THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE PART 2

TEEN TREE OF LIFE
THE BOOKS OF
THE BIBLE
September 9, 2018

BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God The Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God The Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).

In this next part of our study of The Bible, we are going to learn about the books of The Bible and their makeup. Give it a go and stick with it! It’s pretty cool stuff!

There are sixty-six books in the entire Bible, including the Old and New Testaments. This count excludes the Apocryphal books. Before we continue, let’s look at what the Apocryphal books are. During the period between the completion of the Old Testament and the first writings included in the New Testament (the period between 450 BC and 50 AD), many essays, Psalms and historical accounts circulated throughout the synagogues and early churches. Some of these documents gradually came to be regarded by some of the believers as actually inspired by The Holy Spirit and deserving of a place in The Bible. They were wrong. Since neither Jesus nor the apostles make any reference to the Apocryphal books, most Christians have regarded their authority as secondary to that of the 39 books of the Old Testament. In this study, we will only discuss the books in our Bible.

We’re going to start with The Old Testament. The Old Testament contains thirty-nine books. Mankind got a hold of it before the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament records the first three dispensations of human history: the Age of Innocence [the Garden of Eden]; the Age of the Patriarchs (the era of the three biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Age of Israel.

The Age of Innocence refers to the time when Adam and the woman lived in the Garden of Eden. The general characteristics of this Age included a special angelic attack upon establishment, free will, and marriage. The Age of Innocence begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth. It ends with the nation of Israel in about 425 B.C. It includes prophecies concerning end times. It also recorded the poetic and prophetic expressions of the spiritual life, written by the inspired men over those many years.

It has been said that in the Old Testament, The Lord Jesus Christ is concealed, while in the New Testament, He is revealed and this is very true. Throughout the entire Bible, there is the witness of Christ, who Himself said: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these [the Scriptures] that testify about Me…” (JOH 5:39)

The Old Testament points ahead to The Advent and Sacrificial Suffering of Israel’s Messiah, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It also points ahead to His Reign of Righteousness upon the throne of David. The thread which runs through the pages of the Old Testament is blood, always pointing ahead to the Blood of the Lamb of God, which God knew in advance, would be poured out on the Cross of Calvary for our redemption. AMEN!!

As early as the third chapter of Genesis (the first book of The Bible), a Redeemer is promised: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (GEN 3:15) In this verse, God promised Adam and Eve He would send a mighty Deliverer and Redeemer. What happened immediately when sin came into the world? At once God stepped in. God immediately looked for His disobedient children so He could declare His Love for them. In GEN 3:15, we read that at once God said, “I will do something… I will send a redeemer who will be ‘her seed’ – the seed of the woman”. The reference, of course, was to Our Lord Jesus Christ, who would come to earth to live and die and rise again in order that He might be the Savior of man.

God declared that when Jesus came, He would be born of a virgin. But where do we find this in GEN 3:15? The virgin birth is declared in the words “her seed” – the seed of the woman. This is an unusual expression. The word “seed” is always in reference to and in connection with the male and never with the female. The seed for procreation is always resident in the male. The explanation is that Jesus was not to be born as the result of the union of a man and a woman. His was to be a virgin birth; He was to be conceived of The Holy Spirit in order to become Our Redeemer. Satan would eventually bruise Christ’s heel on The Cross of Calvary. At His second coming The Redeemer will deal a final blow to Satan. This will be the victory that will be shared by all believers.

From GEN 3:15 forward, The Bible focuses on God’s Program of man’s salvation. We know as believers that Salvation is the Work of God in the saving of mankind from the power and effects of being born in sin and therefore spiritually dead. Salavation has been accomplished by means of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. No one will ever wholly understand the Old Testament, unless he looks for and finds Christ in its pages. Keep that in mind whenever you read it.

The Books of the Old Testament are Generally Divided into Four Classifications:
The first classification is The Pentateuch or The Books of the Law. The word “Pentateuch” is created from two Greek words that mean “Five Books.” It refers to the first five books of The Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (which Our Lord Himself) ascribed to Moses. In these books, the Law of Moses is found, and so they are often referred to collectively as the Law. Look at MAT 7:12: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets”

The Pentateuch introduces what is taught in all of God’s Word. It shows man’s fallen condition and his need of Redemption along with His assurance of a Redeemer. It also reveals God’s Loving Grace in providing forgiveness of sin through the blood on the altar: Then he shall remove all its fat, just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar, on the offerings by fire to the Lord. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin which he has committed, and he will be forgiven. (LEV 4:35)

Genesis is the book of beginnings; Exodus, the book of deliverance; Leviticus, the book of worship; Numbers, the book of experience; Deuteronomy, the book of instruction or exhortation.

The second classification of books in the Old Testament is The Books of History. While the whole of the Old Testament is, in a sense, historical, there are twelve books in particular (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1Kings, 2 Kings, 1Chronicles, 2Chronicles, Ezra Nehemiah, and Esther) which record the history of the nation of Israel during approximately 1000 years, from about 1450 to 445 BC. In this period, the nation of Israel entered Palestine, the promised land of blessing. Israel was ruled by judges and then later by kings in this era. Israel was divided into two kingdoms, the northern and southern kingdoms (Israel and Judah respectively). During this time, because of sin, Israel was conquered by Assyria. Judah later fell into captivity by Babylon.

The third classification of books is The Books of Poetry. There are six poetical books in the Old Testament: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Lamentations. Although many of these writings are in lyric style as songs or poems, it doesn’t mean that the writers, (primarily Job, David, and Solomon), made all the lines rhyme with each other, or that the lines of the original writings can be read rhythmically. The writings referred to are actually the expressions of the spiritual experiences of these writers – inspired by of The Holy Spirit. Do you think if The Holy Spirit were inspiring writers to pen The Bible today, some would be rappers?? LOL

The fourth classification of books in the Old Testament are The Books of Prophecy – of which, there are sixteen. Let’s stop a minute to define prophecy. A prophecy is a prediction or warning of future events. These prophetic books begin at Isaiah and continue (omitting Lamentations see paragraph above) to the end of the Old Testament with the book of Malachi. Some of the writers, namely, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, are known as “Major Prophets” in contrast to the others, often called the “Minor Prophets.” These terms do not have to do with the importance of the events prophesied. The words major and minor simply distinguish the length of the books between the longer and shorter ones. Every message of The Word of God is of major importance.
{to be continued}