The Bridge Johnston

Pastor Suzanne and Pastor Tony look back at Sunday’s sermon on Revelation 12–13 and then take a deeper dive into the bigger theme of temptation in the Bible. Their starting point is Genesis 3: the serpent’s craftiness, the way we make God stricter than he is, and the pull of fruit that looks good. Along the way they talk about the golden calf, the monarchy, and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. They also share the “good” temptations they’ve each struggled with in ministry, and how worship, more than willpower, keeps us faithful to the way of the Lamb. 

Pastors Tony and Suzanne have a conversation about how Revelation 12 turns vivid, complex imagery into a clear central takeaway: faithfulness and hope in difficult times. It explores the symbolism of the woman, child, and dragon, tracing echoes back to Genesis, the story of Jesus’ birth, and the conflict between God’s kingdom and earthly empires. Pastor Tony explains why Revelation’s recurring time markers point to suffering as limited rather than offering an exact timetable, and Suzanne reflects on how the victory of Christ can give believers courage to hold fast to their faith.

Revelation gets less scary and more brilliant when you learn how to read its symbols the way the first audience would have understood them. Pastor Suzanne and Pastor Tony unpack why context changes everything - and why the images that confuse modern readers were often clear to the people John was writing to. Using vivid examples from Yankees gear in Boston to a Midwestern windmill mistaken for "fans for cows," they show how easy it is to misread symbols when you import your own culture instead of asking what a sign meant in its original setting. That simple shift turns Revelation from a book of predictions and panic into a deeply hopeful message about God, empire, and the victory already won.

Revelation is not the terrifying codebook most people think it is—and this conversation shows you why. Pastor Suzanne and Pastor Tony Vis unpack the book through a completely different lens, one that turns fear into curiosity and confusion into hope.

Tony brings years of Bible teaching, study, and a longtime fascination with Revelation to the table while Suzanne names the real problem: this is the book many people have heard used to predict disasters, fuel end-times anxiety, and even manipulate faith. Together, they reset the conversation around how Revelation was first meant to be heard. If Revelation has ever felt weird, scary, sensational, or simply unreadable, this episode is for you. It offers a better starting point, a steadier lens, and a reminder that the message at the heart of the book is not panic—it’s blessing, encouragement, and hope.

Mission is not just about going far away. It's about showing up where people are hurting, building communities that last, and caring for missionaries as carefully as the people they serve. Pastor Suzanne sits down with Scott Engelsman, Chief Missions Officer for the Reformed Church in America, for a conversation that moves from the poorest villages in India to the king's palace in Bahrain, and from deaf ministries in Jamaica and Brazil to special needs outreach in Nicaragua.