Showing results by author "Bill Creasy" in All Categories

From Genesis through Judges we have a straight, linear narrative; in Ruth we have a recapitulation, a backward glance into the main story. When we look over our shoulders at the linear path we have followed, we see only a charred, smoking and bloody landscape. Ruth is a diamond lying in the muck and mire of Judges, flashing in the sunlight. “Back in the days when the Judges ruled”... there was Ruth—the greatest love story in the Bible, a story of redemption.

It is A.D. 68, the final year of Nero’s four-year persecution of the church, and Paul has been arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. In 2 Timothy Paul writes his “last will and testament,” appointing Timothy as the one who will take over Paul’s ministry after his death. At this point, Timothy has spent eighteen years with Paul and their relationship has developed into that of a father and a son.

Habakkuk is the prophet with a question mark for a brain! “Why,” he asks, does a God of justice allow injustice to flourish; why does violence prevail? And God provides an answer: “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your day that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians!” Through Habakkuk God takes credit for using the Babylonians as his instrument of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem.

As we rebuild the temple in Ezra, so we rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah work together, priest and layman, to complete God’s work—and you will not find two more different characters in all of Scripture. When Ezra learns that the Israelite leaders have been unfaithful to God, he sits on the ground appalled and pulls out the hairs of his beard; when Nehemiah hears the same message, he gathers the leaders together, sits them on the ground, and he pulls out the hairs of their beards!

From Solomon’s reign to the prophetic call of Elijah, 1 Kings tells the story of the collapse of David’s united monarchy into a nearly 100-year civil war and the fracture of a nation into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy journeys deeply into the historical and cultural nuances that underlie this amazing and compelling story.

Once thought to have been written by Paul, Hebrews is in fact written by one of Paul’s inner circle prior to A.D. 70, but no one knows exactly who. Addressed to Jewish Christians, our author examines several key issues from a Jewish perspective, drawing heavily upon the Torah for his support. In the marvelous chapters 7-10, our author sees Christ foreshadowed in the Tabernacle; the five great sacrifices of Leviticus; the priest Melchezedek from Genesis 14; and the Law itself. All, our author argues, are merely copies or shadows of the good things that were to come.

As we know from our own experience: bad things often happen to good people, even when they are fully aligned with God. So what gives? Job explores this paradox, calling into question the fundamental lessons we learn in the first 700 pages of Scripture. Each book after Esther in the Christian canon of the Hebrew Scriptures is a recapitulation into the main narrative. Job takes us back to the start, to the time of Abraham, and it raises serious questions.

When the exiles return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity in 538 B.C., they begin to rebuild the temple that was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. But very quickly resistance arises from the local population - not from military or mob attacks, but from an army of lawyers!

Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of those who return to Judah to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem. In fact, little more than 40,000 people return, only about 10% of the Jewish population in the Persian Empire. Esther tells the story of the 90% who remain behind. This is a fabulous story - and Dr. Creasy tells us the “X-rated” version!

Paul and Titus had worked together for many years, but in this letter Paul calls Titus to task. Left by Paul in Crete sometime between A.D. 63-67 to finish up the work they had started there, Titus has failed to complete the job. Paul writes this letter to give Titus a swift kick in the butt, telling him to complete the work quickly and to join Paul in western Greece as soon as possible.

Timothy joins Paul and Silas at the beginning of the second missionary journey, A.D. 50-52. A young man from Lystra, Timothy is the “Macgiver” of the Bible—he can fix anything with duct tape and a can of WD-40! This very resourceful young man becomes Paul’s protégé, but on assignment to Ephesus, Timothy finds himself in deep water, well over his head. Paul writes 1 Timothy to offer Timothy guidance and encouragement.

In this book Paul continues his discussion about the return of Jesus Christ that he introduced in 1 Thessalonians. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy explains how this critical issue dominates much discussion during the first generation of the church and what answers Paul provides for those who expect the Lord to return in the very near future.

The 4th of Paul’s so-called “Prison Epistles,” this personal letter to Philemon is the shortest of Paul’s writings, but it is perhaps the most self-revealing. Written from Rome during A.D. 60-62, Paul had met a runaway slave in Rome named Onesimus, owned by a man from Colossae named Philemon, an acquaintance of Paul’s. Under Paul’s tutelage, Onesimus had become a believer.

Working hand-in-hand with the prophet Haggai, Zechariah also encourages the people to resume work on the temple in 520 B.C.; but unlike Haggai, Zechariah extends his prophecy to foreshadow future messianic and end-time events. Like Ezekiel, Zechariah has several “weird” visions, including that of an ugly woman in a flying bushel basket! Listen as Dr. Bill Creasy of Logos Bible Study explores this fascinating book.

Jonah is one of the great stories in the Bible. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he tells this story as no one else can! When God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and preach against it, Jonah heads in the exact opposite direction—to Tarshish, in Spain! Follow the adventure as a huge storm tosses Jonah’s ship, the sailors hurl Jonah overboard and a huge fish swallows him!

Logos Bible Study presents another masterful presentation of a how a divided kingdom will surely fall. Join Dr. Bill Creasy as he guides us across the landscape of a broken nation ruled by evil kings, the prophets who confront them, and the idolatrous worshippers who turn their backs on God. In the end, both Israel and Judah fall into captivity, and once again it seems that God’s plan of salvation has come to an end.

As the Psalms take us into the heart of David, so do Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs take us into the heart of Solomon. The book of Proverbs fits squarely into the genre of “advice to a son” literature. In this book Solomon offers advice to his son, advice to a young man going out into the world for the first time.

In this book Zephaniah stands courageously and delivers a brutal message to the people: nothing will protect them from the day of God’s judgment. In this account, Dr. Bill Creasy of Logos Bible Study opens the text and explores the stark, dreadful dark side of God’s love.

Peter and Paul were close associates, and Peter had read many of Paul's writings, some of which, he says “are hard to understand”. Peter was a commercial fisherman, not a scholar like Paul. Nonetheless, Peter has in mind in the early 60s to write an epistle addressing a number of important issues - but he doesn’t feel rhetorically equipped to do so. Enter Paul’s associate, Silas. Peter says, “With the help of Silas I have written this letter.” And what a letter it is!

James, the brother of the Lord and leader of the church in Jerusalem, writes this epistle, sometime before A.D. 70. Paul had been very clear that we are saved by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. At the Council of Jerusalem in A.D. 50, Peter, Paul, James and the other Apostles concurred with Paul’s position, and it is James who, as leader of the church in Jerusalem, orders that a letter be written to all the churches explaining the Council’s decision. In his epistle, James does not contradict himself by arguing the contrary....