The Blue Collar Scholar

The Book of Revelation makes a poor chronology. It does some jumping about. And several chapters are enigmatic, far more enigmatic than the book as a whole, which is one of the most enigmatic books in the Bible. There are messages that are concealed, symbols that have no consensus regarding their meaning, and even a main character - the Great Prostitute - who remains a great mystery. In this episode we will take a crack at these other chapters of Revelation.

This episode picks up our survey of the Judgments of God in the Book of Revelation. There are 21 judgments, which come in three sets of seven: 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Bowls/Vials. This episode picks up with the 5th Trumpet Judgment and continues to the end. We also examine the Battle of Armageddon, the final defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment.

As the Fall 2024 Revelation class continues, we are proceeding using the interpretation of Revelation as primarily a futurist document. There definitely are other interpretations, and I would encourage you to seek out scholars who provide those other perspectives. Nevertheless, if we proceed as if Revelation is primarily a futurist document, then the heart of the End Times timeline is 3 sets of 7 judgments, identified in the Book of Revelation as 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Vials or Bowls. This episode, part 1, examines the 7 Seals as well as the first 4 of the Trumpet Judgments. To set the stage, we begin by briefly talking about the attributes of God, identifying various events in the Bible that are identified as judgments of God, and taking a close look at the Ten Plagues, the Judgments against Egypt, as a template for Judgment as a set of judgments, a motif repeated thrice in Revelation.

This episode digs into the Scriptural data for Satan a.k.a. the devil a.k.a. Beelzebub a.k.a. the ancient serpent a.k.a. the Dragon of the Book of Revelation. We also do a bit of corrective analysis to make sure that we aren't letting the popular conception of Satan drive our understanding of the figure that is taught in Scripture. Furthermore, the character known as Satan makes very few appearances in the early part of the Bible, but he is dealt with more thoroughly in the newer books of Scripture. This implies either that Satan is a myth, or that his existence and work in the universe is revealed to us bit-by-bit in what is known as Progressive Revelation.

Besides the Devil himself, there is no scarier character in the Bible than the person that the Book of Revelation calls the Beast, and 2nd Thessalonians calls the Man of Lawlessness (or Man of Sin; Man of Perdition), and the Book of Daniel calls the Little Horn. The term that we commonly use for this character is the Antichrist. Ironically, Scripture does use the term Antichrist five times, but never for this person. Nonetheless, that is the preferred term often used for the prophesied future global political leader who controls the worlds' military, religion, economy, etc. and who actively opposes Jesus and all of His followers. In this episode of the podcast, we take a look at Scriptures that may give us details about this future evil leader.

This is a combination of 2 lectures into one. First, we dig into the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24-25 (see also Mark 13 & Luke 21). In this, one of the final longform teachings of Jesus Christ prior to His death, burial, & resurrection, Jesus accurately predicts the destruction of the Temple, which would happen in the year 70AD. He goes on to talk about false teachers, war, rumors of war, natural disasters, etc. that are inevitably part of the human experience in history, and now, and also in the End Times. He also talks about events that sure seem to point to the End Times as well. In the second half of the lecture, we switch gears and talk about the Great Tribulation (or the Tribulation) in general terms, as well as diving into Daniel 9 to discern why many eschatology teachers have concluded that the Tribulation shall be a seven year period just prior to Christ's Second Coming.

Well, any discussion of the End Times requires one to cover the Rapture, which is the least-agreed-upon topic in all of Christian theology. In this episode, we examine the passages of Scripture from which John Nelson Darby and Dispensationalists draw out the teaching of a Rapture event. Then, assuming the truth of the Rapture event, we examine the implications of such an event. Finally, we look at a few alternate viewpoints of the Rapture, and look at the strong criticisms of this teaching. ... Also, Bunny Trail alert! We chase about four or five metaphorical bunnies in this episode.

In this episode, I give ample air time to the other Schools of Thought when it comes to Christian Eschatology. I, as the professor, freely admit that I am a premillennialist. Furthermore, I am a premillennial dispensationalist, though I am the least dogmatic premillennial dispensationalist that I know of. But I want to give a fair hearing to those who disagree with me wholeheartedly about the End Times. So this episode attempts to be a fair presentation and analysis of all four schools of eschatology: premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism (or realized millennialism), and preterism.

This episode opens up the second section of our Revelation class, as we take a hard turn into eschatology, which is the study of the end times. In this introductory lecture, we take a look at the major themes of the End Times. The heavy emphasis of this lecture is that many end times gurus can be dangerous.

Well, I hope you like history podcasts, because this episode is a deep dive into the history of ancient Rome, from its legendary beginnings to the reigns of the first 11 emperors who reigned during the events of the New Testament. Because we cover over a thousand years of history, this lecture skips over much. This is only the highlights of Roman history as we try to firmly establish the setting, the culture, and the civilization of the Roman world in which John wrote the Book of Revelation.