Revision as of 07:51, 25 July 2020

The Bible - one book

When you open the Bible and look at the Table of Contents, the Bible looks like a collection of books. There are two main divisions: the Old Testament, with 39 books (46 if you are looking at a Catholic Bible), and the New Testament, with 27 books. The books of the Old Testament were written about some special people that God chose to use to tell a story. The people didn't know it, but they were like actors. They thought they were living their lives just like we do, but God worked behind the scenes, so that everything he needed to tell his story, happened.

Then God chose men to record the 'play'. He gave them a very special language. It is called Hebrew. Hebrew is unlike any other language. Words get their meaning from the meaning of the letters. And the letters get their meaning from the New Testament which was written about 4000 years after the first Hebrew word was written.

Let that sink in. The letters get their meaning from something that wouldn't happen for 4000 years.

As men recorded the 'play', the history of people just living their lives, they actually wrote about Jesus and the cross. Every word they wrote participates in telling the story of Jesus. His story is hidden in childish riddles and word-play. The history is also a mystery. ^[a]

The authors knew nothing about Jesus. God quietly guided what they saw and heard in such a way, they they could only write what they wrote. He didn't force their hands. They freely wrote what they wrote. Because God was so involved in their lives, their writings flowed from their being.

God wrote his book this way as an analogy of how he works in the world. People live the way they choose to live, but God is invisibly and silently working behind the scenes to tell His story.

The Bible is one book, authored by God, and hidden in the writings of men.