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Investigative Judgment
[Doctrine & Theology]The investigative judgment is a doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaching that since 1844 Christ has been conducting a judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, examining the records of believers before His Second Coming.
Firstborn
[Bible]The firstborn are the first offspring of the womb among both people and livestock. The Old Testament law required that the firstborn be set apart and given to God or bought back by payment of a price (redemption).
Prologue of John
[Bible]The Prologue of John is John 1:1–18, the opening section of the Gospel of John, which declares that the "Word" (Logos), who existed from the beginning, became flesh and came into the world.
New Commandment
[Bible]The new commandment is the command Jesus Christ gave his disciples at the Last Supper: "as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." It appears in John 13:34-35.
Great White Throne Judgment
[Bible]The Great White Throne Judgment is the final judgment scene that John saw in a vision, recorded in Revelation 20:11-15. Before a great white throne, the dead are judged according to their works, and whoever is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire.
Third Heaven
[Bible]The third heaven is the heaven to which the apostle Paul says he was caught up in 2 Corinthians 12, the only place the expression appears in Scripture. It is commonly understood as the highest heaven, where God dwells.
Two-Source Hypothesis
[Doctrine & Theology]The Two-Source Hypothesis holds that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were written using both the Gospel of Mark and a hypothetical collection of the sayings of Jesus called "Q." It is one of the leading theories proposed to explain the Synoptic Problem.
Anointing at Bethany
[Bible]The anointing at Bethany is the event in which a woman poured costly ointment on Jesus in Bethany, near Jerusalem, a few days before his crucifixion. Jesus said that she had prepared beforehand for his burial.
Former Prophets
[Bible]The Former Prophets is the collective name for Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the books that stand at the beginning of the Prophets division of the Hebrew Bible. Christian Bibles usually classify these books as historical books.
Critical Text
[Bible]The critical text is an original-language text of the Bible reconstructed by comparing and examining the many extant biblical manuscripts and selecting the readings judged closest to the original. The term usually refers to the Greek text of the New Testament.
Four Horsemen
[Bible]The Four Horsemen are the four figures, riding a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse, who appear in succession in Revelation 6 as the Lamb opens the first four of the seven seals.
Body of Christ
[Doctrine & Theology]The Body of Christ is a New Testament expression that likens the church to a single body with Jesus Christ as its head and believers as its members. It is used to describe both the unity and the diversity of the church.
Nile River
[Bible]The Nile is a river in northeastern Africa that flows northward through Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean Sea. In the Bible it is the setting of Pharaoh's dream, which Joseph interpreted, of the birth of Moses, and of the ten plagues.
Bride of Christ
[Doctrine & Theology]The Bride of Christ is a biblical image that likens the church to a bride united with Jesus Christ in a marriage covenant. It expresses the love between Christ and the church, the church's purity, and the eschatological consummation of their relationship.
Twenty-Four Elders
[Bible]The twenty-four elders are heavenly elders in the Book of Revelation who sit on twenty-four thrones surrounding the throne of God and, together with the four living creatures, worship God and the Lamb.
Immaculate Conception
[Doctrine & Theology]The Immaculate Conception is the Catholic doctrine that the Virgin Mary was preserved free from original sin from the first moment of her conception. It is distinct from the Virgin Birth, the teaching that Mary bore Jesus as a virgin.
Day Star
[Bible]The day star is the star that rises brightly in the dawn sky, that is, the morning star. In Isaiah 14:12 it appears as a name for the king of Babylon, who is brought to ruin.
Apostolic Fathers
[History]The Apostolic Fathers are the church leaders who were active close to the time of the apostles, from the late first century to the mid-second century. The term also refers to the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament that they left behind.
Winepress
[Bible]A winepress is an installation in which grapes are trodden by foot to extract their juice. In the Bible it can signify the blessing of harvest, and it also serves as a symbol of God's judgment.
Priestly Garments
[Bible]The priestly garments were the holy garments made, according to Exodus 28, for Aaron and his sons to wear when they ministered in the tabernacle. The garments of the high priest are distinguished from those of the ordinary priests.