Resurrection: The Final Afterlife

The American church has more or less communicated this idea that when we die, we go off to Heaven to be with God. While this is true, the Bible communicates this to be more or less an intermediate state on the destination to which we are headed: a new Heaven and a new Earth with new imperishable physical bodies. This is Pauline theology and should be Christianity 101, but many of us aren't even aware of the Bible's message on this. It's "Life after life after death," as N.T. Wright puts it.

In this week's podcast episode I preach out some of the details while reflecting on passages from Paul's letters, Revelation, and N.T. Wright's books, Surprised by Hope and The Resurrection of the Son of God. If you're interested in learning more, I suggest Surprised by Hope for the crucial points in the conversation. The Resurrection of the Son of God is very good, but quite comprehensive.

Jesus' Birth Date

There are a lot of investigations into Scripture that I often think are pointless, like trying to figure out an exact date that Jesus was born on. I struggle to understand why that would truly matter to my spiritual life. 

But then scholars like Michael Heiser prove me wrong in his book, Reversing Hermon (or see his podcast episode, What Day Was Jesus Born?). If Jesus was born on a day that already held important symbolic meaning for the Jews, then his actual birthdate would matter—and that’s exactly the case Heiser makes. 

Today’s podcast is more or less a less detailed version of Heiser’s research, which I taught for Christmas Eve this morning. I always hope to uncover something a little deeper about the Christmas story each year because it’s a story Christians know too well and one of the only stories C&E Christians know. Today’s approach is about as wild as I’ve ever gone on a holiday. Hope you find it interesting as we dive into Revelation of all places!