Listening to the Israel/Palestine protests right now it is amazing how ignorant of history we are as a world and national culture. In the book of Esther a man named Haman ramped up widespread genocide of Jews. Read the story and see how that worked for him. Hitler did the same in the Holocaust while much of the world sat on our moral hands. He met a fitting end. Do you think what is happening right now in Gaza and Israel is any different? It is breathtaking to see how enlightened we – are not. Israel, though imperfect like the rest of the nations, is none-the-less the apple (pupil) of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8; Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8) for His purposes.
This part one episode is vast and informative. Pages 103-108 from the 8 Great Epochs in the Fabric of Time guide prepares us to discuss: Page 103: Followers of the Light; Page 104: The Crumbs; Page 105: the chronology of when each so-called new testament book was presumably written and launched (we will spend much of our time here); Pages 106-108 covers the explosion of the Good News in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection (a big deal). We also make use of the overview on page 83 as we place these books in the chronology of the book of Acts. Jerusalem – then Judea and Samaria – then the ends of the earth.
We spend time looking at the letter to James (Jesus’ brother), Galatians (Grace Alone), Thessalonians (Excel more because the days are limited), the Corinthian carnality and God’s care for His disobedient children, and the book of Romans – where Paul covers the depths of the entire Gospel meant for the sons of Abraham/Jews, then to all the other nations of the world.
We also recommend One New Man 1 and One New Man 2 if you have interest in the depths of God’s purposes for the Jews and the other nations.
Jesus was crucified and rose again in 33 or 34 AD.
Paul’s Voyage to Rome occurred in 58 AD where he was imprisoned.
Acts was completed in 60 AD.
Paul traveled to Spain (4th journey) and was re-arrested in in 64 AD
The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
The council of Nicea in 325 AD codified our current order of letters.
Note: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John’s Gospels were written after Paul’s journey to Rome.