Showing results for "The Twenty-One" in Bibles

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.”

It is one thing to conquer a land; it is quite another to settle it and live in it. At this point in our story, Israel is not a nation; it is at best a loose confederation of tribes, each living in its own territory, isolated by rivers, mountains, valleys and other natural terrain. When an outside threat intrudes, the tribes coalesce, a leader (called a “judge”) emerges, and he (or she, in the case of Deborah) deals with the threat. There are 13 such leaders in Judges, and as our story progresses, they become more and more corrupt.

With the conflict of sin fully resolved and “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” a memory, our linear narrative doubles back on itself: Revelation 20-22 bring us back to a new beginning. In Revelation 21: 1-5 we read: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."

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.

Enseñanza bíblica oportuna y alentadora con un estilo informal y fácil para el oyente: así es la serie Las 21...del escritor Dave Earley.

With the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam, ascends the throne. All twelve tribes gather at Shechem to anoint him king—but they demand two concessions: 1) lower the taxes and 2) end conscripted labor. Rehoboam refuses, triggering a civil war. In 930 B.C., the united monarchy splits, ten of the twelve tribes forming the northern kingdom of Israel, with its capital in Samaria, and two of the twelve tribes forming the southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem.

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.

Notice that from Genesis through Judges, our story moves across a linear timeline: We move in a straight line from Genesis through Judges, from creation through roughly 1,000 B.C. Ruth is a recapitulation; it turns around and goes back to “the days when the Judges ruled” (Ruth 1: 1). Back in those awful days, there was Ruth, Naomi, Boaz—and the greatest love story in the Bible.

Abraham’s son, Isaac, plays a key role in God’s plan of salvation. But in Genesis 22, God says to Abraham: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering…!

With good intentions David’s commanding general, Joab, engineers Absalom’s return from exile to an uneasy peace between father and son. All the while, Absalom chafes under David’s refusal to reinstate him as his eldest surviving son and heir to the throne, and as time passes, Absalom gains support, raises an army, and marches against his father. If David stays in Jerusalem and defends the city, he knows he will ultimately face his own son in battle, and when he does, David will kill him.

Although not the first of Paul’s epistles, his Epistle to the Church in Rome (or simply, Romans) takes the place of first importance. Written from Ephesus in A.D. 57, Paul crafts a formal argument in Romans, employing the structure of a “scholastic diatribe,” stating and defending his theses that we are “saved by grace through faith.” Romans is a brilliant work, and it is foundational for understanding the all that Paul has written.

The curtain goes up on our story as we view creation, both from God’s perspective and from man’s.

By the end of Joshua, the Israelites have a foothold in the land of Canaan, but the conquest raises several critical issues: 1) strategically, how do the Israelites conquer a much stronger and more numerous enemy; 2) can a land conquered so brutally result in a peaceful and blessed life for the conquerors; and 3) what about the moral and ethical issues involved in such a conquest? Joshua is a deeply disturbing story on several levels.

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.

God continues prescribing rules and regulations for his people, including sexual and priestly behavior, and a comprehensive cycle of annual festivals, many of which are still observed today.

We’ve all heard the story of David and Bathsheba, but never like this: There is no great love affair between David and Bathsheba; adultery is not David’s great sin; and although God forgives David for what he does, there are far reaching consequences that shake the kingdom and bring David to his knees. This is one of the greatest stories in all of world literature, dazzling in its brilliance, stunning in its nuance and profound in its understanding of human nature.

God then gives his people their second greatest gift: The Tabernacle, a portable structure by which a sinful people gains access to an infinitely holy God.

Isaac survives, and our story continues with tales of Isaac and his twin sons, Jacob and Esau.

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.

Sennarcherib, king of Assyria (705-681 B.C.), attacks Jerusalem in 701 B.C., while Hezekiah is king (715-686 B.C.) and Isaiah is prophet (740-686 B.C.). Working together, Hezekiah and Isaiah implore the Lord to save Jerusalem and Judah. And he does. God vows that “[Sennarcherib] will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here” (2 Kings 19: 32). “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp."