Benjamin L. Gladd

Matt Harmon and I chat with Jen Wilkin about all things Revelation: The Thief in the Night movie, the rapture, and the tribulation. 🍿💨😈 If you love the book of Revelation, you don't want to miss the latest Biblical Theology Briefing podcast. youtube.com/watch?v=fbrYtu…

@treyorear New book

G. K. Beale's NSBT sequel to The Temple and the Church's Mission has arrived. 🕍🌳 His upcoming volume on the wilderness won't disappoint. 🏜️ Here's a taste: "Instead of the temple of God’s presence and Spirit expanding to cover the earth, now, instead, the infertile wilderness expanded as a fiendish mirror image from fertile Eden. The wilderness remained dominant and it became infected with a permeating spiritually corrupt dimension, spreading spiritually through peoples’ sin."

Resurrection Sunday!! Why were the disciples so SLOW to believe that Christ rose from the dead? Did not the OT and Jesus predict it? 😳 Jesus’ resurrection is odd for three reasons: 1️⃣ The Old Testament expected that ALL the saints will rise at the very end of history. 📜 So, when Jesus singularly rose from the dead, the disciples thought to themselves, “What about us? How can God raise only one person from the dead?” 2️⃣ The resurrection was to occur at the consummation, when God renews the cosmos. 🌎 Jesus’ resurrection did indeed begin this process of renewal, but the new creation he inaugurated largely entails spiritual realities. 3️⃣ When Christ returns at the second coming, he will transform believers into his image—both physically and spiritually. We won’t be zombies 🧟‍♂️ or ghosts! 👻 We will have the same glorified body that Christ possesses. This may give us some insight into our future existence. For example, since Christ ate food with his disciples after the resurrection, it’s possible, even likely, that we will eat in the new earth.

Best resource I’ve come across for Holy Week. Schnabel is a first-rate scholar, and his work is incredible. 🐐

Check out my review of the CSB Connecting Scripture New Testament. I read every word of this Bible, including the study notes and articles. I think you should as well. Great work, @DrGladd oldtestamentallusions.blog/2026/04/03/rev…

The crucifixion. ✝️ Where do we begin? Let’s start with three thoughts: 1️⃣ Christ’s death on the cross means that he died an atoning death. What does that mean? He died the death we deserve. Sin offends God, so the only way for him to be favorable towards us (the word is propitious) is to satisfy his just wrath. 2️⃣ Sin not only angers a God, it also keeps us out of his presence. A holy God cannot dwell with unholy people. Read through the book of Leviticus when you get a chance, and you’ll see how God uses sacrifices to satisfy his wrath AND to cleanse the worshiper (and the tabernacle). 3️⃣ The first conversion after Christ’s death is a Roman soldier, one that was likely responsible for overseeing the Roman soldiers put Jesus to death. When the centurion sees Jesus’ death, he confesses that Jesus is truly the Son of God. Christ died for the very one who killed him, ushering him into the very presence of the living God!!

My volume From Adam and Israel to the Church is on sale on Amazon. Only $5.99! a.co/d/0dfo7BVg

Day #5 of Holy Week (April 7, A. D. 30) Much transpires on Day 5, and two events shine brightly: The Passover meal and Judas’s betrayal. 🐑🗡 1️⃣ The disciples celebrate Passover, one of the three major holiday on the Jewish calendar. The connection between Jesus, death and the Passover sacrifice is obvious: Jesus dies FOR others. He bears their death. 2️⃣ Why wash the disciples’ feet? Jesus is the ultimate servant, the long-awaited servant of Isaiah. Also, when he washes the disciples’ feet, he purifies and empowers them to join the community of mini-servants of Isaiah who carry on Jesus’ own mission to reach the nations.

"Hey, Gemini, create an image of Revelation 13." My goodness.

Jeremiah 3:16 "When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days—this is the LORD’s declaration—no one will say again, “The ark of the LORD’s covenant.” It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made."

HUGE congrats, Prof!

This will be soooo good. 🤌

Day #4 of Holy Week (April 6, A. D. 30) Though we unsure what precisely transpired on Wednesday of Passion Week, a possible candidate is Jesus’ prediction of the fall of Jerusalem at the hands the hands of the Romans in AD 70 (Mark 13 and par.).🔥🕍🔥 1️⃣ Because Israel committed idolatry in worshiping human tradition over God’s Word and rejected Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus pronounced grave judgment upon Jerusalem. 2️⃣ Mark 13, The Oliver Discourse, is one of the most difficult passages in the NT. Just as the arrival of the kingdom is a “mystery,” so also is its consummation—judgment upon Israel’s temple does not signal the ultimate destruction of the old age The destruction of the temple in AD 70 also serves as a pattern of Christ’s second coming when he judges unbelievers and restores believers.

For holy week I’ll be giving excerpts from my book, Josephus and Jesus, regarding what Josephus tells us about his acquaintances and their families who brought Jesus to trial. A thread.

Ever heard people say that Jesus died in 33 AD? @BernardNHoward here points out why thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-d…

Day #3 of Holy Week (April 5, A. D. 30) In light of Jesus' actions on days 1 & 2, the Jesus leaders are incensed. 😡 Who does Jesus think he is? He has no right to overthrow the temple! 1️⃣ Jesus spends most of his time debating the Jewish leaders (Mark 11:27-12:44 and par.). 2️⃣ After the Jewish leaders attempt to catch Jesus in his own words to arrest him, Jesus turns the table and entraps them! In Mark 12:35-37, Jesus goes on the offensive and asks, "Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?" He then proceeds to cite Ps 110:1: "The LORD [Yahweh] said to my [David’s] Lord [Jesus]." Jesus is explicitly claiming that he is divine, even existing before David!

Day #2 of Holy Week (April 4, A.D. 30.) Jesus judges the temple and curses the fig tree. Mark uniquely cuts the cursing of the fig tree into two events and places Jesus’ actions in the temple between the two. Mark forces the reader to interpret the cursing of the fig tree and the temple together. 🌳🕍 🌳 1️⃣ In causing the fig tree to wither, Jesus brings down God’s curse upon the nation. The nation, the fig tree, should have remained faithful to the Lord. Jesus curses the nation because they didn’t and because they failed to accept his identity as their messiah and the Son of God. 2️⃣ Another way in which the Israelites failed is in their abuse of the temple. They offered up profane sacrifices and even barricaded foreigners from worshiping there (11:17, quoting Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11). Therefore, just as Jesus cursed the fig tree (Israel), he now judges their place of worship.

Today is Palm Sunday 🌴 meaning two things 1️⃣ On riding on a donkey (not on a war horse), Jesus declared that his reign is characterized by peace, esp. peace between God and man. Solomon riding David’s donkey in 1 Kgs 1 becomes a symbol of a powerful yet peaceful ruler. The prophet Zechariah picks up on this symbol and casts it as a formal prophecy (Zech. 9:9). 2️⃣ Jesus really is the long-awaited king of Israel and the nations, but his reign manifests itself not by sitting on the physical throne of Zion but by bearing God's curse on a Roman cross.