Introduction: This is the shortest of the four gospels, but Mark uses a number of devices to make it fly by even faster. This is a gospel of now. This is a gospel that is quite effective in presenting us with a sense of vivid immediacy. Mark uses the historical present tense consistently, he uses …
Surveying the Text: Matthew
Introduction: We are now continuing with our plan to work through the Bible, a book at a time. We have considered the first five books of the Scriptures, the Pentateuch, and have now come to the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels. Let us begin, as seems normal, with Matthew. The Text: …
Surveying the Text: Deuteronomy
Introduction: Remember that the Exodus happened around 1440 B.C., and the book of Deuteronomy was given at the tail end of the forty years in the wilderness, just a short time prior to the invasion of Canaan. This puts it right around 1400 B.C. The name Deuteronomy refers to a “second giving” of the law. …
Surveying the Text: Numbers
Introduction: The dates for Numbers encompass the entire 40 years in the wilderness, following the Exodus in 1440 B.C.—and it extends throughout that 40 year period. The name of the book comes from the fact that it contains the results of two censuses. To the modern reader, the book can seem like something of a …
Surveying the Text: Leviticus
Introduction: The dates of this book are roughly the same as what we find for Exodus. It provides detailed instruction for worship, picking up where Exodus stopped. The name of the book comes from a Greek phrase for “pertaining to the Levites,” that phrase being levitikon, which was then run through a Latin filter. During …
Surveying the Text: Exodus
Introduction: The three great themes of Exodus are the deliverance God brings to His people, the giving of the law, and the establishment of the tabernacle. There are other important themes as well, such as the recurring disobedience of the people. Remember as we work through the Bible, each book contributes to the grand theme …
Surveying the Text: Genesis
Introduction: Just as Abraham walked through the land that he was promised without settling down to inherit the land, so we walk through the Bible, the land of promise, not yet in full possession of all that has been given to us. We have it already, we don’t have it yet. As we will have …