Our Bible Part 2

F. The major events of the N.T. are: 1. The conception of Jesus Christ in the virgin Mary's womb which was God becoming a man who was the Son of God. MAT 1:23; LUK 1:35. 2. The ministry of John the Baptist who prepared Israel for Christ's public ministry and who baptized Jesus Christ. MAR 1:1-11. 3. The sinless life and public ministry of Jesus Christ which was rejected by His own people and which culminated in His crucifixion death. ACT 13:27-29. 4. The resurrection of Jesus Christ after being buried for three days and nights. ACT 13:30; MAT 12:38-40. 5. The ascension of Jesus Christ to take the eternal throne. EPH 1:19-23; REV 3:21. 6. The coming of the promised Holy Spirit to indwell and empower the church which Jesus Christ established on earth. JOH 14:15-17, 26 c/w ACT 2:1-6. 7. The building of Christ's church in fulfillment of promises of a Divine Kingdom. DAN 2:44 c/w MAT 16:18-19. 8. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus from being the chief enemy of Christ to become the chief apostle of Jesus Christ with a special ministry to the Gentiles. ACT 9:1-6, 15. 9. The conversion of the first uncircumcised Gentile believer, which was the breaking down of a barrier that had separated Jews and Gentiles. ACT 10; EPH 2:11-18. G. The major figures of the N.T. are: 1. Jesus Christ, the virgin-born son of God Who fulfilled all of the requirements of God's holy Law for righteousness by living a sinless life, dying for sinners, and rising from the grave in victorious conquest over death and the grave. ROM 10:4; 4:23-25. 2. John the Baptist, who announced Christ's arrival and baptized him. John's ministry marked the sunset of the O.T. economy. LUK 16:16. Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 3  3. The Twelve Apostles whom Christ called out to be the ministers of His New Testament and foundations of His church. LUK 22:14, 29-30; EPH 2:20. 4. The Apostle Paul, the once sworn enemy of Christ and His church who was called out for a special ministry to the Gentiles. 1CO 15:9-10; 1TI 1:12-15. H. The N.T. is not only a clearer, superior revelation from God, it has legally replaced the O.T. 1. testament: A formal declaration, usually in writing, of a person's wishes as to the disposal of his property after his death; a will. 2. It is always the Last Will and Testament of a deceased person through which heirs receive their inheritance. 3. Jesus Christ made a New Testament just before He died which abolished the Old Testament. LUK 22:20; HEB 9:15-17; 2CO 3:13. 4. Therefore the heirs of God do not receive their inheritance according to the terms of the O.T. but rather of the N.T. and their inheritance therefore is “...a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1PE 1:3-4). I. Another way to describe the two testaments is that the O.T. is the Mosaic Covenant and the N.T. is the Messianic Covenant. 1. The message of the Mosaic Covenant is “do and live” righteousness. ROM 10:5. 2. The message of the Messianic Covenant is “Christ did, you live.” GAL 2:20-21. J. The foregoing points show a continuity, correspondence and consistency between the two testaments of the Bible. 1. There is also a connectivity established concerning the true canon of O.T. Scripture. 2. The Hebrew canon of Scripture happens to contain the same books/writings as we have in our AV1611 Bible (with differences of organization), and excludes The Apocrypha. 3. Jesus Christ upheld the Hebrew canon (which later came to be known as the Masoretic Text) and therefore authenticated our Bible. a. He referred to the historic three-fold division of the Hebrew canon as being the Scriptures which spoke of Him (JOH 5:39; LUK 24:44-45). If the Apocrypha was scripture, why did He not reference it as proof of Himself? b. He also limited the line of prophets as being those associated with that canon of Scripture (LUK 11:50-51), affirming the “dry spell” of prophets that lasted until the coming of John the Baptist (LUK 7:24-28): the same period during which the Apocrypha was supposed to be written. And note that John the Baptist is the one “prophet to come” mentioned in the last book of our O.T. MAL 3:1; 4:5-6 c/w MAT 11:14. 4. Thus, our N.T. not only is the superior perfection of the O.T., it authenticates the true O.T. Scriptures. K. In summary, the Bible is: 1. the account of Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Circumcision, Christ, Cross, Conquest, Church, Consummation (the ten C’s of history). 2. the account of God's, plan, power and performance of His will through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God and man. 3. the account of the victory of God, the Supreme Good over Satan, the supreme evil. 4. the account of humanity's bondage to Satan, to sin and to death being remedied by the sinless, victorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. the record of Jesus Christ's exaltation to the throne of God to reign over all things. 6. the announcement of His certain return to judge all things. ACT 17:31. L. The Bible is also the record of the longest unbroken genealogy from Adam. It terminates Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 4  in Jesus Christ. MAT 1:1-17; LUK 3:23-38. 1. Nowhere else is there found such a preserved lineage. After the arrival of Christ, the genealogical records ceased to be of great significance and the keeping of such was frustrated. 2. One of the Herods actually burned genealogical records kept in the temple in an attempt to distract from his Idumean heritage. 3. “The [Hebrew] Rabbis affirm that after the [Babylonian] Captivity the Jews were most careful in keeping their pedigrees (Babyl. Gemar. Gloss. fol. xiv, 2). Since, however, the period of their destruction as a nation by the Romans, all their tables of descent seem to be lost, and now they are utterly unable to trace the pedigree of any one who might lay claim to be their promised Messiah” (McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia). 4. So obvious is this dilemma that some of the noted rabbis have concluded that when their messiah does come, he will restore the needed genealogies by the Holy Spirit, in which case the genealogical record of that messiah will be conveniently provided by the messiah who needed the proof. 5. NOTE: The old Jewish genealogies served their purpose in preserving the lineage of Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messianic King-Priest. a. Paul commanded Timothy to not give heed to endless genealogies (1TI 1:4), a very relevant order in light of the fact that Messiah had already come and the Jewish genealogies had been and were being compromised. b. Here then is a great contrast: the Messianic priesthood is not after the powerlessness of endless genealogies, but “...after the power of an endless life” (HEB 7:16). 6. Also, Jesus Christ's fleshly genealogy from Adam has an end: He is the last of the line. And He is the only descendant of Adam who never gave in to lust's temptation, that other “genealogy” which has an end. JAM 1:14-15. M. Correspondingly, the Bible is also the best chronology on record, giving an intact timeline from Adam to Christ. 1. “We note then at the beginning of our study, that the Bible is absolutely the only available source of information concerning the chronology of the human race prior to the seventh century B.C., when the first vague historical records of existing nations such as Greece, Rome, China, &c., begin. In other words, if we take it that the lifetime of mankind has been something less than six thousand years (and there is no evidence at all for a longer term of human existence) then we have the remarkable fact that for about three-fifths of the entire period there is no chronological information whatever except in the Bible; whereas, on the other hand, during that same period (wherein other records are, as regards chronology, a perfect blank) the chronology of the Bible is most definite and complete.” (Philip Mauro, The Wonders of Bible Chronology (1933), p. 4) 2. “It is a fact of great significance that the count of the years, so carefully preserved in the Bible, is bound up closely with one definite subject, namely, with the line of descent along which the promised Redeemer was to come. The details of this peculiarity of Bible chronology, which we propose to discuss later on, are worthy of our most careful attention; for it invests the subject with special interest. It is as if the Author of the Holy Scriptures would have us take notice of the fact that, in the long process of the unfolding of years and centuries and eras of time, there is only one line of succession of persons and events which is of importance in His eyes, and that is the line which was to lead to the coming into the world of the Divine Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 5  Redeemer. Let it be realized that, starting with Adam, and following the ever widening circles, from generation to generation, of his rapidly multiplying offspring, there were countless millions of directions which any selected chronological and genealogical line might have taken. It is, therefore, to be reckoned among the clearest evidences of Divine superintendence in the writing of the Scriptures that the one line, to which alone dates are unfailingly attached, is that which led finally “unto the Messiah, the Prince” (Dan. 9:25). “It is well worth while to dwell further upon this immensely significant fact, because of the proof it affords of the inspiration of the Bible. Let it be observed then that the chronological table of Genesis 5 goes no further than the flood; and that the table of Genesis 11 stops abruptly at Abraham; and that neither in Genesis, nor in any Book of Moses, nor indeed in any of the Old Testament, is there any indication of God's reason for counting the years along this particular line only; nor was any indication given that the line of dated events was to be continued any further; nor was there any indication as to where that line was to lead. The purpose of God in all this comes not into view until the Bible is completed by the addition of the New Testament Scriptures, in the light of which (particularly of the genealogical tables of Matthew 1 and Luke 3) that purpose may be clearly seen. Here then is proof of the most convincing sort that He Who alone sees the end from the beginning is the Author of the Books of Moses, and of all the later Books of the Old Testament, through which runs this marvellous chronological line. For the Old Testament concerns itself, from beginning to end, with but one subject, namely, the coming of the Redeemer. All other matters of an historical nature which are found recorded in it are seen to be in some way connected with the main subject. That is never lost sight of.” (Ibid, pp. 8-9) 3. The facts of a uniquely preserved genealogy of One Man and a uniquely intact chronology from Creation to Christ played into the credibility of the Messiah in His appearance to Israel. Jesus Christ’s enemies could have discredited Him by demonstrating that His genealogy was incorrect and/or that He did not appear on the scene at the proper time as declared in the Scriptures. But they could not do so: everything about Him was in perfect order: bloodline, birth date, birthplace. a. This is another form of “...They hated me without a cause” (JOH 15:25). b. Further, whereas the written genealogies of other Jews disappeared in the years after Christ’s resurrection, God preserved the chronological timeline of Messiah’s arrival in the O.T. and His genealogy in the N.T. so that unbelieving Israel will ever only come to the truth about Messiah through the Scriptures He authored and preserved in the writings of godly Jewish believers (or those like Luke who was authenticated by Jewish apostles). c. The Scriptures are the only thing guaranteed to be preserved. ISA 30:8; 40:8; MAT 24:35. N. The Bible is a very special Book of books. Our Bible 12-1-24 Page 6