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In Revelation 1: 19 the risen and glorified Christ tells John to: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” That is the basic architectural structure of Revelation: 1) what you have seen (past tense, “what was”: chapter 1); 2) what is now (present tense, “what is at the time John is writing”: chapters 2 & 3); and 3) what will take place later (future tense, “what will be”: chapters 4-22).

Titus is classified among Paul’s letters, but I put it in this lesson before turning to the General Epistles. The General Epistles are all those correspondences written by anyone other than Paul: Hebrews, once attributed to Paul, is now attributed to an anonymous author, someone in Paul’s inner circle; James is attributed to “James, the Lord’s brother” and the leader of the church in Jerusalem (Galatians 1: 19); 1 & 2 Peter are attributed to the Apostle Peter; 1,2,3 John are attributed to the Apostle John; and Jude is attributed to Jude, another of the Lord’s brothers (Matthew 13: 55).

The Book of Job explores “why bad things happen to good people.” Job is indeed a righteous man, so why are terrible things happening to him? We find our answer in these chapters.

The story of Job is set during the time of Abraham—the beginning of our story. Here we read that Job “was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil…. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1: 1; 3). Job has done everything God asks; yet his life is a disaster! Placed after Esther, Job calls into question everything we have learned about God in the previous books.

During the 40 years in the wilderness, all the Israelites who had left Egypt die: 603,548 of the 603, 550 men—all except Joshua and Caleb. On the Plains of Jericho, Moses tells the new generation their story. This is not a simple recounting of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers; it is a retelling of the story to a new generation on the back end of 40 years’ experience. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address. At the end of the book he dies.

The Minor Prophets are minor because they are shorter in length than the Major Prophets, not because they are less important: Isaiah is 66 chapters long; Obadiah is 1 chapter. All of the Minor Prophets write during the time of the kings, 1050 – 586 B.C., or after the return from Babylonian Captivity, 539 – 430 B.C. Most tell us when they are active. Hosea, for example, begins: “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah…” (Hosea 1: 1).

Although the primary meaning of what a prophet says always emerges from the historical context in which he writes, what he says will sometimes foreshadow messianic or eschatological (“end time”) events. It is our responsibility as educated readers of Scripture to determine when such foreshadowing occurs and when it does not.

When Paul is arrested in Jerusalem in late A.D. 57, it plunges Paul into a legal morass that sees him held under protective custody in Caesarea for nearly two years, transported to Rome for his legal appeal, and two more years waiting in Rome for his court hearing. Altogether, Paul is sidelined for nearly five years, A.D. 58 – 62. It is important to understand that Paul is not a prisoner at this time: He is a Roman citizen, first arrested for inciting a riot, but quickly put under protective custody and sent to Rome for a legal appeal that he initiates.

Written considerably later that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), John takes a very different approach to the Gospel story. Traditionally attributed to the "Beloved Apostle" John, this Gospel doesn’t give us yet another version of the events in Jesus’ public ministry; John illustrates what those events mean in light of 60 years of reflection upon them. The Gospel according to John is a brilliant book, and it offers us a profoundly intimate glimpse into the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Creasy has noted on many occasions that the Bible—in its final, finished form—is a unified literary work that is linear in structure; its main character is God; its conflict is sin; and its theme is redemption. Viewing the Bible from this perspective, the curtain rises on our story in Genesis 1, and it falls in Revelation 22. From a literary perspective, Revelation is the final chapter in a sprawling 2,000 page, 66-chapter story.

We continue our story of Paul as he begins his 2nd missionary journey, A.D. 50 – 52, leaving Syrian Antioch and making his way across Asia Minor, into Macedonia and finally arriving in Greece, where he spends 18 months at Corinth. Then it’s on to his third missionary journey to Ephesus, A.D. 54 – 57, and finally he is caught in a thicket of legal problems that take him to Rome and an audience before Caesar himself.

Saul of Tarsus was one of the most brilliant young men of his generation. He was being groomed for leadership in the Jewish community, and he was destined for greatness. With the birth of the Church and its rapid growth, Saul saw the threat posed by this emerging, radical sect of Judaism, and he took it upon himself to lead a fierce persecution against it.

Although their names sound alike, few men in the Bible are more different than Elijah and Elisha. Elijah loves a show; Elisha is shy. Elijah loves a grand exit; Elisha dies quietly, alone. Yet, in many ways, Elisha is an even greater prophet than Elijah. This is his story.

With Saul and his sons dead, the door opens for David to become king (1010-970 B.C.). But it’s not easy. Kingship rests with the tribe of Benjamin, while David is from the tribe of Judah; Saul still has a surviving son and grandchildren; Saul’s commanding general, Abner, has rallied ten of the twelve tribes to the house of Saul; and David has been an outlaw for a decade, working for Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. Although we read that God gave the kingship to David, it is another matter entirely to convince the people that David should be king.

Totally exhausted and spent, God assigns Elijah three more tasks to accomplish to complete his job: 1) on the international stage, “anoint Hazael king over Aram [Syria]”; 2) on the domestic stage, “anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel”; and 3) on the personal front, “anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet” (1 Kings 19: 15-16). Meanwhile, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (869-848 B.C.), arranges a tentative peace between Israel and Judah.

In this lesson we turn to future events, what the prophets refer to as “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Here we witness the cataclysmic events that the prophets foretell and that Peter foresees in 2 Peter 3: 10—“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”

God then gives regulations concerning day-to-day life: What foods may be eaten; what clothing may be worn, and so on. God also institutes the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. It is to be celebrated in perpetuity.

Left to our own devices, humanity is incapable of resolving the issue of sin. God must do it for us, and here he introduces his plan.

As Saul crumbles under the weight of kingship, a young man rises to take his place: David. As Jonathan Kirsch observes in King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (New York: Ballantine Books, 2000), the story of David is “a work of genius that anticipates the romantic lyricism and tragic grandeur of Shakespeare, the political wile of Machiavelli, and the modern psychological insight of Freud." David is one of the greatest characters in world literature; he is also my favorite character in the Bible.

At Mt. Sinai, God gives his covenant people their greatest gift: The Law, ten principles by which a covenant people is to live with God and one another.