the assembly to know what they saw occurring—the manifestation of prophesy, tongues etc—happening then

. 

2 Tim 3:1. Paul warns that “in the last days” perilous times will come. He was writing to the believers in Ephesus and not to us today 2000 years away.

Heb 1:2. The Hebrews author states that God has spoken “in these last days” through His Son. He was writing to Hebrew believers and not to us today 2000 years away.

James 5:3. James was warning the believers that their wealth will be a witness against them “in the last days.” He was not warning people today.

2 Peter 3:3. Peter notes that scoffers will come “in the last days,” walking after their own lusts.

The Bible describes “the last days” as the period between Christ’s first coming and His return—a time of increasing moral decline, widespread turmoil, and spiritual testing for the people of ancient Israel. This era began with Jesus’ resurrection and is marked by specific signs, including wars, famines, earthquakes, disease, lawlessness, family breakdown, and a growing love of pleasure over God. This is described by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse—Mat 24:7–12. 

Many people mistakenly believe that the troublesome signs in the modern world unfolding today— global calamities, technological advances and spiritual apathy align with biblical prophecy.

The same believers keep thinking and writing that the exact timing of Jesus’ second coming remains unknown, in the future. Many quote Matthew 24:36, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 

But they ignore verses 32-35: Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the  door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Jesus was addressing his disciples in the Olivet Discourse. And the NT writers wrote these words to believers long ago, not to us.  As Mike Rogers writes “We should always respect scriptural time statements. God meant it when he said this “day of the Lord” was near. He wasn’t using elastic time (‘a thousand years is as a day’), dual fulfilment (this and that), or any other special interpretive device. We must not interpret terms like “near,” “soon,” “at hand,” and “this generation” to make them fit our preconceived ideas.” 

Also please refer to Mat 10:23, 16:27-28 and 24:14 for confirmation of the second coming time.

My friends, those texts must mean that Christ has already returned sometime in the first century!

The only other rational option you have is to believe Jesus was mistaken and that is impossible.

All futurist views of eschatology say that Christ comes at the end of the current Christian age. However, the Bible is clear that the Christian age has no end! Furthermore, the Bible – in spite of the popular views of the end identifies “the last days” not as the end of time, not as the end of the Christian age, but, as the last generation of the Old Covenant Age of Israel. That age came to its cataclysmic end in AD 70!

This realisation has changed the lives of countless believers, dispelling the fear that the end is near. 

I write as one who joyously and thankfully realised this truth only several years ago. I have joined an ever increasing number of believers around the world.

Come join us in our happiness!

There’s much to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Cor 15:58.

Or prove me wrong!

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Rapture—Biblical?

Posted on 09/02/2026 | Leave a comment

The rapture teaching is not in the Bible.

Rapture teaching says Christians will instantly go to heaven in their physical bodies but 1 Corinthians 15:50 says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom.

Believing Christians will go to heaven but would have to die first rather than be instantly resurrected as a Spirit creature in order to enter the spiritual realm of heaven. 

Rapture believers look forward to not dying. That’s impossible. And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,  so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. See Hebrews 9:27-28.

There is no pre-tribulation Rapture taught in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, the only direct text that is relied on by many, for any direct support. The word for “caught up” is “harpásō” in the Greek. Same word Paul used when he was “caught up” into 3rd heaven to see visions (2 Corinthians 12:2).

However this verse simply teaches what all Christians have taught about the events at the second coming namely: resurrection of all the dead, the translation of the living into spirit beings, judgement, heaven and hell… all in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump.

There is no Rapture taught in John 5:28, in fact it teaches the opposite! False teachers of the Rapture say that only Christians are raised, then after 1000 years, the wicked are raised. This verse clearly teaches that in the same “twinkling of an eye” Pauline teaching  (an hour, not 1000 years) all the dead will be raised.

There is no Rapture taught in Daniel 12:2, just that all the dead, both righteous and wicked will be raised to judgment at the last day.

There is no Rapture taught in 1 Corinthians 15:21-28, in fact it teaches the opposite–the second coming will be the end. Paul wrote that Christ is reigning now, but will give up his reign at the second coming and hand it over to the Father. Rapture teaches that Christ is not reigning now, but will begin to reign at the second coming.

There is no Rapture taught in John 14. In context, John 14:3 says that Jesus will come again for the disciples but it does not say anything about a rapture.  Jesus gave a profound promise and assurance to the disciples. Jesus was about to leave them but not for long. Jesus was encouraging them to prepare to endure hardship. They will experience many days of fear and loss. Then at the appointed time he will come to take then to be with him forever where he is. then in verse 23 Jesus said to them, All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.

But note John 17:15. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. God wants his people in the world, being salt and light and working for cultural change in every area of life. (compare with Matthew 28:17-18).

Also John17:23. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

See also my article at https://ianthomsonian.org/2025/11/10/rapture-three-greek-words/

and at https://ianthomsonian.org/2024/11/26/they-eagerly-awaited/

and at  https://ianthomsonian.org/2023/01/31/jesus-return-when-what-do-you-expect/

I invite your refutation! 

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New Heaven and New Earth

Posted on 05/02/2026 | Leave a comment

What does the Bible mean when it talks about a ‘new heaven and a new earth’?

This biblical concept is first seen by us in the prophet Isaiah. God promised to create “new heavens and a new earth,” We will look at several of many Isaiah text below.

This article will show that ‘new heaven and a new earth’ is fulfilled in the New Covenant! For Christians it is a present reality! Not something in the future. It is the passing of the old covenant system of the Mosaic era, the sacrificial system and the arrival of the new in AD 70.

Let’s turn first to the Old Testament where find many uses of the phrase in Isaiah.

First Isaiah 1:2-4  Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth!  . . . . “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. . . . .  but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.” 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are . . . . 

This is a dramatic call, not mere poetic flourish—it invokes cosmic witnesses, a legal convention in ancient Near Eastern treaties where creation itself testifies to covenant violations (cf.  Deut 32:1; Mic 6:2).

The use of parallelism—“heavens” and “earth”—frames the message as universal and irrevocable. The structure reflects a prophetic indictment: God presents His case before creation, emphasizing the gravity of Israel’s betrayal.

God’s lament draws on the intimate metaphor of divine parenthood.  This father-child relationship underscores the depth of betrayal: Israel, as a privileged son (Ex 4:22; Hos 11:1), responds not with loyalty but rebellion. Not with mere boredom but with utter rejection. A profound spiritual blindness—a failure to acknowledge divine care and authority.

Next Isaiah 13:13. For I will shake the heavens. The earth will move from its place when the Lord of Heaven’s Armies displays his wrath in the day of his fierce anger.”

Next Isaiah 65:17. “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.  

(Note verse 8 in this context: For I still have true servants there. I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.)

Lastly Isaiah 66:22 “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the Lord.  

It is God’s new heaven and a new earth and is unlike what will pass away. True Israel will forever be his people, under the Lordship of Jesus.

Now let’s turn to the instances of the phrase in the New Testament.

Revelation 21:1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . . . . . “

Believers whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev 20:15) dwell there eternally. They reign with Christ, enjoy God’s presence, and experience eternal joy—free from death, sorrow, crying, and pain (Rev 21:4). This happened 2000 years ago!

This is the culmination of God’s redemptive plan—reversing the Fall, fulfilling His promises to Abraham, and restoring creation to its original purpose of being filled, ruled, and cultivated by obedient image bearers. 

It is the ultimate hope of the Christian faith, not a temporary state, but an eternal dwelling place. The phrase ‘new heaven and a new earth’ cannot be taken literally. Heaven is God’s home, thus will never change. The Bible is not about the physical universe or cosmology.

Jesus said I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. Mat 5:18

So even the smallest detail of God’s law has now disappeared because it’s purpose has been achieved and fulfilled by Jesus. We know that Jesus has brought to an end the entire Mosaic law, bringing the New Covenant. Why would any detail of the law still be in effect? We are in ‘the new heaven and a new earth’ now! 

He also said Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. Mat 24:35

Here, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was not talking about a literal heaven or a literal earth. He was not talking about the end of the physical world. He was talking about a spiritual condition. Relationship with God. Jesus put the context of the passing of heaven and earth alongside his second coming and the judgment of Israel in the generation then alive.

With Peter we see talk about the imminent coming of the ‘new heaven and a new earth’:

. . . .   you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. 2 Peter 3:11-13

This is apocalyptic language. Peter does not envisage a literal “melting of elements” or “heavens on fire”. But Peter and his readers eagerly look forward to what is soon to come. This is not about the future far away.

Many writers try to shoehorn these passages into a hyper-creedal “end of world history” philosophy and tradition. They are wrong. This ‘world’ may not look like a world filled with God’s righteousness. But there is an enormous contrast between the old and the new covenant for the genuine believer, then and today. The old has gone, obsolete. Now we enjoy the new heavens and a new earth. We must believe it and live it and rejoice in its benefits.

Have confidence in the Lord.

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