These books were written 14‐16 years after the Jews went back to the land after their captivity. The return itself was a glorious work of God.
Once in the land, there were challenges when the surrounding people tried to stop them, but God intervened there also. The Israelites had seen God conquer and give victory in much greater problems and He took care of this situation also and they got permission from the king to continue building.
But they didn’t—even though God miraculously provided permission for them to continue building the temple, they got distracted, a lot like we do from the work God gives us to do. [Read more…]
Though God had to punish the Children of Israel for their many sins by sending them into exile in Babylon, the punishment had a promised limit of 70 years and at the end of the 70 years, He miraculously returned them to their land. In this lesson, we’ll go over the return, the leadership God used to make it possible, and challenges to us to be faithful to our promises. 
This is a fascinating series of videos that begins with my personal search for what is true in the Christian faith.
Here is an overview video and a FREE series of lessons and an infographic that explains both life’s most important decision that you will ever make–to trust Jesus as your Savior and then the most important message you can share–how to help others find salvation in Jesus. 
This video summarizes several longer ones on the importance of reading the Bible in Chronological order.
The setting for this lesson is that—time has run out. After hundreds of years of warnings and challenges, it’s over for Judah.
Every false cult and false religion has at its base an incorrect understanding of the Trinity.
Jesus replied to His critics by saying “You are in error because you don’t know the scriptures, (Matt.22:29).” And many Christians believe that His reply is a summary statement that reminds us that all we don’t know, how we ought to live today and forever, can be found when we get to know the Bible. Getting to know the Bible is a foundational task of a disciple of Jesus. 
When we read through the Prophets in the Old Testament, particularly when we get to Ezekiel and Daniel we are introduced to fantastic images, whirling wheels, fantastic beasts, and world-shaking prophecies. This type of writing is what is known as “apocalyptic” and it’s useful to take some time to understand this type of writing, this genre in the Bible to understand the books that contain it. 