Evers Bible Class - A Gentle Ramble through the Bible

                                      Babylon the Great, Armageddon & the Millennial Kingdom John gets a sickening view of Babylon the Great, the economic power at the center of commerce and luxury. She is portrayed as an idolatrous prostitute drunk on the blood of the saints. When her end comes, all those she seduced distance themselves from her even as they weep and wail over her destruction. Then the kings of the earth gather at Armageddon to fight against Israel and their God. It is a bloodbath. Jerusalem is taken, but then Jesus comes with the hosts of heaven, and God himself stands on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in two. There follows a first resurrection of those who are appointed to judge and the martyrs who were killed because they would not worship the AntiChrist. The AntiChrist and the False Prophet are thrown into the “fiery lake” that is the “second death.” Satan is locke...

                                     The Antichrist, the False Prophet, the Final Bowls Satan calls forth the AntiChrist, “the first beast,” and endows him with his power and authority. A second beast, the False Prophet, is his mouthpiece. He causes people to worship the AntiChrist and its image. It is here that we run into the number of the AntiChrist’s name: 666. No one can buy or sell unless it is marked on their forehead or on their right hand. Angels are sent from heaven. The earth is about to be sickled. The final seven bowls of plagues are poured. We cover Revelation 13:11 thru 16:21. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                    The Rapture (Part 2) We take a look at how the idea of the Rapture might or might not fit the timeline of the 70 Sevens. Then we move from the Scripture itself to a fascinating overview of the history of the Rapture as a doctrine within the church.  The earliest references are sporadic, but the idea really takes off in 1830. Yup. Not a typo. 1830--just prior to the Victorian Era. We look at how it happened, who the key players were, and how a particularly timely new study Bible propelled its popularity. We touch on the Shepherd of Hermas which is not in the Bible. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                   The Rapture (Part 1) The Rapture is the idea that Christians will be snatched up in the clouds by Jesus so we do not undergo the Tribulation described in Revelation. In this class, we look at the Scriptural case for the Rapture to see if it holds water.  As a starting point, we look at what Revelation says about the fate of Jews and of Gentiles before and during the Tribulation.  The Hebrew Bible maintains a solid position that the Messiah comes while Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, is under direct military attack. God and the Messiah save Israel in a cataclysmic show of power. We go through some but not all of this background. Zechariah 14 is a good example, if you want to look it up for yourself.  Since the Rapture is a uniquely Christian idea, we then focus on the New Testament. We examine the words of Jesus and Paul, to see what they have t...

                                  Timelines & The First Beast We take a moment to sync up the timelines in Revelation with the timelines found in the Hebrew Bible in the book of Daniel. It is eye-opening. (And when we do that we stumble across the surprising answer to why John says in Rev 21:1 that when the new heaven and earth come there is no sea.) The Beast makes his first appearance in Chapter 11, but in this class we get his back story. Spoiler Alert: It’s seriously twisted. We cover: Daniel 7 thru 12 Revelation 13:1-10 A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                 The 7th Trumpet (Third Woe) There’s some heavy duty imagery in this section of Revelation. We meet two witnesses/martyrs of God who are represented by olive trees that can withhold rain from the earth and spew fire at anyone who comes against them. We also are introduced to some characters that will figure large in the rest of the story--a woman crowned with the sun, moon and 12 stars and a red dragon with seven crowned heads and 10 horns. We cover: Daniel 7 Revelation 10 thru 12. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                The 7th Seal & 1st Six Trumpets There is a pause in heaven before the seventh seal is broken. Terrible things are about to be set into motion. But before that happens, God places protective seals on the foreheads of all of Israel (or only 144,000?)--but not on the Gentiles who serve him. They have to go through the Great Tribulation. Afterwards, however, God wipes every tear from their eyes. We think about the implications of this in our breakout groups. Meanwhile, we take a whirlwind ride through the sounding of the first six trumpets, including trumpets 5 and 6 which are the first of particularly terrible events called “The Woes.” We cover Revelation 7 thru 9. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                               The First Six Seals As John’s vision of heaven begins he sees God on the throne, four kerubim , and 24 elders on thrones. And in the midst of them is a Lamb looking as if it has been slaughtered.  The Lamb alone is found worthy to open a scroll sealed with seven seals. As each of the first six seals is opened, a new terror is released upon the earth.  What do we do with this? Is God good or not? We cover Revelation 4 thru 6. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                Letters to the Churches (Part 3) We finish the last three letters to the churches: Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The imagery is tied very closely to the shortcomings and challenges facing these believers. John knows these churches intimately. But as difficult as the messages might be to hear, Jesus always offers hope. He reminds them of their call to be light in the word--lampstands for the Holy Spirit. We gather some more building blocks we’ll need for the study ahead, including insight into the significance of the Book of Life. We cover Revelation 3. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                               Letters to the Churches (Part 2) John uses these letters to define several of the important metaphors he’ll use throughout the book. This is a Master Class in resistance under oppression. We cover the letters to Pergamum and Thyatira in this class. And while we’re at it we begin to get a feel for why John wrote Revelation as a “dream” in an apocalypse prefaced by a few seemingly innocuous letters. He uses imagery from the Hebrew Bible as code to talk about "morningstars" and a "Jezebel"--identifying Rome's power as being satanic and setting up a major villain in the story. Amazing. We cover Revelation 2:12-29. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                  Letters to the Churches (Part 1) I used to wonder why Revelation begins with these seven letters to the churches in Asia. The letters seemed like unnecessary appendages hanging off the beginning of the book before you got to the real story. I don't think that anymore. Now I understand that these letters are foundational for grasping John's message in Revelation. He defines terms here. He sets up the coded language and imagery he'll use later on. The part I missed is the part the Roman Empire missed. I was reading Revelation like a Roman would. The preface to the apocalypse is a set of letters, one for each of seven churches in Asia Minor where John ministered. The letters aren’t addressed to the churches, but to each of their angels. We’ll spend a little time pondering the significance of that. Each letter praises the churches, chastises them a bit, and then gives each ...

                                     Revelation 1: Intro Revelation opens saying it is an apocalypsis of Jesus Christ. An apocalypse was a particular genre of writing in the time of Jesus. It’s like announcing something is a romance or a sci-fi or a documentary. It alerts the audience that it’s a particular type of story. And that’s important to keep in mind as the curtain rises on a sweeping story full of angels and demons, saints and monsters. The book first introduces Jesus Christ as we’ve known him thus far in Scripture, but then reveals him as we’ve never seen him before. We cover Revelation 1. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .

                                    Jude, 2 Peter, 1 John 2 Peter and Jude are pretty much carbon copies of each other so we cover them together. Then we move on to 1 John. 2 John is a repeat and 3 John is basically a personal letter with no new theology, so we don’t cover them. 1 John, however, is a letter of encouragement. It’s definitely written in the Johannine tradition and uses terms that are unique to John and his followers. It’s directed at believers who are feeling a little shook up by teachers who pull them this way and that. They don’t know who they should believe. The author of 1 John gives them tips for staying grounded and being confident as Christians and beloved children of God. A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube. More info at EversBibleClass.com .

                                   1 Peter (Part 2) We finish 1 Peter today. About half of this part of the letter talks about how to act as a believer. It includes the typical household code of the time: slaves obey your masters, wives obey your husbands, and husbands treat your wives well. One really interesting part is where Peter brings in material from the pseudepigraphal letter of 1 Enoch. It was a very famous, pious treatise in which Enoch (the father of Methuselah, way back in Genesis) is taken on a grand tour of the universe. Of course, Enoch couldn’t possibly have written the book or done the things in it because he’d been taken from this life thousands of years before the book was written. We take a close look at how Peter incorporates this material and make a good stab at separating the cultural wrapping paper from the more enduring gift--Peter’s understanding of God’s mercy. A free S...

                                  1 Peter (Part 1) We finish up the story of Peter’s life and begin our look at 1 Peter, a letter he wrote from Rome (“Babylon”) to believers in exile from Jerusalem who are undergoing persecution. Peter uses a lot of words like “elect” and “chosen” and talks about destiny. He encourages the believers to remember that God knows where they are and who they are. He reminds them of the salvation that is on the way and the healing that is now. A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube. More info at EversBibleClass.com .

                                 Peter the Man We take this time to trace the path of Simon Peter, a stable, successful businessman in partnership with another family as they manage boats and hired hands as commercial fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. We follow as his life is utterly upended by Jesus. We watch as Peter rises to leadership among the disciples and then has his faith shaken to the core. It is a remarkable journey. A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube. More info at EversBibleClass.com .

                                James The book of James is only 5 chapters long but it is one of the most beautiful books in Scripture. Unfortunately, his writing style is so choppy and disorganized that it’s easy to lose his train of thought and it can come across as a bunch of random pontificating. In this class we take a completely new approach. We gather everything James has to say about Faith, Perseverance, and Humility by theme and by topic. Through this lens his message is breathtaking. James echoes the words of Jesus as he paints a picture of our merciful, compassionate God who calls us out of our consumerism and jealousy into a life of peace and righteousness. A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube. More info at EversBibleClass.com .

                                       Hebrews (Part 4) - Faith (2) We finish up Hebrews 11, the Faith Chapter, with a look at some rather shocking examples the author selects. Chapter 12 has more of the author’s particular theology. As we’ve come to realize, this author views God as a harsh, authoritarian parent. Nevertheless, we end our study of the book with a final chapter that is surprisingly full of exhortation and blessing. We cover Hebrews 11:28 thru 13:25. A free  Study Guide  is available. A  video   version  of the class is available on YouTube. More info at  EversBibleClass.com .