Eusebeia with Josh Kruger

Reading Revelation 10:1-6 (RR24)

John describes his experience of prophetic call and receiving a scroll in the ways that Ezekiel and Daniel described their prophetic experiences.  John is telling us to think about what he's saying in a way consistent with those prophets.  So in this episode let's explore Ezekiel and Daniel and learn what they have to say about apocalyptic writing and some implications that has for how we understand John's Apocalypse.

Reading Revelation 9:11-21 (RR23)

Idols aren't actually anything.  People make idols.  Yet behind idols there is a real sinister reality.  The journey thru Revelation continues on the Eusebeia podcast.

Reading Revelation 9:3-10 (RR22)

Locust attack!  Now where have we heard that before?  Literal?  Symbol of demonic armies?  What is God doing here?  Check it out as the journey through apocalypse continues.

Paul's Gospel

What an interesting journey!  Here's what I did.  We know about the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  But what about the gospel of Paul?  In his letters he says things like "my gospel" or "the gospel that I preach."  But other than a few really short sermons from Acts, we actually don't know that much about Paul's gospel as a cohesive whole.  The letter to the Romans comes the closest, but even it lacks details that some of Paul's other letters contain.  So I went on a journey to try and re-create as best I am able the most exhaustive compilation of Paul's gospel.  So here it is.  Enjoy.

Reading Revelation 8:10-9:2 (RR20)

God acts in ways consistent with the prophets.  Just as Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel spoke in apocalyptic ways to their generations, so too John carries on that tradition.  God is acting consistently.  Same story, different time period.  And so as God's judgments are poured out we lean on what happened in the biblical past to inform John's present and see what all this meant for him and his audience (the seven churches).  The trumpets blast.  Lets learn what they have to say.

Reading Revelation 8:1-9 (RR19)

God's judgment comes in response to His people being persecuted.  The persecutors will face justice.  God will act.  The final seal is opened and the trumpets declare the day of I AM.

Reading Revelation 7:9-17 (RR19)

An uncountable multitude of people worshipping Jesus the Son of Man.  From every nation, tribe, language, and people group.  Loyal to King Jesus, not to Caesar in Rome.  There are clear connections to Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah in today's Revelation 7 episode.  Learn the implications and be prepared to think about what this means in our context today as apocalyptic literature continues to speak to us as much as it spoke to the Christians of the first century.

Reading Revelation 7:1-8 (RR18)

John the apocalyptic prophet continues to describe his vision by using Old Testament prophets' ways of speaking.  He's in lock step with them.  And not only that, but in today's podcast episode John describes a marking, a seal, an emblem of some kind on the foreheads of the Israelite faithful.  This harkens us back to the exodus from Egypt (Passover) and the marking of the faithful remnant in Jerusalem in Ezekiel's day.  A remnant is also marked here.  Let's dig in and continue the unveiling.

Reading Revelation 6:15-17 (RR17)

The day of the Lord.  The day of I AM.  The day of great wrath of God and the Lamb.  A pivotal moment!  A huge sea wave of change!  Something major is happening.  And the target is especially the rich, the powerful, the political heads, the elite.  In the days of the prophets that might have been Assyria or Babylon or even Israel and Judah themselves.  In John's day that was Rome.  And for us today - something to think about.  The message of apocalypse still rings out.  Who can stand?

Reading Revelation 6:12-14 (RR16)

Sun turning to darkness?  Moon turning to blood?  Stars falling from the sky to the earth?  Sky rolling up like a scroll?  Literally?!?!  Or wait a minute.  Is that maybe not the point?  In this episode we continue the discussion on idioms, metaphor, and symbol in the book of Revelation.  We've already found that much of this book is not meant to be taken literally, but rather like a parable - an "alongside" - a story that points to a truth without itself being literally factual.  So no, I don't think the sun will turn to darkness, the moon to blood, the stars come crashing "to earth" (I don't even know what that would mean given the sheer size and scale of the stars), or the sky being rolled up like a scroll.  Rather like our idioms in our language I think these mean something else.  Something attention-grabbing.  Lets learn together.