Beginnings - Day 4
“Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.” Psalm 119:2
“Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.” Psalm 146:1
The Bible is:
The very Breath of God
Speaking the very Word of God
Kept by the very Spirit of God, forever!
The Bible is structured and divided and clearly marked for our good. Some who read this may not know anything about the Bible. This may be your first experience with God’s Word, so let’s start at the beginning.
The Bible is God’s testimony of Himself. It is divided into the Old and New Testaments. These two testaments are the two main sections of the Bible. We use the abbreviations OT for the Old Testament, and NT for the New Testament. The Bible is also referred to as Scripture, The Scriptures, God’s Word, the Word, and The Word of God. The Old Testament starts with the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which means “beginnings”. Genesis starts by saying, “In the beginning, God created…”, which is the beginning of all things, God’s creation. It is said that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are the foundation on which the rest of the Bible is built. That’s why it’s so important to start at the beginning, and then proceed through the Bible in the order in which God has given it to us.
The OT ends with the book of Malachi, which was written by the prophet Malachi about 400 years before the birth of Jesus. The NT opens with the birth of Jesus. The first four books of the NT are called the Gospels. The word “gospel” means good news. The four Gospels are more than just biographies. They tell us the story of Jesus’ birth, His life, and ministry here on earth, His death on a cross, and His glorious resurrection! The NT ends with the book of Revelation; in it we have the description of the last and final days of this world and the Glory of the world to come as we live forever with God.
I have been referring to books in the Bible, with Genesis being the first book. The Bible is comprised of 66 books. There are 39 in the OT books and 27 NT books. Each book is further divided into chapters and verses. The chapter and verse numbers were added long after the books were written. They were added to aid us in our reading and studying of the Bible.
The books of the Bible fit into certain categories we list as: Law, History, Prophecy, Poetry, and Letters or Epistles. The Bible is God’s great gift!
“Thank you, Father, for the gift of Your Word, the awesome testimony of who You are!, Amen”
