The Reformers – every single one of them – believed that when the Lord returns at the close of this age, he will usher in the end of time and of the world. The earth will burn with a fervent heat (2 Peter), the Great Judgment will follow, and then there will be a
Ascension Day Poem by Worsley: Only by a chosen few was He seen ascending into heaven that day. Their vision encourages us too.
The Creator of all things was nailed by worms of men to planks of wood, where he triumphed over all powers, and over death and hell, on their behalf.
I love Martin Luther. He was an original thinker, fearlessly independent, brilliant in depth and simplicity. He was devout and Christ-centered. And he gave the German people a wonderful bible. So I turned to him when I was wondering about literalism in bible translation. It seemed to me that sometimes the scholars overused it.
Since the 14th century, English Protestant bibles can be divided into four periods: 1380 – c1500 – Lollard bibles (John Wycliffe) During this period, Church leaders were violently opposed to having an English bible. They wanted it in Latin, and people to trust the clergy to tell them what the bible means. Translators worked
The Matthew Bible teaches many doctrines that have been eclipsed or lost. One is amillennialism (as it is called). The Matthew men – William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale, and John Rogers – believed that we are now in the thousand-year reign of Christ, which is a spiritual reign in the hearts and consciences of his people, his nation. The 1,000 years is symbolic of a long period of time, the end whereof is only in the knowledge of God the Father, though certain events are foretold that will be harbingers of the end… [more]
An observant reader noticed this. There is a good explanation, having to do with the grammar of what are called “that-clauses,” and especially “purpose and result clauses.” The grammatical rules have changed since the early 16th century. Therefore in purpose and result clauses I updated the simple conjunction ‘that’ to the compound conjunction “so that.”
