• Welcome to B.P.U.

    Welcome to B.P.U.

    The current Prophetic world view is changing rapidly every day. Bible Prophecy Update (B.P.U.) provides the latest updates in the field of Bible Prophecy as they relate to current events that are happening around the world. We search the internet, newspaper articles, intelligence reports and other prophecy web sites to bring to you a concise and informative one source web site
    Revelation 19:10… For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
    This means that all of the important subjects that are contained in the Bible are centered around Jesus and therefore any complete Bible Prophecy web site should contain not only updates on Prophetic events, but also many of the other subjects that the Bible deals with. For this reason you will find hundreds of practical studies on a variety of subjects that concern your life and your walk with Jesus Christ on this blog.

  • The Coming Peace Plan

    The Coming Peace Plan

    From Daniel’s description of this new world leader, his rise to prominence will occur very quickly. The power that he will gain to enable him to unite the Israeli and Arab leaders to sign a peace treaty for “One Week”, an Old Testament catch phrase for seven years (Genesis 29:27), will come from the worlds ability to accept just such a man as a peace maker in a very short period of time.
    What events could propel a man onto the world scene so quickly and enable him to make peace with two nations so diversely apposed to each other, in a way that no other man has ever been able to accomplish?
    When I opened my Amazon Kindle Saturnday morning, to the news that President Barack Obama had won the coveted Nobel peace prize, I read with great interest.
    The similarities between his rapid rise to fame and the world’s acceptance of him as a great “savior” and that World leader described in Daniel chapter 9 were incredible.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 6

    Bible Study: Hebrews 6

    Now each of these chapters are inter-related. And chapter six is just a continuation of chapter five. You do understand that when the Book of Hebrews was written, the writer did not divide it into chapters and verses. That was done years later by men, who thought to make it easier to reference certain passages. So they divided the Bible into chapters and verses so that we could memorize particular thoughts and ideas that we have in the particular verses. And so many times the thought is sort of broken up by chapter divisions.

    Now we’re used to in reading a book, to say well, I’m going to finish this chapter. And we sort of, you know, put it down and think, well, the chapter is complete and usually a thought is pretty much completed in the chapter. The new chapter will usually introduce a new area.

    Well, not so, in the chapter distinctions in the Bible. And thus, we’ll go back and we’ll read the last part of chapter five, which will then bring us right on into chapter six.

    Beginning with verse eleven of chapter five, the writer says as he is talking about Jesus the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, he says we have many things to say that are hard to be uttered, seeing that ye are dull of hearing. That is, many things to say about Melchizedek. When we get to chapter seven, he’ll begin to say these many things about Melchizedek.

    For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. You haven’t grown up. You are still children.

    For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of fully mature, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

    So it’s sort of a rebuke. He would like to talk to them about things that they’re not really ready to receive because even though they’ve been in it long enough where they should be able to take the meat, they still need just to be given milk.

  • Devotional: January 27

    Devotional: January 27

    Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. (Heb 5:8-9)
    There is a positive aspect to suffering. We all endure suffering to some degree, but the good news is that through it we can become like Jesus. Are you willing to pay whatever price is necessary in order to become like Christ? There are some things that God can build into your life only through suffering. Even Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was complete only after He had endured the suffering His Father had set before Him. Once He had suffered, He was the complete, mature, and perfect Savior through whom an entire world could find salvation.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 5

    Bible Study: Hebrews 5

    All right, let’s go to Hebrews, chapter five. Now in the fourth chapter, at the end of the chapter, he is speaking of Jesus being our High Priest. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that has passed into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

    The religion of Judaism is rich in tradition and in culture. Many of those who were following the tradition and seeking to obey the law, came to a faith and a knowledge in Jesus Christ. But some of them were gradually being drawn back, because of the deep roots of tradition into the temple worship again. They were turning back to Judaism, turning back to the law because of the richness of tradition, it had that kind of an appeal.

    And so in the second chapter the author said, let’s take the more earnest heed to the things, which we have heard, lest we should drift away from them, because some of them were drifting away from the truth in Jesus.

    One of the things that brought great comfort and assurance was the fact that you could bring a sacrifice to the priests for your sin offering. You could lay your hand on the head of the animal and you could confess on it your sin. The priest in turn would slay it and take the blood, put it in a basin and put in on the mercy seat. The sacrifice would be burned in the fire. And it was a very moving experience and a very dramatic kind of an experience because you realize, that animal is suffering and dying for my sin! But as the result of it taking my sin and dying in my place, I can now fellowship with God. And so it was the High Priest that took the offering before the Lord, the sin offering, to help restore your fellowship with God. And it was a very moving experience and a very dramatic experience and very powerful.

  • Devotional: January 26

    Devotional: January 26

    Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear. (Heb 5:7)
    The life of Jesus provides the model for our prayer lives. God is seeking to mold us into the image of His Son (Col. 1:27—28). If we are to act like Christ, our prayer lives must be conformed to His. Many Christians are unwilling to pay the price that Jesus paid when it comes to interceding with God. Jesus’ prayers came with vehement cries and tears and, “because of His godly fear,” He was heard by the Father.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 4

    Bible Study: Hebrews 4

    Let’s turn now in our Bibles to Hebrews, chapter four. In the third chapter, and I’m so convinced that Paul is the author of Hebrews, that I’m going to attribute it to him, whether he is or not. It is so typical Pauline in the writing and in the style, that I think that just about every commentary I’ve ever read does acknowledge that Paul is, no doubt, the author of the Book of Hebrews. I try to say, well the author of the Book, but I think that it’s pretty obviously Paul. So if I slip up and say, Paul said. Then you’ll understand that that’s because I believe that Paul was the author, but in reality, the Holy Spirit is obviously the author of the Book, but the Holy Spirit uses human instruments and in this case, I believe it was Paul.

    But in the third chapter, he introduces the subject of the rest that God has for His people. And bringing up the rest that God has for His people, there is first of all that rest in the work of the Holy Spirit and that life of victory that we can experience victory and power over sin through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

    And in that he uses the example of the children of Israel, who failed to enter into the rest of the Promised Land. They spent their lives roaming in the wilderness. They never did obtain the full promises of God, the glorious land that God desired that they should enjoy.

    And thus, that is used as an example for us that because of their unbelief they weren’t able to obtain all that God had for them and all that God wanted for them. And the warning is to us that there are promises of God that people have not laid hold of! Unbelief can keep us also from the full blessings of God, that land of promise, that land of blessing.

  • Devotional: January 25

    Devotional: January 25

    And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (John 6:65)
    Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, He never seemed intimidated by the crowds. Instead, He looked into the multitudes and focused on those whom His Father was sending to Him. Jesus knew that because of sin, no one naturally seeks after God. Sinful man’s inclination is to hide from God, rather than to come to Him (Gen. 3:8; Ps. 14:1—3). Therefore, whenever Jesus saw that the Father was drawing a person to Himself, Jesus immediately began relating to that person.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 3

    Bible Study: Hebrews 3

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Hebrews, chapter three, as we continue our journey through the Bible.

    Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Writing to the Hebrews, to the Jews who had received Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Messiah, those who had come recognize Jesus as Messiah.

    Holy brethren, partakers of this heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Calling their attention, their careful attention, to Christ Jesus, Who was, first of all the Apostle. The word apostle, literally means, one who is sent. And Jesus was sent by God to this world. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. God, Jesus said, did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Throughout the Book of John, over and over again, Jesus asserts that He was sent by God. Thus, an apostle, sent by God to the earth.

    But He also is the High Priest of our profession. Now, in the previous chapter, he began to introduce the subject the subject of the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ for the believers. In verse seventeen of chapter two, wherefore in all things, it behooved Him to made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and a faithful High Priest in all of the things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

  • Devotional: January 24

    Devotional: January 24

    They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day. (John 1:38b-39)
    There comes a time for each of us when merely talking about the Christian pilgrimage is not sufficient. We must actually set out on the journey! We can spend many hours debating and discussing issues related to the Christian life, but this means little if we never actually step out and follow Christ!
    For generations, the coming of the Messiah had been pondered and predicted by the nation of Israel. Perhaps no topic garnered more discussion among Jews than the nature and work of the Messiah. Andrew had listened to John the Baptist and had heard of the coming Messiah. Now, suddenly, he was face to face with the One he had yearned to see! Andrew’s mind was filled with questions he longed to ask. Instead of entering into a theological dialogue with Andrew, however, Jesus turned and began to walk. Andrew’s questions would not be answered by discussion alone, but by walking with Him.

  • John MacDuff, Memories of Patmos

    Posted on January 23rd, 2012

    Written by B.P.U Contributor

    2. The Trumpet Voice and Opening Vision

    In the preceding chapter we considered the prologue and dedication of this great Book. He who is alike the Revealer and the Revealed is now to occupy our attention. It is a befitting sequence, to pass from the announcement of the subject, to a description of the adorable Person and character of Him whose tongue of living fire dictates the immediately succeeding letters to the Seven Churches—whose Presence fills every subsequent unfolding of the prophetic roll, and whose glorious Advent is the culminating event—the terminating act of the sacred drama.

    But under what form is this description of the majestic Being, who dwells in inaccessible light, to be brought before His Church? How can even John (though ‘the eagle’ be his traditional symbol) soar upwards on his wings of love and devotion to catch a sight of the Invisible; endure the splendors of the unclouded Sun—and present the result in human words? It cannot be embodied in the usual forms of speech; and, therefore, in accordance with many antecedents in Hebrew history, this revelation of the Person of Christ is to be made, not in earthly language, but by heavenly vision.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 2

    Bible Study: Hebrews 2

    As we mentioned this morning, the word therefore, is a word of conclusion. It’s not the beginning of a thought, it’s the summarizing now and making the application of the thought. The thought of course, goes back to chapter one, where God in different ways and in different times, spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in the last days has spoken by His Own, dear Son. And the fact that God has spoken directly and that God became man in order to communicate His truth to man.

    So the plain declaration of God has spoken to us by His dear, Own, Son, whom He has made heir of all things, by whom He created the world. Who is the express image of Him, the outshining of His glory. And unto the Son, He said, Thy throne, Oh God, is forever and ever. So this is the One who has spoken to us in these last days, the words of Jesus Christ and the revelation of God that was given to us by Jesus Christ.

    Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, If they gave attention to the Word of God that came through the prophets, then surely the Word that came directly from Jesus, should have precedence over, but yet never contradicting, the words of the prophets. So giving the more earnest heed to the words of Jesus Christ, Who said (John 14:6), I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the Father, but by Me.

    (John 3:16-18) For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And He that believeth is not condemned. These are the words that we should give the more earnest heed to!

    lest at any time we should let them slip. Or that we should drift away from the truth.

    Now the purpose, it would seem, of the Book of Hebrews, it was written to the Hebrews, the Jews who had become believers in Jesus as their Messiah. But tradition has an extremely strong hold on people. And it appears that many of the Jews who had embraced Jesus as their Messiah, were still bound by traditions to the Jewish faith. And some of them were drifting away from Jesus back into Judaism. They were going back under the law.

  • Devotional: January 23

    Devotional: January 23

    And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
    God’s truth never restricts you; it always sets you free! Are you discouraged? Is there a sense of in a particular area of your life? A lack of victory over a certain sin? A harmful addiction? It is possible that you do not yet understand a truth about God that can release you.
    If you feel powerless to meet the challenges before you, take encouragement from the promise of Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” If you are defeated by circumstance, hold on to the truth of Romans 8:28 that God can work your most difficult situation into His good. If you are enslaved to a particular sin, work the truth of 1 John 1:9 into your life, which promises that if you confess your sin, God is faithful to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. All of these truths await the Holy Spirit’s implementation into your life.

  • John MacDuff, Memories of Patmos

    Posted on January 22nd, 2012

    Written by B.P.U Contributor

    1. The Scene and Spectator

    1. The Scene and Spectator

    That evening in April can never be forgotten, when sailing through the Archipelago on the way from Palestine to Smyrna, and just as the sun was sinking in subdued splendor over its western rocky ridges, our eyes rested on the Isle of Patmos. Though privileged to enjoy, a few weeks before, the most hallowed associations of all connected with the Apostle of Love, while treading the streets of Jerusalem and the shores of the Lake of Galilee, we had expected to renew these in another form, as we were afterwards permitted to do, amid the desolate ruins of Ephesus, where his own saintly life mellowed by venerable age was closed, and where his Gospel in all probability was written. But sudden and unexpected was this new souvenir of the Gospel era, seeming to rise on the bosom of the deep like one of his own visions. The trail of golden light, brighter had it been seen half an hour before on the molten waters, was yet sufficient irresistibly to recall the description of “the Sea of Glass mingled with fire.”

    The Island itself was obscure, but it took its place thenceforward in the shrine of memory, among the world’s holiest sanctuaries. Our emotions awakened at beholding the exile home of the Beloved Disciple—the very spot where, before the eye of the rapt prophet, there passed the dream of all dreams—”the visions of God”—where the portals of heaven seemed as if they had descended and the gates of pearl had been flung open, while he heard unspeakable things which it is not possible for a man to utter!

  • 12. The Evidence of the Man from Tarsus

    12. The Evidence of the Man from Tarsus

    It is almost impossible to imagine anything more fortunate from a purely historical point of view than the fact that, just at the moment when Christianity was taking the measure of its adversaries, there chanced to come to Jerusalem a young man, who, judged even by high modem standards, can claim to be a very competent and almost impartial observer.

    The name of this young man was Saul. He was a Hebrew of very careful upbringing, intensely zealous in the performance of his religious duties, but with a mind broadened by contact with the wider life and speculative thinking of the Greco-Roman world. He was acquainted with at least some of the writings of Aratus, of Epimenides, and of Menander, as his later speeches show. And he hailed from Tarsus, in Cilicia. The year was about AD. 34.

  • Bible Study: Hebrews 1

    Bible Study: Hebrews 1

    The Book of Hebrews is exactly what it says. It is written to the Hebrews, the Jewish believers. It is commonly accepted that Paul was the author of the Book of Hebrews. It is my opinion that that is correct. It has touches of Paul’s style in it.

    They are at a transition of dispensation. When Jesus had the Last Supper with the disciples, when He took the cup. He said this cup is a New Covenant in My blood for the remission of sins. And so God has established now a New Covenant with the nation of Israel, which means that the old covenant is no longer valid. The temple worship, the sacrifices, the priesthood, is no longer valid, because God has now established in Jesus, a new and a better way!

    So they are that transition of leaving the old covenant, with its tradition, and entering into the New Covenant, this new relationship with God, now made possible because of what Jesus Christ has done!

  • Devotional: January 22

    Devotional: January 22

    “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:25-26)

    You do not organize the kingdom of God, you agonize the kingdom of God. You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love. The heavenly Father loved His Son with an eternal love. Everything in the heart and life of the Father was released to His Son. As the Father expressed His love for a broken and sinful world, this passion was manifested through the life of His Son. The Father initiated His plan to save mankind, and out of a heart of devotion, the Son accepted the assignment that took Him to the cross.

  • Understanding Why a Christian Continues to Sin

    Understanding Why a Christian Continues to Sin

    Perhaps as a new Christian, or one that has lived many years believing in and following Jesus, you have felt the conflict between your desire to please the Lord, and the actual life you lead. If no one has explained to you that you will continue to sin even as a believer, you may have even considered giving up trying to be a Christian at all.

    The first step in salvation is the act of “justification”. In Justification we are made legally perfect in the eyes of God, by the removal of our sin record, through Jesus sacrifice. By Jesus death, He took upon Himself all of the sins of every person who has been born on the earth. From God’s perspective, He could not just forgive us and act as if our sins were not an issue any longer. God had to carry out the sentence promised by Him for the violation of His moral law.

    Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.

    God provided an alternative to the death of the sinner, by allowing a person to be set free from the penalty of their sins, by their consent in placing their sins on Jesus Christ . Until a person agrees to allow Jesus to take their sins, they remain on the sinners record. At the moment that a sinner asks Jesus to forgive their sins, He takes all of their record of wrong and places them squarely on Himself.

  • 11. The Evidence of the Prisoner’s Brother

    11. The Evidence of the Prisoner’s Brother

    With one single exception, which I shall deal with later, there is nothing in the whole of this strange story that impresses me so profoundly as the part played by the individual known to the ancient church as James, the Lord’s brother, or, alternatively, as James the Just.

    For our knowledge of this man we are not entirely dependent on sources favorable to the Christian faith. Like Pilate and certain outstanding personalities of the early Christian era, he is mentioned by Josephus, a writer notoriously contemptuous of the whole movement. Moreover, some independent details are given by Hegesippus, the father of church history, in some fragments preserved by Eusebius.

    It will be convenient if we trace his record backwards, beginning with the famous paragraph in which Josephus describes his death. The passage from Josephus is as follows:

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