The Blessed Hope Podcast -- with Dr. Kim Riddlebarger

Episode Synopsis: The first time I heard the term “optimistic amillennarian” was in seminary, when a student asked one of the professors whether they were postmillennial or amillennial.  The professor said he admired much about postmillennialism, but thought amillennialism was the biblical view.  But after saying that, he blurted out, “well, maybe, I’m optimistic Amillennial.”  That started quite...

Episode Synopsis: The mere mention of the Antichrist conjures up all kinds of spooky movie images, demonic plot lines, and eerie special effects–all designed to play upon our fears of a satanically inspired, menacing figure doing their master’s bidding.  The list is long, but a few examples should help–The Omen (with the brat antichrist child, Damien), and the sequels, then came Rosemary’s Baby, 1...

Episode Synopsis: Whenever you discuss biblical eschatology and the end times, you must address the future of Israel and the Jewish people.  The subject is greatly complicated by the fact that along with the longstanding biblical debates over Israel’s future, there is also the complicated history of Zionism.  The unprecedented events surrounding the establishment of a Jewish state first conceived...

Episode Synopsis: From the moment of our Lord’s ascension into heaven (as recounted in Acts 1:8) Christians have expected the Lord’s bodily and imminent return.  Both Jesus and the apostles had a fair bit to say about his return as well as those signs which would precede the end.  So, from the dawn of the church, until now, some two thousand years removed from our Lord’s life and ministry, Christi...

Episode Synopsis: I am not a fan of jigsaw puzzles–I don’t have the patience to put them together, and I am too easily distracted by the shapes of the various pieces.  So, I lose sight of the big picture, and then I get frustrated and attempt to jam pieces into the puzzle where they don’t fit. Many people have the same trouble with the Bible.  Why do we need to see the big picture?  Why can’t we j...

Episode Synopsis: The kingdom of God is a major topic throughout the Scriptures.  The kingdom of God refers to the rule or reign of God over all of creation and all of its creatures.  The Old Testament speaks of YHWH as Israel’s king, whose kingdom is everlasting.  The prophets speak of this kingdom using royal images associated with heavenly glory and absolute sovereignty–the creator of all thing...

Episode Synopsis: I begin this episode with a personal testimony. I was born and raised a dispensationalist.  Our family owned a Christian bookstore.  The first Christian book I picked out and read on my own was Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth .  Years later, I was challenged by one of our delivery men about the books we were selling–all the dispensationalist best sellers.  He said he wa...

Episode Synopsis: We are beginning a new series on the Blessed Hope Podcast, “The Future.” In this series we will wrestle with the question “what does the future hold for God’s people?”  What historical events and biblical prophecies remain to be fulfilled before Jesus returns on the last day?  How are we to interpret the various signs of the end we find throughout the New Testament? In this serie...

Season Two Postscript – Where Do We Go from Here? We’ve completed season two of the Blessed Hope Podcast, fifteen episodes in all, in which we covered Paul’s two Thessalonian letters.  The season two series was entitled “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, taken from 2 Thessalonians 1:7, a text which captures Paul emphasis in these two letters upon the key event in biblical eschatology–th...

Episode Synopsis: As Paul comes to the end of his second Thessalonian letter, he still has much to say to the Christians in Thessalonica.  But the most important thing the apostle does when concluding his second letter, is to remind the Thessalonians of his prayer of thanksgiving on their behalf.  Paul hopes this will be of great encouragement.  The apostle reminds them that God has graciously res...

Episode Synopsis: Soon after Paul sent his first letter to the Thessalonian Christians, the apostle received word that someone in the congregation was teaching that the day of the Lord had already come.  Composing his second Thessalonian letter to correct this error, Paul makes it abundantly clear that anyone spreading such a rumor is flat-out wrong.  Paul declares that two things must occur befor...

Episode Synopsis: There is little doubt that one of the most interesting, controversial, and a constant source of on-going speculation is the doctrine of the Antichrist.    Indeed, there has been so much written about the Antichrist by Christians–both ancient and modern–and so many references made to the Antichrist in film and popular culture, it is vital that we go back to the biblical accounts o...

Episode Synopsis: Paul has already written one letter to the Thessalonians to clear up the confusion in their midst about the Lord’s return on the last day.  Paul has instructed the congregation that should anyone die before the Lord’s return, they will not miss out on any of the benefits secured for them by Jesus Christ (including eternal life) as some feared.  Paul also told them that since the...

Episode Synopsis: Since the Lord will return suddenly and unexpectedly, what are the Thessalonians to do until Jesus’s return?  Paul has already encouraged them earlier in his letter, telling them that they are doing well despite the persecution and on-going threats they were receiving from Jews and Greco-Roman pagans in Thessalonica.  But Paul knows there is always the possibility that things mig...

Date-setting has been a problem for God’s people since the days of the apostles.  Church history is full of the accounts of those who, for whatever reason, attempted to figure out when Jesus will return, set dates, and then miserably failed to predict the unpredictable.  Two recent examples should suffice.  Edgar C. Whisenant predicted the Lord’s return in 1988 in his booklet, “88 Reasons Why the...

Episode Synopsis: As a baby boomer, I grew up during the Cold War, when the threat of nuclear war was real and constant.  In 1948, Israel became a nation and many Jews began returning to their ancient homeland.  The “Six Day War” of 1967, fought between Israel and a confederation of Arab states, sure made it seem as though the dispensational expectation of the rapture of the Gentile church, follow...

Episode Synopsis: The greatest event in all of human history was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The most hoped for event in humanity’s future is Jesus Christ’s return when he will raise the dead, judge the world, and bring about the new creation.  Since the moment Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and the attending angels told his disciples that he would return in the same manner in...

Episode Synopsis: In chapter four of his first Thessalonian letter, Paul addresses the issues surrounding what it means to turn from idols to serve the true and living God.  Paul is concerned with how these new Christians in Thessalonica “walk in the Lord” – that is, how they ought to live the Christian life in contrast to the way they lived before when they served idols.  In verses 3-8 of chapter...

Episode Synopsis: Paul was forced out of Thessalonica after three short weeks among them.  Paul truly desires to return (he’s writing to the Thessalonians from Corinth) but so far has been prevented from doing so.  Paul attributes this unfortunate circumstance to the activity of Satan and so explains why he sent Timothy instead of coming in person.  Paul boasts in the fact that despite all that ha...

Episode Synopsis: In chapter two of Paul’s first Thessalonian letter, Paul defends himself against accusations raised by those who had driven him from the city.  Paul is not just another itinerant philosopher who wanders throughout the land seeking to tickle ears and gain a following.  Paul’s conduct in Thessalonica was blameless and it should be clear to all that Paul not only labored among them...

Episode Synopsis: There is one thing a congregation dislikes even more than stewardship Sunday–a sermon on the wrath of God.  To proclaim that the wrath of God is coming upon the whole world (and it is) is be thought of as some sort of fundamentalist with the misguided faith of a snake-handler, or the mind-set of a Jihadi terrorist.  Any one who believes such a thing is considered a kooky zealot w...

Synopsis of Episode Three: In the opening verses of his first Thessalonian letter, Paul sends warm greetings to those from whom he has recently departed.  This departure was not of his own doing.  After spending three Sabbaths in Thessalonica with this newly organized church, Paul was driven from the city by a “rentamob” organized by Jews in the city who saw the Christian missionaries, Paul, Silas...

Synopsis of Episode Two:  “Paul’s Theological Categories” Paul was converted about 33 AD when Jesus appeared to him on the Damascus Road, revealing to Paul the content of the gospel he was to preach.  Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians was written around 50 AD, just short of twenty years after his conversion.  By this time, Paul has a settled theology–his basic theological categories are in...

Synopsis of Episode One:  “An Introduction to Paul’s Thessalonian Letters” We are about to embark on a study of Paul’s Thessalonian letters.  Our season two series is entitled “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven" (from 2 Thessalonians 1:7), a text which captures Paul emphasis in these two letters upon the key event in biblical eschatology — the second coming (advent) of the Lord Jesu...

In this special episode of Season One on the Book of Galatians, I am offering listeners a free gift!  If you have made it through all fourteen episodes of the Blessed Hope series on the Book of Galatians, I am making available to you a free expositional commentary on the Book of Galatians, entitled, “For Freedom!”   Instructions and conditions for downloading are given in the podcast. Then, I offe...