Bible Overview

There are sixty-six books in the Bible and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are the key to both the inspiration and understanding of God and His story, His living Word to us.  The New Testament is a historically accurate document that proves Jesus Christ lived and spoke words of Truth.   The first century Jewish historian Josephus wrote “the so called Christ” whose disciples  “reported that He had appeared to them three days after His crucifixion and that He was alive.”  Jesus taught about the inspiration of the Bible and confirmed that the Old Testament is the divinely authoritative Word of God.  Jesus also promised that the Holy Spirit would lead His disciples in writing an inspired New Testament. Jesus said “Scripture cannot be broken” John 10:35.  Jesus also said that the Word of God “must be fulfilled” Read the book of Luke chapter 24: verse 44.

We also cannot neglect the fact that Jesus also stated that “ignorance of the Old Testament is the source of error.”  Matthew 22:29.  Obediently the New Testament writers also considered the Old Testament (OT) to be Scripture which is “inspired by God” 11 Timothy 3:16.   The critics of the Bible attempt to deceive us and cause us to choose between the Truth as revealed in the Holy Bible, and what they say "The Bible is a fairy tale for the weak"  Our choice is to accept the authenticity and the authority of the Old Testament or to disagree with what Jesus affirmed to be true.   

The entire Word of God is Truth, or Christ is not the Son of God.  We agree that Jesus told us the Truth, which means that the Old Testament is the historically accurate and divinely authoritative Word of God, or we deceive ourselves by criticizing the canonization of the Old Testament.  The word canon means “rule” and it refers to the sacred writings which are the rule for faith and practice among believers.  Today, Christ is our guide; He is the key to the interpretation of the Bible through the Holy Spirit.  There is no other way for a Christian to understand God’s Word.  There are three basic Holy Spirit revelations in which we may see Christ in the Bible.  1) Christ is the theme of both testaments.  2) Christ is the theme of each section of Scripture.  3) Christ centered themes are truths that are found in each of the sixty six books of the Bible.  The overall picture in the Bible is the person of Jesus Christ.  The Old Testament (OT) views the coming Christ by way of anticipation.  The New Testament (NT) views Christ by way of visible realization   The salvation prepared for in the OT was provided by Christ in the NT.  What Hope commenced in the OT is completed in the NT.  Matthew 1:21.  Christ is the theme of each of the eight sections of the Bible.

1) THE LAW (Gen-Deut) is the foundation for the coming Christ.  2) History (Josh-Esther) Christ the King is to come through the chosen nation, His kingdom on earth had to be formed. His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  3) Poetry (Job-Song)  While suffering and rejoicing His people aspired for communion with Christ.  4) Prophecy (Isaiah – Malachi) Prophets held out hope of national restoration by Christ. Remember that Moses led Israel out of bondage through the Red Sea, but it was Joshua who took the Israelites through the raging Jordan River into blessing. Moses symbolizes deliverance and Joshua symbolizes victory.  5) Gospels (Matt-John)  In the gospels Christ was realized in the flesh. In Matthew Jesus

was made manifest in His sovereignty as King to the Jews. In John, Christ was manifest in His deity as God to the whole world. 6) History  (Acts) The historical manifestation of the Holy Spirit and in Acts the worldwide propagation of Christ began in Jerusalem. 7) Epistles (Rom-Jude) Paul’s doctrinal epistles repeats the phrase “in Christ”. Romans is redemption “in Christ”.  11 Corin is the jubilation or victory “in Christ”.  Galatians reveals emancipation “in Christ” Ephesians is the exaltation and unification “in Christ”. Phil declares the joy “in Christ”. Colo speaks of our completion “in Christ”.  1 Thess we experience an expectation “in Christ”.  11 Thess we discover a glorification “in Christ”.  1 Tim we are urged to faithfulness “in Christ”.  11 Tim we are reminded of the soundness “in Christ”.  Titus we are admonished to a steadfastness “in Christ” Philemon reads of our benefit “in Christ”.  8) Prophecy (Rev) Reveals the

consummation of all things “in Christ”  Through Christ all things were created and in Him all things are directed toward their final consummation. Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.   The word prophet comes from the word meaning “to announce”. A prophet was God’s mouthpiece, or the chosen human instrument through which God declared His message to man.  The broad meaning of prophecy is to forth-tell what God will do in the future.  These supernatural predictions form one of the strongest evidences that the Bible is the Word of God.  The prophets did not begin with Elijah or Samuel.  The first prophecy was about the coming Messiah, the Christ and was given by God to Adam and Eve.  (Genesis 3:15)  Enoch, the descendant of Adam also prophesied about Christ’s coming. (Jude 14).  Noah made predictions about his three sons (Gen 9:25-27) Abraham is called a “prophet” (Gen 20:7) and both Jacob and Joseph uttered prophecies (Gen 37:6 + Gen 49:10). Moses was considered a prophet (Deut 18:15) But Samuel started a school of the prophets (1 Sam 19:20). New Testament means ‘new covenant’, under which God forgives the ongoing unfaithfulness, mess ups, and wrong choices AKA sin of those who believe in Jesus Christ.  The definition of covenant:  The conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture.  God’s covenant with “us”  who accept, believe and confess with our mouth that Jesus as Lord, we are saved, because His living Word, His promise to us is trustworthy, it is ever-lasting.  God's unchanging hope for us is that we trust Him, and listen to what "the Spirit is saying" and obey! Hallelujah!