The Bible - From the Beginning to the End

All of our future hopes are laid out in the book of Revelation. Not only is Revelation the inspired Word of God, it is also the only New Testament book that includes a special blessing for those who study and apply its message.

It should be an essential part of every Christian's devotional life, and those who ignore Revelation, are depriving themselves of a rich treasure of divine truth, and those promised blessings that come from understanding that truth.

“Faith” is a very important word in Christian life. The word is found on almost every page of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Faith is the means by which we receive everything from God. Hebrews 11:6 makes this very clear.

This should be crystal clear to us. It is not difficult to please God – it is impossible to please Him! It cannot be done without faith!

Without faith we can receive nothing from God. Without faith all the promises of the Scriptures are invalid.

The Bereans were enthusiastic Bible scholars who sought to understand God's Word and His intended way of living as believers. Paul held them in high regard because they diligently searched the Scriptures to confirm the teachings that he and Silas had shared with them. It is important to remember that back then, the only Scriptures that they had were the Old Testament, which contained promises about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

While the Bereans didn't question everything, they had access to the Old Testament, which allowed them to examine Paul and Silas's words and actions.

Their commitment to studying and understanding the Scriptures earned them the title "noble Bereans." In the spirit of these eager and diligent Bereans, we need to open our hearts and minds to explore the timeless truths found in God's Word and discover the wisdom it holds for our lives today.

The whole of the Bible is about Christ, but particularly in the Gospels and The Acts, you find Christ manifesting the character of God through a human personality.

When we come to the Epistles (the “letters”) – which occupy the largest part of the New Testament – we are dealing not with preparation or fulfilment, but with explanation.

The letters of the New Testament are intended to explain and make clear to us, the mystery of Christ. The purpose of the Epistles is to present Christ on a kindergarten level of truth that we may understand, and thus enter into His life.

We learned in the last episode of this podcast, that the Old Testament is filled with pictures of the coming Messiah. In the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah, they spoke of the Messiah as coming as the King – the King of Israel. This is what the nation of Israel had as the portrait of Christ in their minds.

Secondly, there are Old Testament prophecies which speak of Messiah as the Servant, as the suffering One. The prophet Isaiah gives this fore view. Jesus as the coming of One who is to suffer is also portrayed in the fore view of the story of Joseph in Genesis.

Thirdly, the Old Testament pictures Christ’s coming as Man. He was shown to be born of a virgin, grow up in Bethlehem, walk among men. There are pictures of his childhood, youth and young manhood.

Finally, the Old Testament has a pictures which speak of him as God, the Everlasting One.

Why did the Holy Spirit move the writers of the gospels to give us four pictures of Christ? Why not just have one?

Bible scholars are always working at the task of “harmonizing” the Gospels.

Sometimes you can get Bibles that have the harmonies of the Gospels contained in them. These Bibles are trying to combine these four books and turn them into one, but if the Holy Spirit had wanted one, He would have the produced one.

God wanted four separate and unique Gospels and I personally feel that it is not possible to harmonize the four Gospels, and that anyone attempting this, is wasting their time. This is because each of the four Gospels are given for a special purpose.

The prophets in the Old Testament are the expounders or “explainers” of the promises of God. What would we be without the promises of God?

According to one person's count, there are 3573 promises in the Bible which are intended to be fulfilled in this life. So over three thousand promises are made for us today. How many of those have we claimed?

We will now take a brief look at the final eight prophetic books. These are also known as the minor prophets. However the term “minor” here, means smaller in size, not less in importance.

With this podcast we are beginning with the prophetic books of the Bible. These Prophetic Books contain the mighty promises of God.

So, what is your definition of a promise?

When a man and a woman stand at the wedding altar and promise each other, what are they doing?

They are committing themselves to give of themselves to each other. A promise then, basically, is a commitment to share yourself. If you give a promise to someone, you are committing or sharing something of your time, your energy, or your resources with that person.

That is what a promise is. It is a sharing of self.

The great promises of the Bible are the assurances of God to share Himself with us. When we understand God’s promises, we will begin to understand something more of the nature and the character of our God. Every promise is a commitment, on God's part, to give of Himself.

The soul of man, in turn, is made up of three facets or parts: the emotions, the intelligence and the will.

The book of Psalms records the emotional responses in man's soul to circumstances.

The book of Proverbs is man's intelligence at work recording the experiences of life.

In the book of Ecclesiastes the will of man is expressed.

The third section of the Old Testament – after the Pentateuch and then the historical books are the five poetical books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

Although we call these books “poetical,” it doesn't mean that they rhyme. It means they have a structure of repeated ideas. This is the form of poetry the Hebrews used. These 5 books are marvelous books of expression.

The poetical books are a demonstration or reflection of the rejoicing and the protests of man in response to life. These books show all the feelings of the heart, and the yearnings and desires of every man and woman.