Eschatology

John pauses his story before the seventh “seal” judgment to show us two groups of people—what they have seen, felt, and experienced up to this point.

This forward movement in scriptural narrative is twinned with an inherent purpose or teleology. Neither the eschatology nor the teleology in Scripture must ever be separated from our reading of the Bible as biblical theology.

If people are exhausted with Bible prophecy, perhaps the reason is that they have seen it abused, misused, or poorly presented.

Christians have different ideas about the bible’s “big story.” What is the true version of this story?

Tisha B’Av refers to the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. The very name portends fasting and grief. It is the date on which Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 586 B.C.

Many Christians believe the people of Israel are important to the Bible’s story. But not all of them know why, other than to correctly declare “Israel is special” or “they’re God’s chosen people.” These are incomplete answers.

This is a series of short expositions of Revelation 4-22 from a futurist perspective. Follow along with a timeline here.

We continue our discussion of Revelation 6 from last time with the third horseman, who corresponds to the third “seal” on the scroll Jesus opens throughout most of this book (Rev 6-16).

This is a series of short expositions of Revelation 4-22 from a futurist perspective. Follow along with a timeline here.

In Revelation 6, the apostle John shows us the first six divine seal-judgments in rapid succession. He handles them in barely a few sentences each. While these first six judgments are terrible, the Lord seems to save his powder for the seventh and final act of vengeance—an event which runs from Revelation 8-18.

There is an intense fascination with the timing of the Lord’s return that seems to tantalize every generation into attempting to set the date for it.

Perhaps the sense of intrigue is magnified when our sin nature becomes inflamed by the prohibition against doing so (see Matt. 24:36), such that the temptation can become almost overwhelming. This is evidenced by the number of people who have succumbed to the urge to try it.

This is a series of short expositions of Revelation 4-22 from a futurist perspective. Follow along with a timeline here.

As John watches, the lamb cracks open the first seal binding the scroll together (Rev 6:1). There are 19 judgments contained within the seven seals, which expand outward like a telescoping hiking pole (see the outline):