Ezra and Nehemiah: A 12-Week Study

By Kathleen Nielson, General Editor J. I. Packer, Series edited by Dane Ortlund, Lane T. Dennis

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The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God’s Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) “Gospel Glimpses” highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) “Whole-Bible Connections” show how any given passage connects to the Bible’s overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) “Theological Soundings” identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God’s grace on every page of the Bible.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell of God’s steadfast love toward Israel after their return from exile. The Lord rasied up Ezra and Nehemiah to reestablish the nation by rebuilding the temple and city walls and by turning the people back to his Word. In this 12-week study, Kathleen Nielson shows readers God’s mercy and faithfulness demonstrated in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, encouraging Christians toward sincere repentance and persevering hope.

Part of the Knowing the Bible series.

Read Chapter 1


Author:

Kathleen Nielson

Kathleen Nielson (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is an author and speaker who loves working with women in studying the Scriptures. After directing the Gospel Coalition’s women’s initiatives from 2010–2017, she now serves as senior adviser and book editor for TGC. She and her husband, Niel, make their home partly in Wheaton, Illinois, and partly in Jakarta, Indonesia. They have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and five granddaughters.

Product Details

Category: Bible Studies & Devotionals
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 96
Size: 6.0 in x 9.0 in
Weight: 5.85 ounces
ISBN-10: 1-4335-4916-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-4335-4916-8
ISBN-UPC: 9781433549168
Case Quantity: 50
Published: July 31, 2016

Table of Contents

Series Preface: J. I. Packer and Lane T. Dennis

Week 1: Overview of Ezra and Nehemiah
Week 2: The First Return—by God's Stirring (Ezra 1-2)
Week 3: Temple Rebuilding—and Opposition (Ezra 3-4)
Week 4: Rebuilding Again—and Resolution (Ezra 5-6)
Week 5: A Second Return—by God's Good Hand (Ezra 7-8)
Week 6: People Rebuilding—and Confession (Ezra 9-10)
Week 7: A Third Return—by God's Good Hand (Nehemiah 1-2)
Week 8: Wall Rebuilding—in Spite of Opposition (Nehemiah 3-6)
Week 9: People Rebuilding—around God's Word (Nehemiah 7-8)
Week 10: Confession—in Response to God's Word (Nehemiah 9-10)
Week 11: Celebration—in Light of God's Word (Nehemiah 11-12)
Week 12: Summary and Conclusion (Including Nehemiah 13)

Endorsements

“This Knowing the Bible series is a tremendous resource for those wanting to study and teach the Bible with an understanding of how the gospel is woven throughout Scripture. Here are Gospel-minded pastors and scholars doing Gospel business from all the scriptures—this is a biblical and theological feast preparing God’s people to apply the entire Bible to all of life with heart and mind wholly committed to Christ’s priorities.”
Bryan Chapell, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America

“Mark Twain may have smiled when he wrote to a friend, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long letter.” But the truth of Twain’s remark remains serious and universal, because well-reasoned, compact writing requires extra time and extra hard work. And this is what we have in the Crossway Bible study series Knowing the Bible—as the skilled authors and notable editors provide the contours of each book of the Bible as well as the grand theological themes that bind them together as one Book. Here, in a 12-week format, are carefully wrought studies that will ignite the mind and the heart.”
R. Kent HughesSenior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois

Knowing the Bible brings together a gifted team of Bible teachers to produce a high quality series of study guides. The coordinated focus of these materials is unique: biblical content, provocative questions, systematic theology, practical application, and the gospel story of God’s grace presented all the way through Scripture.”
Philip Graham Ryken, President, Wheaton College

“These Knowing the Bible volumes introduce a significant and very welcome variation on the general run of inductive Bible studies. Such series often provide questions with little guidance, leaving students to their own devices. They thus tend to overlook the role of teaching in the church. By contrast, Knowing the Bible avoids the problem by providing substantial instruction with the questions. Knowing the Bible then goes even further by showing how any given passage connects with the gospel, the whole Bible, and Christian theology. I heartily endorse this orientation of individual books to the whole Bible and the gospel, and I applaud the demonstration that sound theology was not something invented later by Christians, but is right there in the pages of Scripture.”
Graeme Goldsworthy, Former Lecturer in Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Hermeneutics, Moore Theological College

“What a gift to earnest, Bible-loving, Bible-searching believers! The organization and structure of the Bible study format presented through the Knowing the Bible series is so well conceived. Students of the Word are led to understand the content of passages through perceptive, guided questions, and they are given rich insights and application all along the way in the brief but illuminating sections that conclude each study. What potential growth in depth and breadth of understanding these studies offer. One can only pray that vast numbers of believers will discover more of God and the beauty of his Word through these rich studies.”
Bruce A. Ware, T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary