Author: Abiding Foundations

Pre-Darby Pretribulationism: A Historical Survey

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“What is clear from all the recent work on the history of eschatology and millennialism is that John Nelson Darby did not create the dispensational system out of whole cloth by himself in the nineteenth century. Certain elements of that system pre-dated Darby. Prior to Darby, those elements existed in various non-dispensationalist theological systems. The division of history into eras pre-dated Darby in non-dispensationalist systems. Premillennialism pre-dated Darby in non-dispensationalist systems. Philosemitism pre-dated Darby in non-dispensationalist systems. There were tributaries that fed into the larger stream that became dispensationalism. In the nineteenth century, Darby and others took these already existing ideas, added a few of their own, and put them together in an altogether new way. They built a unique new house.”
— Keith Mathison, https://www.keithmathison.org/post/dispensationalism-before-darby

Did dispensational pretribulationism exist before Darby? Absolutely—at least in its “proto” stages. I’ve put together a list of key resources that track pretribulationism prior to Darby’s time. The common claim that Darby either stole the idea from Margaret MacDonald or invented it out of thin air is simply a myth.

Continue reading “Pre-Darby Pretribulationism: A Historical Survey” →

Mapping the Bible: Four Free Interactive Atlases for the Church

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Featured Blog: Jhonatan Garrido-Lecca

In this featured blog, I’d like to highlight some of the excellent work my brother Jhonatan has been doing through his website, garridolecca.github.io. My hope is that you will be encouraged and blessed by his efforts, particularly his desire to help readers visualize key aspects of Scripture and better understand the rich history of the Particular Baptists.

“As someone passionate about Scripture and technology, I wanted to create something that would help believers engage with God’s Word in a deeper, more visual way. The result is a collection of four free interactive Biblical atlases, each one mapping the geography behind the text so readers can see where the stories of Scripture actually unfolded.

https://garridolecca.github.io/pauls-journeys/ traces the apostle Paul’s missionary travels across the Mediterranean. Users can follow each journey individually Journey 1, 2, 3, and the voyage to Rome, or view them all at once. Each stop is linked to the relevant Scripture passages, so you can read alongside the map.

https://garridolecca.github.io/life-of-jesus/ maps the events of Christ’s earthly ministry from the Gospels. You can filter by phase, Birth, Early Galilee, Passion,and walk through the locations where Jesus taught, healed, and fulfilled His mission.

https://garridolecca.github.io/old-testament-atlas/ covers all 39 books, letting users explore cities and regions where biblical events took place. You can browse by category (Law, History, Wisdom, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets) or search for a specific city to discover every biblical event connected to it.

https://garridolecca.github.io/1689-heritage-trail/ is a bit different, it maps the history of the Particular Baptists, tracing their story through four eras: Origins, Persecution, Toleration, and Mission. It includes biographical profiles of key figures and a timeline to explore events geographically and chronologically. All four apps are bilingual (English and Spanish), completely free, and designed to be accessible to anyone, whether for personal study, family devotions, Sunday school, or sermon preparation.

My hope is that these tools help brothers and sisters around the world connect more deeply with the places, people, and events of Scripture and church history.”

– Jhonatan Garrido-Lecca

Ezekiel’s Temple and the New Covenant

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Featured Blog: Selwin Christian

Today’s featured blog article was written by Selwin Christian back in April 2025 called Ezekiel’s Temple Sacrifices and the New Covenant. The article was written as a research paper for The Master’s Seminary.

I am thankful for Selwin and his continued to desire to study and grow in God’s Word. I pray that his work is an encouragement to study more seriously Ezekiel 40-48 and recognize how it comports with New Covenant realities.

Taken from the Introduction:

One of the hotly debated topics in the eschatological conundrum is to find the exact nature of Ezekiel’s temple sacrifices in the light of the New Covenant. Scripture must be read in its normal, plain sense unless the text demands some kind of symbolism. But those with allegorical hermeneutics reject the plain and literal view of the temple and hence find it utterly impossible to consider future sacrifices to be literal in the light of Christ and His finished work. We meet with the dilemma, how to exactly interpret Ezekiel’s temple and sacrifices. Those who apply allegorical sense, approach the meaning through the lens of the New Testament and try to read the New Testament into the Old Testament. We will first analyze the New Testament Priority hermeneutics. This paper will argue that the New testament priority hermeneutics disregards the basic details of the text for the Ezekiel’s temple sacrifices and misreads the authorial intent, though the later revelation is important, as far as the New Covenant is concerned the exegetical answer is found in the Old Testament itself without contradiction.

Click to access selwin_ezekiels-temple-and-new-covenant.pdf

Do the Majority of Jews in the Current Nation State of Israel Adhere to the Talmud?

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Claim: The majority of Jews living in the current nation state of Israel adhere to the Talmud which states Christ is currently in excrement.

Response: The claim that the majority of Jews adhere to and promote the Talmud is false. Evidence will be presented below to demonstrate why the claim is fallacious.

Continue reading “Do the Majority of Jews in the Current Nation State of Israel Adhere to the Talmud?” →

The ‘Synagogue of Satan’: A Local Conflict, Not a Global Condemnation

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In an age where Jewish conspiracy theories are again gaining traction, Revelation 2:9 & 3:9 are once again being pulled back into the spotlight.

Many assume—in using these two texts—that John is teaching that the Jewish people as a whole have now become something called the “Synagogue of Satan” (SoS)—which is supposedly a label given by John to all Jews after the late first century.

This interpretation is not only careless, but is often grounded in prejudice against the Jewish people, and in some cases, it has even been used to justify hostility and violence against the Jewish people.1

In recent cultural moments—whether through figures like Tucker Carlson, Candice Owens, or broader online discourses—Jews are once again being cast as scapegoats for broader societal issues. These two texts are often weaponized to support that particular narrative.

My goal is simple:

Examine Revelation 2:9 & 3:9 in their historical contexts, demonstrate that these passages refer to specific local conflicts, and show that they not to be used as a universal condemnation of the Jewish people.

Continue reading “The ‘Synagogue of Satan’: A Local Conflict, Not a Global Condemnation” →

10 Reasons for a “Gap” in Daniel’s 70 Weeks

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It is often assumed that dispensationalists invented the idea of a gap in Daniel’s seventy weeks in order to support their eschatological system. In reality, dispensational and non-dispensational interpreters have substantial textual and historical reasons for rejecting the view that the seventieth week was fulfilled by AD 40. The following are some of the strongest arguments supporting a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks.

Continue reading “10 Reasons for a “Gap” in Daniel’s 70 Weeks” →

Abraham’s Four Seeds: The Key Many Systems Overlook

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Excellent work has been done in identifying the fourfold sense of Abraham’s seed. I first encountered this framework in John G. Reisinger’s book Abraham’s Four Seeds: A Biblical Examination of the Presuppositions of Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism (1998), which was extremely helpful in clarifying how Scripture speaks of the various “seeds” of Abraham. The concept was later further developed by Stephen J. Wellum and Peter J. Gentry in Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants (2012). Dispensational scholars have also made use of similar categories; for example, see Michael Riccardi’s study, The Seed of Abraham: A Theological Analysis of Galatians 3 and Its Implications for Israel, Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology (2001) and John S. Feinberg in Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments (1988).

I likewise find the fourfold distinction of Abraham’s seed to be a helpful framework for bringing together the full biblical data on this important subject. My primary disagreement with Reisinger, Wellum, and Gentry, however, is that their redemptive-historical model tends to downplay two of the four seeds, despite the significant emphasis Scripture itself places upon them. When a theological model highlights one element within a predefined interpretive framework, it often results—intentionally or not—in the marginalization of elements that do not fit neatly within that framework.

Dispensationalists, by contrast, have sought to account for the totality of the biblical witness without minimizing particular strands of revelation due to prior theological commitments.

Continue reading “Abraham’s Four Seeds: The Key Many Systems Overlook” →

Future Sacrifices and the Once-for-All Cross: Harmonizing Ezekiel and Hebrews

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Let’s talk Ezekiel 40-48!

After years of dialogue with non-dispensationalists over this passage, I have repeatedly encountered the same interpretive problems surrounding these nine chapters of Scripture. At the core of many of these disagreements is what has been termed a “New Testament Priority Presupposition.” This approach grants the New Testament interpretive primacy when reading the Bible, often described as viewing the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. In this case the book of Hebrews is given interpretive priority over Ezekiel and is used to interpret the book of Ezekiel.

Continue reading “Future Sacrifices and the Once-for-All Cross: Harmonizing Ezekiel and Hebrews” →

The New Covenant – Spiritual & Physical Dimensions

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The New Covenant (NC) is far more comprehensive than we often acknowledge. If one reduces the NC merely to the spiritual blessings the church enjoys in Christ, while neglecting its physical and national dimensions, the result is an essentially Platonic reading of the promises. What is needed is a balanced and objective assessment that gives full weight to all relevant biblical data. Moreover, a strictly redemptive-historical hermeneutic can create additional tension, as it often tends to emphasize the spiritual aspects of the covenant while minimizing or reinterpreting its physical and territorial components.

Continue reading “The New Covenant – Spiritual & Physical Dimensions” →