
ROUTE 66: OLD TESTAMENT
Exodus is a continuation of God’s story, which began in Genesis. Exodus, also presumably written by Moses, takes place about 400 years after Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, brought his family to Egypt where the family grew and filled the land. Unfortunately, a new Pharaoh comes to power who fears…
In the book of Leviticus, God shows the people of Israel that despite their sin, they can still enjoy God’s presence and display His holiness to the world. In order to heal the damage from Israel’s rebellion against His instructions, God established a way for people’s sins to be covered thro…
Deuteronomy is the final book of the Pentateuch and the fifth book of the Bible. The name Deuteronomy comes from a Greek word that means “second law,” because in Deuteronomy, Moses repeats the laws given by God to the people of Israel. The book picks up where the previous book, Numbers, left…
The book of First Samuel comes after Ruth, but follows the book of Judges chronologically, as Ruth took place “during the time of the judges” (Ruth 1:1). In the wake of Israel’s moral and spiritual failure under the leadership of the judges, the need for Israel to have a wise, faithful leade…
The book of First Chronicles follows Second Kings in today’s Bible, but in the Hebrew Bible, Chronicles is the last book.
Like First Chronicles, Second Chronicles is a lot of repeat content from earlier books of the Bible. Second Chronicles retells many of the stories of the kings who ruled Israel after David from First and Second Kings. Though we learn in First Kings that Israel divided into two kingdoms—South…
The book of Job is set in a faraway land called Uz. The author of Job is anonymous, and the time in which the book was written is unknown. The ambiguity of the book’s setting is intentional. Rather than focusing on the historical details of the story, the author invites the reader to focus o…
The book of Psalms is a collection of more than 150 ancient Hebrew poems, songs and prayers that come from all different periods of Israel’s history. Many of the Psalms were written by King David. Others were written by Solomon, some of Israel’s priests and other worshipers. There’s even a P…
The book of Proverbs is the first book of Biblical wisdom and includes hundreds of short sayings designed to teach every person how to live and act wisely. Each verse touches on a common area of life and shows us what kind of world we live in and what it looks like to live well before God an…
Ecclesiastes is one of the Bible’s books of wisdom literature, and it explores the meaning of life through the word of the “Teacher.”
Song of Songs is a collection of love poems, meant to be read as a flowing whole story and simply enjoyed.
Lamentations was written anonymously, though many scholars believe it was written by the prophet Jeremiah. It is a collection of five lament or funeral poems offered on behalf of Jerusalem after its destruction by Babylon in 587 B.C. (2 Kings 24-25).
Ezekiel was an Israelite priest living in Jerusalem during the first Babylonian attack on the city. Ezekiel was among the first Israelites exiled from Jerusalem, and this book was written after God revealed Himself to Ezekiel while he was in exile. Ezekiel’s message is, like the other prophe…
The book of Daniel begins right after Babylon captured Jerusalem and took the first wave of Israelites into exile. Among them were four men from the royal family of David: Daniel, who would be renamed Belteshazzar by the Babylonians, and his three friends, commonly known by their Babylonian …
The Book of Amos is a collection of the sermons, poems and visions of Amos of Tekoa, a shepherd and farmer who lived on the border of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel about 150 years after the kingdom split in two, during the reign of Jeroboam, a greedy, idolatrous and unjust kin…
With just one chapter with 21 verses, Obadiah is the smallest book in the Old Testament. There is no background information given in Scripture on Obadiah, but it’s clear that Obadiah was a prophet, and the message God gave him was directed at the Edomites shortly after the Babylonian Empire …
Zephaniah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, who lived in the final decades before it was overthrown by Babylon. Verse one says that Zephaniah lived during the reign of King Josiah, one of the few faithful, God-fearing kings of Judah. Second Kings 22:2 says, “He did what was rig…
ROUTE 66: NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament, and they tell the same story from four perspectives. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all tell the greatest redemption story in history: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Matthew is the first Gospel and the first book of the New Testament. The word “Gospel” means “Good News,” and the Good News is, of course, the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Though it comes second in the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark is considered the earliest Gospel account. It was most likely written 20 to 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection by John Mark, a scribe and coworker of the apostles Peter and Paul.
The Gospel of Luke was written by Luke, a physician and companion of Paul on his missionary journeys in the Book of Acts. Luke also wrote Acts, which chronologically follows his Gospel account.
The Gospel of John was written by John, son of Zebedee, one of the original 12 disciples and a close friend of Jesus. John’s Gospel account was most likely the last of the Gospels to be written, somewhere around 70 to 90 A.D.
The Acts of the Apostles, or Acts, is a historical account of the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the early church and the expansion of the Gospel message to the ends of the earth.
The book of Romans is the first epistle, or letter, in the New Testament.
First Corinthians is the second of Paul’s epistles in the New Testament. It was written to the church that Paul started in Corinth, which is described in Acts 18.
Second Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the church in Corinth during a tense period in his relationship with the church.
Galatians is Paul’s letter to several churches in the region of Galatia, a Roman-controlled province in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey.
Ephesians is Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, a major city in modern-day Turkey. Ephesus was known for its Greco-Roman culture and was a center for worshiping Greek and Roman gods. In the city center was the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Philippians is Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, a region of modern-day Greece, written while Paul was in prison in Rome.
Colossians is Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, a city in the region of Phrygia in modern-day Turkey. Colossae was under Roman control during the time of Paul, and Paul’s letter to the Colossians was written while he was in a Roman prison for preaching the Gospel.
First Thessalonians is Paul’s first letter to the early church in Thessalonica in Greece. It is most likely Paul’s earliest letter in the New Testament.
Second Thessalonians is Paul’s follow-up to his first letter to the church in Thessalonica in Greece. Paul wrote this letter after receiving a report that the issues he addressed in his first letter had not only continued, but worsened.
First Timothy is Paul’s first pastoral letter. First and Second Timothy and Titus are called pastoral letters because they were written to pastors and discuss the qualifications and duties of pastors.
Second Timothy is considered Paul’s most personal letter. It was written to Timothy, one of Paul’s young coworkers, from prison and is likely Paul’s final letter before he was executed.
The last of Paul’s pastoral letters, Titus is written to a fellow church planter and one of Paul’s coworkers. Paul wrote this letter to Titus to instruct him to go to the Greek island of Crete and restore the small house churches there.
Paul’s letter to Philemon addresses the oneness and equality people have in Christ, regardless of background, status or circumstances. Philemon is the shortest letter in the New Testament, with just 25 verses, but the letter contains powerful language and a strong message.
Hebrews is a letter most likely addressed to Jewish Christians during a time of hardship and persecution, in the late 60s A.D.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote the book of James to Christians living all over the world during a time of famine, poverty and persecution. It is considered a “general letter,” because unlike Paul’s letters, it was not written to a specific church or person, but rather was widely pub…
First Peter was a letter written by Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples and a key leader in the early church in Jerusalem, to persecuted Gentile Christians living in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey, around the early 60s A.D.
Second Peter was the Apostle Peter’s second and final letter to a group of persecuted churches in Asia Minor. The letter is a follow-up to his first letter and also a farewell to these churches. Shortly after this letter was written, Peter was martyred in Rome.
First, Second and Third John are letters written by the Apostle John to a group of Christians living in Ephesus, a city in modern-day Turkey and the location of one of the largest early church communities.
Jude is a letter written by Jude (or Judah in Hebrew), one of Jesus’ half-brothers, to a group of Christians in the mid-first century to warn against false teachers in the church.
Revelation is the final book of the Bible, written by the apostle John to seven churches in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey, while John was living as an exile on Patmos, an island off the coast of Greece.
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