Exciting news - the Answers to Giant Questions Podcast is on its way! Today my good friend and co-host Kris Bather and I got stuck into recording the first two episodes of the show. They'll be in post-production for a while, so stay tuned and we'll let you know when it's live and ready to download.

The first episode is an introduction to myself and Kris, as well as an introduction to the podcast generally. We talk movies, prequels and comics, discussing how the Primeval History of the Bible functions as a prequel of sorts for the rest of the Bible.
We also tackle some Giant Questions submitted by readers and followers.

In the second episode, we take a tour of the ancient near east and examine excerpts of creation stories from Egypt, Akkad, Babylon and Canaan. We discuss how understanding these examples of ancient literature can inform our understanding of Genesis One - as an ancient source document perfectly at home in its own cultural context.
We also hit some more Giant Questions submitted by readers, and we get into Giant Warfare with some advice on correctly engaging with ancient worldviews that still exist in indigenous cultures today.

All that, and we're only two episodes in, with much, much more to come. Stick around, folks, because this is going to be a show you don't want to miss. Details about the release will be forthcoming.

​- T.J. Steadman

1 Peter 3:18-22 "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him."

​As Christians all over the world remember, celebrate and participate with Jesus Christ in His death, resurrection and ascension, I invite you to take a moment to consider what was going on behind the scenes.
Jesus' final moments of earthly life were excruciating. He had endured more than any ordinary man could take. Beaten, whipped until His bones were visible, a tangled wreath of vicious thorns pressed into His head, torn flesh no longer recognisable, He was forced to drag a heavy wooden cross beam up a long hill to the place where they eventually nailed Him to it. The hateful mockery of a Roman coronation being completed, they nailed the King of the Jews to the timbers and hoisted Him aloft.
Psalm 22 makes allusions to the crucifixion scene and reveals to us that Jesus was tormented not only by cruel human adversaries but supernatural ones as well. Surrounded by the "bulls of Bashan," the demons of the old Rephaim, Jesus gave his final breath on the very spot rumoured to be the last resting place of the severed head of Goliath the Philistine giant.
It seemed apparent to all, living and dead, that the Messiah had failed.

And yet, in the unseen world, things were working out quite differently. The moment that Jesus died, the pits of Hell were being overturned. Thousands of graves throughout the land burst open, and resurrected believers rose bodily, going throughout the town and proclaiming Christ's victory. This phenomenon was witnessed publicly by all in Jerusalem at the time.
Jesus Himself had a proclamation to make as well - to the powers of darkness in the underworld. While He was bodily dead, He descended into the deepest, darkest hole in Hell, known as Tartarus to the Greeks. It was a place so bad that it was said to be as far below the earth as the earth is below Heaven. Jesus went and searched out the wicked, rebellious sons of God that had tried to destroy humanity in the days of Noah - and He had a message for them.

Peter doesn't tell us what that message was. Evidently, he seems to expect that we know already. And that is not an unreasonable assumption to make of his original audience. Back in the first century, most Jews would have been aware of a popular text known as the Apocalypse of Enoch (or 1 Enoch as we know it today).
Peter makes allusions to that text throughout his writings, as does the apostle Jude. In fact, every New Testament author uses ideas from 1 Enoch in their work, so it's not surprising. It's not a text incorporated into most Christian Bibles, but it doesn't need to be. The New Testament authors were inspired to refer to it, and that's sufficient to tell us that it's worth reading just to get in the authors' minds and know what they were alluding to.

The author of 1 Enoch tells a story of how the ancient sage and prophet Enoch, who lived during the age of the Nephilim, was contacted by the fallen sons of God. They pleaded with Enoch to go before Yahweh Elohim and intercede on their behalf, that they might be released from imprisonment. God had restrained them in the underworld for the crime of corrupting God's image bearers with forbidden arts and sexual abominations.
Enoch returned to them with a message from God. To put it simply, God says no. You're staying put and you will see the final judgment long after your ill-conceived giant offspring perish before your eyes. The Nephilim are all going to die and you'll still be here, rotting in Hell while you wait.

We shouldn't be surprised then, to find that Peter has cast Jesus as a second type of Enoch figure. Jesus goes to the underworld, finds the Watchers and tells them: You're still here? Oh, that's too bad. Bet you never thought you'd see me here. Well, don't get used to it, because I'm outta here.
And you're not. See you at the final judgment!

And with that, Jesus took the keys of Death and Hell, and walked bodily out of His tomb. Now we who believe in Him and are faithful to Him even though we suffer, are likewise destined to live forever with Him.

Christ is risen!

- T.J. Steadman.