Our Final New Testament Timeline

With the scheduling of II John, III John, and Revelation we're nearing the conclusion of the New Testament in our Bible reading schedule! Beginning in early August we'll shift to the poetical books of Psalms and Proverbs and read them until the end of the year. Readers who only have access to a testament placed by groups like The Gideons, International will still have something to read each day since the pocket testaments usually contain Psalms and Proverbs as well as the complete New Testament.

The only Old Testament book introduced this week is Jonah. Is there anyone who doesn't know of the plight of Jonah?

Jonah
Jonah was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel following the time of Elisha. Besides this book of prophecy which is named for him, the only other reference to Jonah the son of Amittai is found in II Kings 14:25.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to the Assyrians. The wickedness of this country was already legendary and the prophet made a conscious decision to disobey God. The rest, as they say, is history.

Why did Jonah not want to preach to the Ninevites? As a prophet, perhaps Jonah was already aware that his beloved nation would one day be obliterated by Assyria. Perhaps Jonah did not want them to have the opportunity to repent. This book teaches us much about Jesus' death as the three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish foreshadow it, but the book also teaches us why Jesus had to die as Jonah's apparent lack of love for his enemies illustrates utter depravity as does the nation of Ninevah itself.


II John
We began our study of the New Testament by reading the writings of the Apostle John and that is also how we will end it. John wrote this second epistle either to a private individual (the elect lady) or to a church group (using the term metaphorically). Either way, the letter was intended to encourage and to warn. The encouragement was to walk in love and the warning was to be aware of false teachers trying to deceive believers. This book was written about A.D. 90.

III John
This letter is written to Gaius, a man that John obviously loved and trusted. Verse 4 might mean that he was one of John's converts.

Unlike II John which was written to warn of trouble from without, this epistle was written to warn of trouble within. The name Diotrophes has come to be synonymous with trouble-making church members who boss everyone else around. This letter was probably written at about the same time as II John so the date would be about A.D. 90.

Revelation
I always love reading this book and not just because of how the prophecies affect me. The way that John describes Jesus in his gospel makes it my favorite of the four gospels and the fact that Jesus chose John, the beloved apostle, as the one to reveal His glory and future events just warms my heart! As anybody who reads the Bible knows this book is not easy to understand. But then, really, do we pretend to comprehend completely any of the prophecies in the Bible? Did the prophets themselves understand everything that they were told? I don't think so.

The elderly apostle tells us that he received this revelation while on the isle of Patmos. Bible scholars believe that this was about A.D. 95. All told the New Testament begins with events that happened around 4 B.C. and ends with a revelation on Patmos around A.D. 95 covering 100 years.

Read Revelation with the appreciation that you are reading the end of the tragic story of the long rebellion led by Satan against God. Good news! God wins! Don't you just love happy endings?  :)