Posts from March 2021

The book of Matthew introduces the reader to Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the long-awaited fulfillment of old testament prophecies. Matthew (also known in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 as Levi) was a “publican” or tax-gatherer by trade (Matthew 10:3) –he worked for the Roman government, and was therefore despised by many of his countrymen as a traitor to Judah (much like Zacchaeus, Luke 19). Matthew’s record contains some of the most familiar of Jesus’ teachings (the Sermon on…

(Editor’s note: This week we transition from a focus on the books of the OLD testament to the books of the NEW testament. By way of introduction, we begin with some general information drawn from the late brother Frank J. Dunn’s excellent book, Know Your Bible.) The books of the new testament are titled in some older copies of the bible as “the Last Will and Testament of Jesus the Christ.” This part of the bible is comprised of 27…

Malachi is the last old testament prophet who wrote down the message God gave him. He was evidently a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. During their time Judah had slipped back into a cool, spiritually careless and uncommitted attitude toward God. They considered their responsibilities toward Him to be a burden, and the main focus of Malachi’s message is his people’s need for repentance. The first three chapters of Malachi describe a series of challenges and responses between God and…

Zechariah was a contemporary of and a coworker with the prophet Haggai. The focus of his preaching to God’s people was to exhort them to repent and remember the covenant they had with God, in preparation for the rebuilding of the temple. God presents Zechariah with a series of eight visions pertaining to Judah’s future. There is a strong theme of Messianic hope and prophecy in Zechariah’s writing, and he challenges his people to refrain from the sins that had…