Showing results by author "Bill Creasy" in All Categories

In 1 Samuel we continue our narrative. Samuel is the last of the judges, and with his end approaching the people demand a king “so we can be like all the other nations.” As God tells Samuel, “it is not you they have rejected, they have rejected me as their king.” And indeed they have. The people choose a king, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul will rule Israel for an entire generation, but although he looks like a king, he does not have the heart of a king, and the weight of kingship crushes him.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Often incorrectly referred to as one of Paul’s “prison epistles” (he was not in prison in Rome in A.D. 60-62; he was living in his own rented house, free to come and go as he pleased), Ephesians is a brilliant exposition of Paul’s thesis that we are “saved by grace through faith”. It is also a glittering display of Paul’s rhetorical fireworks. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy examines this extraordinary epistle in detail.

As Proverbs fits squarely into the genre of “advice to a son” literature, so the Song of Songs fits squarely into the genre of erotic love poetry. Traditionally read as an allegory of God’s love for Israel or of Christ’s love for the Church, Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy explores the Song of Songs as what it is, first and foremost: an erotic love poem written by Solomon in the final years of his life, a poem tinged with deep regret and longing.

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.

As Paul writes his last will and testament in 2 Timothy, so Peter writes his in 2 Peter. It is A.D. 68, and Peter, like Paul, has been arrested during the persecutions under Nero, then tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. In his second epistle, Peter urges us to remember the foundational teachings of the Gospel and not to be led astray by false teachers and those who serve their own interests, rather than Christ’s. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as we bid farewell to Peter and listen to his last words of encouragement.

Jonah knew that if he delivered God’s message to the Ninevites they would repent and God would save them; but he also knew that even if the Ninevites repented, they would backslide into their old ways. And that’s exactly what happens. The prophet Nahum makes clear what will happen to the capital of the Assyrian empire if they turn away from God.

Paul never planned to go into Galatian territory, but midway into his second missionary journey Paul becomes ill and his companions take him north over the mountains to Galatia for medical care. While there, Paul forms several churches. Once Paul arrives in Corinth toward the end of A.D. 50, he writes a letter to the churches in Galatia, expressing great concern about them. Paul’s gospel message is quite simple: we are saved by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The third of Paul’s so-called “Prison Epistles”, Paul writes to the church in Colossae, a church he had not founded, nor ever visited. So just how did this church come to be, and what was Paul’s relationship with it? Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he answers these questions and explores the challenges facing this developing church.

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.

Traditionally ascribed to Jude, a brother of both James and the Lord, mentioned in Matthew 13:58, Jude had wanted to write a rather thorough theological treatise, but present circumstances in the church compel him to address a different topic: what believers can do in days of apostasy. Written sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, this epistle offers very practical advice for those living in what appear to be the "end times".

With Moses dead, Israel stands on the threshold of the Promised Land, looking to Joshua for leadership. Join Logos Bible Study as Dr. Bill Creasy takes us across the Jordan River and into the land of “milk and honey” in a brutal conquest - a campaign of extermination that raises profound moral and ethical questions in its day, as well as in ours.

Paul sends 1 Corinthians to the church at Corinth, and when they receive the epistle, they are livid! They immediately write back to Paul in very harsh terms (the letter from Corinth has been lost, but Paul alludes to it in 2 Corinthians), prompting Paul to get on board ship in Ephesus, sail to Corinth and address the church in person. It is not a pleasant visit. When Paul gets back to Ephesus he has second thoughts about his “short but painful visit”, and he writes 2 Corinthians to smooth things over.

In Joshua we conquer the land; in Judges we settle it. This book recounts the chaotic downward spiral of a people who turn away from God. Not a nation, but a loose confederation of 12 tribes, Israel spirals downward from a people obeying God to one that turns their back on him, a nation in which everyone “does that which is right in his own eyes.” By the end of Judges, Israel is in total apostasy—and God’s plan of salvation seems to have vanished.

For Paul, Corinth was nothing but trouble. In the winter of A.D. 54, a delegation from Corinth arrives in Ephesus to meet with Paul. They inform Paul that the church in Corinth has (1) developed factions and divisions among the believers, and that (2) believers are suing one another in the secular courts, and that (3) rampant sexual immorality is spreading throughout the church. In 1 Corinthians Paul addresses each of these issues.

Both Isaiah and Hosea are writing at the same time, during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, 740-686 B.C. In Isaiah 1-35, Isaiah hauls Israel into court, charging her with unfaithfulness, calling out witnesses and finding her guilty. The theme of these chapters is judgment. In Hosea, God says: “You know what I think; now I want you to know how I feel.”

If Isaiah is the “thundering prophet” and Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet”, then Ezekiel is the “weird prophet”! Taken captive in the second wave of Babylonian attacks on Jerusalem in 597 B.C., Ezekiel writes in Babylon about the 13 “visions” that comprise his book (593-573 B.C.) And strange visions they are! Ezekiel is the “street performer” of the prophets, acting out many of his prophecies in dramatic and strange ways. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he follows Ezekiel, the weird prophet, in his street theater performance!