THE BIBLE INSPIRED OF GOD (2 Timothy 3v16-17) AND SO IS THE LIVING AND EVERLASTING WORD OF GOD
“Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.” (Psalm 147:5)
THE TOTAL TIME PERIOD OF HISTORY
OLD TESTAMENT:
History: Adam (Genesis c1 4004 BC) to Moses receiving the Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus c20 – 1491 BC) = about 2,500 years
Law period: 1491 BC to the last book of the O.T. (Malachi 397 BC) = about 1,100 years
God’s Silent period (Malachi 397 BC) to Christ’s birth (The Gospels AD 0) = about 400 years
Total Old Testament Period: = about 4,000 years
NEW TESTAMENT: From the start of the Church (Acts c2 in 33 AD) to now = about 2,000 years
The Lord Jesus will return for the church and take every believer to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53). There could be a time gap before the future period called Great Tribulation which will be on the earth for 7 years (Daniel 9:27).
This is followed by the Millennium when Christ will reign over the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4).
Then the earth will be finished (Revelation 20:11; 21:1; 2 Peter 3:10).
Total New Testament Period: = about 3,000 years
So the earth’s, and therefore man’s, total existence on the earth will be a total of about 7,000 years.
Therefore that is another reason why we can safely ignore all this talk about millions of years. Also we do not need to worry about global warming because God has said that the earth will last for at least another 1,007 years.
THE FUTURE ETERNAL STATE
After the earth has finished existing in its current state, there will be “a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away: and there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1). This will be “for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
THE OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY
Summary: From Adam to Abraham, who started the Israelites/Jewish race, and the Jewish history to Christ’s birth. It includes prophecies about the coming Lord Jesus Christ.
Genesis: This starts with Adam and Eve and the line of their children to Noah and the flood.
Noah continues the ancestry to Abraham. Abraham obeys God’s call to him and from him comes the Jewish nation.
Exodus to Malachi (which includes most of the Law books and the History books) trace the movements of the people of Israel out of Egypt and into Canaan and what they did there both by faith in God and in unbelief when they turned their back on God. Because of disobedience to God they were taken captive for a period to Babylon etc and some of them believing in God did return to Israel.
The Poetic Books are:
Job: Job’s trials of suffering, various reactions and the result.
Psalms: A collection of prayers, songs and poetry.
Proverbs: A collection of words of knowledge and wisdom.
Ecclesiastes: shows the vanity or emptiness of man’s life without God and that fullness of life is only found with God.
Song of Solomon: is a book about love.
The Prophets spoke for God to encourage the people to do what is right, both before they were taken captive and after they came back to the land of Israel. They also told of the coming Messiah, which was Jesus Christ.
THE NEW TESTAMENT
Summary: The life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven of the Lord Jesus, salvation, the life of the church and future events (called prophesy).
The Gospels speak about the Lord Jesus’ life, (Who was a Jew) death, resurrection and ascension to heaven.
The Acts speak of the history of how people became Christians through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that churches were formed.
The Epistles (letters) (13) epistles were written by the apostle Paul and were mainly about God’s blessings to christians, the church, how to live the christian life and some parts of prophesy.
General Epistles (8) speak about other blessings from God, how to live the Christian life and some parts of prophesy.
The Revelation is a bit about blessings from God and the church, but mainly about prophesy.
The Bible shows us:
- Who we are and the truth about life. This includes the world as all people have thought, said and done wrong things, called sin.
- How we can be saved from the everlasting results of our sin in hell and receive God’s salvation and everlasting life in heaven.
- That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the perfect Saviour Who died for our sins and rose again for our forgiveness.
- That in this life, by faith in Jesus Christ alone, we can receive God’s salvation and eternal life.
Therefore the Bible is worth reading every day even if there are parts that you do not understand.