Episode Details

Seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. Are there 21 separate judgments in Revelation, or seven judgments told three times? In Part 3, Andrew turns from how we read Revelation to the shape of the narrative itself.

The cycle of threes. Semitic writers often say the same thing three times, adding or stripping away detail with each pass. In Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar make their case in three rounds, each shorter and weaker until Zophar doesn't speak at all, showing that their argument collapses. Peter's vision of the sheet comes three times before he goes to the house of Cornelius. Jesus says "love your enemies" three ways in Luke 6.

Seals, trumpets, and bowls. Read this way, the three sets of judgments are the same seven seen from different angles, growing worse each time: a fourth of the earth, then a third, then "It is done." That's why the mountains and islands can flee more than once, and why the battle at Armageddon in chapter 16 and the rider on the white horse in chapter 19 may be one battle told twice.

The interludes. Between the judgments come words of encouragement. When the mighty hide in caves asking "who can stand?", chapter 7 answers with the 144,000 and a great multitude from every nation. Chapters 10 and 11 bring the little scroll and the two witnesses, raised after three and a half days. Andrew connects the seven-sealed scroll of chapter 5 to the book Daniel was told to seal until the end.

The spiritual battle. Chapters 12–13 show the dragon, the beast of the sea, and the beast of the land, and the mark of the beast. No one knows for certain what 666 means, but the mark can only be taken willingly, and the angels of chapter 14 warn: don't take it.

Like Daniel's visions, Revelation was written to give hope. Terrible times are coming, but God's people will come out on the other side.

Part 3 of a four-episode series on Revelation.

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The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew.

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Music: The Epic Hero by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
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