The Naked Bible Podcast

The Bedrock of Christianity with Dr. Justin Bass Dr. Justin Bass is a scholar of biblical studies and apologetics. In particular, his work addresses the weaknesses of Jesus mythicism and skepticism about the resurrection of Jesus. He is currently teaching at Dallas Christian College and teaching courses online at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary in Jordan and Asian Christian Academy in Indi...

Revelation 10 is a hiatus from the trumpet judgments. The chapter describes a “mighty angel” who holds a scroll that the awestruck John will take from his hand and eat. This odd language has Old Testament precedent in Ezekiel. However, it is the angel that has drawn the most attention from scholars. This angel is simultaneously described with phrases that have occurred earlier in the book—in descr...

Revelation 9 reveals John’s vision of the fifth and six trumpet judgments. Several interpretive issues are immediately apparent? What is the nature of the angel with the key to the bottomless pit (Rev 9:1)? Is this angel the same or different than that in Rev 9:11 or Abbadon/Apollyon? Who or what is being released from the bottomless pit (Rev 9:3-11)? These questions take the reader into the wider...

Revelation 8 begins the vision of the first six trumpets. In Part 1 of our look at this chapter, we looked at features of the first six verses, such as the Lamb’s opening of the seventh and final seal on the scroll from Revelation, the accompanying silence in heaven 5, and the seven angels in the scene. In Part 2 we discuss verses 7-13, a description of the first four trumpet judgments. The Old Te...

Revelation 8 begins the vision of the first six trumpets. The sequence is kicked off by the Lamb’s opening of the seventh and final seal on the scroll from Revelation 5. The chapter raises some immediate questions: How are we to understand the silence in heaven? Who are the seven angels? Do the ensuing trumpet judgments have an Old Testament context? This episode of the podcast answers these quest...

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This episode continues our discussion of Revelation 7 and the 144,000. The discussion includes Revelation 14, a second passage referencing the 144,000. This latter passage adds an interesting descriptive detail, one that leads some scholars to wonder if the 144,000 have some relationship to the Book of the Watchers (1 Enoch), a work that elaborates on the fall of the sons of God of Gen 6:1-4. This...

Revelation 7 is the first of two passages in the book that refer to the 144,000. The passage bristles with questions. Who are these individuals, 12,000 from 12 tribes of Israel? Should we understand the 144,000 literally or metaphorically, or both? Why is the tribe of Dan omitted from the list? Why are the tribes of Joseph and Manasseh mentioned, when Manasseh (with Ephraim) constituted the tribe...

Reading Moses, Seeing Jesus, with Seth Postell According to Acts 15 the Jerusalem church concluded that Gentile believers do not have to keep the Law to be in right relationship with the God of Israel. Nevertheless, many Gentile believers today wonder whether their love for Yeshua (Jesus) and faithfulness as his followers ought to be expressed by observing the Law. What of Jewish believers in Jesu...

Revelation 6 introduces the reader to the unsealing of the scroll of Revelation 5. The first such act unleashes the four horsemen of the apocalypse. A variety of Old Testament passages and images are involved in the ensuing description of the terrible events that follow. In this episode, we look again at John’s use of the Old Testament to describe God’s eschatological judgment on the world.

Many presume the scene in Revelation 5 of the Lamb standing before the throne of God is an enthronement ceremony. The one seated on the throne (God) has a scroll in his right hand, sealed with seven seals. Only the Lamb of God, standing before the throne, who is the risen messiah (Lion of Judah, Root of David) is worthy to open the seals. But if we look closely, we see that the Lamb does not occup...

This episode, the third installment of our discussion of the Old Testament in Revelation 4, has a singular point of focus: the twenty-four elders of Revelation 4. Who or what are the twenty-four elders? What do they symbolize? What is their intended meaning? This episode explores the interpretive options and how each might derive from Old Testament content.

This episode continues our discussion of Revelation 4, a heavenly council/courtroom scene structured after the divine council scene of Daniel 7 (Part 1). But Daniel 7 is far from the only passage used by John. In this episode we’ll discover how John repurposes imagery of the cherubim of Ezekiel 1, the encounter with God at Sinai in Exodus 19, the seraphim of Isaiah 6, and the rainbow of Genesis 9....

Revelation 4 is the well know scene of the Lamb of God, the heavenly throne, and the 24 elders. Less well known is the fact that this scene and its elements have a specific Old Testament context: the covenant lawsuit genre. There is a strong scholarly consensus about the covenant lawsuit elements, and its use in divine council scenes in the Old Testament. Once such scene is Daniel 7:9-28, where th...

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In this episode we welcome back some familiar guests to the podcast for updates on their ministries. The episode has two parts. Fern and Audrey return to the podcast to talk about the launch of their new online curriculum, accompanied by Brenda, a consultant for the project, and Marie, who served as a beta tester for the first course. The long-awaited curriculum is part of Discovering Mercy, Fern...

Part 2 of our in-depth look into the role played by the Old Testament in Revelation 3 focuses the otherworldly “keys” in Rev 3:7 (“who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” and its earlier counterpart, Rev 1:18 (“[I am] the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades). What are these keys? What does the m...

Revelation 3 contains John’s letters to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. John uses the Old Testament in a number of places in these letters. Some have been discussed in earlier episodes of this series on the use of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. Our discussion in this episode, Part 1 of Revelation 3, focuses on phrases not yet discussed (e.g., “they will walk with me in white” … “...

Revelation 2:8-29 contain the letters to the churches of Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira. A number of content items in these verses draws on items discussed in episode 360 (Rev 2:1-7). In this episode, we rehearse some of that older content, comment briefly on the “synagogue of Satan” phrase, but ultimately focus on new connections to the Old Testament: the believer’s reception of “hidden manna,” a...

This episode resumes our series on the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. Revelation 2 raises questions about the identity of the angels in the early chapters of the book, an identification that is linked to the lampstands. As noted in earlier episodes, the lampstands have a distinct supernatural (members of God’s council) context, drawn from the Old Testament. How does that context work in...

The Myth Made Fact with Dr. Louis Markos Should Christians read classical mythology? Such material is, after all, pagan (i.e., non-Christian) and has a great deal to say about what Greeks and Romans believed about their gods—gods opposed to the God of Israel and Jesus. If we were only to look at how classical mythology departs from biblical truth, the answer seems easy. But why is it that those pa...

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Were Adam and Eve historical people? Is their historicity compatible with genetic science’s findings about human origins? This episode continues our discussion of whether a historical Adam and Eve is compatible with genetic science. Our guest is once again Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass. Dr. Swamidass is an M.D. and Ph. D. research scientist. His recent book, published by InterVarsity Press, is entitled,...

Were Adam and Eve historical people? Is their historicity compatible with genetic science’s findings about human origins? This episode is the first of a two-part interview with Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass. Dr. Swamidass is an M.D. and Ph. D. research scientist. His recent book, published by InterVarsity Press, is entitled, The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry. Co...

This episode in our series on John’s use of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation looks at Rev 1:7-20. In these verses John repurposes the divine council scene in Daniel 7, specifically the descriptions of the Ancient of Days and the Son of man. He also takes readers to Isaiah 11 and 49 and Zechariah 4. John seeks to remind his readers that Jesus is the risen divine warrior, God in flesh, ri...