Eusebeia with Josh Kruger

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 t...

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 trum...

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 Chr...

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 ...

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 ...

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 t...

The "minor" prophets aren't younger than 18.  And they aren't playing triple-A ball hoping to get called up to the major leagues.  Rather they've been called that in church history simply because their biblical books are shorter than the likes of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.  I was asked to sub for a teacher at our church and will be teaching on the "minor" prophets soon.  So for the podcast audience, I thought I'd share with you...

Death.  The final "horseman of the apocalypse."  Kings, war, famine, and now...  death.  And Hades close behind.  The judgments of God on a sinful humankind.  Why will God bring death?  For His faithful followers have themselves been killed.  War has been waged against God's people.  So God brings war against those who destroy His people.  The witnesses who were loyal to the bitter end cry out to God for justice.  When will God act...

The vision of the heavenly throne room and temple scene comes to a close with some powerful revelations.  Then a pivot to focusing on the Lamb who opens the sealed scroll.  The revealing - the prophesying - of judgment to come!  Like Daniel and Zechariah and Isaiah of old, John also is positioned between competing powers.  God will have the final judgment and final victory.  It begins to unfold as we continue to explore apocalypse.

The heavenly throne room and temple scene continues.  The focus is on the Lamb who is worthy to open the scroll.  Is this a literal Lamb?  Discover how John actually uses creatures/animals as part of his symbolism and metaphor in this Apocalypse.  John reminds the seven churches (and us) about who is worthy of worship.  This will be important going forward as we run into counter claims of worship worthiness and other creatures that...

The worship scene in the heavenly throne room and temple continues.  Here in 4:6-9 John sees a very similar vision to what Ezekiel and Isaiah saw.  John here will also quote the prophet Daniel as well.  Three prophets who lived under oppressive empires hundreds of years before John.  And now he's living in a similar situation.  Is Rome invincible?  Will Rome last forever?  Is Rome and Rome's gods and values worthy of worship?  In t...

John's writing and focus shifts.  From the letters to the churches (chapters 2-3) to now a heavenly vision!  John is granted the same kind of access as Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, and Moses.  God's presence!  In both a throne room and a temple!  Where I AM, the God of Jesus, reigns as both King and God.  Where it is God, not Caesar, who is glorified, honored, worshipped, obeyed.  Where Jesus reigns as King of kings.  Not the emperor o...