Today begins our last leg of the journey, down the Glory Road. The next signpost shows Paul staying in Ephesus for over two years, and during this time, somewhere around 55-56 CE, he wrote 1 Corinthians. Many believers do not know that there was actually another letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians, prior to 1 Corinthians. It has, however, been lost to time. Corinth was a very pagan city. Paul, in this letter we call 1 Corinthians taught the Corinthians many principles of right Torah living.
Before Paul left Ephesus, there was a severe kerfuffle between him and those who made their living via worship of the pagan goddess, Diana, the patron goddess of the city. Diana was also known as Artemis. Paul had apparently had enough of this opposition and felt led to move on. So, after encouraging the disciples, he left Ephesus and traveled to Macedonia, where he met up with Titus. There, he wrote 2 Corinthians, sending it via Titus to the Corinthian assembly. He wrote the beautiful epistle to the Roman ecclesia about this same time, early 58 CE.
Acts 20 tells us that Paul had determined to head for Jerusalem, but that he first needed to go to Greece, Troas and Miletus. It was at this point Paul boarded a ship from Troas to Miletus, in his hurry to reach Jerusalem by the start of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) .
Sure enough, Acts 21 records Paul being arrested and tried in Jerusalem during the Feast of Weeks. The catalyst for his arrest seems to have been his hanging out with Trophimus the Ephesian. Paul’s Jewish opponents, assumed that Trophimus, who may also have taken a Nazarite vow, was taken by Paul into a section of the Temple, where non-Jews had formerly been forbidden to go. Acts 22:21-22 describes how adamantly against bringing Gentiles into the kingdom were the traditional Jews.
James the Just, the half-brother of Yeshua, was still the leader of the Jerusalem Nazarene ecclesia. However, despite James’ moves to try to keep peace between the sects, it seems that by 58-59 CE the persecution of the Nazarenes by other Jewish sects was severe and increasing. It would not be long before the First Jewish War would begin, less than a decade. So, tensions were increasing between the Jews and the Romans, and also between the mainline Jews and the Nazarenes. The First Jewish War was between the Jews and the Romans, with the former trying to break free of the latter, and these wars ended with the Temple being destroyed in 70 CE and the Jews being dispersed all over the Roman Empire and parts beyond.
The Sanhedrin was divided in its opinions about Paul. However, a powerful faction DID want him killed. So, he made this plot known to the Roman governmental officials, who transferred him to Caesarea; there, he had 3 high-profile opportunities to share the message of Yeshua. The first was before Felix, the governor of Judea. Some of the mainline Jews from the High Priest came to Caesarea to accuse Paul. This passage showcases two things:
1) that the Nazarenes were considered a sect of Judaism (Acts 24:5), and
2) that the mainline Jews were unable to tolerate the Nazarene doctrine.
Paul states in his defense, while acknowledging that he follows the teachings of Yeshua (the Way) that he BELIEVES EVERYTHING THAT AGREES WITH THE LAW AND THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS (Acts 24:14 – NIV). This “ringleader of the Nazarenes” clearly stated how the earliest followers of Yeshua lived out their faith. And, he “trained” the earliest Gentile churches in the same Scriptures, while his letters to them became a key part of what is known as the Apostolic Writings, New Testament, etc.
There are people who claim the name of Yeshua who contend that Paul was advocating a divorce from the Hebrew Scriptures. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Felix dilly-dallied and did nothing with Paul, who therefore languished there in prison for two years. Felix was replaced by a Roman named Festus, who likewise found nothing wrong in what Paul had done in Jerusalem. After hearing the gospel presented, his idea was to send Paul back to the Jerusalem authorities, which Paul knew would be a “dead-end” (pun intended!) Therefore, Paul appealed as a Roman citizen to Caesar. Shortly thereafter, the King Herod Agrippa II of Judea visited Festus. Paul had his 3rd opportunity to share the message of Yeshua. Agrippa II appeared convicted by the message “almost persuaded” to accept Yeshua, but there is no record he ever did.
So, in 60 CE, Paul was sent to Rome for his appeal to Caesar. Paul had long wanted to go to Rome, but not in this fashion. He was put on a boat to Italy. The Scriptures tell us that the time of year was “after the Fast”, which means it was after the fall high holy day of Yom Kippur, which is a 25-hour fast. After Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, which immediately follows it, Israel’s rainy season begins. There is no worse time to travel in that part of the world than during the rainy season. The seas are very inhospitable at that time of year.
To shorten the story, there was a complete shipwreck, whereupon Paul and his fellow travelers were cast onto an island called Malta. There, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake but miraculously lived. In addition, he healed a very sick man, along with many other sick people on the island.
Arriving finally in Rome, Paul was put on house arrest, where he remained for two years 61-63 CE. During this time, he was allowed to preach to those who came to visit him. He also wrote at least four letters: “the prison epistles”. Colossians was the first, although the personal letter of Philemon was likely written at the same time. Paul had never visited Colosse but wrote to educate and encourage the believers there. The letter to the Ephesians was also written during this period. This letter is a bit of a mystery. Because there are none of Paul’s usual personal greetings, the intended recipient as the Ephesian congregation is assumed. (In verse one, the words “in Ephesus” do not appear in the earliest manuscripts.). It is also entirely possible that the letter was intended for general circulation to all of the congregations in that general region.
And then, the letter to the Philippians rounds out the four “prison epistles”. Paul had made 3 visits to the city of Philippi. This congregation had generously supported his ministry. A part of his letter dealt with two women in that ecclesia who had had a falling out so great that it had seriously impacted the entire congregation.
The historical book of Acts ends with the record of Paul’s imprisonment in Rome. However, it appears that for a period of time, perhaps two-three years, he was released from house arrest there. During this period, he traveled to Macedonia. While in Macedonia, he wrote the first epistle to Timothy.
The book of Titus was written by Paul during this time period as well. Titus was a Gentile follower of Yeshua, in charge of developing the ecclesia on the island of Crete, a congregation Paul established after his imprisonment in Rome ended, after 63 CE, probably on his way back to Macedonia. Somehow, Titus came to be sort of a "ministerial assistant" or "assistant pastor" with Paul. Here are other mentions of Titus in the New Testament:
He traveled with Paul and Barnabas from Antioch to Jerusalem. (Gal. 2:1 and Acts 15:2)
He traveled with Paul on part of his third missionary journey (2 Corinthians 2:13 and 7:6)
He carried Paul's letter to the Corinthian church and took up a collection there for the Jerusalem believers. (2 Corinthians 7:6 and 8:6-23)
Paul's instructions in the letter to Titus were more organizational, rather than relational, because Titus had to organize the body of Messiah (church) there, a complex and daunting task.
Some people believe the letter to Titus was written before 1 Timothy; other believe it was written between 1 and 2 Timothy. Still others believe that those three pastoral letters circulated among the young Christian congregations as a unit, in which case Titus, being more logistical and organizational, should have been read first.
It appears Paul was re-arrested and returned to Rome under a sentence of death. We know this because in the second letter to Timothy, written sometime between 64-67 CE, Paul refers to himself as a prisoner and mentions that he had made a legal defense to the authorities there. This was Paul’s last letter, unless you count the book of Hebrews. More about that in a bit. In all, he wrote approximately 1/3 of the Apostolic Writings (New Testament).
Another biblical book that is hard to date is the book of Jude, written by a man who says he was “a brother of James”. Historians believe he was a full-blooded brother of James the Just and therefore also a half-brother of Yeshua. Estimates as to the date of this book are anywhere between 60 and 80 CE. Did I mention that this very short book was hard to date?
While Paul’s ministry was going on, and the primary subject of the book of Acts, the ministry of the apostle Peter was also continuing on. These two giants of the first century followers of Yeshua moved in similar circles. It’s therefore no surprise that Silas was the scribe for both of Peter’s two letters, 1 Peter and 2 Peter, or that Peter mentions Paul and Paul’s work with familiarity. Again, we are unsure of the dates of Peter’s letters. But, if the traditional date of 64 CE is accurate for the year of Peter’s death, they would obviously have to have been written before then. His letters were written to be shared with several congregations, not with any one group in particular.
You may have noticed in my writing about the ministry of Paul that I failed to mention the book of Hebrews. Many whom I respect greatly believe that this book was written by him. Others believe it was written by another giant of the faith. Other "contenders" for that honor are: Luke, Clement of Rome (a first century student of the apostles Peter and Paul), or Barnabas (Paul's co-laborer and co-missionary) or Apollos. The author does not claim to be an apostle, or the authority of an apostle, which would seem to indicate he was not one. Hebrews 2:3 states that the author had received the gospel from "those who heard" the Lord Jesus.
Hebrews 13:23 refers to “the release of Timothy” (from prison.) Yet, nowhere else in Scripture is it recorded that Timothy was imprisoned. At the end of 2 Timothy, Paul expressed his desire to have Timothy reunite with him in Rome, where he, Paul, was under a death sentence. There is no record of whether Timothy reached Paul before Paul’s execution. Yet, Scripture records that Timothy WAS imprisoned, most likely after Paul’s death. This would lend credence to the argument that Hebrews was written after Paul’s death and by someone other than him (obviously). The epistle does not mention the destruction of the Temple, which occurred in 70 CE. Some argue that such a momentous event would surely have affected the tone and character of the letter.
Despite the inability to conclusively determine it's authorship, Hebrews was always valued for inclusion in the biblical canon by all of the early church councils, despite their obsession with including into the canon only those works written by men who had had direct contact with the risen Jesus. That is, there has never been any doubt as to whether or not it should be included in our "Bible". The reason for this is that it stands alone as a "masterwork" of Scripture.
The book of Hebrews, rather than being akin to the somewhat intimate letters of Paul, is a intricate creation of a brilliant theological mind. It takes the form of a sermon, rather than a letter (although in chapter 13 there are some "letter-ish" closing remarks). For this reason, Cockerill, in his commentary on the book, refers to the author as "the pastor". The book is first mentioned when it was quoted by Clement of Rome in his epistle of 1 Clement, around the end of the first century. It is also quoted by such second century church leaders as Origen, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus and Gaius.
The writer of Hebrews was an Old Testament scholar of tremendous merit. He was also well-versed in Greek...not the conversational Greek, but the scholarly Greek that was only mastered by the highly-educated. Hebrews contains 169 Greek words which appear nowhere else in the New Testament. Both the theological content and the literary form of the sermon have been so intricately wed, they cannot be separated from each other.
In the original Greek (so I am told, lol!), the book reads like an oral sermon, beautifully blending exposition and exhortation. It features grandly-constructed sentences, alliteration, wordplays, internal rhyme, metaphors and evidences of rhetorical argument. It is the finest example in the New Testament of a sermon which might have been given in an early "Nazarene synagogue".
The last three books of the Protestant Bible were written by the beloved apostle John, also the longest-living apostle. It is believed he wrote the short 1st, 2nd and 3rd John letters from the city of Ephesus.
In the Apostolic Writings there were three main heresies:
🙅Exerting over the message of Yeshua the supremacy of the Torah as the only way of being made right with God (Judaizers)
🙅The doctrine of “cheap grace”, which was an exaggeration of Yeshua’s faith-based message of grace, and which led to flagrant immorality. The Nicolaitans, mentioned in Revelation chapter 2 are an flagrant example of this heresy. It was to combat the false doctrine of cheap grace that Jude wrote his letter, for example.
🙅Gnosticism: a belief that matter and flesh were inherently evil and so then it was therefore impossible that God Himself could have “put on flesh” and tabernacled among men. In other words, the Messiah could not have come in the flesh.
It is this third heresy that John’s first letter was written to combat. His letters were not written to specific congregations, but instead to the “little children” of the Nazarenes and the adherents of The Way. The second and third letters appear to have been written together, near the same time as the first. However, the second and third letters are more personal in nature. The second was written to “the chosen lady and her children”. This letter is a shorter version of the first one. The third letter is addressed to a believer named Gaius, who by his name likely was a Gentile. Gaius was also a hospitable supporter of other ministers who spread the good news, and John commended him for that. John also mentions in this very short letter two other men, one named Diotrephes, who was the very opposite of Gaius in that Diotrephes was quite inhospitable and a gossip besides. He was a divisive person who worked evil in the local congregation of the righteous. John also mentioned and commended Demetrius, another Gentile, who was spoken well of. Some believe that this is the same Demetrius who was formerly a silversmith that made objects used in Diana worship in Ephesus. According to Acts 19:24-41, before his conversion (?) this man instigated the riot against Paul and captured Gaius and Aristarchus. Did Gaius perhaps lead Demetrius to a saving knowledge of the Lord, Yeshua HaMashiach? It seems likely, but we can’t know for sure.
Allright, we are now to the last and perhaps the most inscrutable book of the Bible, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. It was written by the apostle John in his last years, after he had been exiled to the island called Patmos. The date for this book is likely between 90 and 95 CE.
I have declared on numerous occasions that I have no desire to attempt to teach this book. To be honest, it intimidates me. Although I have studied the Bible for over 50 years, and although I have studied the book called Revelation, the number of interpretations of the book is large. I may feel led to teach it in the future, but today is not that day.
However, I will make a few brief remarks about the book.
In the first chapter, John is describing where he is, how he got there and the fact that God the Father sent a messenger to speak with him. That messenger was none other than the one often referred to in the Tanakh (Old Testament) as “the angel of the Lord”, none other than (here) the post-resurrection Yeshua, in His immortal body. Notice what Yeshua says about Himself in chapters 1-3. He is most definitely saying that He is part of the Divine, Majestic Mystery we commonly refer to as “God”. He is a manifestation of the One.
The Bible is a revelation from God (if you’ll pardon the pun) that takes place from approximately 3900 BCE to the present. That means that, here in the year 2024, we are almost at 6000 years of human history. The Jewish sages have long taught that mankind will last for six thousand years, and at the beginning of the 7th millennium the Messianic age will begin. I happen to agree with that.
In chapters 2 and 3, Yeshua dictates to John 7 letters, to 7 major congregations of the late first century CE. The letters are brief, but very much to-the-point. In them, we can find lessons for the groups of believers today. The last 2000 years have been focused on sharing the message of Yeshua with an unbelieving world. That has gone somewhat imperfectly, as the enemy of souls has sown seeds of deception, division, etc. I have alluded to these tactics all through the telling of His Story, but the outcome during these 2000 years is that what started as a sect of Judaism has fractured into thousands of splinter groups. So, the fulfilling of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 has been rather uneven and imperfect. A good book to read, to get a better understanding of how this transpired is “Kidnapped from God: A Call to Come Home”, by AGR.
In chapters 4 and 5, John is given a peek into the throne room of God, around “earth time” 30 CE. In other words, this was right after Yeshua ascended to Heaven. He took His rightful place as the One who had overcome and as it says in Rev. 1:17-18 “holds the keys of Death and of Hades”.
I’ve heard teaching that the six seals of Revelation 6 have been taking place in the past 2000 years, and that the sixth seal corresponds to a great earthquake that will mask the Rapture of the Bride of Messiah at the beginning of the 7th millennium. I hold to this view.
Then, starting in chapter 7 and going on through chapter 19 are the first seven years of the 7th millennium, the Messianic Age. In the third Heaven, the realm of the Divine, Majestic Mystery, the Bride of Messiah will be with their Bridegroom. The BEMA judgment of the righteous will occur, and then the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, described in Revelation 19:6-10 will occur. Meanwhile on the earth, things will have literally “gone to Hell”. The inhabitants who scorned and shook their fists at the One, will be undergoing unspeakable horror for those 7 years. At the end of the 7 years of severe judgment upon the unrighteous on the earth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will return to earth with His Bride, the Army of Heaven, described in Rev. 19:11.
The Messiah Ben David will return as a conquering king. He will vanquish all His enemies (Rev. 19:11-21) and set up His earthly kingdom, where he will reign for the remainder of the 1000 years. This is described in Rev. 20:1-4. Beginning in verse 5 of Rev. 20, and going through vs. 15, we see one final, last uprising of the enemy of souls, HaSatan, and his quick defeat. The judgment of all the unrighteous of all human time will occur next. This is called the Great White Throne judgment. The capstone of that event will be the assignment of HaSatan’s final judgment, his eternal destination being the Lake of Fire, which burns forever and ever.
Rev. 21 and 22 describe the destruction of the current earth and current heavens by fire and then the descent from on high what the Jewish scholars call the Olam Haba or “the world to come”. This will be the eternal abode of the people of the One, True God, the place where the whole of the Divine, Majestic Mystery, the ONE, will dwell among His people forever.
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And, that’s the story, from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, from cover to cover. Oh, yes, I know. There are many, many wonderful stories I did not touch on in this trip down the Glory Road. I hope this series has inspired you to go study the greatest book of all time more deeply.
However, in so doing, it is vitally important that you NOT miss the Mashiach in all the pages of this glorious Torah, this supernatural book. Remember that what you hold in your hands or on your device is Father Yahweh’s Written Word, but that Yeshua is Father Yahweh’s LIVING Word! Don’t miss Him, because as the apostle John says so well, in 1 John 5:9-13 (Berean Study Bible)
9Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
11And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.c
Have you started your relationship with Yeshua? Do you want to?
If so, here is a link to a blog post I wrote almost exactly 10 years ago, when I first began to blog at ResplendentDaughter.blogspot.com
Read it and let the greatest journey of your life begin, your own personal journey down The Glory Road, guidebook in hand.
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