Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Paul's teaching on head-coverings in Church (1Corinthians 11:1-16) is one of the most complex passages in the New Testament. Derek explains how his argument is on 3 levels: *(1) The THEOLOGICAL basis: HEADSHIP in Marriage. *(2) The PRINCIPLE of HEAD-COVERING – a woman should cover her head as a symbol and expression of her SUBMISSION to the HEADSHIP of her man. *(3) The PRACTICE – what constitutes a COVERING? This passage also speaks to the issue of whether a man should have long hair.

Hilary shares from Isaiah 53:1-5 how Divine Healing was purchased for us on the Cross, confirmed by Matthew 8:5-17, for: “He took our sicknesses and bore our diseases." The risen Christ has poured out the Holy Spirit for us all to receive. The Spirit dwells within the spirit of every believer and wants to flow out through our hearts as rivers of life-giving water (John 7:37-39), bringing us health and healing (Rev 22:1-3, Ezekiel 47:9,12, Romans 8:11). When we pray in tongues (Acts 2:4), we are allowing this River of Life to flow more abundantly through us. This is confirmed by medical studies that show the positive effects on our bodies of extended praying in tongues. Hilary shares the results of these studies to encourage you to be more faithful in using your God-given prayer language.

When we pray in tongues, a river of life flows out of our spirit (where the Holy Spirit dwells) through our mouth: “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). This divine river carries life, healing, supernatural power and gifts. Hilary shares the results of medical studies showing that extended praying in tongues activates areas of our brain which release hormones, resulting in increased immunity from sickness, and health for our minds and bodies.

Immediately after the Rapture all believers will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. This is not a judgment to determine our eternal salvation (or condemnation), but a judgement of our works to determine our eternal rewards. Derek takes us through the 4 major passages on this Judgement: (1) Romans 14:10-13 (with James 2:12-13, 5:8-9), (2) 2 Corinthians 5:9-11, (3) 1 Corinthians 4:2-5, (4) 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. We need to live our lives in the constant awareness that at any moment we might find ourselves standing before our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to give an account for how we have lived our Christian lives. He who sees everything, will bring all things to the light, and will examine all things, including the motives of our heart. So, let us be faithful to Christ, and live for His praise and reward, so that we may hear Him say to us: "Well done, you good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21,23). Derek's full teaching on this subject is in his book: 'A Panorama of Prophecy' - available on Amazon.

Starting with the promise of Jesus in John 14:1-3 that He will return from Heaven, specifically for believers (His Bride), to take us to be with Him in Heaven, Derek shares the classic passages on the Rapture, especially 1Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1Corinthians 15:51-58, sharing how there will be 2 blasts of the Trumpet of God. The first Trumpet will sound causing the dead in Christ to be raised and then rise to meet the Lord in the sky (the dead in Christ will rise first). Then the last Trumpet will sound, causing those in Christ, who are still alive, to be instantly changed in our bodies, so that we will receive immortal bodies. Then we will be caught up (raptured) to meet Christ in the sky, joining those who previously rose at the first Trumpet. In this way, the whole Church will be gathered together to Christ, and from then on, we will always be with the Lord. Finally, we see the thrice repeated promise of Jesus in the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:7,12,20: "I am coming quickly (suddenly, without warning)" - a clear statement of the imminence of His Coming in the Rapture.

God's faithfulness is the foundation for our faith and hope for the future. God is faithful to keep all His promises to us, despite our weaknesses and failures. Peter's message exalting our faithful God will encourage you and build your faith in the Lord. If you are facing trials and challenges, it is especially important for you to meditate on God's faithfulness, so that you can look to Him, hope in Him and trust in Him, and so be strengthened by His grace, and be filled with His peace, knowing He will bring His promise to pass.

Hilary shares her testimony of how she became seriously sick in body and hardened in heart through her involvement in the occult, but despite that, Jesus wonderfully saved her, and delivered her from the power of satan, and completely healed her body. You too can be saved, healed and delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ, for: "ALL who call upon the Name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved (delivered, healed)" (Romans 10:13).

Jehoiakim reigned 11 years (609 - 598 BC). In Jehoiakim's 11th year, Nebuchadnezzar came and brought his reign to an end by taking him to Babylon in chains (2Chronicles 36:5-6), but he died on the journey and his body was cast out and exposed to the elements, so that he did not receive a proper burial, just as Jeremiah had prophesied (36:30, 22:19). His son, Jehoiachin, was only installed as king after news of Jehoiakim's death arrived in Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:6). Thus there was a short Interregnum of a few months between the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jehoiakin. Jehoiachin only reigned for 3 months and 10 days (2Chronicles 36:9, 2Kings 24:8), because Nebuchadnezzar immediately deposed him. The Babylonian Chronicle says that in his 7th year (Nisan 598 - 597 BC) he started to besiege Jerusalem in Kislev (12th Dec 598 - 11th Jan 597 BC), and captured it on 2nd Adar (10th March 597 BC), ending Jehoichin's reign of 3 months 10 days. Therefore he started to reign on 28th November 598 BC. Therefore, he did not reach the start of his 1st regnal year, which is why it is recorded as 3 months long rather than 1 year. However, there was also a short Interregnum before his reign, and we will see that this Interregnum started before Tishri 1st in October 598 BC. Therefore, in the overall reckoning 'this Interregnum + Jehoiachin's reign' should count as 1 year. Jehoiachin surrendered to Babylon on 10th March 597 BC, in Nebuchadnezzar's 7th year, just before the start of the Nisan new year in April. By the time Nebuchadnezzar had taken the treasures and organised the many captive to take to Babylon and installed the new king (Zedekiah), they had crossed over into the new year, which is why it says in 2Kings 24:12 that Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon early in his 8th year, as confirmed by 2Chronicles 36:10. Also Ezekiel 40:1 says that this happened on the 10th Nisan. Ezekiel went into captivity at the same time as Jehoichin, in Nisan (April) 597 BC - this is a well-established fixed date. Ezekiel gives all his dates as 'the years of king Jehoichin's Captivity' (1:2), which were also 'the years of our Captivity' (40:1). These must be Nisan years, so the first year of this Captivity was Nisan 597 - 596 BC. Jehoiachin was also called Jeconiah and Coniah. Jeremiah prophesied he would go into Captivity (22:24-28), and that none of his physical seed would ever sit on the throne of David (22:29-30). Thus the next and last king (Zedekiah) was his uncle, not his son. This created a problem, for the Messiah must be descended from the royal line, but any physical descendent of Jehoiachin is disqualified! The solution is the Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14). Matthew 1:1-16 gives the ancestry of Jesus on Joseph's side, showing His legal right to be king. Joseph was in the royal line, a descendant of Jehoiachin (1:11,12,16). The curse on Jehoiachin's seed (Jer 22:30) would disqualify Jesus from being the rightful king, if he was the physical son of Joseph, but this does not apply because of the Virgin Birth, which is why Matthew goes on to establish the Virgin Birth (1:18-23). Notice also that Matthew 1:16 does not say Joseph begat Jesus, but rather he was the husband of Mary, who brought Him forth (so he was the adoptive father of Jesus). Luke's genealogy traces His ancestry through Mary, proving He was also a physical son of David, which means that He fulfils all the legal requirements to sit on the throne of David in fulfilment of the Davidic Covenant (1Chron 17:11-14). Moreover, the curse on Jeconiah (Jer 22:30) means that all the other descendants of the royal line of kings, which passes through Jehoiachin, are disqualified by their physical relationship to Jeconiah. Therefore, by virtue of the uniqueness of the Virgin Birth, Jesus is the only physical Son of David, who is also in the royal line of kings, who is not disqualified by the curse on Jeconiah. Therefore, He is the only One, who satisfies all the conditions, to sit as King on the Throne of David. It is especially important to determine the exact dating of Jehoiakim's reign, because the 3rd Jehoiakim marks the start of the 70 years of Captivity (Daniel 1:1), as well as the 7 Times of the Gentiles. In order to get an accurate chronology of the kings from Josiah's death in 609 BC to the start of Zedekiah's reign in Nisan 597 BC, there is a technical issue to be decided. We have 3 established fixed dates from known links to the Babylonian chronology: (1) Josiah's death, Jehoahaz's accession, and the end of the Assyrian Empire in 609 BC (17th Nabopolassar), (2) the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2), which was also the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1), and (3) the start of Zedekiah's reign when the captives were taken to Babylon in 597 BC, at the start of the 8th year of Nebuchadnezzar (2Kings 24:12). The 12 years (609 - 597 BC) start with the 3 months of Jehoahaz, fol

Jeremiah prophesied that there would be (1) 70 years of Servitude to Babylon of Israel and the nations (609 - 539 BC, Jeremiah 25:9,12, 27:1), (2) 70 years of Captivity in Babylon (607 - 537 BC, Jeremiah 29:10), and (3) 70 years of Desolations of the Land (588 - 518 BC, Jeremiah 25:8-11, Daniel 9:2). When Cyrus conquered Babylon in October 539 BC, this brought the first period of 70 years to an end. This stimulated Daniel to pray for the restoration of Israel in view of the fact that the remaining periods of 70 years were also approaching their fulfilment (Daniel 9:1-2). Daniel prayed this in the first year of Darius the Mede (whom Cyrus had appointed as king of Babylon), which is Nisan 538 - 537 BC. In response, God sent Gabriel to give Daniel the prophecy of the 70 Weeks or Sevens. When viewed as 70x7 years, this prophecy gives the Countdown to the Messiah, predicting the exact date of His death and resurrection (see my book and videos on Daniel's 70 Weeks). But viewing it as 70x7 days, gave an initial fulfilment, because 490 days later at Tishri 537 BC, Cyrus issued his famous Decree, releasing Israel from Captivity, allowing them to return to Israel, in fulfilment of Jeremiah 29:10. Darius only reigned 1 year, after which Cyrus claimed the kingship (Daniel 6:28), so Cyrus' first year was Nisan 537 - 536 BC, which is when he made his Decree (2 Chronicles 36:22-23). The 70 years of Captivity started with Daniel going into Captivity in Tishri 607 BC (Daniel 1:1) and ended with the Cyrus Decree in Tishri 537 BC. Thus in answer to Daniel's prayers God revealed the timing of the initial short-term fulfilment - the end of the Captivity by the Cyrus' Decree, and the timing of God's ultimate restoration of Israel by the Coming of the Messiah. In the final part of the video we complete our study of the 11-year reign of Jehoiakim (609 - 598 BC), an evil king who encouraged idolatry and ignored Jeremiah's warnings, by rebelling against Babylon in his 6th year. In his 11th year, Nebuchadnezzar came and brought his reign to an end by taking him to Babylon in chains (2Chronicles 36:5-6), but he died on the journey and his body was cast out and exposed to the elements, so that he did not receive a proper burial, just as Jeremiah had prophesied in Jer 36:30, 22:19, which was a judgment upon him for burning Jeremiah's prophetic scrolls (Jer 36). His son, Jehoiachin, was only installed as king after Jehoiakim's death (2 Kings 24:6). This means that there was a short Interregnum of a few months between the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jehoiakin, which is necessary to understand, in order to obtain an accurate chronology of this time-period, as we will see in the next video of this series (not seeing this Interregnum results in a 1-year error in the timings of the kings of Judah).

After Necho killed Josiah, his son Jehoahaz became king for 3 months, before Necho replaced him with Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 25:1-3 proves that these 3 months were within his accession year. Daniel's Captivity in Babylon in the 3rd Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1, 2Kings 24:1) marked the start of the 70 years of Captivity. Thus, Israel came under Babylonian domination, one year BEFORE the famous Battle of Carchemish, when Babylon defeated Egypt in the 4th Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 46:2), which was also the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:1), as confirmed by the Babylonian Chronicles which tell us that Nabopolassar died shortly after Carchemish. Unfortunately most chronologies ignore this Biblical evidence and assume that Daniel's Captivity must have been in the same year as Carchemish, rather than the year before. We provide further evidence that is assumption is false from Daniel, based on his 3 years of training (1:3-5), before he was brought before Nebuchadnezzar and given a position in the palace (1:18). These 3 years of training must have taken place before the events in Daniel 2, which were in the 2nd year of Nebuchadnezzar (2:1). This means that he must have gone into Captivity the year BEFORE Nebuchadnezzar's accession year in the 4th Jehoiakim, just as Daniel 1:1 states. This enables us to fix the 4th Jehoiakim from Tishri 606 - 605 BC, placing Carchemish in 605 BC in agreement with the Babylonian records. This means that Daniel went into captivity in the previous year, the 3rd Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1), which was 607 - 606 BC. Thus, the 70 years of Israel's Captivity started in 607 - 606 BC, and they were ended by Cyrus Decree in 537 BC. Therefore, Daniel's Captivity must have started in 607 BC, giving us a perfect solution of 607 - 537 BC for the 70 years of Israel's Captivity. Daniel's Captivity in 607 BC also marked the start of the Times of the Gentiles, an extended era of 7x360 years = 2,520 years of Gentile Dominion over Israel, the main subject of the visions in Daniel, revealing the successive Gentile world-empires that would rule over Israel, before the Messiah returns from Heaven, to destroy all the kingdoms of this world, and to establish His Kingdom over all the earth (see my book and videos called: 'The 7 Times of the Gentiles' - the book is available on Amazon). We also note the significance of Jeremiah 25:1 in giving us a perfect connecting link between sacred and secular chronology (4th Jehoiakim - the Accession Year of Nebuchadnezzar), enabling us to fix absolute dates. The timing of this synchronism is appropriate, because it is from this very time that secular records became accurate and reliable. Moreover, it is appropriate that at the start of the era of Gentile dominion over Israel, God established a connecting link between Israel's chronology and the start of the reign of the first of these Gentile rulers - Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold (Daniel 2:38).