Logos Bible Study

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. In the liturgical churches, Holy Week remembers Jesus’ last week on this earth. It remembers—through prayer, liturgy and contemplation—Jesus entering Jerusalem on the week of Passover, A.D. 32; of his being acclaimed by huge crowds of Passover pilgrims; of his escalating encounters with the Jewish leadership; of his celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples; of his arrest by the Jewish leadership in the Garden of Gethsemane; of his midnight trial before the Sanhedrin; of his trial before the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate; and of his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. This week, Dr. Creasy will record a series of Podcasts, walking us through the week that forever changed history.

Learn more about Ruth for FREE in the Logos Online Classroom: https://classroom.logosbiblestudy.com/store/404498-cc-ruth-a-love-story As we head into the fourth week of Lent, Dr. Creasy explores Deuteronomy 25: 5-6, two short verses on the “kinsman-redeemer,” and he does so with a wonderful story!

Dr. C. reflects upon the meaning of Lent. Is it a time to give up trivial desires (“I’m giving up desserts for Lent!”), or might we take a deeper look at the season? Dr. C. explores the story of king David to chart the course.

Last week Dr. C. talked about “reading the gaps” of Scripture, and he used the “Sacrifice of Isaac” and the “David and Bathsheba” stories to illustrate the technique. This week, Dr. C. follows up on those stories, exploring the consequences of Abraham’s and David’s actions.

Dr. C’s back from his “Israel HIGHLIGHTS” teaching tour, and what a tour it was! Dr. C. taught many of our favorite bible stories onsite, where they happened, adding color, tone and texture to the narratives. Once you travel “In the Footsteps of Jesus” with Dr. C., you’ll never read Scripture in the same way again! In his first Podcast since returning, Dr. C introduces another technique useful for reading biblical narrative, a technique he calls “reading the gaps.” Join us as Dr. C. examined two stories—the “Sacrifice of Isaac” (Genesis 22) and “David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).

When the young David killed Goliath, he became a national hero, and within five years, David was commanding a fierce band of king Saul’s army. Saul—a man who looked like a king, but didn’t have the heart of a king—grew increasingly jealous of David, finally sending a team of men to assassinate David in his bed. David escaped, and he went on the run. Recruiting six hundred very tough mercenaries, David went to work for the Philistines, Israel’s sworn enemy. Yet, all the while, David played the double agent, feeding information to Saul’s son, Jonathan, as Jonathan fed misinformation about David to Saul. The confrontation between David and king Saul was inevitable. Saul had every resource tasked to find David. And finally, at the caves of En Gedi—David’s hideout—the two meet. This is a GREAT story!

Mary lived in Nazareth, a young girl of perhaps 13 or 14 years old. She was betrothed to Joseph, a young man from Bethlehem working in the building trades, perhaps at Sepphoris, a town being newly rebuilt by Herod Antipas, just a few miles away. They looked forward to a wonderful life together. And then the angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary with a remarkable—and very frightening—offer: to become the virgin-mother of the Son of God. This is an incredibly dramatic story, and Dr. C. tells it as only he can, on site at the Church of the Annunciation.

Early in the morning, Dr. Creasy and his intrepid Logos pilgrims visited the Mount of Beatitudes, a place important place for Jesus, a place where he found solitude, a place where he prayed, and a place where he taught multitudes of people. Here he taught the “Sermon on the Mount,” and Dr. C. tells us how he did it! Later in the afternoon, the group moved down the hill to Capernaum, home of Peter and Andrew, and the center of Jesus’ public ministry. Dr. C. brings the two stories alive, as only he can do it!

Follow Dr. Creasy and his Logos students In the Footsteps of Jesus through the Holy Land. Visit www.logosbiblestudy.com to find out more about upcoming trips and ways to study with Dr. Creasy.

As we look forward to 2019, Dr. C. ruminates on the idea of Pilgrimage, of our journey through life, of developing a deeper relationship with Christ and of traveling to the Holy Land to experience uniquely the place and the person of Jesus. Dr. C. will leave for Israel with 55 of his Logos students on January 4th, and he will record his on-site teachings there and post them right here on Scripture Uncovered.

In this week’s Christmas Podcast, Dr. C. offers you a reflection on Joseph, “The Quiet Man at the Manger.” Featuring Michael Card's "Joseph's Song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT4VDAIaMwU&t=61s

This past Sunday marked the 3rd week of Advent, the month-long run-up to Christmas, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Advent is from the Latin, adventus, which means “coming”; Advent is the four weeks anticipating the “coming of Christ,” a celebration of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem. In liturgical churches the color purple sets the Advent tone. Purple is the color of royalty, welcoming the coming into the world of Christ, the King. It is also the color of fasting, penitence and suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. The dual association is not accidental: Jesus’ birth cannot be separated from his death, burial and resurrection. The purpose of Jesus’ incarnation is to reveal God’s love and grace through Jesus’ life and teaching, of course, but also through his passion: his crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. Hence, the same color for the two seasons. In fact, in the early church, Advent was a time of fasting and penitence, much as during Lent. During Advent, many churches bed

On this week’s Podcast, Dr. C. remembers his colleague, mentor and friend, Dr. John X. Evans, who passed away on December 1, 2018 after a long illness.

Over the past several weeks, Dr. C. has been taking a look at women in the Bible. This week he turns his eyes on Ruth, his favorite woman in the Old Testament. This week’s Podcast will be a real treat!

“Meet the Women of the Bible—Deborah and Jael” After the conquest of Canaan in Joshua, we settle the “Promised Land” in Judges. The Israelites are little more than a loose confederation of twelve tribes, however, living separate lives, more or less isolated from one another. But when danger encroaches, the tribes coalesce and a leader emerges to deal with the threat. In this profoundly patriarchal culture, the fourth leader to emerge is a woman, Deborah, assisted by another woman, Jael. Together they save Israel from the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan. So, what happened to all the men?

If we’re to understand Scripture within its proper historical and cultural context, we must recognize that the world of the Bible is profoundly patriarchal: men control everything, men are the “head”; but women are the “neck,” and they can turn the head any way they want! In a profoundly patriarchal, tribal culture, women wield power and authority using very different strategies than men. In the next few Podcasts, Dr. C. will explore some of the women of the Bible, telling their stories from their point of view. This should be great fun!

If we’re to understand Scripture within its proper historical and cultural context, we must recognize that the world of the Bible is profoundly patriarchal: men control everything, men are the “head”; but women are the “neck,” and they can turn the head any way they want! In a profoundly patriarchal, tribal culture, women wield power and authority using very different strategies than men. In the next few podcasts, Dr. C. will explore some of the women of the Bible, telling their stories from their point of view. This should be great fun!

In this week’s podcast, Dr. C. continues cleaning up his Q&A inbox, looking closely at a question about Isaiah the prophet! In answering the question, he investigates how biblical prophecy in general works, and specifically how Isaiah should be read.

Over the past several podcasts Dr. Creasy has offered a 4-part series on Mary and last week’s discussion on “Who Wrote the Bible,” in which he explored how the canon of Scripture took shape in the early days of the Church. All during that time, your questions have piled up in his in-box. This week, Dr. C. works through some of the more difficult ones!

In this week’s Podcast, Dr. Creasy introduces a new course, one that he has never taught before: The Deuterocanonical Books. Those are the books of Scripture that are in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, but are not in Jewish or Protestant Bibles. In this Podcast, Dr. C. explores how some books of Scripture became “canonical,” while others did not. This is a great introduction to this new study that you can attend, either in “Live” classes or online as a “Remote Student.”