Study I

THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE

 

          Before we proceed with this study let us pause for a moment and pray.

 

          Dear Heavenly Father,

 We come before You in the Name of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to ask You to please give us ears so we can clearly hear what you are saying. Please give us eyes so that we can see things the way that You do. Finally, Lord, please give us a heart and the faith to understand and accept You and the things that You are teaching us.

Amen

 

INTRODUCTION

          In this study we will find that the Bible is a very special and unique book. Specifically, we will find that the manner in which the Bible was written and flourished is like no other book known to man.

 

         Before we begin our study of the Bible's uniqueness it will be very beneficial for us to become familiar with how historians and Bible scholars determine timelines, which is to fix historical dates for the various Biblical events. This understanding is not only important for our review of Bible history but will be extremely important for our study, in upcoming chapters, of Biblical prophecy.

          To begin, it is helpful for us to recognize that historians divide human history into two major divisions of time. The first division is labeled BC. The label BC is an abbreviation of the phrase, “Before Christ”, that is before the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus, when one reads 433BC, it is to be read as 433 years Before Christ. The second division of time is labeled AD, which is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase, “Anno Domin”, meaning in the year of our Lord, that is after the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus, the term 90AD is to be read as 90 years after the birth of Christ.

          This method of dating was also used by the Old and New Testament writers. In other words, these writers did not use fixed dates to pin point the time of the events that they describe. Instead these authors only provide us with relative reference points. To illustrate this point, let us read how the time was recorded for the start of construction of the first Temple in Jerusalem. It is given in,

 

1 Kings 6:1

"[1] In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the LORD."

 

          With the above background in mind, let us now begin our study of the Bible's uniqueness. To do this we will,

          1. Perform a quick survey of the various writers of the Bible

          2. Perform a quick survey of the various circumstances under which the Bible was written.

          3. Review the three languages used in the original Bible.

          4. Briefly review the Bible’s organization or structure.

          5. Review the magnitude of the Bible’s publications and usage.

          6. Discover the remarkable message of the Bible.

         

With the above introduction in mind we begin with,

 

THE WRITERS OF THE BIBLE

          The, “Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament and New Testament”; by John H. Walton show that the Bible was written over a 1536 year time span. During this time period we find that the universally accepted books of the Old Testament were written in the interval from around 1446BC to about 433BC. The New Testament books were penned from around 40AD to approximately 90AD.1&2

          Over this 1536 year time span we find that the Bible was written by 40 authors from various walks of life. To illustrate this point, the following partial list of Bible authors along with their occupations is provided.

          1. Moses was an adopted son of Pharaoh and then became leader over the nation of Israel.

          2. Amos was a shepherd.

          3. Solomon was a king of Israel.

          4. Peter was a fisherman.

          5. Daniel was ruler over the province of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.

          6. Luke was a physician.

          7. Matthew was a tax collector.

          8. Paul was a Jewish Rabbi and tent maker.

 

Another interesting aspect of the Bible is,

 

THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN

First of all we find that,

 

THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN IN VARIOUS PLACES

          In addition to the fact that there were 40 different writers of the Bible from various walks of life, we also find that the books of the Bible were written in different places. For example, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible while in the wilderness during Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The prophecies of Daniel were penned during his captivity in the city of Babylon. The majority of the letters by the Apostle Paul were written while in prison in Rome. Luke wrote while traveling on various missionary journeys. Finally, as you would expect, the majority of the Old Testament was written in and around Israel3.

 

Secondly,

 

THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN IN DIFFERENT TIMES

          In addition to being penned by 40 different writers in various geographical places, the Bible was written in different times, such as in times of war and in times of peace. For example the majority of the book of Jeremiah was written during the Babylonian invasion, siege and destruction of Jerusalem. Whereas, the proverbs penned by King Solomon, were written during the time when Israel was at peace with all its surrounding nations and was experiencing great prosperity.

 

In addition to different places and times,

 

THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN UNDER DIFFERENT MOODS OF THE WRITER

          For example as one reads the book of Psalms one finds Psalms that express great and exuberant joy and praise to God. Whereas, some Psalms express bewilderment as to why the wicked seem to prosper while the just or righteous suffer. First Peter was written during the time of intense persecution and written to encourage those who were suffering for their faith. First Corinthians was written by Paul as a letter of correction and rebuke for the spiritual and carnal excesses within its membership and within its gatherings.

 

In addition, a little known fact is that,

 

THE ORIGINAL BIBLE CONTAINED THREE LANGUAGES

          As expected, the majority of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. However, according to, “The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible” portions of Ezra, Daniel and Jeremiah were written in Aramaic. Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew and was adopted by the Jews during their exile into Babylon. The New Testament was originally written in common Greek.4

 

          To help us better understand the various teachings within the Bible, let us now briefly review,

 

THE BOOKS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE BIBLE

          There are two major divisions of the Bible, the Old Testament (the books written before Jesus Christ’s life upon this earth) and the New Testament (the books written after Jesus Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven). The reason for this division goes back to the belief that the Old Testament, which documents God's covenant or promise given through Moses, was superseded by a new covenant provided by Jesus Christ. However as we will progress through the remaining studies we will discover that the New Testament is not really new. Actually, the New Testament records the fulfillment of what God foretold and promised during the Old Testament days of what was to come. Specifically, He would come to save mankind from their sin.

 

With this mind let us first briefly review the books of,

 

THE OLD TESTAMENT

          The Old Testament is the collection of thirty nine books that were considered by the Jewish elders and priests as being divinely written or inspired. The Old Testament begins with the book of Genesis and ends with the book of Malachi. In reading New Testament Gospel according to Luke (Luke 23:44) we discover that Jesus separates these Old Testament books into three sections: (1) the Law of Moses, (2) the Psalms and (3) the Prophets.

 

The Law of Moses

          In this section we read about God’s creation of the earth, plants, animals, mankind and His establishment of the nation of Israel. We also find within this section the description of various moral and ceremonial laws God gave through Moses. This partition contains the following books,

       1. Genesis

       2. Exodus

       3. Leviticus

       4. Numbers

       5. Deuteronomy

 

The Psalms

          These are the books that are often called the books of wisdom and poetry. In this partition of the Old Testament we find good examples for prayer, worship and proverbs to live by. This partition also contains some prophecies of what was to occur. It is composed of the following books,

       1. Job

       2. Psalms

       3. Proverbs

       4. Ecclesiastes

       5. Song of Solomon

 

The Prophets

          The last major section of the Old Testament and by far the largest of the three is normally divided by the English Bible scholars into three subsections: (1) the Historical books, (2) the Major Prophets and the (3) the Minor Prophets.

HISTORICAL BOOKS

          These books record the history of the nation of Israel. This history starts after Israel's exodus from Egypt and their entrance into the land of Canaan. These books also contain, as good object lessons for us, many accounts of God’s dealings with various individuals and the nation of Israel as a whole. This section contains the following books,

       1. Joshua

       2. Judges

       3. 1 Samuel

       4. 2 Samuel

       5. 1 Kings

       6. 2 Kings

       7. 1 Chronicles

       8. 2 Chronicles

       9. Ezra

     10. Nehemiah

     11. Ester

     12. Ruth

 

          In addition to the historical books there are the major and minor prophets. The distinction between major and minor prophets is only a reference to the length of their writings not their quality. These books record various prophecies of what was to happen with respect to individuals, the nation of Israel and various Gentile (that is non Jewish) nations.

 

THE MAJOR PROPHETS

This section contain the writings of,

       1. Isaiah

       2. Jeremiah

       3. Jeremiah’s Lamentations

       4. Ezekiel

       5. Daniel

 

THE MINOR PROPHETS

Here we find the writings of,

       1. Hosea

       2. Joel

       3. Amos

       4. Obadiah

       5. Jonah

       6. Micah

       7. Nahum

       8. Habakkuk

       9. Zephaniah

     10. Haggai

     11. Zechariah

     12. Malachi

 

THE NEW TESTAMENT

          The New Testament is the collection of twenty seven books written after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The New Testament begins with the Gospel according to Matthew and ends with The Apocalypse, commonly identified as the book of Revelation. These books are partitioned into four categories: the Gospels, History, the Epistles and the Prophecy.

 

The Gospels

In this partition we find the four Gospel’s that teach us about who Jesus Christ really is and what He did while He was physically living here upon this earth. These Gospels were written by,

       1. Matthew

       2. Mark

       3. Luke

       4. John

 

History

          In this category there is only one book, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which is commonly called the book of Acts. This book provides us with a historical account of the early development and expansion of the Christian Church.

 

The Epistles

          The epistles are letters that explain to us the purpose and reason why Jesus Christ came to live on this earth. These letters were also written to provide instruction, correction and encouragement to various churches, individuals and to you and me. They have been partitioned into the following two sections,

 

PAULINE EPISTLES

This section contains the letters written by the Apostle Paul. These are:

       1. Romans

       2. 1 Corinthians

       3. 2 Corinthians

       4. Galatians

       5. Ephesians

       6. Philippians

       7. Colossians

       8. 1 Thessalonians

       9. 2 Thessalonians

     10. 1 Timothy

     11. 2 Timothy

     12. Titus

     13. Philemon

     14. Hebrews

 

GENERAL EPISTLES

This section contains the letters written by James, Peter, John and Jude:

       1. James

       2. 1 Peter

       3. 2 Peter

       4. 1 John

       5. 2 John

       6. 3 John

       7. Jude     

The Prophecy

          In this partition of the New Testament there is only one book, which is the book of The Apocalypse, which means the revelation. This book was penned by the Apostle John.

 

          Before we read the Bible’s remarkable and glorious message let us quickly review,

 

SOME AMAZING FACTS ABOUT THE BIBLE’S PUBLICATION AND USAGE

          The first fact is that in spite of all the attempts to ban it, burn it and stamp it out, the Bible, as compared to other ancient writings, has more original surviving manuscript evidence than any ten pieces of ancient literature combined. According to Charles Leache’s book, “Our Bible: How We Got It.”, we read that there are now more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the original New Testament or portions of the New Testament.

          Similarly, there are over 10,000 manuscripts in the “Latin Vulgate.” The “Latin Vulgate” is a translation of the original Bible languages into Latin. Thus, in existence today, there are more than 15,300 manuscript copies of the Bible. In comparison, the Iliad by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still remain.5

 

          The second fact to be made is that with all the attempts to ridicule, discredit and persecute those who read or promote the reading of the Bible, we still find that the Bible has been read by more people and published in more languages than any other book. Encyclopedia Britannica says that by 1966 the whole Bible had appeared in 240 languages and dialects and one or more whole books of the Bible has appeared in 739 additional languages/dialects.6

 

We now come to,

 

THE BIBLE’S REMARKABLE AND GLORIOUS MESSAGE

          With all these various authors, moods, places, languages and periods of human history the remarkable fact is, that the Bible is written about a single unfolding account of God’s redemption of man. More specifically the Bible begins with the book of Genesis where man, because of his sin, lost paradise and continues to the book of Revelation where because of Christ’s redeeming  sacrifice, man is able to return to the paradise he lost.

          To put all what we have just read in perspective, let us just stop for a moment and consider what the probability or likelihood is of having a book written, with a single coherent theme, under the circumstances described above without someone being in charge to plan, organize and direct the output of the various writers.

          Could it be that the person who wrote, coordinated and protects the Bible was and is God Himself?

 

CONCLUSION

          In reflecting upon all what we have just covered, that is: (1) the Bible’s authorship, (2) the circumstances under which it was written and (3) that through all the persecution and mocking, the Bible, after approximately 3,500 years since the writing of its first book, has not been destroyed but in fact is still read by more people and appears in more languages than any other book, one cannot help but conclude there is something special about the Bible. In other words, the Bible is certainly unique.

          With this in mind, let us now close our study by reflecting upon the truth of what Jesus once said to His disciples as He was preparing them for the tribulation and destruction that was to come upon Israel. We find it in,

 

Matthew 24:35

"[35] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

 

 

Blessed be the Lord forever!

AMEN and AMEN

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