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As the Davidic psalms take us inside the heart of David, so do Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs take us inside the heart of Solomon. In 1 Kings 4: 32 we read that Solomon “spoke three thousand proverbs.” In the book of Proverbs we have 375 of them. In the classical genre of “advice to a son” literature, Proverbs offers sound advice for a young person going out into the world for the first time.

Jesus’ entire public ministry leads to his death, burial and resurrection. Indeed, Jesus tells us himself that he came “to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20: 28). We often are given the impression that Jesus was the innocent victim of corrupt religious authority and political intrigue. That is wrong. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he left Galilee for Jerusalem on Passover in the third year of his ministry.

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.

In 2 Chronicles we continue the 1 Chronicles narrative, tracing the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah and its exile into Babylon captivity. As God observes in 1 Chronicles, “Israel went into captivity because of its unfaithfulness.” This is a harrowing story of man’s willful disobedience and God’s righteous judgment.

Often incorrectly referred to as one of Paul’s “prison epistles” (he was not in prison in Rome in A.D. 60-62; he was living in his own rented house, free to come and go as he pleased), Ephesians is a brilliant exposition of Paul’s thesis that we are “saved by grace through faith”. It is also a glittering display of Paul’s rhetorical fireworks. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy examines this extraordinary epistle in detail.

If Isaiah is the “thundering prophet”, then Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet”. Jeremiah holds the terrible position of being both a priest and a prophet; he represents both the people before God, and God before the people—not unlike a lawyer representing both husband and wife in a contentious and bitter divorce! Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he follows Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet”, through his many trials and tribulations.

Jonah is one of the great stories in the Bible. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he tells this story as no one else can! When God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and preach against it, Jonah heads in the exact opposite direction—to Tarshish, in Spain! Follow the adventure as a huge storm tosses Jonah’s ship, the sailors hurl Jonah overboard and a huge fish swallows him!

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.

Paul sends 1 Corinthians to the church at Corinth, and when they receive the epistle, they are livid! They immediately write back to Paul in very harsh terms (the letter from Corinth has been lost, but Paul alludes to it in 2 Corinthians), prompting Paul to get on board ship in Ephesus, sail to Corinth and address the church in person. It is not a pleasant visit. When Paul gets back to Ephesus he has second thoughts about his “short but painful visit”, and he writes 2 Corinthians to smooth things over.

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.

Timothy joins Paul and Silas at the beginning of the second missionary journey, A.D. 50-52. A young man from Lystra, Timothy is the “Macgiver” of the Bible—he can fix anything with duct tape and a can of WD-40! This very resourceful young man becomes Paul’s protégé, but on assignment to Ephesus, Timothy finds himself in deep water, well over his head. Paul writes 1 Timothy to offer Timothy guidance and encouragement.