Last JudgementThe Bible

Copyright © 2003 Gene Brooks. All Rights Reserved.  HOME 
Powerpoint for this teaching here.
Page created October 2, 2003. Updated October 3, 2003

About the picture: Jesus, the center and endpoint of all the Scriptures, sits in judgment. Detail from Giotto di Bondone's fresco, Last Judgement (1306) at Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua, Italy

"Jesus Christ, our LORD"

Author: Bible is from Greek biblos, books.

Sixty-six books written over a period of 1600 years by 40 authors, yet the message is inspired by the Holy Spirit (1 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible is both divine and human, for while the words are inspired by the Holy Spirit, they were written down through the personality, culture, and world of the writers. It makes the Bible most fascinating. The revelation is divine; the expression is human (2 Peter 1:21). While written by many writers over much time, reading the text is convincing that it was produced by one Mind.

General Understanding:

The Bible is the world's best-selling book. It has been translated into more languages than any other text in history. While other religions have sacred books, only the Bible claims to have been inspired by God Himself (1 Corinthians 2:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). William Lyon Phelps, English professor and former president of Yale University, said, "I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women; but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible."

The Bible is divided into two major parts, the Old and New Testaments. Testament means "covenant," "contract," or "agreement." The Old Testament is the contract God made with us before Christ came. The New Testament is the contract God made with us about salvation after Christ came. It all hinges on Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament is the covenant of law. The New Testament is a covenant of grace.

In the Old Testament we had to maintain our own perfection. In the New Testament Jesus maintains His perfection on our behalf if we will receive that free gift from Him.

The Old Covenant failed because of us and our sin. The New Covenant is a success because of Him and His perfection.

One Testament leads into the other (Galatians 3:15-25). The New finishes what the Old started.

The Old centers on Sinai and Moses; the New on Calvary and Christ. The Old begins with God (Genesis 1:1). The New begins with Christ (Matthew 1:1).

"The New is in the Old contained; / "The Old is in the New explained. / "The New is in the Old latent; / The Old is in the New patent." - Augustine

In a real sense the New Testament cannot be well understood without the Old Testament. Jesus quotes the Old Testament twenty-two times: 19 times in Matthew, 15 times in Mark, 25 times in Luke, 11 times in John. The Letter to the Hebrews quotes or alludes to the Old Testament 85 times. Revelation quotes the Old Testament 245 times.

D.L. Moody spent many hours praying for faith. He once said, "If all the time I have spent praying for faith was put together, it would be months. I thought that someday faith was going to come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not come. Then one day I read in the 10th chapter of Romans, 'So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.' I now opened my Bible and began to read God's Word and faith has been growing ever since."

Location & Date:

Except for a few short passages in Aramaic (Daniel 2:4 - 7:28), the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. Because of the Jewish diaspora across the Mediterranean, the Old Testament was translated into Greek about 100 years before Jesus' birth. This was the Bible used by the early church. This translation was called the Septuagint. The New Testament was written in the Greek language, the lingua franca of the era.

BUT IS THE BIBLE ACCURATE? For centuries the oldest available text we had of the Old Testament was AD 1100. Then with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, we found texts of Old Testament books dating back to 200 BC! When compared, scholars were amazed that the texts were nearly identical. None of the differences which had crept in during those 1300 years made any material difference in the meaning of the texts. Scores of prophecies fulfilled in stunning detail show the divine accuracy of the Bible. Archaeology consistently demonstrates the precision of both the minutia of Scripture and its broad generalizations of ancient culture. Its internal consistency through the hands of many writers at dissimilar times and places and the changed lives across the millenia make the truth undeniably clear that this Good Book is indeed the Word of God.

Here we have a divine library, one unity among many writings, informing us of the ancient past and future events, with the center and end point being a Person, Himself the Word, Jesus Christ.

Key Message/ Verse:

Salvation through Jesus Christ: Genesis 12:1-3; Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:16; 10:10; Acts 16:30-31; Revelation 22:14, 17

"When we get a book from the library we would never treat it as we do the Bible. We would never think of reading just a paragraph, taking some ten minutes, reading a little at night and then reading a little in the morning, and so spending weeks, perhaps months, in reading the book through. No interest can be maintained in any story by such procedure. Take a love story, for instance, we would naturally begin at the beginning and read right through to the end.

"The Bible is not a book of texts - it is a story - it is a revelation, to be begun and pursued and ended as we start and continue other books. Don't trifle with the Bible. Don't divide it into short devotional paragraphs and think you have understood its messages. We must come to it in a common sense fashion. Believe every book is about something and read and reread until you find out what that something is.

"First we read the Book, not books about the Book, nor turn to the comments. Don't wish to put on colored glasses of man's opinions and then read through the interpretation put on it by other minds. Let the Spirit of God Himself teach you. As Johnny Cash is credited with saying, 'The Bible sure does throw a lot of light on the commentaries.'

"Read a book in a week. Now don't suppose that this is impossible. It is not. How much time do you spend reading in 24 hours? How much time on newspapers? magazines? How much time do you give to fiction? to other reading? And how much time do you give to television? Now the longest of the books in the Bible doesn't take longer than some of you devote to reading in one day." - Henrietta Mears, p. 21.

"The Bible can be read from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 at pulpit rate in 78 hours." - G. Campbell Morgan

Want to read the whole Bible through? You can do it in two 40 hour work weeks.

Chapter divisions were added by Cardinal Caro in 1236 AD. The Bible was the first work printed on the first printing press invented by Gutenberg in 1456 AD. Individual verse numbering was devised by Robert Stephens in 1551 AD.

Outline:

OLD TESTAMENT

NEW TESTAMENT

OLD TESTAMENT

JESUS CHRIST: NEW TESTAMENT JESUS CHRIST:
Genesis 
our Creator Matthew
the Anointed King
Exodus our
Passover Lamb Mark the Servant of God
Leviticus
our Consecrated Priest Luke the Son of Man
Numbers
our Lifted-Up One John the Son of God
Deuteronomy 
our True Prophet Acts  the Lord of All Nations
Joshua 
the Captain of our Salvation Romans  our Righteousness
Judges
our Deliverer Judge 1 Corinthians our Holiness
Ruth
our Kinsman Redeemer 2 Corinthians our Comfort & Sufficiency
1 Samuel
our Tested King Galatians our Liberty
2 Samuel
our Warrior King Ephesians our Reconciliation
1 Kings
our Established King Philippians our Joy
2 Kings
our Prophetic King Colossians our Life
1 Chronicles
our Covenant King 1 Thessalonians our Coming One
2 Chronicles
our Renewing Lord 2 Thessalonians our Returning Lord
Ezra
our Restorer 1 Timothy our Teacher
Nehemiah
our Restoration 2 Timothy our Discipler
Esther
our Intercessor - Advocate Titus our Leadership Partner
Job
our Redeemer Philemon our Advocate
Psalms
Worthy of Worship Hebrews our Indestructible Intercessor
Proverbs
our Wisdom James our Righteous Works
Ecclesiastes
our Meaning in Life 1 Peter  our Encouragement
Song of Songs
our Loving Husband 2 Peter our Strength
Isaiah
our Messiah 1 John our Life
Jeremiah
our Weeping Prophet/Priest 2 John the Truth
Lamentations
our Hope & Portion 3 John the Way
Ezekiel
our Resurrection Jude our Keeper
Daniel
our Revealer of Secrets Revelation
our Consummation & Triumphant King
Hosea 
our Faithful Husband
WHEN YOU READ THE BIBLE THROUGH

Amos R. Wells

I supposed I knew my Bible,
    Reading piecemeal, hit or miss,
Now a bit of John or Matthew,
    Now a snatch of Genesis,
Certain chapter of Isaiah,
    Certain Psalms (the twenty-third),
Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs –
    Yes, I thought I knew the Word!
But I found that thorough reading
    Was a different thing to do,
And the way was unfamiliar
    When I read the Bible through.
You who like to play at Bible,
    Dip and dabble, here and there,
Just before you kneel, aweary,
    And yawn through a hurried prayer;
You who treat the Crown of Writings
    As you treat no other book –
Just a paragraph disjointed,
    Just a crude impatient look –
Try a worthier procedure,
    Try a broad and steady view;
You will kneel in very rapture
    When you read the Bible through!

Joel
our Restoration & Revival
Amos
our Serious Shepherd
Obadiah
our Avenger & Deliverer
Jonah
our Missionary of Resurrection
Micah
our Disciplinarian & Deliverer
Nahum
our Stronghold
Habakkuk
our Answer
Zephaniah
our Great Revivalist
Haggai
the Desire of the Nations
Zechariah
our Soon Coming King
Malachi

our Message of Righteousness

TRIVIA YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT:

Verses (KJV): 31,102
Chapters: 1189
Words (KJV): 775,693
Longest chapter: Psalm 119
Shortest chapter: Psalm 117
Middle Chapter: Psalm 118 – 594 before, after
Center verse: Psalm 118:8
Longest verse: Esther 8:9
Shortest verse: John 11:35
Longest book in Old Testament: Psalms
Longest book in New Testament: Luke
Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the English alphabet except j.
Sources: J. Vernon McGee, Briefing the Bible; Henrietta Mears, What the Bible is All About; Larry Richards, The Bible Readers Companion;. GRAPHICS: http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/g/giotto/padova/4lastjud/lastj_d3.jpg