A Concise Guide to Reading the Prophetic Books The Prophetic Books of the Bible are full of symbolic speeches, dramatic metaphors, and lengthy allegories—a unique blend of literary styles that can make them hard to comprehend. How can we know if we are reading them the way God intended them to be read? In this accessible guide, leading Old Testament scholar Peter Gentry identifies seven common characteristics of prophetic literature in the Bible that help us understand each book's message. With illustrations and clear examples, Gentry offers guidance for reading these challenging texts—teaching us practical strategies for deeper engagement with the biblical text as we seek to apply God's Word to our lives today.

This Mt. Zion is the one in Hebrews 12:22-24, which is also called the Holy of Holies in heaven and the Lord's holy throne room. This book shows how the whole book of Hebrews is really a brief exhortation for believers in Jesus Christ to draw near to God in the Holy of Holies in heaven through our great High Priest, Jesus. The Bible shows that God imparts true life to His people there as we come intimately before Him. We can also see how God allows and equips His people to participate in His government of all the earth. It becomes clear that God's people -- Christians -- have missed taking full advantage of His great provision for us to draw near to Him through Jesus. Therefore we have seen a resulting loss of good fruit in our lives and throughout the earth. But by understanding what God provides for us in Jesus and in Mt. Zion -- the Lord's holy throne room -- we can see what we can do, so that we shall provide much more true life on earth by faith and God's power.

From the late nineteenth century through the post-Holocaust era, the world was divided between countries that tried to expel their Jewish populations and those that refused to let them in. The plight of these traumatized refugees inspired numerous proposals for Jewish states. Jews and Christians, authors and adventurers, politicians and playwrights, and rabbis and revolutionaries all worked to carve out autonomous Jewish territories in remote and often hostile locations across the globe. The would-be founding fathers of these imaginary Zions dispatched scientific expeditions to far-flung regions and filed reports on the dream states they planned to create. But only Israel emerged from dream to reality. Israel’s successful foundation has long obscured the fact that eminent Jewish figures, including Zionism’s prophet, Theodor Herzl, seriously considered establishing enclaves beyond the Middle East. In the Shadow of Zion brings to life the amazing true stories of six exotic visions of a Jewish national home outside of the biblical land of Israel. It is the only book to detail the connections between these schemes, which in turn explain the trajectory of modern Zionism. A gripping narrative drawn from archives the world over, In the Shadow of Zion recovers the mostly forgotten history of the Jewish territorialist movement, and the stories of the fascinating but now obscure figures who championed it. Provocative, thoroughly researched, and written to appeal to a broad audience, In the Shadow of Zion offers a timely perspective on Jewish power and powerlessness. Visit the author's website: http://www.adamrovner.com/.