BibleProject Podcast

We’re ending our short Advent series with a reflection on love. In the Hebrew Bible, the word “ahavah” involves faithfulness to God and living by his wisdom, but it also means showing practical care to others—especially the vulnerable. Jesus views this love for God and neighbor as the greatest command, and he expands it to be indiscriminate, radical kindness and generosity even toward our enemies. The New Testament authors were so blown away by this kind of love that they adopted an obscure Greek word for love, “agape,” and redefined it to be a self-giving, sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrates in his life, teaching, death, and resurrection. In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the main biblical words for love, showing how the story of Advent characterizes agape as God’s own essence and our calling.

In the third week of Advent, we’re reflecting on joy. Joy’s not only a feeling based on circumstances but a rich biblical theme expressed in song, celebration, and even shouts of delight in all seasons of life. In the Hebrew Bible, words for joy appear most often in Psalms and describe communal feasts, temple offerings, and weddings. In these moments, joy is about remembering God’s goodness in the past and anticipating his future rescue. The New Testament continues this story, with Luke and Acts in particular overflowing with joy at the arrival of the Messiah, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of Jesus. In this episode, Jon and Tim find the theme of joy everywhere in Scripture, even before God’s work is ultimately finished.

In the second week of Advent, we’re reflecting on peace. The word most often translated as “peace” in the Hebrew Bible is shalom, but its meaning goes far beyond the absence of conflict. Shalom is about wholeness, completeness, and everything being as it should be. It describes uncut stones at an altar, honest weights in the marketplace, integrity of the heart, flourishing relationships, and life lived in harmony with God’s purposes. In this episode, Jon and Tim trace the deep biblical meaning of peace and show how Advent points to the arrival of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, who reconciles divided people and makes them one.

Over the next four weeks, we’ll be exploring the four key words associated with the Advent season: hope, peace, joy, and love, starting with hope. The Hebrew words often translated as “hope,” yakhal and qavah, are rooted in images of waiting and being stretched, like a cord pulled tight. From Noah waiting for the flood waters to recede, to Israel longing for God’s loyal love, to Jesus followers ultimate hope in the new creation, the Bible presents hope as an active trust in God’s character. In this episode, Jon and Tim explore how the biblical story reframes hope as active waiting, a practice that keeps us moving toward God’s promises.

Is Adam being formed outside of Eden a prototype of the wilderness pattern? Are the biblical authors linking David and Nabal to Jacob and Laban? And does Jesus experience a wilderness testing moment in the garden of Gethsemane? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from our series on the wilderness. Thank you to our audience for your thoughtful contributions to this episode!

In every theme study, we try to isolate a biblical topic and trace its appearances in the biblical story. But it's important to remember that biblical themes all harmonize and play off of one another, like instruments in an orchestra. That’s why as we went back through our library of episodes, the wilderness setting came up often. How did Moses fail his test in the wilderness? How did Jesus succeed in the wilderness? How does the wilderness lead us all into final Sabbath rest? In this hyperlink episode, we’ll listen to clips from previous podcast series where the theme of the wilderness came up in Jon and Tim’s conversations.

After his death and resurrection, Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to share the good news of the Kingdom and make disciples. These disciples, also known as apostles, plant churches across the Roman Empire and write letters to congregations made up of Jewish and Gentile believers. And their letters often wrestle with the tension of living in the new age of Jesus’ reign while also living in the old age of idolatry, corruption, and injustice. To talk about the overlap of these two ages, the apostles use a familiar metaphor: the wilderness. In this final episode of the series, Jon and Tim discuss how the New Testament authors use wilderness imagery to encourage and warn followers of Jesus to stay close to their good shepherd through the danger and deception of this present age.

Throughout ancient Israel’s long history of wandering in the wilderness, failing in the garden land, being exiled to the nations, and then continuing to struggle after their return to the land, one thing has been clear. The people need a faithful shepherd like Moses who can guide them into God’s provision and wisdom. So after Jesus is baptized in the wilderness and succeeds in his own wilderness tests, you can probably guess where Jesus goes to feed, heal, and teach people! In this episode, Jon and Tim explore stories in the gospels where Jesus provides for Israelites and non-Israelites in the wilderness, acting as a new Moses-like shepherd.

After Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness to be tested for 40 days. The exodus generation spent 40 years in the wilderness, so we’d be right to expect parallels with their experience. But why does Jesus need to go through this wilderness test? And what does it mean for his followers? In this episode, Jon and Tim look at Jesus’ three wilderness tests, discovering the long-awaited faithful human who is ready to enter the garden land.

In the Bible, God often turns wilderness wanderings into times of testing, purification, and preparation for returning to the garden land. The tragedy of the Hebrew Bible, however, is that when people do return to the garden, they keep following their own distorted wisdom and desires. This is why the beginning of every gospel account features a wild prophet named John, who is out in the wilderness by the Jordan River, preaching a baptism of repentance. It’s a symbolic reenactment of when God purified the exodus generation through the deadly chaos waters and treacherous desert. But then Jesus approaches John, also asking to be baptized. Why? In this episode, Jon and Tim unpack the background and ministry of John the Baptizer and how Jesus’ baptism connects to his larger Kingdom mission.