Olive Tree Staff, Author at Olive Tree Blog

New Testament

The Truth About Jesus Christ

When you think of Jesus, do you think of a man gently petting sheep? Do you think of a warrior on a white horse with a fire in his eyes? The truth about Jesus Christ is that he is all this and more. Learn about how dynamic and counter-cultural Jesus…

Keep Reading

Commentaries

Review: Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible Commentary Set

Here’s an Olive Tree review of the Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible Commentary Set (POSB). It’s as in-depth as it sounds. It is practical, comprehensive, and down-right useful. In this post, we are sharing an excerpt with you, along with an inside look at its key features. Commentary from the…

Keep Reading

Bibles

A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible

Tim Challies and Josh Byers released a sequel to their book Visual Theology! It’s called A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible. Don’t be fooled by the similar names, though. They are completely different tools… except that their digital versions are exclusively available through Olive Tree. So, let’s see what…

Keep Reading

New Testament

Why Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?

Toward the beginning of Mark 11, Jesus goes to eat from a fig tree. However, the fig tree has not bore any fruit and he curses it. Then, after clearing out the temple, Peter sees that the cursed fig tree is now withered. But why did Jesus curse the fig…

Keep Reading

Old Testament

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:4 and the story of the Tower of Babel come to life as we take time to understand the deeper cultural contexts. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves;…

Keep Reading

New Testament

Who Are the Sanhedrin?

The Gospels and Acts mention the Sanhedrin quite a bit. But what do you know about them? Test your knowledge with this excerpt from the John volume of the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. We guarantee you’ll learn something new! The Sanhedrin: A Ruling Council A high priest acting without…

Keep Reading

Old Testament

Human Schemes and God’s Plan in Isaiah

Isaiah is a very interesting book of the Bible. It’s most known for its prophetic statements of Christ. But with a good, down-to-earth commentary, you can see the book for all that it is. For instance, this Bible Speaks Today excerpt gives a fantastic overview of human schemes and God’s…

Keep Reading

Topical

Understanding God the Father

It can be hard (or to be honest, impossible!) to wrap your mind around the Trinity. So let’s take one quick, clear look at who God the Father is with an NIV Study Bible excerpt. God the Father is Our Father For those who are led by the Spirit of…

Keep Reading

New English Bible of the Septuagint (NETS)

Bibles

New English Translation of the Septuagint

The New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS) is a fascinating resource—especially, if you’re interested in textual criticism. And, since it is a well-loved resource by Olive Tree employees, we took extra care in making it work well inside the app. In this post, we’ll cover what NETS is and…

Keep Reading

Dictionaries

Look Inside: The ESV Exhaustive Concordance

We offer quite a few concordances, so you’re probably wondering what makes the ESV Exhaustive Concordance any different? Not only do we have a video in this post, we also have a Q&A with Drayton Benner, the author. WHAT IS IT? The ESV Exhaustive Concordance contains more than 340,000 references…

Keep Reading