Building on the Foundation

  About 2,000 years ago, God sent His Son to earth to die in our place to atone for our sins. As we’ll see shortly in God’s Word, God planned it before the foundation of the world, before time began. It’s the most momentous event in all of human history. Everything in the Bible points to it, in both Old and New Testaments. In fact, the Apostle Paul “determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Our salvation — our eternal life — God’s entire plan — hinges on Christ’s sacrifice. Without Christ’s death and resurrection, we are nothing. We are dead men walking, awaiting the doom of eternal death. But through His death and resurrection, we can live forever with Him! All four gospels carefully establish that Jesus died on Nisan 14th, the preparation day for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the same day God’s people sacrificed the Passover lambs in the Old Testament (Ex. 12:6). Is this just a coincidence, or is it crucially important? 1 C...

As mentioned previously , Moses used the phrase “between the two evenings” eleven times in the first five books of God’s Word, but not always in reference to Passover. It was also the appointed time for the daily offerings and other services in the tabernacle/temple. In this post, we'll see that God's Word really pinpoints "between the two evenings" for us. As always, please don't just take my word  — or the word of any other human being  — for it, but search these things out for yourself in God's Word. In Ex. 29:38-39, we find: “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight [between the two evenings].” Num. 28:4-8 mirrors this account, including the specification that the evening sacrifice be offered “between the two evenings.” “One” lamb was to be offered in the morning. “One” is echad (Strong’s #259) in both Ex. ...

As several posts have now demonstrated, “evening” in the Bible often means the end of the day. What about “between the two evenings”? The Bible uses this phrase (in Hebrew) eleven times, all in the five books of Moses. It’s used to pinpoint the Passover sacrifice in Ex. 12:6; Lev. 23:5; and Num. 9:3, 5, and 11. Does God’s Word define this phrase for us? Does it mention two distinct evenings and tell us when they are? Indeed it does! When Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, the Bible documented two distinct evenings. First, in Mat. 14:15, we read, “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.’” The phrase “the hour is already late” is rendered “the time is now past” in the KJV, but they mean the same thing. The disciples were simply reminding their Master that it was getting late. Remember, a day had twelve hours...

Judges 19 recounts an event that I've never liked reading, and I'm sure many others can say the same. Nevertheless, Judges 19:8-9 helps to define the meaning of evening for us. Here's the passage, as it's translated in the New King James Version: "Then he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman’s father said, 'Please refresh your heart.' So they delayed until afternoon ; and both of them ate. And when the man stood to depart — he and his concubine and his servant — his father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, 'Look, the day is now drawing toward evening ; please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end ; lodge here, that your heart may be merry. Tomorrow go your way early, so that you may get home.'" I've highlighted the three phrases I want to focus on in this post. These phrases, as rendered in the NKJV, fall into the category of interpretation rather than literal translation. Now, ...

Jesus Christ famously predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed (Mat. 26:34; KJV). What did He mean by this expression? The answer reveals itself once we learn the Bible’s methods of keeping time. In fact, a few other mysteries may resolve themselves as well. Let’s back up a bit to get the whole picture. In Bible days, centuries before the widespread use of mechanical clocks, people told time by the sun and other heavenly bodies, for God had set them up at Creation as a giant clock (Gen. 1:14). Over the centuries, the ancients built various devices to help, especially sundials, one of which the Bible mentions in the days of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:11). Although it’s certainly possible that the Israelites always divided the day into hours, the Old Testament doesn’t mention it. Instead, it mentions three distinct periods of daylight: morning (mentioned frequently), the heat of the day (Gen. 18:1, 1 Sam. 11:11, 2 Sam. 4:5), and evening or afternoon (Jer. 6:4...

Chapter 20 of the Gospel of John elaborates on some key events that followed Jesus' resurrection. It begins with the discovery of His empty tomb on Sunday morning by Mary Magdalene and other disciples, while it was still dark (John 20:1-10). Shortly thereafter, He appeared to Mary Magdalene alone (vv. 11-18). Next, we read, "Then, the same day [Sunday, the first day of the week] at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be with you'" (John 20:19). As in other Scriptures, we see a clear pattern of morning followed by evening. Evening had to be before the end of the day at sunset, or else it could not have been the evening of the same day! Therefore, evening in this passage can only be late afternoon before sunset. This weighs heavily on the discussion of evening and "between the two evenings." In turn, it weighs...

The account in 1 Samuel 20 not only tells us of King Saul's hatred for David, but it also unveils an important clue in determining the Biblical definition of evening. Is evening the beginning of the day, when the sun has already slipped below the horizon, or is it prior to sunset near the end of the day? From studying the Biblical use of "between the two evenings," we know that it can mean either one. Evening can mean either afternoon, as it does in Jer. 6:4, or it can mean nightfall, as it does in Prov. 7:9. The passage in 1 Sam. 20 gives us an example of the former. First, at the beginning of the chapter, David sought Jonathan's help after escaping one of King Saul's murder attempts (1 Sam. 20:1). Next, we read, "And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening" (1 Sam. 20:5). Here, the stage is set. David plans to ...