Luke was a physician who was born a Gentile. He was an associate of Paul. This gospel and Acts are one history book sometimes referred to as “Luke/Acts”. He could have named it for one of the major themes: “What the Holy Spirit Did”. There is a special focus on outsiders like tax collectors, soldiers, and notorious sinners (Luke 3:12-14, Luke 5:27-30, Luke 7:2-10, Luke 15:1, Luke 18:9-14, etc.). The gospels were originally regional: this one was popular in Greece, so Jesus is

Mark (also known as John Mark and Mark the Evangelist) is more involved in the overall story of the Bible than many people think. The Church, including those who walked with Jesus on Earth, hung out at Mark’s house (Acts 12:12). Mark traveled with Barnabas and Paul (Acts 12:25, Acts 13:5, Acts 13:13). Mark is Barnabas’ cousin (Colossians 4:10). Mark and Paul were reconciled by 2 Timothy 4:11. Mark became Peter’s helper (1 Peter 5:13). A first century church “father” named Pap

Because of the prescience of the predictions in it, some people try to assign a late date and different authorship to this book. However, it is in the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, it uses the same Aramaic style as in Ezra, it was around at the Septuagint translation time, and Ezekiel gave Daniel a shout-out (Ezekiel 14:14). After a long time of scholars saying otherwise, Belshazzar has been confirmed to have been a co-regent of Nabonidus. Jesus says Daniel wrote this book (Mat

The Hebrew title of this book amounts to “In the Wilderness”. This book contains the laws pertaining to the camp on the move in addition to advancing the story. Before we get started, let us remind ourselves of Ezekiel 18:23: “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” 1:3 This headcount is just the military. Including their families and the Levites makes an estimated popul

The Book of Exodus is about how a newborn man (Moses) or nation (Israel) is saved from/through water (from a hard lesson in being a stranger like in Hebrews 11:13-16) and comes to stand before God at Sinai (Burning Bush/Ten Commandments). The Exodus, returning from the Exile (and I bet this book was a comfort to the exiles, too), the life cycle of plants, sunrises, naps, etc., are all signposts to the Resurrection. Like Moses, the people of Israel and Christians figuratively

Chapter 5: Local Bible-Thumpers Censor Naughty Parts of the Bible Thank you for reading this book. The grace of God continues to be a blessing to me. God is not just some travel agent that has your afterlife squared away. We have eternal life even now, whether we feel like it or not. I began this book by reminding us of what Jesus did for us (He took away all our sins at the Cross and gave us new life by rising from the dead) and who we have become as a result of it, which I