Our Bible Part 1

Our Bible I. Bible: The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. II. A collection of books; a library. II. Introductory thoughts. A. Imagine a society without a standardized code of law to which all can repair and to which all are accountable: a society where every man does what is right in his own eyes. B. Imagine a society where the code of law is continually subject to change by that society’s leaders who discourage the masses from seeing the code and who punish anyone who questions their authority. C. Imagine a professional sport without a rule book, or where the rules are established by a pretended revelatory spirit: “The Lord told me to throw a beanball at your head...” D. Imagine having received an elaborate machine which has the ability to do fantastic things but also is full of bewildering circuitry, intricate physics and potential dangers for anyone who tinkers with it: all directed by a sealed CPU which will not allow the machine to function properly or safely contrary to its code. 1. Wouldn’t it be nice if it came with a manual, maybe even a manual which provides the CPU’s code? What if it didn’t and a curious ignoramus tried to fiddle with its design or the CPU, only to cause disaster? 2. Life is such a machine. Without a manual, the user is a guesser about life, its meaning, utility and Source. 3. The Maker of life, though, has provided a manual about life and Himself, an amazing manual that explains and concurs with all true natural revelation and which resonates with His Spirit in men. E. The Bible is the authoritative encyclopedia about God, man, beginnings, ending, living, the invisible past and certain future, the afterlife, spiritual powers, the soul, sin, death, judgment, right and wrong, hope, the world to come, etc. 1. It is such a complete masterpiece of knowledge that if a man never had another book, he would have what was necessary for fullness so that a shepherd who studies it is wiser than the genius who ignores it. 2TI 3:16-17; PSA 119:97-100. 2. Its insights into human nature and the human condition are so compellingly accurate that sinful man rejects it even as he rejects its Author. JOH 3:19-20. 3. It binds up the defiant wisdom of man in inescapable logic that overcomes all objections to it so that the brightest luminaries are proven lightless against it. ISA 8:20; 1CO 1:19-20; ROM 1:22. 4. It is the greatest source of intelligence about the enemy, Satan, exposing his beginning, ambition, tactics, weakness, defeat, leash and final destruction by Jesus Christ. a. Satan therefore hates the Bible and has no use for it other than to cherry-pick parts of it to wrest them for his own deceptive ambitions. MAT 4:6-7. b. He could not corrupt Christ and cannot now corrupt Christ but his efforts at corrupting the Bible which declares Christ have never stopped. 2CO 2:17; 2TH 2:2. c. Ever the ape of God, as God inspired men to write His word, Satan inspires men to write his counterfeit word (EPH 2:2 c/w 1TI 4:1-3) and never forget that the best counterfeit is not obviously so. d. NOTE: Satan seeks to corrupt or counterfeit everything that is a witness to the Person and work of Jesus Christ: Scripture, church, marriage. What God will not allow him to destroy, he will seek to corrupt or he will build a Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 1  false substitute to rival it. III. Here is a simple overview of the Bible. A. It consists of 66 books and epistles (letters) in two major divisions: the Old Testament (39 books) and the New Testament (27 books and letters). All of it is inspired. 2TI 3:16. 1. The O.T. consists of the Pentateuch/Books of Moses (GEN to DEU), the historical books (JOS to EST), the Writings (JOB to SON), and the Prophets (ISA to MAL). 2. The N.T. consists of the four gospels which are the record of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ (MAT to JOH), the Acts of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the epistles/letters of the apostles (ROM to JUDE) and the Book of Revelation. 3. The O.T. is Christ veiled; the N.T. is Christ revealed. 4. The N.T. is the clearer, superior revelation from God; the O.T. must be interpreted according to the explanations given of it in the N.T. 2PE 1:19-21; 1JO 4:6. B. The O.T. was the peculiar blessing of the nation of Israel (PSA 147:19-20; ROM 3:1-2) whereas the N.T. marked the going forth of God's word to all nations. ROM 16:25-26. C. The central Person of the entire Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. The O.T. anticipated His coming and testified of Him. ISA 7:14; JOH 5:39. 2. The N.T. declares His arrival, saving work and victory in fulfillment of prophecy and that He has been made King and Judge over all. 1CO 15:1-4; ACT 10:39-43. D. The major events of the O.T. are: 1. The record of creation and the entrance of sin. GEN 1-3. 2. The worldwide flood in Noah's day because of great sin. GEN 6-9. 3. The calling out of Abraham whose descendants would end up in Egyptian bondage. GEN 12 to EXO 1. 4. The exodus of Abraham's descendants from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. EXO 1 to DEU 34. 5. The giving of the Law / the Ten Commandments. EXO 20. 6. The Jewish conquest of the land of Canaan and their establishment as a nation there. This is the record of the Book of Joshua. 7. The establishing of a messianic royal lineage in Israel, beginning with King David. This is the record of the Books of 1SAM, 2SAM; 1CH. 8. The overthrow and captivity of Israel because of sin. This is recorded in the historical books of 2KI and 2CH. 9. The return and restoration of Israel to their land to await the coming of Messiah. This is the record of the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. E. The major figures of the O.T. are: 1. Adam, the first man. He was created perfect but sinned and brought sin, death and the curse into the creation (GEN 1-3) and serves as a type/picture of the next Perfect Man Who should come and Who would not fail: Jesus Christ. 1CO 15:45; ROM 5:19. 2. Noah, the lone righteous man for whose sake his family was spared from a worldwide flood brought on by sin (GEN 6-9; 2PE 2:5) and so also forms a picture of Jesus Christ Whose entire spiritual family will be saved because of His righteousness from universal judgment. 1PE 3:18-22 c/w LUK 17:26-27. 3. Abraham, whom God suddenly called out of his idolatrous land and family, to whom God made great promises of eternal significance, and with whom God made an everlasting covenant. GEN 12-25. a. Abraham was the ancestral father of the Jewish people. b. Abraham was a model of great faith in God's word and his faith was a token Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 2  or evidence of righteousness. ROM 4:1-5. c. Abraham was given the sign of circumcision for himself and all his male descendants after he had been declared to be righteous. ROM 4:9-13. d. God's promises to Abraham were only to Abraham and Christ. GAL 3:16. 4. Isaac, the miraculously produced child of the reproductively dead Abraham and Sarah through whom the true Seed would come. ROM 4:17-20; 9:7. 5. Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, the progenitor of the twelve sons whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel and who serves as a model of God’s election of grace and love. GEN 32:28; ROM 9:11-13. 6. Moses, the deliverer who brought God's people out of bondage and gave them God's law (EXO), who also forms a picture of Christ Who delivered His people out of the bondage of sin and gave them His law, the N.T. HEB 3:1-6. 7. Joshua, who brought God's people into their earthly inheritance and rest, which Moses could not do. a. Joshua is spelled Jesus in the N.T. ACT 7:45; HEB 4:8. b. This all serves as a beautiful picture of the overall message of the Bible: Jesus alone brought God's people into their heavenly inheritance and rest, not Moses or his law. ROM 3:20-22; HEB 9:12. c. Also, it was Joshua that conquered the Gentiles, not Moses. So, the Gentiles were converted with Jesus’ gospel, not with Moses’ Law. 8. David, a prophet and the first king of a royal dynasty in Israel which would culminate in Jesus Christ, David's descendant and the Eternal King. ACT 13:21-23; LUK 1:30-33. Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 3