Mark starts, not with the genealogy of Jesus like Matthew did, and he did not start with the birth of Jesus, like Luke did, but instead he started with a disciple of the Lord, John the Baptist, a faithful servant who in chapter one was arrested, and in chapter 6 was put to death. Jesus then called his 12 disciples, and many are said they "immediate…

In this lesson, we look at the various roles of Jesus found in the gospel of Mark. The book begins and Mark calls Jesus the Son of God, and the book ends with the Centurion who saw how Jesus died, and he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." In the middle God the Father says, "You are my Son, whom I love" both at Jesus' baptism and on the Mt.…

In these last two chapters of Galatians, Paul shared that since we are saved by faith in Jesus alone, and that is what justifies us before God, not our works, we are to live in freedom, not be in bondage again to the sinful nature. Circumcision, or other works of the law, do not make us right before God. Verse 6b, "The only thing that counts is fai…

The apostle Paul starts off chapter 4 with an example of a child who is an heir, but unable to receive any money until he becomes the age which the father sets. A guardian or trustee watches over the child until that time comes. Then Paul says in verse 4, "But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redee…

In chapter 3, Paul draws from the Old Testament to show that faith came first through Abraham before the law came with Moses, which shows that faith supersedes the law. Paul then says that all who have faith are blessed like Abraham. He also explained the problem with the law was that it cannot produce righteousness, because all humanity has sinned…

Chapter two of Galatians continues Paul's story of his calling and ministry, and now it is fourteen years later, and Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, spoke to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. The topic was do Gentiles need to become Jews in order to become Christian? No, they do not, because we are saved by faith not by the law. Paul and Barnabas …

We learn in the first chapter of Galatians, that Paul the apostle was not called by humans, but by God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They only deserve the glory. We also find that Paul is not happy with the churches in the region of Galatia, because someone has come and distorted the gospel, the good news of Jesus, (and we learn later it wa…

We find in these chapters the reason for Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica, and that was they received word that the Lord Jesus had come back and they missed it. Paul encouraged them to remember what he had told them while there, plus to trust the letters that he sent. He explained the things that must take place before Christ come…

This is Paul's second letter to the church at Thessalonica, which was probably a few months after his first letter. Paul started the church there, but then he had to leave due to persecution, so his first letter was sent with Timothy to make sure that the church was still growing. In this second letter, Paul is thankful that they are still growing …

With these last two chapters of Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica, he gave instructions on how to live in Christ. Believers are to live in such a way as to please God (4:1) and to love others (4:10), and both of these we are to do "more and more!" Paul also addressed sexual immorality, loving believers, living in such a way as to not be a…

Paul wrote this letter on his second missionary journey. He had to leave Thessalonica because Jews had caused a riot, so Paul and Silas left at night and left to Berea, but the Jews in Thessalonica followed them there, so Paul sailed on to Athens and then Corinth, and Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea (Acts 17:14). Paul kept hoping to go back to th…

The letter of James is an exhortation to encourage his readers to stay faithful, and this type of writing is called a Paraenesis. They have 5 characteristics, 1) commands or imperatives, 2) the use of moral examples, 3) a close relationship between the author and recipients, 4) the use of traditional materials, and 5) that it can be applied to ever…

These chapters cover the kings of Judah during the divided kingdom. After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam told his people he would be harder on them than Solomon so the people rebelled, and the ten northern tribes broke away from the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam tried to get them back by force, but the Lord told him to not fig…

These chapters cover the reign of king Solomon, the son of David. The Chronicler wrote to encourage his readers that God was in the midst of their history, and therefore would be in their future as well. Solomon's kingdom was the greatest in Jewish history, yet king David was the greatest king in their Jewish history because of his faithfulness to …

Now that king David is established in Judah and Jerusalem, he has a desire to build the Lord a house, but the Lord tells him he cannot because David shed blood in battle, but his son Solomon will build it, and his kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. David was amazed at the Lord's words to him. Chapters 18-20 tell of David's victories in taking …

After the genealogies in chapters 1-9, the Chronicler starts with the death of King Saul, and in verse 13 he explains it was because of Saul's unfaithfulness to the Lord. In chapter 11, David becomes king of all Israel, as the Lord had promised through Solomon (11:3). David conquers Jerusalem, the city of David, and many mighty men join David. Chap…

The book of First Chronicles was written to encourage the Israelites to have hope, even though life is not the same back from exile, their God is still faithful to His covenant. The covenant with Abraham said his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky, and so reading these first nine chapters with the majority of them being his descendant…

The name Malachi means messenger, and he shared about the messenger we know as John the Baptist, and of the One who will come who has nothing false found on His lips, Jesus. This small book deals with six issues between the Lord and His people. Since they were not a free nation and under Persian rule, and with conflict with neighbors, as well as ot…

The Israelites assemble again, and this time they repent of their sin, and the Levites remind them of their history with the Lord God of Creation, who called Abraham, led them to and from Egypt, gave them the Law of God through Moses, but then the focus shifted to the sinfulness of their ancestors, yet the Lord was faithful. They then acknowledge t…

Now that Nehemiah is in Jerusalem, he has organized the people to build the walls. One thing he did was place people in the section of the wall which was located by their homes, which gave them personal investment in building it. The Jewish enemies still tried to stop them from building, but Nehemiah continued in prayer and in leading the people, a…

Nehemiah, who was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, received word that the exiles in Jerusalem and Judah were "in great trouble and disgrace," which caused Nehemiah to mourn, fast, and pray. The majority of chapter 1 is Nehemiah's prayer on the day that he was going to address the king with his request. His prayer was full of Scripture es…

In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah are included as one book which are included in the section called writings. Ezra focused on the returned exiles rebuilding and finishing the temple, and now Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Throughout the time of the exile's return, they suffered persecution from those living in th…

Artaxerxes is now king of Persia, and he allowed Ezra and a second group of exiles to go home to Jerusalem. The king even provided financially for them to go. Ezra was a descendant of Aaron, the first high priest, and 7:10 says, "For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in…

Esther has been queen to King Xerxes of Persia for about five years (2:16 & 3:7). The man Haman has been elevated above all the other nobles by king Xerxes, and people were to bow down to him at the king's request, but Mordecai would not do so, which infuriated Haman. He decided that he did not just want to get Mordecai, but all of Mordecai's peopl…

The story of Esther is during the time that the exiles were allowed to go home to Judah, but not all went. Those who went back, finally finished the temple, under the edict and financial support of Darius I, king of Persia. Darius, who brought the Persian empire to it's peak, has now died, and his son Xerxes, also known as Ahasuerus, is in his thir…

Chapter 4 of Ezra ends with the work on the house of God came to a standstill due to persecution and harassment from neighbors. Chapter 5 begins telling us that through the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, they spurred the leadership, Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, and the people to start rebuilding the temple, and the proph…

These chapters cover Zechariah's second oracle, a word or "burden" from the Lord. It mentions about 17 times the phrase, "On that day," which shows us that much of what this oracle is about is futuristic. Much of it is in reference to the time of Jesus. 12:10 speaks of the "One they have pierced", and we know that Jesus was pierced when he hung on …

Chapters 9-11 of Zechariah is an oracle from the Lord through Zechariah, and He calls judgment upon cities and areas around Judah and Israel. The Lord is now defending His house and His people. There is also a prediction of a new King coming, and He will come, not like anyone expected. He will come riding on a donkey, a coal, the foal of a donkey. …

In chapters 7-8 of Zechariah, since the Jews are now home from exile, they asked the question do we need to continue fasting on months that reminded us of the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem? The 10th months was when Babylon laid siege on Jerusalem. On the 4th month Babylon breached Jerusalem's wall. It was on the 5th month that Jerusalem and the te…

Zechariah 1:7-6:15 cover the eight "night visions," and they get that name because 1:8 reads, "During the night I had a vision..." The 1st vision was of a man on a red horse among the myrtle trees and behind him were red, brown, and white horses. They were scouts throughout the land, and their report was the earth was at rest, and then the horsemen…

In Ezra 5:1, we learn that Haggai and Zechariah were both prophets at the same time to the exiles who returned to Jerusalem and Judah to rebuild the temple. They had started the task with building the altar and the temple's foundation, but due to persecution, they had stopped building. It was through Haggai and Zechariah that they encouraged the le…

Haggai was a prophet during the time the exiles who were taken to Babylon, can now come home under the leadership of Cyrus king of Persia. Cyrus was even willing to support financially the rebuilding of the Temple of the Lord. They came home to Jerusalem, and built the altar and then the foundation of the temple, but due to the people who were livi…

Daniel received his last known vision during the third year of the reign of Cyrus King of Persia. He mourned for three weeks and fasted from mean and wine during that time. Daniel was by the Tigris River when he had his encounter, and the heavenly beings came to him because Daniel had set his mind to gain understanding, he had humbled himself befor…

The book of Ezra begins in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia who made an edict that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it and the temple. This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah (and Isaiah) that the exile would come to an end in seventy years. Jews came from all over the land, plus, Cyrus requested that they be given gold, silver…

Daniel chapter 6 is the story of Daniel in the lions' den. Darius is king in Babylon, and Daniel was such an efficient and honorable man, that the king was thinking of having Daniel be in charge over the whole kingdom. Well, the other administrators did not like that idea, so they looked for ways to discredit him. They found no corruption, nor negl…

In this chapter Daniel reads from Scripture, Jeremiah, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years. If we interpret the first year of Darius as the first year of Cyrus, when the Persian's and Medes conquered Babylon, this places the time around 536-537 BC. That means that Daniel had been in Babylon around 67 years, which means their releas…

Daniel chapter 5 covers the story that King Belshazzar was king of Babylon, and he was having a party even though the Persians & Medes were coming his way. He celebrated by taking the golden goblets that King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and not only were they drinking from them, but they all praised the gods of gold, silv…

Daniel received two visions from the Lord during the reign of Belshazzar king of Babylon. Daniel had been in Babylon for about 50 years, and in the beginning, he had interpreted king Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the fall of Babylon and then the rise and fall of other kingdoms. These two dreams were similar in concept. The one in chapter 7 had four …

Even though this chapter does not give a date, since verse 4 says, "I Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous, it is believed it is a few years before the end of his reign (562 BC), after his conquests had come to an end. He had a terrifying dream which his wise men could not explain, but "Finally, Daniel came into my pre…

This vision from the Lord came to Ezekiel in the fourteenth year after the fall of the city of Jerusalem which would be around 572 BC. He had already seen a vision of the glory of the Lord leaving the temple, because of the sin of the Israelites who desecrated the temple with idols, and now he receives a vision that the glory of the Lord is coming …

This last chapter of Jeremiah, reminds the readers that Jeremiah's prophecies about Judah and Jerusalem came true. Babylon did come and destroy Judah and Jerusalem. They exiled everyone except the poorest of the poor. King Zedekiah witnessed his sons and officers killed, and then his eyes were plucked out. He was placed in chains and taken to Babyl…

This section of Scripture covers the judgments upon the nations surrounding Israel and Judah. The first to be addressed was Egypt, and the judgment was that Babylon was coming to Egypt to bring disaster, but there was a glimmer of hope in verse 26b, "'Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,' declared the Lord.'" With the Philistin…

In these chapters we see what happened after the fall of Jerusalem. The commander of the army of Babylon found Jeremiah and freed him. He chose to go back to Judah, even though the commander offered to take him to Babylon and take care of him. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, placed Gedaliah as governor of Judah. The poor were left there to ten…

This book of poetic songs of lament were written because of the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon on 586 BC. It is traditionally thought to be written by Jeremiah, and most of these 5 chapters were written as an acrostic, meaning each verse starts with the letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The main points found in the songs are 1) This devastation c…

In these chapters we see how Jeremiah was persecuted for his preaching that Babylon was coming, and if they surrender their lives would be spared, but if they do not, it will not end well. In chapter 34, the last king of Judah was warned, but he and his people would not listen. Chapter 35 gives an object lesson on how the Recabites, kept their vow …

Some years have passed between chapter two and three of Daniel. In the Septuagint, LXX, there is a note that chapter 3 happened in the eighteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, which would have made it 586 BC, the year that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. That helps understand why, the king believes he and his god is supreme over the…

Zedekiah was king of Judah, and chapter 24 ended, "Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon." Oh no! Of course this brought King Nebuchadnezzar down to Judah with his WHOLE army, and they laid siege to Jerusalem. It took two years until the wall was broken through. The king and the soldiers fled. King Zedekiah was caught, but some of the s…

Chapter 24 begins with a word from the Lord that the king of Babylon has laid siege on Jerusalem. Ezekiel also received word that his wife would die, but he was not to show any sign of mourning because he was an object lesson to his fellow exiles in Babylon, to remind them that this destruction of the city and the temple was all because of their si…

In these two chapters, Jeremiah is is confined in the courtyard of the guard, because he keeps declaring the word of the Lord that Babylon will destroy Jerusalem and Judah, and if the king surrenders he will live, but if he fights against King Nebuchadnezzar, he will die. That was NOT a popular message! During this time, the Lord tells Jeremiah to …

Before these two chapters, there are two groups of Jews who have been exiled to Babylon. In chapter 29, Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles letting them know the number of years they will be in exile is 70, and during those years they were to "grow where they have been planted!" They also were to pray for their place of exile, because if it prosp…