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Saturday, September 22, 2012

The Bible is Book of Books because of its Central Person

Matthew 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

The Bible is the Book of Books.  It is the book of books because of its authority, its inerrancy, its unity and its prophecies.  Truly the scriptures cover much ground, history, and represent as diversity of writing styles while remaining unified.  From whence does this unity derive?  The Bible as God's written word is centered around Jesus Christ the Living Word.  As can be seen in the passage above, all history, prophecy, types and shadows of Old Testament thought culminate in Christ. 

When we consider the Old and New Testaments, we can divide each of them up into four sections in our English Bibles:

Old Testament's Four Main Divisions
1. The Law = Genesis through Deuteronomy
2. History = Joshua through Esther
3. Poetry = Job through Song of Solomon
4. Prophecy = Isaiah to Malachi

New Testament's Four Main Divisions
1. Gospels = Matthew through John
2. Acts
3. Epistles = Romans through Jude
4. Revelation

Now as you look at each of the testaments and their respective divisions, we can classify these two groups of four under four main headings:

                         Old Testament             New Testament
1. Foundations:   The Law                            Gospels
2. History:          Joshua-Esther                     Acts
3. Writings:         Job - Song of Solomon      Epistles
4. Prophecy       Isaiah to Malachi                Revelation

Now in considering each of the Testaments in their respective divisions, watch what occurs when we consider Christ as the central figure of scripture.

Old Testament
1. The Law points to Christ
2. The Historical Books picture Christ
3. The Poetic Books Personify Christ
4. The Prophetic Books Predict Christ

Thus by the time you get to the end of the Old Testament, you know that it is pointing to something, that something is pictured in various ways, that something is someone, and that Someone is the subject of prophetic thought.  

It is when we come to the New Testament that we discover the following:

New Testament
1. The Gospels portray Christ
2. Acts is full of sermons which preach about Christ
3. The Epistles Explain Christ
4. Revelation shows the Prominence of Christ

Throughout the Bible Christ is central, predominate and key to understanding all 66 books.  As He said Himself in Luke 24:37 and 24:44, the scriptures, in the whole and parts, speak about Him.  He is the Central person. 

The Bible is the Book of Books because it reveals the King of Kings.  Let me close today's blog with this quote from the last book of the Bible in Revelation 19:16 - "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."