The Bible in 3D

What you get out of Revelation depends on which school of interpretation you follow, and once you buy into one, it colors every symbol you read. In Part 2, Andrew lays out the four recognized schools and then turns to sequencing: where the millennium, the tribulation, and the rapture fall. The idealist school. Revelation as allegory, a moral story about persecution and God's final victory, much like Aesop's fables. Andrew reads Revelation 20:1–6 and asks whether the thousand years is real or symbolic. He also notes that the final battle with Gog and Magog comes after the millennium, not at Armageddon. The historicist school. Revelation as a symbolic preview of church history. From Martin Luther placing the Reformation in its pages to missionaries in 1930s Germany who were sure Hitler was the beast, every generation finds itself in the book, and every generation has been wrong so far. The preterist school. Everything, or nearly everything, in Revelation has already happened. Its strongest argument is Revelation 1:1, "the things that must soon take place," and Nero is its usual Antichrist. The futurist school. Chapter 1 is the prologue, chapters 2–3 are messages to seven churches that still apply today, chapters 4–21 are still to come, and chapter 22 is the epilogue. The millennium. Premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial views, and why a plain reading of Revelation 20 points to Christ returning bodily to reign on the earth. The tribulation. The idea goes back to Daniel 9 and the seventy sevens: a 490-year clock that pauses when the Anointed One is cut off after 483 years. Paul's words in Romans 11 about the full number of the Gentiles fit with that pause. The final seven years restart the clock, and the worst of it comes in the last three and a half. The rapture. It isn't in Revelation at all. Andrew covers 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, why the Thessalonians feared they'd been left behind, and the pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation positions. The point isn't to win the sequencing argument. Christ is coming again, and our faith and trust belong in Him. Part 2 of a four-episode series on Revelation. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. ▶ Subscribe for teaching that takes Scripture seriously 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

There is no shortage of material on Revelation, and most of it offers to tell you the timing, the world players, and the geopolitics of the end. It's often entertaining and it always leaves us unsatisfied — Jesus himself said no one knows the timing of his return. So this four-part series takes a different approach: Revelation as great literature, and the literary challenges of studying it. Foreword and Introduction. Revelation means to unveil or disclose; the Greek behind it gives us "apocalypse," which we have since narrowed to mean the end of the world. John received the vision on Patmos around AD 96, exiled under Domitian, ninety miles from the coast of what is now Turkey — a date confirmed by Irenaeus, a second-generation disciple of John himself. Sixty-three years earlier, John had leaned against Jesus at the Last Supper. Now, an old man, he falls down as though dead. Chapter 1:19 sets the structure for everything that follows: the things you have seen, the things that are, and the things that are to take place after this. Chapters 2–3 are the things that are — Christ's messages to seven churches, six of them planted out from Ephesus. Chapters 4–22 are the things to come, opening with the throne room and the scroll that only the Lion of Judah, the Lamb who was slain, is worthy to open. Part 1 — The medium of communication. Scripture uses prose, poetry, types, and symbols. John uses symbols, and almost everything in Revelation is one. The other book that works this way is Daniel — Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, the four beasts — which is why the Old Testament is the best available key. When the sea appears, it stands for the Gentile nations; when the land appears, it points to Israel. That is how the two beasts of chapter 13 come into focus. Part 2 — Secondary gain. Borrowed from medicine, "secondary gain" names the hidden advantages a person gets from a condition. Scholars and churchmen carry their own, consciously or not, and nowhere do they show more than in Revelation. Andrew works through chapter 12 — the woman clothed with the sun, the dragon, the male child — and shows how Joseph's dream in Genesis identifies the woman as Israel, and how traditions committed to the view that God is finished with the Jews must read her as something else. The same pressure appears again over the 144,000 and the great multitude in chapter 7. The takeaway for the reader: know what biases you, and your church, bring to the table, because they will determine what you get out of this book. And one command to carry regardless of where you land on any of it: do not take the mark of the beast, and do not worship the beast. Next episode: the schools of interpretation. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/

Apocrypha Deuterocanonical books The Apocrypha originated as highly esteemed books that weren’t Scripture. There were 12 (or 15, depending on how they are divided): Tobit, Judith, Wisdom (of Solomon), Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees Septuagint and were formally affirmed as canonical by the Council of Trent in 1546. Protestant traditions generally exclude them from the biblical canon, viewing them as useful for edification but not divinely authoritative. 5-Reasons to Reject the Apocrypha Books 1. Lack of Hebrew Originals and Jewish Canon: The reformers, adhering to the principle of sola scriptura (Scripture alone), argued that the Old Testament canon should be based on the Hebrew scriptures used by Jesus and the Jewish people. Most Deuterocanonical books were written in Greek, not Hebrew, and were not part of the Jewish canon (the Masoretic Text) that was affirmed by Jewish scholars after the time of Christ. 2. Doctrinal Concerns: Certain teachings in these books conflicted with key Reformation doctrines. For example, 2 Maccabees 12:46, which supports praying for the dead, was used to justify the Catholic doctrine of purgatory—a concept rejected by Protestants who believe salvation and forgiveness of sins are achieved solely through faith in Christ during one's lifetime. 2 Macc 15:13–14 speaks of the dead praying for the living …And Oni′ as spoke, saying, “This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God.”… Tobit 12:9 and Sirach 3:3 speak of good works atoning for evil deeds For almsgiving delivers from death, and it will purge away every sin. Those who perform deeds of charity[a] and of righteousness will have fullness of life; Whoever honours his father atones for sins, 2 Macc 12:40–45 speaks of purgatory …and they turned to prayer, beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out… 3. Historical and Textual Criticism: Reformers like Martin Luther and scholars such as Jerome expressed doubts about the authenticity and authority of these texts. While Jerome included them in the Latin Vulgate, he noted they were not part of the Hebrew canon and were suitable for edification but not for establishing doctrine. As a result, the reformers relegated these books to a separate section, often titled "Apocrypha," stating they were useful for reading and instruction in life but not for establishing Christian doctrine.

The book of Jeremiah exists in two primary versions: the Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text behind our Old Testament, and the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation made from a different Hebrew source. They differ significantly in length and arrangement — and the Dead Sea Scrolls contain both. Andrew walks through the problem and offers a straightforward explanation. Length. The Septuagint version runs roughly an eighth shorter than the Masoretic Text — about 2,700 fewer words. Nothing in the shorter version conflicts with the longer one, and nothing in the additional material touches doctrine. Arrangement. Both versions begin and end the same way, but the middle differs. The oracles against the nations sit at the end of the book in the Masoretic Text (chapters 46–51); in the Septuagint they appear after chapter 25, and in a different sequence. Authority. Fragments from Cave 4 at Qumran confirm that shorter Hebrew texts corresponding to the Septuagint circulated alongside the longer tradition, and the community there treated both as authoritative. Neither is the sole "original" — each reflects a distinct stage in the book's transmission. Andrew's explanation. Jeremiah served forty years: the first half speaking, the second half dictating to his scribe Baruch as Judah moved through the final phase of the covenant curses — Carchemish, three deportations, the fall of Jerusalem, and the blinding of Zedekiah. When Jeremiah and Baruch were carried off to Egypt, the work almost certainly had to be dictated again from the beginning. That second telling would naturally come out shorter and differently arranged. Same prophet, same word, two editions. Along the way: the Great Isaiah Scroll and what it proved about the reliability of the Hebrew text, why the Synoptic Gospels offer a useful parallel, and the short chapter God addressed to Baruch personally — you sought great things for yourself; do not. I will give you your life. Part of the Hot Topics series on The Bible in 3D. This is Part 2 of three on Bible Difficulties. Next: the Apocrypha. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.

Some passages in your Bible carry a footnote: the earliest manuscripts do not include these verses. Andrew opens a new three-part sub-series on Difficulties in the Bible by walking through the three most famous examples — what they say, how they got there, and why none of it should shake your confidence in Scripture. The three passages John 7:53–8:11 — The woman caught in adultery. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Absent from the earliest Alexandrian manuscripts, yet almost certainly a true account the early church knew so well that a copyist preserved it. John 5:2–9 — The healing at the Pool of Bethesda. Verse 4, describing an angel stirring the water, comes from the later Byzantine text behind the King James. Andrew explains the Sheep Gate and the sacrificial trade behind it, and what likely disturbed the water in reality. Mark 16:9–20 — The long ending of Mark. The earliest manuscripts end at 16:8, with an empty tomb and frightened women. Twelve verses were added later. Why Mark ends so abruptly, who John Mark was, and how to read the "signs" of verses 17–18 with care. Also in this episode: how Matthew and Luke drew on Mark; why Mark may have been written to be memorized; the young man who fled naked from Gethsemane; and Peter's mercy toward the man who once walked away. Part of the Hot Topics series on The Bible in 3D. Next up: the Old Testament and the "Jeremiah problem," followed by the Apocrypha. — The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.