The Bible is an inspired communication from God to mankind. It is a compilation of 66 books, written over a period of approximately 1,600 years. It is made up of two parts – the Old Testament (which has 39 books) and the New Testament (which has 27 books). The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word “βίβλος” (Biblos) which means “book” or “scroll.”
Now the first author of any of the books of the Bible was a man named Moses. He wrote somewhere back around 1500 B.C. He was a prophet and a famous leader of Israel. The last author who wrote any Scripture was named John. He was a prophet and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote the last book near the end of the 1st century AD.
Now the Bible makes some staggering claims for itself. For example:
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16)
The Greek word that the KJV translates as “by inspiration of God” is “θεόπνευστος” (theopneusto). That literally translates as “God-breathed.” In other words, the God of the universe is claiming that He is the ultimate Author behind the Bible. The apostle Peter tells us the following about Scripture
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:20, 21)
The Greek verb translated as “moved” is “φερόμενοι” and it means “being carried.” So what the apostle Peter is telling us is that the Scriptures came about by holy men “being carried” by the holy Spirit of God. In other words, God was working with these men, imbuing them with thoughts, and guiding their minds so that they were able to express thoughts from Him in human language. So, ultimately, the Bible is Divine in its origin and in the thoughts it expresses. This process occurred with the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament Scriptures. It is a communication from God to us!
The Old Testament:
Now altogether there were approximately 40 authors of the Bible. As mentioned before the first author was Moses. He was a Hebrew who was adopted by an Egyptian princess and he was trained in all the ancient Egyptian wisdom. Yet he gave up his place in the Egyptian empire and chose instead to lead the people of Israel. His writings started the Bible and they became the litmus test for all of the other writings from that time onward. Through Moses, God tells the history of our world, how sin entered into it, and how God began working through a group of men, called the patriarchs, to remedy the sin problem. You can read all about this in the first book of the Bible called Genesis.
Moses continued on to tell the history of the nation of Israel in the books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and then he gave his last sermon to Israel, the book of Deuteronomy. He recorded Israel’s history as God’s covenant people, how they promised to obey God, received His 10 commandment law under the first covenant, and how they received the preaching of the Gospel via the sanctuary and animal sacrifice. These first five books of the Bible are called the Torah (or the Law) or the Pentateuch. They are the foundational basis for the entire rest of the Bible. It is important to properly understand them.
The rest of the history of Israel, its successes and its failures, how it developed its monarchies, the division of the kingdom into two separate kingdoms, their conquests and captivities, is told by the prophets throughout the rest of the Old Testament. The Old Testament records the sad history of how the people of Israel almost always rebelled against God, disobeyed His law, and the consequences that came to them because of their rebellion. The prophets called them back to repentance but were frequently persecuted. The Old Testament ends approximately 400 years before Jesus’ first Advent and it looked forward to His arrival. There are hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament, and we will look at some of them as this website develops. Of special importance to us will be the prophecies that come through an ancient seer named Daniel. Anyhow, this section of Scripture is called the Prophets. Hence you will read in the Bible about a two-fold division in the Old Testament, called the Law and the Prophets. Jesus once said:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matt 5:17)
While the two-fold division of the Law and the Prophets is most common way to refer to the Old Testament, there is also sometimes a reference to a three-fold division called the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Psalms are the longest of the section called “the Writings” so it was sometimes referred to by that name
“And He [Jesus] said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44 brackets added for clarity)
The New Testament
The New Testament begins with the Gospels. There are 4 Gospels in the Bible – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are the historical records of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the incarnated only begotten Son of God. They tell the story of how the the Son of God became a Son of man, in fulfillment of God’s promises through the Old Testament prophets, and how, for the most part, He was rejected by His own people. Yet this was all a part of God’s plan. Through Jesus, God the Father established a New Covenant for the forgiveness of sin and the internalization of the Divine law. This involved Jesus’ suffering in the garden of Gethesemane, His death upon Calvary, and His resurrection from the grave on the third day. This is the foundation of the Christian church. Anyone who believes in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, can be included in the Israel’s New Covenant promise by accepting Him. In fact, belief in Jesus is the only way to be saved!
“And He [Jesus] said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15, 16 brackets added for clarity)
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:27-29)
The New Testament presents Jesus as a living Savior, in heaven right now ministering as our High Priest before God the Father. This is the fulfillment of the animal sacrifices and sanctuary services performed in the Old Testament.
The rest of the New Testament involves the account of the acts of Jesus’ apostles, and their letters to the various Christian communities that they established throughout the Roman Empire. You can read the history of the apostles in the book of Acts. The rest of the New Testament is the letters of Peter, Paul, James, and Jude. There is also the book of Revelation, which is like the New Testament’s counterpart to the Old Testament book of Daniel. This will be of special importance to us because this book deals especially with the end of time, just like its Old Testament counterpart Daniel.
Now this is a very brief overview of the Bible. There are so many more things that could be said but the important point here for us, as we are seeking to discover Bible gems, is that the Scriptures are a means to an end. As we read about the history, or the prophecies, we are seeking to obtain a connection to God through Christ. As we gain knowledge of God through Jesus, we realize that in His Word He has given to us “exceeding great and precious promises” so that “by these” we can become “partakers of the Divine nature” and escape from the power of sin.
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Pet 1:1-4)
We must ever bear this in mind as we read the Bible. God is wanting to give us the greatest treasure of all, a connection unto Himself through the Spirit and He wants to fill our minds with the words of Scripture so that we can partake of His Divine nature and become holy, happy, healthy people. That is the ultimate goal of the Scripture
