Alan Thompson on Resurrection and the Hope of Israel (Season 2, Episode 6)
This article is part of the Conversations on the Bible with Nancy Guthrie series.
The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with professor and author Alan Thompson about three aspects of Acts that are key to understanding the conflict at the heart of the book—the hope of Israel, the resurrection, and the arrival of the last days.
Saved
Nancy Guthrie
Saved, by bestselling author Nancy Guthrie, gives individuals and small groups a friendly, theologically reliable, and robust guide to understanding the book of Acts.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | RSS
Topics Addressed in This Interview:
00:34 - The Hope of Israel
Nancy Guthrie
Welcome to season 2 of Conversations on the Bible with Nancy Guthrie. I’m Nancy Guthrie, author of Saved: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Acts. In the book of Acts, we see the enthroned Lord Jesus at work by his Spirit through his apostles. They are taking the message that salvation is available to all who will call upon the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And it is accomplishing its intended purpose—people are being saved. On this podcast, I’m having conversations with people who can help us to see more clearly the ways in which we see God working out his salvation purposes in the world, particularly in the pages of the book of Acts. And my guest today is Dr. Alan Thompson. I am at his office at Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Croydon, New South Wales, Australia. Dr. Thompson, thank you so much for being willing to allow me to come and sit down and have this time with you to talk about Acts.
Alan Thompson
Thank you, Nancy. It’s great to be a part of it. Thanks for inviting me. It’s my pleasure.
Nancy Guthrie
People are asking me, now that I’ve written a book on Acts, What were your go-to sources? And always at the top of the list is what we call “the silver book” on Acts. Dr. Thompson is head of the New Testament department here at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, and he is the author of The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan. I first got your book and read it a number of years ago. I was working on a paper for a seminary class I was taking on Stephen. It was focused on how Luke seems to have recorded Stephen’s experience in a way to really be an echo of and to be so close to the experience of Jesus. And so that’s where I first became familiar with this book and found it so helpful. And I was really glad to have it on my shelf for when I began working on my book on Acts.
Alan Thompson
That’s kind of you. I’m glad to hear that it’s been helpful.
Nancy Guthrie
I recently noticed also that you are the author of the commentary on Acts in the Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary series.
Alan Thompson
Yeah. That’s a great series, and available for free there on the Gospel Coalition website.
Nancy Guthrie
You can just go online at the Gospel Coalition and have really solid commentary for every book of the Bible.
Alan Thompson
They have a good line up there, and I was very pleased to be a part of that. That’s a great resource.
Nancy Guthrie
In this episode, we want to explore an aspect of Acts that you write about in your book, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus, that, quite honestly, offered me some of my biggest aha moments in my study of the book of Acts. You’ve got a chapter in particular in that book that’s titled “The Hope of Israel, the Resurrection, and the Arrival of the Last Days.” So the title itself has three aspects to it: the hope of Israel, the resurrection, and the arrival of the last days. And so I want to talk about all of those aspects that we find in the book of Acts because I just found understanding this was key, really, to understanding the action in Acts, the conflict at the heart of the book of Acts, and just to enter into what made up the gospel message that’s being preached in the book of Acts. So let’s just begin with the first part of that title, “The Hope of Israel,” which really demands that we dive into the Old Testament. So what did the people of God that we read about in the Old Testament? And I would add, perhaps, maybe even more so in that intertestamental period, and if that’s the case, you can explain that to us. What were they anticipating that God was doing in the world? What were they looking forward to? Because that’s what we’re getting at, in terms of the hope of Israel. Tell us about that.
Alan Thompson
To begin with, the phrase there, “the hope of Israel,” I’m drawing from some of the phrases that come up at the end of the book in the book of Acts, where Paul says he’s repeatedly on trial “for the hope of Israel.” He’s summarizing a range of things that are clustered together in the Old Testament, where I think, broadly speaking, we might say it’s that sort of longed-for age to come, the end times, the Messianic age, the blessings of that age. That is characterized by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, the arrival of the covenant blessings of salvation, and the return and restoration of God’s people to God himself. And so that’s characterized then, of course, or summed up with the language of resurrection in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 37 is a key one, which uses resurrection imagery there to talk about the restoration of God’s people. They will be given God’s Spirit, they return from exile, they’re going to be united again as one people, experience cleansing from sin, and able to keep God’s commands, and under a reign of a new David. All of that is framed in the language of those dry bones that get breathed into and they come to life. “Resurrection from the dead” is that language there that’s used for that restoration. Of course, it’s used in other places as well, more specifically. In Isaiah 26, that city of salvation characterized by trust in the Lord and peace that’s going to bring glory to God. And as a part of that city, it will include the resurrection of dead corpses rising and shouting for joy. “Your dead will live, their bodies will rise, you who dwell in the dust will wake up and shout for joy.” That’s sort of part of that hope there for God’s people. I guess there are other places as well. In Daniel 12, there’s that hope for the judgment for some and for others like Daniel. At the end of the days, it says there in Daniel 12, they’re going to rise to receive their allotted inheritance. So a broad cluster of themes where they’re looking forward to that one day when God’s people will be restored, God’s presence will be with his people, and the enemies of God’s people will be defeated and there will be a new life, a resurrection life. So that’s summarized there in that language of that hoped for resurrection. So I think that’s sort of summarized and embodied in that language.
Nancy Guthrie
So for us as Bible students, and we’re trying to get a sense of the hope of Israel, what you presented was just several little snippets from two or three Old Testament prophets. We’ve got to do some work in the Old Testament to understand what they’re talking about in terms of the hope of Israel. We might like to find it presented maybe more succinctly in one place, but it actually requires a little bit of work to try to identify what that is.
Alan Thompson
And some of those passages, like Ezekiel, might be talking primarily about the restoration of God’s people. But at the same time, it’s using that resurrection imagery there to look forward to that time when there will be that blessing of God and new life and that hope for the age to come. That’s that future hope that there is, that there will be the blessing of God’s presence with his people and the end of the enemies of God and that hope of experiencing life in the presence of God.
08:14 - The Resurrection of the Dead
Nancy Guthrie
The thing is, though, as we look at the Old Testament, you pretty much covered the passages in the Old Testament that speak directly of resurrection in the way we think of it in terms of bodily resurrection. There’s that Daniel passage, Isaiah, and then you’ve got the dry bones in Ezekiel. Although that really doesn’t seem, at least to me when I read it, to be necessarily pointing to bodily resurrection, even though that’s a vision of bodies coming to life. But it certainly seems to be that one’s more presenting the people of God being restored, especially after exile, but beyond that. So it’s interesting to me that in the book of Acts, the little phrase used for all of these new creation expectations—would that be an appropriate way to call them? That’s certainly what we would see them as now. Our expectations of the new creation coming in. The curse has gone for good. Creation is restored. God’s presence is with his people. The King has come and taken his throne. But it’s interesting to me that in the book of Acts, the way Peter and Paul use a little phrase for referring to this group of things. They call it the “resurrection of the dead.” Why do you think that is?
Alan Thompson
I guess it is associated in the book of Acts with something that’s going to be taking place at the end of days. It’s a little bit like what Daniel is referring to there as well. It’s part of that future hope. The transition from this age into the age to come will be characterized by that resurrection from the dead. The big word is eschatological hope; that end time hope, I guess, for the transformation of God’s people. So I think that’s that. When we get to the end of the book of Acts, that is associated with that final age, the end time.
Nancy Guthrie
So this proclamation of Jesus as being this one who has resurrected from the dead, it’s one of the most prominent themes in Acts. A surface reading of the book of Acts—and when I say surface reading, what I mean by that is the way I’ve read it most of my life, but maybe other people have too—is to believe maybe just that the religious leaders don’t like them saying that Jesus, whom they had put to death in Jerusalem and put into a tomb, that he rose from the dead. But I get the sense as I read it, especially when I get into Acts 3 and 4 and beyond that, that what’s really bothering the Jewish religious leaders isn’t simply that Jesus was risen from the dead. Because they could just say, “No, it didn’t happen.” They’re getting under the skin, we might say, of these religious leaders because of the implications of that, aren’t they?
Alan Thompson
I think so. It does become clearer, I think, as the narrative goes on, but it certainly comes up early on. Right at the very beginning in Acts 4, as you alluded there, they’re upset because they’re preaching. And the phrase there is interesting. In Acts 4 they’re upset because they’re preaching “in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead.” And that’s plural—the dead ones. And so it seems there as though it’s not so much just that Jesus has risen from the dead or that there will be a resurrection of the dead, but that they’re preaching the resurrection of the dead. It sounds like it’s something that’s reserved for the end, but they’re saying it’s happened already in Jesus. So there seems to be something more that’s going on there. That gets picked up as we go through the book.
Nancy Guthrie
What really bothers them is that they’re saying that with the resurrection of Jesus, this expected end times resurrection of the dead has begun. That’s at the heart of what bothers them, isn’t it?
Alan Thompson
Yeah, and it’s on the basis of the resurrection, then, that the apostles are saying the blessings of that age to come are being offered. Jesus is the risen one, in Acts 5, who grants to Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. Or in Acts 2 when Peter says Jesus has risen from the dead and so therefore, he’s poured out the Holy Spirit. And so it’s that hope for the presence of God, the blessings of forgiveness and salvation and the experience of God being with them that they’re saying is available now. The resurrection age has entered into the present already, and God’s people are, because of Jesus’s resurrection, entered into this age already. In Acts 13 as well, Paul says something very similar there. He says, “What God has promised our fathers, he’s fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus.” That hope for the promise there is fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. And so then he goes on to add there in Acts 13, “the one whom God has raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, he proclaims forgiveness of sins to the people.” So it’s on the basis of Jesus’s death and resurrection that the forgiveness of sins is offered, but the reason for offering those blessings seems to be that they’re coming from the risen Jesus himself. He’s brought into this age already those blessings that the people of God were looking forward to and longing for at the end.
Nancy Guthrie
This is one of those places where we really need a strong sense of the now and not yet.
Alan Thompson
That’s right.
Nancy Guthrie
There is some not yet to the resurrection certainly, but this is the thing we must understand: there’s a now to it as well. We talked a touch about Acts 4:2—just that little phrase in Acts 4:2 when it’s described what Peter and Paul’s message is and the problem the religious leaders have, that they’re speaking in Jesus, the resurrection of the dead. And you’ve mentioned Acts 13. How about if we go to another place, Acts 17:31, where Paul is speaking. He says here, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” What are we seeing here?
Alan Thompson
There’s a lot going on there, and at least maybe initially we can at least observe that Paul there is connecting, again, that hope for the end. That final judgment there that’s associated with the end is able to be seen because of the resurrection of Jesus. The proof of that judgment is seen in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He’s the one that’s going to be the judge. But there is that now not and yet aspect of it. There is that future judgment that is to come, but something that was reserved for the end has entered into this age already. The resurrection that was associated with the end and the final judgment has entered into this age already, and Jesus is the risen one who’s risen already in this age in advance of that final resurrection. So he’s the one who’s going to lead the way and he is the head of the new humanity and is going to rule and judge.
Nancy Guthrie
And then the next verse says, “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and then others said, ‘We’ll hear you about this again.’”
Nancy Guthrie
Let’s go on to Acts 23. These are the series of Paul’s trials before the council. And I think this is where it really does become clear that it is this issue of Jesus being the first of all who will rise from the dead and this resurrection of the dead actually being in Jesus and beginning with his resurrection that just gets repeated over and over again throughout these trials. So in Acts 23:6 it says, “Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other were Pharisees”—and I kind of love this scene. Don’t you? He’s got both groups, and he knows that this is actually the issue that divides them and that will kind of get them focused on fighting each other, perhaps, rather than against him. And it says, “So he cried out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.’” So there we’ve got the hope of Israel and the resurrection of the dead. Why do you think he does that and says that in that moment
Alan Thompson
Again, this is something that becomes clearer as we go through, especially in this trial section of Acts where there’s trial after trial. At this point, if you just read that by itself, it looks a bit strange. Why is he on trial because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead? It seems unusual to say that because, obviously, the Pharisees believe in the resurrection of the dead.
Nancy Guthrie
And that’s the key point, isn’t it? He’s like, “Pharisees, I believe what you believe.”
Alan Thompson
And as you say, I think this is humorous. I’ve often given the illustration that it’s a little bit like when we’re in the States and you completed your PhD, you had to defend it before a committee. And students would sometimes be in the room and watch the person who’s defending their thesis get torn to shreds. And one tactic was that if you knew one of your readers had a different view to another one of your readers, then you would toss out the particular topic that you knew they disagreed about.
Nancy Guthrie
You would never do that, though, would you, Alan?
Alan Thompson
Well, I’ve heard it done. And then they could just relax for a while and watch them fight it out. And so some have said that’s what Paul’s doing here. But it’s not just that, as you point out. He really is on trial because of his proclamation of the resurrection of the dead in Jesus. It’s not just a tactical maneuver. It becomes clearer as we go on that it’s right at the heart of what’s going on—his proclamation in Jesus, as we saw at the beginning of the book, that resurrection has entered into this age already. And the language of hope there is the first one that comes up in this series of trials. If we could just work through a couple of them. In Acts 24, there is another trial there, and again, we’ve got the end in view in verse 15, where he says, “I’ve got the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” So there’s that future orientation, the language of hope for that final resurrection at the end. But then when we come down to verse 21, that becomes more specific: “It’s concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.” So again, it’s not clear exactly how it is that it’s the resurrection of the dead plural that he says here in verse 21, but it’s building that picture that it’s something to do with the end. He’s proclaiming something about the resurrection that’s entered into this age already. We get the same kind of thing over in Acts 266, where he says, “It’s because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today.” It’s this hope of the people of Israel, the promise that the people of Israel are hoping to see fulfilled. There’s that language of hope again there in the future. And this is where this trial in particular, in Acts 26, brings everything that’s just been alluded to into greater clarity. So far it’s just been saying, “I’m on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead” (plural). But when we get to the end of this trial, he says something slightly different than what he’s been saying all the way through here. And I think, in terms of Luke’s narrative strategy, this is reserved for the climactic trial. This is the one where they enter in with all this pomp and ceremony at the end of Acts 25. It’s the longest of all of the trial accounts, so we get this long narrative account. We come to the conclusion of it in Acts 25:22–23, where, again, he repeats, “I’m saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen.” So there’s this idea that the Scriptures are pointing forward to this. But then he adds in verse 23, and here’s what it boils down to, “that the Christ or the Messiah would suffer.” And then he adds this phrase, “as the first to rise from the dead.” And now we see that’s why he’s been saying all along he’s on trial because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead, of the dead plural, like he’s looking ahead to that future resurrection. Why would he be on trial for that? It’s because, as he says here, he’s proclaiming Christ as the first to rise from the dead, in advance, already in this age. That which was reserved for the end has entered into this age in Christ’s resurrection. He’s the first to rise from the dead. And because of that, he adds there that he’s the one who proclaims light to his own people and to the Gentiles. So we have this promise of God’s salvation now entering into this age through the risen Lord Jesus.
Nancy Guthrie
Earlier in that little speech in Acts 26:8, I like his question there. He’s standing in front of them and he says, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” It’s such an interesting tactic because, as we’ve already discussed, especially for the Pharisees, they believe in the resurrection of the dead. And yet they’re fighting so hard against the idea that there is one who has been raised from the dead. And so I think it’s just an interesting tactic to ask, “Why do you find this so incredible? Because you’re saying you believe that the dead will be raised.”
Alan Thompson
Yeah. And they believe in the God who’s created all things and is the God of life and death and as the one who’s able to raise the dead.
Nancy Guthrie
He breathed life into Adam. And they have that prophecy from Ezekiel. They have that prophecy from Isaiah. And they have the psalms in which David has declared that he would not allow his holy one to rot in the grave. And so they should know. Well, let’s get to the end of the book of Acts. I’m in Acts 28:20. Once again, he’s saying here’s what’s at the heart with your opposition, because everywhere he goes, he goes first to the Jews. And there are generally some who believe and some who reject him. And here in Acts 28:20 he says, “For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing these chains.” It’s interesting to me. He’s a bit of a broken record on this throughout the whole of the book of Acts, about what really the issue is.
Alan Thompson
He’s saying again and again that the hope of the Scriptures and the hope of the people of Israel, if they were reading their Scriptures in line with what it was pointing forward to, can see that that hope is embodied in the person of Jesus and his resurrection. So the reason he’s on trial is his proclamation of the risen Lord Jesus. So then he phrases it here as “it’s because of the hope of Israel that I’m bound with this chain.” It’s because he’s proclaiming the fulfillment of that hope in Jesus.
24:19 - The Arrival of the Last Days
Nancy Guthrie
So once we see clearly, Alan, what the apostles were communicating about the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, in terms of it being evidence that the blessings of the age to come—the not yet—are actually being experienced now, how do you think that helps us grasp more clearly the promise of salvation that is at the heart of the book of Acts? At least that’s how I have seen the book of Acts, that so central is this promise of salvation. So how do you think our understanding of what’s being said here about resurrection and this beginning now in our lives, how does that help us understand more clearly the promise of salvation at the heart of the book of Acts?
Alan Thompson
I think it’s part of what we were saying before, that living between the now and the not yet, this living between the times, so to speak. The experience of the blessings already of the presence of God by his Spirit, the forgiveness of sins. And yet there’s that not yet aspect to it. What we have now is inextricably tied to that future hope that we have. So it’s a little bit like other language elsewhere in the New Testament. Paul uses the language to speak of the Holy Spirit as a down payment or a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. On the one hand, we have this deposit, if you like, the presence of God’s salvation already, but it’s inextricably linked to the future so that it is intimately tied to our future hope. We have that guarantee of what we have now to be fulfilled ultimately in the age to come. And this sustains us, it helps us, it enables us to persevere. We have that future hope that we’re looking forward to. There is similar language in Romans 8. Paul says we’re saved in hope and we’re waiting and looking forward to the ultimate fulfillment of that. So we have that presence already, the experience already, but this enables us to look forward to the fullness of that salvation. And so we have that promise, and that sustains us. I think of passages in Acts that talk in these terms with regards to the trials or the difficulties that we have. There’s a little verse tucked away at the end of Acts 14, where Paul and Barnabas return to the various places in the preceding cities in Acts 13 and 14 where they’ve had to flee because of persecution, and they return there to strengthen the believers. And the phrase that we’re told that they say to them in this message of encouragement is, “we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” I think that’s an interesting way of putting it to provide them with strengthening or assurance to point them to the reality of hardships and suffering in this life, but also the future to enter the kingdom of God. Meaning, there’s a not yet aspect to God’s reign that we have ahead of us, and that’s what we’re looking forward to. There’s that hope of that not yet. And so that’s the tension that we’ve got here, this already experience, and yet there is that certain future. And the resurrection of Jesus is that promise of the future resurrection. The first to rise from the dead, as Paul said, in Acts 26.
27:49 - Practical Application
Nancy Guthrie
Alan, I think one thing that grasping this message that pervades the book of Acts helps us—and I don’t know if this is a very American thing, as I sit here with you in Sydney—I grew up understanding the Christian life being primarily about how I make a decision for Christ and I try hard to live for him, and then I go to heaven when I die. That was maybe a truncated view. And I think all of those things are true, by the way, but it’s divorced from the larger storyline of the Bible, and it’s certainly, in a sense, divorced from, I think, what’s being presented as at the heart of the gospel in the book of Acts. Because actually, as we see this hope of Israel, which I would say is also my hope and your hope, that what we’re looking toward is not merely the presence of our spirit with Christ when we die. But rather, it’s setting our hope of experiencing that day of Christ’s return, that all of these hopes of resurrection will come into fruition. So maybe there is a correcting influence, if we really get to the heart of the book of Acts here, that focuses us on that last day, and that our hope is actually experiencing the reality that yes, he may have been the first fruits of the resurrection, but he won’t be the last. And our ultimate hope is set on that day of Christ’s return, when our bodies will be resurrected and we will enter into this age that began here, as we read about at Pentecost and the days we read about in the book of Acts. But it will come to its full fruition in that greater day to come.
Alan Thompson
Yeah, that’s a great way to think of it in terms of that broader framework, that now and not yet, and that link to that future resurrection hope that we have. And you’re right. The hope that Paul talks about there, the hope of Israel, it’s just a summary of saying this is the hope of the Scriptures. This is the hope of what the law and the prophets, to put it another way, the way Paul puts it elsewhere as well. This is what the Bible is pointing forward to—a new creation. And it’s because of Jesus that we can anticipate that we will be a part of that because of him.
Nancy Guthrie
What a beautiful thing for us to take away from the book of Acts in our own study, and if we’re leading a group through Acts, to really communicate and implant in those we’re leading, this hope of the resurrection of the dead. That’s really our hope too.
Alan Thompson
Yeah, that’s right. It’s interesting that the way that this might work its way out in the believer’s lives in the book of Acts, is the way that they proclaim Jesus seems to be characterized by boldness. That’s the word that comes up repeatedly. There are ways in which that’s talked about in the book of Acts as by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, enabling God’s people to point to Jesus. But there’s also a link there to the resurrection. They’re proclaiming the risen Lord Jesus, and they’re able to do so boldly because they know he’s alive and he’s present with them. He’s empowering them. And there is the promise of being in his presence forever and the future resurrection body as well. So it can work its way out into just renewing our confidence in what we are telling others about—about the risen Lord Jesus.
Nancy Guthrie
You’ve hit on something important, I think, in the book of Acts. And may it make us bold as we really take in both as we watch the example of these first apostles, because all of their lives ultimately came to an end because of this gospel that they were proclaiming. But as I hear you say, in part they were able to do that, yes, by the power of this Holy Spirit, but also because this hope was set before them, and they really believed it. Resurrection meant for them that this life is not all there is. Therefore, I don’t have to get everything I want in this life. And for them, I could expend my life proclaiming Jesus Christ, knowing that even if they take away my life because of that proclamation, that will not be the end for me.
Alan Thompson
I cannot imagine what it would have been like for those disciples right at the very beginning of the book, the opening verses there where we’re told there’s the forty days of instruction from Jesus. But Luke also tells us he gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive. To see him risen from the dead, the resurrected Lord Jesus in their presence, that’s got to have emboldened them as they go on from that.
Nancy Guthrie
You and I didn’t get to see that, but they did, and they’ve written it down for us so that we can believe it and proclaim it. Thank you so much, Dr. Thompson, for being willing to have this conversation with us on the book of Acts.
Alan Thompson
It’s my pleasure. There’s so much more to say, but I’m glad that you’ve been able to put all this together in a book and have so many guests to join you throughout this podcast. So I hope that all of them will be a rich blessing to all of your listeners.
Nancy Guthrie
I do too.
Popular Articles in This Series
View All
Introducing the ‘Blessed’ Podcast with Nancy Guthrie
In this new podcast, Nancy Guthrie—author, Bible teacher, and podcast host—leads listeners to a deeper understanding of the book of Revelation through conversations with respected Bible scholars, pastors, and other Bible teachers.
Blessed: Why Study the Book of Revelation? (Episode 1)
Nancy Guthrie discusses the book of Revelation and how we actually can understand its central message, encouraging us to accept the blessing promised to those who “hear and keep” this book.
Blessed: Time, Symbolism, and Imagery in Revelation with Greg Beale (Episode 10)
Nancy Guthrie is joined by Greg Beale to discuss questions related to the sometimes difficult symbolism and imagery of the book of Revelation.
Blessed: The Apocalyptic Nature of Revelation with Iain Duguid (Episode 2)
Join Nancy Guthrie as she talks with Iain Duguid about how we can understand Revelation in new ways when we read it as a letter, as a promise, and as apocalyptic prophecy.