ACCURATE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE  .  

 
QUESTION: “NOW I’M A CHRISTIAN …

                       1. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIBLE
                       2. HOW DO I READ AND STUDY THE BIBLE?”

1. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BIBLE

THE KING JAMES BIBLE IS SIMPLY A 7,000 YEAR HISTORY BOOK OF PURE FACTS.

It begins at creation (4,000 BC) and goes 1,000 years past the rapture (shortly to happen).

It is written by God assisted by 44 earthly authors, over 1600 years on three continents.

The Bible declares past, present and future history.
One third of the Bible is prophecy that fore-tells of events before they happen.
It is a book crammed full of facts and figures, dates, times, places, events, names, amounts, quantities, people. All factual and verifiable.

In the Bible, God declares (states without contradiction) who he was, is and will be.
In the Bible, God states what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do.

This is despite what anyone thinks or believes.

He was, is, and will be, judge, jury, executioner and, of course, the Saviour of the world.

The Bible has two parts – the Old Testament and the New Testament.

(A “testament” is simply a testifying or declaration.)

9THE OLD TESTAMENT is about the nation of Israel with three basic promises:

1. God’s promise to Abraham that in his seed all nations should be blessed.

2. God’s covenant (agreement) with the Hebrew nation, that if they would faithfully serve him, they would prosper as a nation. If they forsook him and served idols, which they did, they would be destroyed as a nation, which they were. However, God declares they will be rescued out of every nation, and brought back to the land of Israel in the end times.

3. God’s promise to David that out of his family would come the great Messiah of israel and Saviour of the world who would establish his universal kingdom without end.

THE NEW TESTAMENT is about this Messiah and the world’s Saviour, the man Jesus Christ. It’s divided into two parts – Christ as a man on earth who came for the Jews (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Christ back in heaven with the Apostle Paul writing 13 books (Romans to Philemon) to the Christian churches.

 THE SUBJECT OF THE BIBLE IS JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ comes out of heaven three times:

 1.   Jesus Christ has already come the first time as the Son of man and ending at the cross.

2.   Jesus Christ will come the second time in the air at the rapture of all true Christians.

3.   Jesus Christ will come the third time, at Armageddon, as the Son of man.

 
The theme of the Bible is the return of Jesus Christ to sit on the Jewish throne of David in Jerusalem. (See Revelation chapter 19)

 Between the first and the third comings, there is a section in the middle of about 2,000 years.

This is commonly called the ‘church’ age, the end of which, Christ appears at the rapture, with all true Christians being physically caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Between the rapture and Armageddon, God pours out his wrath on the earth for seven years. This is called the time of great tribulation ending with the battle of Armageddon on the plain of Megiddo in Northern Israel. This battle has God rescuing Israel from all the attacking nations of the world.

  A VERY BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE 7,000 YEARS OF THE BIBLE
God creates man (Adam) and places him in the garden of Eden around 4,000BC (BC means before Christ). This is approximately where Kuwait is today and is where the two rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates flow into the Persian Gulf. Adam and Eve, being real people and the parents of us all, sinned and fell from the perfect creatures God had made them to be. They were cast (removed) out of the garden. The world then becomes dreadfully evil and after 1760 years God destroys the world with Noah’s flood (2340BC) but eight people are saved in the ark.
God then separates man into the different races with different languages at the tower of Babel and they go in all directions. God then divides the one huge land mass (2,000BC), that existed then, into the various continents we have today, with the various races on each continent.

God starts again and chooses Abraham (1876BC) and takes him out of Babylon into the land of Canaan. Abraham’s descendants migrate down to Egypt (1661BC) and grow to become a large nation for 70 years. Then after a further 144 years of brutal slavery, God leads them out of Egypt under Moses (the Exodus), where they wander for forty years in the desert. They enter their promised land of Canaan (1406BC) and are ruled by a series of Judges for a few hundred years while fighting the surrounding nations.

After the reign of the kings of Saul, David and Solomon (40 years each), the nation is divided (930BC). For the next 324 years, these two kingdoms are ruled by various kings and spoken to by various prophets. These accounts are found in the Old Testament in the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and the 16 prophets. The North part, the ten tribes, called Israel, lasts about 200 years and is taken captive by Assyria in 722BC. The South part, called Judah, lasts a little longer, and in 606BC, is carried away captive by Babylon. A remnant return in 536BC to re-establish their national life. They build their temple under Haggai and Zechariah (516BC) and Jerusalem’s wall is completed by Nehemiah (430BC). Around 420BC the prophet Malachi delivers God’s last words to the nation.

Soon after the Old Testament is closed. This completes the first 4,000 years shown on the chart.
After 400 years, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, appears. He lives a sinless life, dies for the sins of man and rises from the dead. He commanded his disciples to preach the story of his life and the redeeming power of his blood to all nations.

The gospel of salvation with eternal security is found in the 14 books of the New Testament in the writings of the apostle Paul.

Shortly, there will be the rapture, where all true Christians will be taken off the earth to meet the Lord in the air, and a period of 7 years, called the Tribulation, will follow, where God will pour out his wrath upon the earth. This ends at the battle of Armageddon in the North of Israel, where God rescues Israel from its enemies - all nations of the earth.

Christ then rules and reigns with all true believers for 1,000 years, after which the universe is melted and destroyed, and a new heaven and a new earth, along with a new universe, is created for ever more and preserved in a sinless state.          

JESUS CHRIST, WHO “WAS”, AND “IS”, AND “IS TO COME” (Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8)

 
2. HOW DO I READ AND STUDY THE BIBLE?

 JUST START!!
… with an exercise book and pen to write down all your questions of who, what, why, where and how.

To find out how to live as a Christian read Paul’s thirteen books to the churches of Romans to Philemon … to instruct and correct the churches.

Christians get their pure doctrine from the Apostle Paul as he says to follow him as he follows Christ (1Cor 11:1).

To find out about Jesus Christ’s life as a Jew on earth, read the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The first three are more of the history of the Christ as a man on earth, the Son of man, whereas John is more of the mystery of Christ as the Son of God.

Christ was not a Christian but a pork abstaining, Sabbath worshipping, temple attending Jew who came to fulfil the Ten Commandments.

Christians do not follow Christ directly as a Jew but we follow Paul as he follows Christ.

As Christians have been placed into Christ himself, Paul gives us commandments to help our characters to be more like Christ.

Matthew has Christ’s rules for the kingdom of heaven for the Jew on earth (The Sermon on the Mount Matt 5-7).

Acts is an account of Christ’s apostles with the transition from Peter to Paul and his four trips establishing Christian churches around the Mediterranean Sea.

Not for Christian doctrine as it is a ‘mixed soup’ of about 15 years after the cross to Paul writing his first book to the Galatians around 50AD.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the books of Acts are NOT for Christian doctrine… with the first four being Jewish and Acts being a mixture.

Romans is the pure Christian Manifesto of sin, salvation and righteous living.  

Paul writes 3 more books to Timothy and Titus … to Christian elders

Paul writes to the Hebrews who were thinking about becoming Christians.

Peter writes 1&2 Peter … hints and tips for Christians

John writes 1, 2, 3 John … about Christian love and living as a Christian  

John writes the Revelation of the seven-year tribulation after the rapture.

**** ****

Harley Hitchcock

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