Matthew develops his plot in two distinct parts: Chapters 1 through 15 address the identity of the King, while chapters 16 through 28 address the destiny and victory of the King. In the first half, Jesus’ popularity among the people increases because of astonishing miracles and provocative teaching; in the second half, the hostility against Jesus rises to a feverish pitch. Geographically, the first fifteen chapters emphasize Jesus’ ministry in the regions around the Sea of Galilee, while the second half increasingly focuses on His ministry in Judea and especially in Jerusalem-the center of religious and political power in Israel.

As we step into the intensity of the second half of Matthew’s Gospel, we see how Jesus fulfills-in an unexpected way-His destiny as the King, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. And by the end, we see how Jesus’ mission turns into our mission, as we join with His initial followers in sharing the good news far and wide.

What a profound and powerful message to kick off the opening pages of the New Testament! After four hundred years of prophetic silence, many of God’s waiting people may have wondered whether He had forgotten His promises and deserted them. But then Jesus Himself arrived with an offer of the kingdom, based on one condition-faith. Faith in a Messiah who met very few people’s expectations. Faith in a kingdom that advanced through peace rather than war. Faith in a God who cared not only for His people, Israel, but for the whole world.

For anybody who feels like God forgets His people, Matthew speaks loudly in the silence. Though God may not show up exactly the way we’re expecting or through the means we think He should, God does show up. Matthew’s Gospel not only reveals that Jesus is the King, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, but it also reminds us that Jesus is our Immanuel-"God with us"-now resurrected and ascended, yet with us still, even to the end of the age.

Get ready to meet your King!

-Chuck Swindoll

The style of Mark’s writing is not unlike an adventure movie: fast-paced and action-packed. The Gospel of Mark makes for stirring drama-compelling, inspirational, challenging, and sobering. While the other Gospel accounts often explain the themes and subtext of Jesus’ story, Mark tells a vivid story that shows us what’s important.

Jesus is the central figure of this narrative, but Mark intended all followers of Jesus to see themselves in this story. From beginning to end, we will see the Master preparing His disciples and then propelling them forward to encounter challenges they felt ill-prepared to meet. While they rarely understood what was happening, and often lacked confidence in their decisions, they began to realize that following Jesus required neither great intelligence nor heroic bravery, but merely a willingness to do as the Son of God commanded. They learned that being a disciple is primarily a matter of faithful obedience.

This newly revised and expanded edition of Insights on Revelation explores one of the most perplexing books in Scripture. Drawing on Gold Medallion Award–winner Chuck Swindoll’s 50 years of experience studying and preaching God’s Word, this series combines Chuck’s deep insight, signature easygoing style, and humor to bring a warmth and practical accessibility not often found in commentaries.

Each of the 15 volumes in Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary series combines verse-by-verse commentary, charts, maps, photos, key terms, and background articles with practical application. The newly updated volumes now include parallel presentations of the NLT and NASB before each section. This series is a must-have for pastors, teachers, and anyone else who is seeking a deeply practical resource for exploring God’s Word.

Written to Jewish believers who were persecuted and tempted to leave the faith, the central theme of Hebrews is simple but powerful: Christ is superior. As the God-man, Jesus Christ is greater than all the prophets of old; he is also greater than the angels, greater than Moses and Joshua, and even greater than the Law and its priesthood. Jesus is the source of our faith, our hope, and our love.

As the author asserts: "Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. . . . Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:14, 16).

The letter to the Hebrews isn’t casual bedside reading. Dense and deep, complex and compelling, profound and practical. Rich in history, vibrant in imagery, eloquent in style, the book of Hebrews has the words to refresh our minds and cleanse our souls.

-Chuck Swindoll

The apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy had been forced to leave the infant church in Thessalonica after only a brief stay (Acts 17:9-10). After some time, Timothy was sent to check on the church to see how they were. When Timothy returned with good news of their faith, love, and hope, Paul and Silas sent a letter-now called 1 Thessalonians-to exhort and encourage them to continue to live sanctified lives in the present in light of their splendid past and glorious future.

Yet within weeks of writing 1 Thessalonians, something happened. Somehow, unsettling theological tremors caused cracks and fissures to begin to form in the otherwise strong doctrinal and practical foundation of their newly built church. When Paul, got word of the troubles starting to nag the believers in Thessalonica, 2 Thessalonians was written to set things straight-reminding believers to remain faithful and quelling false teaching related to the details of the end times.

Corinth was diverse and powerful-a city of commerce, wealth, moral decadence-and was home to a fledgling church made up of both Jewish and Greek converts. As our own culture and churches begin to look more and more like that of the disheveled, self-serving church in Corinth, Paul’s words to them take on greater import and more urgent practicality.

In 1 Corinthians Paul focuses on healthy church life. He confronts a growing number of problems dividing the church-the effects of its diverse membership, persecution, and the corrupt religious and moral culture where it ministered-and he calls believers onward in sanctification and the exercise of spiritual gifts.

2 Corinthians is Paul’s emotional response to the church’s challenges to his authority and teaching. It is a treatise on authentic ministry in all its earthiness and harsh, human realities. This vivid picture of raw but real ministry sheds a stark light on the inferior motives, methods, and messages of false ministers, ending with a plea to return to a path of purity and righteousness.

Philippians is saturated with joy. While under house arrest in Rome, Paul wrote to encourage the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord, despite their circumstances-to find Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered joy in living, serving, sharing, and resting.

Colossians is addressed to a church suffering from cultural capitulation and spiritual surrender-just like the church of the twenty-first century. Those who deceive others with self-centered philosophies, self-promoting legalism, and self-serving asceticism attract power and attention, while diminishing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Colossians serves as a lighthouse piercing the fog of false teaching and leading us to the safe harbor of Christ.

Philemon illustrates the importance of second chances, the equality of believers in Christ, and the power of the gospel to transcend cultural and social boundaries, it reminds us of the Christ-centered concepts of freedom, forgiveness, mercy, and especially grace.

The 15 volume Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary series draws on Gold Medallion Award–winner Chuck Swindoll’s 50 years of experience with studying and preaching God’s Word. His deep insight, easygoing style, and humor bring a warmth and accessibility not often found in commentaries. Each volume combines verse-by-verse commentary, charts, maps, photos, key terms, and background articles with practical application. This series is a must-have for pastors, teachers, and anyone else who is seeking a deeply practical resource for exploring God’s Word.

Dr. Luke’s carefully researched account shows how Jesus compassionately identified with the neediness of humanity, implicitly placing its emphasis on the Messiah as Immanuel, "God with us." His Gospel presents a messiah who is never distant or uncaring. Instead, Jesus climbs down from the heavenly realms to enter the clutter and chaos of our fallen world and to subject Himself to our faults and frailties, pains and passions, sorrows and sicknesses.

Luke describes the man Jesus and His ministry in vivid detail. Only in Luke’s account do we see the Almighty wrapped in swaddling clothes and matching wits with the greatest theological minds of His day as a boy. We see Jesus as a minister, healing the diseased in love. He presents Jesus as the perfect God-man who came to save all of humanity, Jew and Gentile alike.

Luke’s history is no mere chronicle of a dead hero. This is His Story! And the story of Christ continues today-inviting you to join the narrative and to help write the conclusion.