April 21, 2024

Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/1142686733457858

Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/2151740218495443

When I first became a Christian, I thought the Bible was just a little bit boring. I also found it very confusing! The Old Testament was filled with unfamiliar names, and a lot of times they were so similar it made it hard to keep track of the “plot”. I would be reading, and think that I knew what was going on, only to find a scene change without a warning, the plot that I was absorbed in abandoned, and a new sub plot emerging, with no rhyme or reason to my untrained mind. Or I would come across what seemed to be a repeating of previous stories, but with slight differences. And the genealogies! All the “begot s”, all those names, so strange, and at times so similar, Why???

The Bible is an ancient book. And yes, it is a book that is like no other! It is a story within a story, and everything has meaning. The names of people and places all have meaning, and God speaks to us through the meaning of those names. The ancient audience would have understood the point God was making with each name or word choice, we the modern audience often miss the point. But as we study this book, and as we follow the cross-reference system, we come to appreciate the genius of this work of literature, and view it as not just literature, but a supernatural work.

The Bible is a book that contains 66 books, it was written over the span of 1,500 years, by over 40 different writers from various walks of life, with varying points of view: prophets, kings, statesmen, military leaders, peasants, tax collectors, philosophers, fishermen, poets, musicians, scholars, and shepherds, a physician, and a priest. It was written on three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was written in three different languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. That’s a lot of variables, and yet the 66 books, and the 40 plus authors present one cohesive message; they all point to God’s faithfulness in the redemption of mankind, through the promised Messiah.

For hundreds of years archeologists have used the Bible to locate ancient civilizations! They used the Old Testament and the New Testament as a reference to set up their sites, and they found civilizations that “didn’t exist”, or kings that were a thing of “fantasy or bedtime stories.” Yep, the Bible said, “it’s here”, and they took their little shovels and dug and bingo, skeptics were proved wrong. Which means that the Bible is historically accurate.

God has proven Himself to be the all-knowing creator, in my opinion, through the many prophecies contained in this beautiful book. God has shown that He is not bound by a linear timeline, He knows the future, and broadcasted it through His prophets, and as you read the words in the Old Testament and watch that future unfold, it is amazing. Things happened just as He said they would. Kings and queens died just as He said they would. Men became kings, just as He said they would, kingdoms were brought down, just as He said they would be, and deliverance came in the form of Messiah just as He promised.

There are three-hundred prophecies spoken in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled every one of them. The time of His birth, the place of His birth, the circumstances of His birth. The prophecies describe His death in great detail, (keep in mind at the time the prophecies were given crucifixion was not even a thing), they mention the soldiers gambling for His garments, the price for His betrayal; thirty pieces of silver, and that not a bone would be broken. There’s more…three-hundred prophesies and all of them fulfilled by Jesus! Now the skeptic has claimed “well they probably wrote all that stuff after Jesus died”, but the first Greek translation of the Torah was written two hundred and fifty years before Jesus was born. Some might say “well Jesus knew the Torah, so He orchestrated it all”, ok that’s fair, maybe He could have brought about HIs own arrest and crucifixion, in order to start His own cult, though that is a bit extreme, but He could not have orchestrated where He was born, or when He was born, or  Herad’s slaughtering of the infants, or His mother being a virgin, or their trip to Egypt….so on and so on.

Jesus is a noted Historical figure. It is documented in history that People believed that He was the Messiah, and that He was crucified, and that His body somehow disappeared, and that His followers believed that He rose from the dead, and that he appeared to them. This all supports what the writers of the Bible claimed. I believe that the Bible is God reaching out to humanity, and revealing who He is…I believe it is His word. I can’t prove to you that it is, but after the reading the information I have shared with you, it should cause you to consider the possibility that it is. No other book can claim the fulfillment of over three hundred prophecies. No other book has been quoted as much, no other book has had the positive effects on society, and no other book can transform the heart of a man and change a sinner into a saint!

There is one promise that hasn’t been fulfilled yet, and that is that Jesus will return, I am waiting for that day. We’ve been waiting a long time, and there are some who scoff at the idea, but if all the prophecies in the Old Testament have been fulfilled, including the three hundred regarding the promised Messiah then I think we can count on this one! The question is will you be ready? Stay in the Word, and cling to the truth! The Bible is a book of “promises made, promises kept”, and we can trust it whatever the future brings, because although the Bible may be completed, God’s is still narrating the story!                         – Ginny Axelrod