For the last two years Dr. Sigve Tonstad has led a class on the book of Revelation at Loma Linda University. During that time, we have eagerly looked forward to each class as Dr. Tonstad has slowly unfolded Revelation as a book that reveals the cosmic confict between God and Satan. God’s character and way of governing the universe in the book of Revelation is most clearly represented by the slaughtered Lamb which not only symbolizes God’s self-sacrificial love, but also His way of governing the universe. In contrast to most interpretations of Revelation, Dr. Tonstad also views Satan as an acting subject who plays a major role. In other words, Revelation also tells the story of the Dragon, and that storyline is also important because it is part of the evidence that defeats Satan and his kingdom in our minds.
We are very pleased that Dr. Tonstad has allowed us to record and post his remaining lectures on GodsCharacter.com. This powerpoint slide presentation video is from the October 2, 2010 study on the seven last plagues. In some ways, it is unfair to publish this session first, since the last 2 years have built a foundation for understanding these plagues. For more details on this, we would strongly recommend Dr. Tonstad’s book, Saving God’s Reputation, which Greg Boyd referred to in his blog last week as the “best book I’ve read arguing that the central message of Revelation surrounds the vindication of God’s lamb-like character and way of running the universe. I also appreciate that Tonstad emphasizes the centrality of God’s conflict with Satan and demonic forces in Revelation (and throughout Scripture as a whole).