God Speaks In The Holy Bible
Have you ever wanted God to speak to you?
Ultimately, all of us do!
God knows that we desire to have Him talk with us. He
could have chosen to spoke to us through dreams and visions. In fact, that
is how much of the Holy Bible was originally written (Hebrews 1:1).
Since giving us all we need to know to be saved in His 66
books, God no longer speaks to individuals with dreams, voices or visions.
Instead, the only place we get God's Word is in the Holy
Bible (see II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:21).
The Bible: God's Library
The Bible can be described as a library of sixty-six books
written by approximately forty people over sixteen hundred years. These
sixty-six books make up what is called
canon, a listing of Bible books approved by the church.
In order to be canonical (that is, considered part of the
Bible), Biblical books had to meet very strict criteria:
- they clearly proclaimed God's truth,
- their writings were inspired by the Holy Spirit,
- their teachings were consistent with other portions
of the Bible,
- they had been written by the prophets or apostles,and
- they contained no false or untrue teachings.
Books which met all these criteria were considered
"Canonical" and were accepted as authoritative by all parts of the Christian
Books that were not widely accepted by Christian Churches
are called the Apocrypha or
Deuterocanonical Books. Roman Catholic add some of these books to their
Bible. Because of their errors and false teachings, most
Christians--including Lutherans--do not consider the Apocrypha and
Deuterocanonical Books to be God's Word.
The Bible: The Old Testament
The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
The Old Testament begins with
the book of Genesis and ends with the Book of Malachi. It contains sixty-six
books, all of which were written between 1500 BC and 400 BC. Since all the
Books of the Old Testament were written before Jesus' birth, it's main
message is "The Savior Will Come."
Among the thirty-nine (39) Old Testament books are books
of History (Genesis-Esther), Poetry (Job-Song of Songs), and Prophecy
(Isaiah-Malachi). Among the authors of these books are kings such as David
and Solomon, an Egyptian prince named Moses, a fig-tree grower named Amos,
prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and others, as well as other "unlikely"
common--and uncommon--people whom God had chosen to bear His inspired Word.
Categories Of Old
||Five Books of Moses
|Twelve Books of History
|Five Books of Poetry
Song of Solomon
|Five Major (Longer) Prophets
|Twelve Minor (Shorter) Prophets
The Bible: The New Testament
The New Testament begins with
the Gospel of Matthew and ends with the Book of Prophecy, Revelation. The
first book of the New Testament was written approximately 45 AD. The final
book written was the Book of Revelation. Since the New Testament describes
Jesus' life and teachings, it's main message is
"The Savior Has Come."
Among the twenty-seven (27) New Testament books are the
Gospels (Matthew-John) which describe Jesus' life, death and resurrection, a
book of history (Acts), many letters to churches and individuals from
Apostles (including James, Peter and Paul), and a book of prophecy, the Book
Together both the Old and New Testaments have one
teaching: how God saves us by grace through His Son, Jesus Christ (John
Categories Of New
|One Book of History
of the Apostles
(Written To Specific Churches Or People)
Epistles (Written To All Churches)
|One Book of Prophecy
The Bible: In Chapters And Verses
The Bible is divided into chapters and verses. Chapter and verse divisions
the Bible happened long after the Bible was written.
Stephen Langton (d.1228), a professor at the University of Paris and later the Archbishop of Canterbury, England,
divided the Bible into chapters. Verse designations as we know
were first published in 1509.
It is important to remember that these chapter and verse
divisions are merely for convenience. Often, however, chapter and verse
divisions do not reflect the actual breaks intended by the author. Read more about the history of these subdivisions here.
Learning the Order of the Books
A good way to learn the order of the Old Testament books and the kind of
contents that they have is to sing them to the tune of the song "Did You
Ever See a Lassie."
The Books of the Old Testament
[Listen to the music.]
Let us sing the books of Moses, of Moses, of Moses,
Let us sing the books of Moses, for he wrote the law.
First, Genesis; second, Exodus; third, Leviticus; fourth, Numbers;
And the fifth is Deuteronomy, the last of them all.
Let us sing the books of history, of history, of history,
Let us sing the books of history, which tell of the Jews.
There's Joshua; and Judges; and the story of Ruth;
Then First and Second Samuel; and First and Second Kings;
Then First and Second Chronicles, which give us the records;
Then Ezra; Nehemiah; and Esther, the Queen.
Let us sing the books of poetry, of poetry, of poetry,
Let us sing the books of poetry, The songs the Jews sang.
Job the patient, Psalms of David, and the Proverbs of a wise one;
And then Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.
Let us sing the Major Prophets, Major Prophets, Major Prophets,
Let us sing the Major Prophets, there are five of them all.
Isaiah; Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations;
Then Ezekiel; and Daniel, the last of them all.
Let us sing the Minor Prophets, Minor Prophets, Minor Prophets,
Let us sing the Minor Prophets, there are twelve of them all.
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
print the sheet music. ]
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