Now Available for Purchase in EBook Format- Only $7.99

Light for the Last Days
by Hans LaRondelle, Th.D.

In the midst of political, spiritual and economic upheaval and uncertainties, many wonder what the future holds. They also wonder what the Bible says about the end time and the purpose of human history. The authors of the Bible recorded their visions about the future in a prophetic language that needs interpretation today. There is a wide gap between their time, place, culture, and language, and those of our Western civilization. This gap must be bridged by a responsible method of interpretation and application to our modern world situation. The author of this book intends to help in bridging that gap.

To do so, to find this method of interpretation, we must understand particularly the relationship between the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible and between Israel and the church. This, in turn, requires a grasp of the larger picture of the prophetic portrayals in both Testaments. Especially important is the decisive influence of Jesus Christ on the understanding of the messianic prophecies—a task that continues to occupy professional theologians.

This author has devoted his professional life to increasing our understanding of the biblical prophecies and of the hope they offer us. The results of his studies have been published in various scholarly books: "The Israel of God in Prophecy: Principles of Prophetic Interpretation," Andrews University Monographs, Studies in Religion, Vol. 13 (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 1997); "Chariots of Salvation: The Biblical Drama of Armageddon" (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald, 1987); and "How to Understand the End-Time Prophecies of the Bible: The Biblical-Contextual Approach" (Sarasota, Fla.: First Impressions, 1997).

The author wrote this book to make his findings accessible to everyone who wants a basic understanding of Bible prophecies. Avoiding theological debates, it presents the essence of the biblical prophecies in simple and plain language—beginning with a brief overview of Jesus' prophetic speech in Matthew 24 and of Paul's forecast of the Church Age in 2 Thessalonians 2 (background that helps us to understand the book of Revelation with its symphony of images and symbols).

Most intriguing is the discovery that John's Apocalypse conveys a narrative that moves forward in history, a movement that proceeds from promises to the seven churches in the first chapters to their fulfillment in the last visions of the book. So, rather than becoming outdated, this pastoral-prophetic letter becomes more timely as the years go by. Its focus sharpens increasingly on the time of the end— a movement that propels John's Apocalypse to the forefront of relevance for our time and age.

May this effort to share Revelation's significance benefit all seekers after truth and impart hope for the future to those who want to understand the meaning of it all."