THE BIBLE

God's Indispensable Word To Man Part 2

In my previous blog post "THE BIBLE - God's Indispensable Word To Man", I quoted two verses in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 which bear repeating at the start of this blog, as a reminder of the vital importance the written Word of God is for the individual believer in Christ, as well as the wider Body of Christ.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Concerning the inspiration by the Holy Spirit of all the writers of the books of the Bible, the writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 1: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; Hebrews 1:1-3.

As to the authorship of the thirty nine books of the Old Testament, the first five books, referred to as the Pentateuch, were written by Moses.

Some of the historical books from Joshua to Esther have question marks over them as to their human authors. King David penned nearly half of the Psalms; his son, Solomon, wrote all of the Proverbs save the last chapter, and most, if not all the major and minor prophets' books were written by the men whose book bears their name.

I find it interesting that there is real conjecture concerning the authorship of some of the Old Testament books, and also the Book of Hebrews in the New Testament. What it says to me, is that, in some ways, it does not really matter if we know for sure who physically wrote the books. The most important takeaway is that the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead, provided the inspiration for whoever the human authors were, and it is to Him that all the glory goes for providing us with the outstanding revelation we have of our great God - our Saviour and Lord.

It is estimated that about forty writers were responsible for producing the sixty six books of the Bible, the apostle Paul in the New Testament, having written thirteen or fourteen (if he wrote the letter to the Hebrews) of the twenty seven books.

The people involved over a period of some 1500 years came from vastly differing backgrounds and occupations - such as traders, shepherds, fishermen, soldiers, preachers and kings. They served under different governments and lived within contrasting cultures and systems of philosophy - and yet, there is a common thread that binds all of the books of the Bible together as a unified whole, with the message of God's great love for humanity, His hatred of sin and rebellion, the remedy for sin and the unspeakable rewards, both in this life and in that which is to come, for those who repent of their sin.
Christ, God's provision for the redemption of fallen mankind, is pictured in every book of the Bible through prophecy and through character types in the Old Testament. Various websites can be readily accessed on the theme of Christ in Every Book of the Bible. Genesis 3:15 at the beginning of creation following the sin of Adam and Eve states:"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." The Lord, speaking to the serpent in the garden of Eden, spoke of His remedy for sin, already in His mind before the world began - that His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ would die on a Roman cross, the sinless Son of God dying in our place, that we might be restored to fellowship with Father God.
TO BE CONTINUED
In the meantime, if you would like to know more about becoming a Christian, or as a Christian you would like to access some encouraging Christian resources, a couple of suggested sites are: vision.org.au (the Vision Christian Media online portal) and livingwaters.com (the online site for access to evangelist Ray Comfort's excellent videos, audio messages and other evangelism tools).