BASIC BIBLE

I've been aware for some time that few people understand even the basic understanding of the Bible.  Those who have studied it for years, such as those in the ministry, are apt to forget that those who listen to their sermons, may not be able to understand what they are talking about. 

The Bible has two books;  the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The first five books are called the "Tora" by the Israelites.  The New Testament is really a term for "New Covenant" and that simply means a new agreement between God and humanity.

The Old Covenant is the same as the Old Testament, and that simply means another agreement between God and humanity.

In the Old Covenant, God gave His Law through Moses, and after Moses had read it, all the nation of Israel agreed to keep all the Law that God gave to Moses.  Those laws are found in the first five books of the Bible.

The whole of the Bible consists of 66 books, but that turns to 70 if you count the Palms as first different books. 

There are also many prophets in the Old Testament, and many of these prophets have their names assigned to that Book, like Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, etc.  These prophets generally wrote to Israel, warning them where they had failed and then promising them restoration.  Many of these prophets spoke of a coming age where Israel would return to it's land, and that God would bless them.  However, Israel continued to fail the Lord, and between the Old Testament and the New Testament times, there was four hundred years that a prophet voice was not heard.

As we come to the New Testament, we hear the voice of a new prophet.  His name is John the Baptist.  He never liked the city, but was always a loner.  He liked to go out in the desert and stayed there long hours, just thinking about his nation and how they had strayed so far from their God.  It was out there in the desert, that The Word of the Lord came to him; and John began to call the whole nation to repentance.

All Israel did come out in the desert and heard this man preach about a coming Messiah.  In fact one day, a man from Nazareth, Jesus was his name; he knew his cousin John, and so he went out to be baptized also, and as Jesus drew himself down in the water toward John, John looked up at Jesus, and proclaimed, "Here is the One who I have been talking about, and as Jesus approached John to be baptized, John didn't want to baptize Jesus, but Jesus told him, "John, do this, in order that all righteousness be fulfilled..." And so, Jesus went down into the waters of Baptism, and when He came up again, the heavens were opened, and a voice rang out, "See here, this is my Son, and the Spirit of God came down into Jesus, and from that day, Jesus was filled with The Holy Spirit

The next 3 and one half years, Jesus choses 12 disciples, and goes about all the land, doing miracles, and preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand.

At the end of His preaching, Jesus would be taken outside of Jerusalem and crucified.  By doing this, all the Old Testament prophets words wee fulfilled.

This story is told in the four gospels.  It is best just to read Mark, and by doing that, you will have a short, and brief description of what the other gospels write in detail. 

All the Bible leads to this man Jesus;  the Bible is not a book of science, and doesn't try to be; it is one story of how God created all of creation, and made humans in His own image and likeness.  It goes on to show how God so loved His creation, that God proved His love for us, by sending another Human, who would actually understand what it means to be human, and was tempted in everyway that any human has even been tempted.  Yet, this man, was filled with God's Holy Spirit, was because Jesus felt that love that was in God's Holy Spirit, that gave Jesus the courage to chose to do His Father's will, leading to the death of Jesus on a cross.  He had free will, so at any time, Jesus could have gone his own way, but Jesus kept going, empowered by His Father's love.  Even right up to the end, Jesus cried out, "Father, have you forsaken me too?"  He wondered if His Father would be faithful to him, and, it paid off for Jesus, because even after Jesus died on that cross, in three days, the greatest of all miracles happened, The Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, and Jesus walked out of tomb, to be alive forever.

Becoming a Christian, simply means that you believe this story.  Millions have not believed, but many millions have believed.  There is nothing to prove that it will happen to you if you believe, but for me, I have decided to believe, and that is my hope...a hope that someday, I too, will be raised from the dead, and will meet all those who have died before me.

It was be a terrible thing, if all of us have this chance to live and to learn about what it's like to be alive, and to make our decisions as we move on throughout life.  If there is no life after death, I won't know about that anyhow would I?