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Biblical Encouragement in the name of Jesus Christ

 

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OVERVIEW

OF THE

BIBLE

 

 

 

THE THIRD COURSE IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE  BIBLE.  WE BEGIN WITH THE OVERVIEW OF THE OLDTESTAMENT.

 

We have divided the Old Testament into five sections.  Each section  begins with an event or person God uses to show His grace by giving us a special gift and ends with the unpleasant consequences that results when the sinfulness of people abuses God’s grace.  This up and down graphic illustrates this and gives key lessons to learn from it….

 

BEGINNINGS      ABAHAM     MOSES       DAVID        RETURN          

                     FLOOD     SLAVERY    DEFEAT     EXILE

 

KEY LESSONS:

 

1. God’s grace is greater than man’s sin.

 

2. Sin even for God’s people has consequences.

 

3. God’s chastisement of his people is designed to bring them back to Him.

 

4. The sins of a few affect the many.

 

5. The perseverance of saints even when suffering undeservedly is the mark          of true believers.

 

6. God never gives up on His people.

 

7. God keeps all of His promises in His timing and in His way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note also the approximate timeline of the key events and people in the Old Testament.  If you learn these you will be able to fill in the gaps in future studies.  It will also give you a feel for the context and the time period.  Obviously, this presentation can only hit the highlights but it is a good start to build on.  Begin by learning about the three key people of the Old Testament: Abraham, Moses and David.

 

AN APPROXIMATE TIMELINE IS……………..

Abraham      2,000 b.c.

Moses         1,500 b.c.

David          1,000 b.c.

End of O.T.    400 b.c.

 

We start our study with that period of the Bible from creation to the flood.

It is important to understand the beginning of the Bible in order to understand the rest of the Bible.  We begin where the bible begins….

 

LESSON ONE

THE BEGINNINGS

 

The first verse of the first chapter may be the most important verse of the Bible.  It reads, “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the earth”.   There are several interesting things about this verse.

*It is a simple declarative statement of fact.

*There is no explanation from a scientific point-believe it or not as it is.

*The subject is God not creation.  Creation is the object.  The greater creation is, the greater is the One who created it.                                                 

*It establishes God as supernatural.  When you accept a supernatural God creating all there is in the natural world from nothing, then you will not have a problem with any of the biblical miracles.

 

The Title, GENESIS, is a word meaning beginnings.   Let us look at the various beginnings in the Book of Genesis……….

 

THE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH in 1:1 to 2:3

1^st  day- creation of light v.3-5

2^nd day- separation of waters, above and below v.6-8

3^rd. day- separation of land and sea plus plant life v.9-13

4^th. day- separation of night and day v.14-19

5^th. day- creation of fish and birds v.20-23

6^th.day- creation of animals and humans  ch.1:24 to 2:1

NOTE: In v.27 man was created in the image and likeness of God which is why mankind is above all of the rest of creation.                                             

7^th. day- God rested  and called it the Sabbath. Ch.2:2 & 3

 

Then in ch.2:4 to 25 we have………

THE BEGINNING OF  HUMANITY:

Note that in v,15 God intended people to work even before sin entered into the world. 

 

Ch. 3:1 to 7 is……………….

THE BEGINNING OF SIN:

It is interesting that the first sin was eating fruit (2:16, 17).  Eating fruit is healthy and good for us. Adam and Eve could eat the fruit of any tree except the one the Lord forbid them to eat of.  This gives us a short definition of sin: SIN IS WHATEVER THE LORD SAYS IT IS – not what we think it is or what we can rationalize.    The only authority for defining sin is the Bible.

Next in ch.3:8 to 24 is……..

 

THE  BEGINNING OF SALVATION:3:8-24

Chapter 3, verse 15 is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ defeating Satan.

It is the Lord Jesus’ heel which will crush Satan’s head.

Then in ch. 4:1 to ch.5:32 we are introduced to……………

 

THE BEGINNING OF THE FAMILY: - Adam and Eve’s children……..

Evidently God had revealed in some way that He insisted on animal sacrifices for worship.  The killing of an animal was a substitute payment for the sins of the one offering the sacrifice. This pointed to the Savior’s death on the cross.  But Cain offered “fruits of the soil” for his sacrifice and it was rejected by God.  The problem was that Cain worshipped God on Cain’s terms not God’s.  We must always worship God on His terms as spelled out in the Bible.

 

This passage also tells of the long life spans of those before the flood.  We do not know how this came about but after the flood, the life spans became much lower. 

 

Then in 6:1 through 9:29 we read of…………

THE BEGINNING OF GOD’S JUDGMENT

The Flood was God’s judgment on the world for its sinfulness sparing only Noah, his family and the selected wildlife.  After the Flood, Noah’s three sons dispersed and settled in three general areas:

               Japheth – Indo-European

              Ham       - African

              Shem     -Semitic (Jews and Arabs)

The Flood was the consequence for people who abused God’s gift of life and creation.  Genesis also speaks of two other beginnings…………..

 

THE BEGINNING OF NATIONS in ch.10:1 to 32 And…..

THE BEGINNING OF LANGUAGES in 11:1 to 9

 

We should mention again that even though there is a lot of scientific knowledge that supports the Bible, it could not be a purely scientific book for various reasons:

1-     God is supernatural and science is limited to the natural world.

2-     -Scientific thought is constantly changing so any attempt to explain miracles in a scientific way would soon be outdated.

3-     Science depends on processes and events that can be repeated to prove its theories.  Creation was a one time event that can not be repeated.

4-     Every field of science has unanswered questions which has no known answers.  Man has no idea how big is the universe or where did the original matter come from that formed the universe. 

 

Evolution is accepted in many circles even though it is only a theory not a scientific fact.  It is accepted because the alternative is a holy, sovereign God to whom we are accountable and dependent upon and that they cannot face.

 

LESSONE TWO

ABRAHAM TO SLAVERY

 

The approximate date for Abraham is 2,000 b.c which is a rounded off, easy to remember date.  Abraham – 2,000 b.c.

 

Abraham was originally named Abram but after he was called by God his name was changed to Abraham, meaning father of nations CH.17;5.  God called Abraham to become the Father of the Jewish race by leaving his hometown and relatives and go to a land which God had prepared for Abraham’s descendants to claim as their own.  His original hometown was UR which is in modern Iraq. God also told Abraham, all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.  These promises of God were given three times in Genesis chs.12:.1 to 3, 15:1 to 6 and 17:1 to-14.

 

Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God (Romans ch.4, v.3).  He is mentioned in Romans and Galatians as the example of justification by faith and not of works.  Abraham believed God would fulfill His promises even though they would be fulfilled through Abraham’s descendants. One way to describe biblical faith is to say: FAITH IS OBEYING GOD’S WORD.  It is as simple as that.  We may not always understand it and it may be hard to do but we have to believe it is best for us.

 

Ch.11:10 to the end of the book of Genesis is centered on four people: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.   Abraham was…………….

 

THE BEGINNING OF GOD’S COVENANT PEOPLE-THE JEWS:

A covenant is an agreement between two parties with benefits, requirements and punishments for failing to obey the requirements.  In the case of God and His people the covenant is one-sided.  A perfect, holy, sovereign God has condescended to meet the needs of His people.  This definitely was not a covenant between equals. 

 

The benefits for the Jews in the Old Testament were primarily physical – prosperity, peace and long life.  In the New Testament the benefits of belonging to the Lord are primarily spiritual: salvation, righteousness and eternal life. The requirements in both cases are to love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strengths.  No one can do this perfectly but we are to be progressing in our spiritual growth. Deuteronomy Ch. 28 spells out the Old Testament blessings and curses of God’s covenant.

 

Abraham’s wife, Sarah, gave birth to their son, Isaac, which was a miracle because of her age.  Isaac had two sons, Esau the oldest and Jacob.  Esau was to receive Isaac’s blessing as to the inheritance and position of family leadership.  But Jacob tricked Esau and Isaac to get the inheritance.  When Esau realized what happened, Jacob had to run away to his relatives in Haran where he was eventually tricked into marrying two women:  Rachael and Leah.  Jacob had 12 sons and one daughter from his two wives and their two handmaidens.  These 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel and are mentioned in Ch.29:31 to ch. 30:24 and Ch.35:16-20.

 

God changed Jacob’s name to Israel in Ch.32.  Israel means striving with God which describes Jacob.  

 

Because Abraham had other sons besides Isaac, and Isaac had two sons, so, a true Jew had to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  God sometimes refers Himself to the Jews as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

Jacob, called Israel, blessed his sons on his death bed and predicted their destiny in Ch. 49:1-28.  One of those sons, Joseph, became the means of saving his family from starvation.  Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers because of their jealousy and ended up eventually in a high position in the Egyptian government.  Joseph arranged for his family to escape the famine in Palestine and move to Egypt where Joseph provided for them.  

 

Once they settled into Egypt, they stayed there for four hundred years instead of returning to the land that God gave them.  They disregarded their obligation to become God’s people in God’s land.  The Egyptians eventually feared the Jews and made them slaves.  They became helpless and hopeless as they became the lowest level of society in Egypt.  They were in need of a deliverer which is the next part of our study.

 

LESSON THREE

MOSES TO DEFEAT

 

The approximate date for Moses is 1,500 b.c. Remember Moses – 1,500 b.c.

We read of Moses in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses was not only the one who delivered the Jews out of slavery in Egypt but he was also the one who the Lord used to give them the Law.  The Law established the Jews as a nation with a government, a moral code and a purpose for their existence.  Their identity was in belonging to the Lord God.  The Lord made this clear in passages such as Jeremiah chapter 30:22 which says, “So you will be my people, and I will be your God.”  That is the theme of the Old Testament.

 

Moses was raised in the Royal Palace of Egypt because he was rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter.  His mother arranged this because Jewish babies were being killed by the Egyptians which is explained in Exodus chapters 1 and 2.  At age 40, he had to flee Egypt after killing an Egyptian in defense of a Jew who was being beaten by the Egyptian.  He fled to the wilderness where he was a shepherd for the next 40 years until the Lord called Him to go back to Egypt to deliver the Jews from slavery.  Moses then spent 40 years leading the Jews in the wilderness.

 

Someone has said, “The first 40 years, Moses thought he was a somebody.  The next 40 years, he thought he was a nobody.  The last 40 years, he realized God makes somebodies out of nobodies.”  Moses is a good example for us to follow.

 

The Lord did indeed deliver the Jews out of Egypt into the wilderness of the Sinai desert but because of the lack of obedience including Moses, they were not allowed into the promised land. 

 

Because Joshua was faithful, he was chosen by the Lord to lead the Jews into the promised land as recorded in the book of Joshua.  The Jews successfully defeated the armies of the land of Canaan which is modern day Israel.  Once the major armies were defeated by Moses, the Lord divided the land among the 12 tribes.  As each tribe occupied its assigned land, it was to continue to seek the enemy and make sure they are driven out of the Land.  The reason was the Lord wanted a land populated by people giving testimony to Him and there was to be no mixture of the Jewish faith with the false gods of Canaan.  Unfortunately most of the 12 tribes did not chase out the previous settlers and the Jews began to embrace some of the teachings of the false gods.  When Joshua and the men who served with him died, the nation of Israel lost the protection of the Lord because of its sin and the Lord sent foreign armies to conquer them.  The book of Judges is a history of  repeated cycles of sin – defeat by foreigners – crying out to the Lord for help and ultimate deliverance and then a repeat of the cycle.

 

Moses was the gift of God’s grace to deliver the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, but when given their freedom, they fell back into sin resulting in slavery.  The lesson here is that we are more likely to sin when things are going  well for us than when we are suffering.

Beware when you think you have everything under control, that is when you are vulnerable.  Once again the Lord lifted the Jews out of their despair but of course, they had to suffer some of the consequences.  Their deliverance is our next lesson.

 

LESSON FOUR

DAVID TO EXILE

The time frame for David is approximately 1,000 b.c.  This should be easy to remember when you think of the other lessons.  Abraham-2,000 b.c.; Moses – 1,500 b.c.; and David- 1,000 b.c.  This gives you an idea of the time between God’s gift of godly leaders and the struggles of the Jewish people.  It also points out that when there is an absence of godly leadership, people are more likely to fall into sin.

 

 David was called By God, “..a man after God’s own heart” two times in 1^st. Samuel Chapter 13:14;  and Acts Chapter 13:22.  He was a great warrior king conquering Israel’s enemies, unifying the 12 tribes and establishing the capital of Israel in Jerusalem.  He did all this in the power of the Lord because David was first of all a man who loved God and committed himself to God’s will.  David wrote most of the Psalms.  As a shepherd boy, he worshipped the Lord in song as he watched over his sheep.  His personal relationship with the Lord was his strength and sustained him in his times of crises such as his battle with Goliath and hiding out.as a fugitive from the jealous King Saul who wanted to kill David.

 

And then as it often does, when David reached the high point of his success,

he turned his thoughts from God to his own human desires.  The result was

adultery, pregnancy of another man’s wife, deception and finally, murder.  If

this could happen to a man like  David, it could happen to anyone.

To David’s credit, when he was confronted with his sin, he confessed it and

accepted the consequences.   Read Psalm 51 to see David’s confession to the

Lord.  David lost his Kingdom temporarily and his own family turned

against him even though he was restored but on a much lower level.

 

Eventually, the Kingdom he worked so hard to build turned from the Lord

and split into two Kingdoms.  The ten northern tribes became the nation of

Israel and was defeated by the Assyrians.  The two southern tribes were

called Judah and they were defeated by the Babylonians and carried off into

 exile in Babylon.  

 

The great beginning accomplished through the man after God’s heart ended with the people being carried off as slaves in exile in Babylon, modern Iraq.  Another one of God’s gifts.  But by God’s grace it did not end there as we will see in lesson five.

 

LESSON FIVE

THE EXILE TO RETURN

After about 70 years the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland, Palestine.  Actually there were three returns.  Two were under the leadership of Ezra the priest,  and the third was under Nehemiah.  The walls of the city were rebuilt first and then the Temple was rebuilt. 

 

It was during the time of the divided Kingdoms, the exile and the returns that most of the books of the prophets were written.  The prophets warned of the consequences of turning from the Lord and facing the resulting judgment.  Included in the prophets’ messages was not only predictions of suffering from the consequences of their sin but also, predictions of God’s grace in the future deliverance and restoration of his people.  Ultimately, this meant the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.

 

WE NOW CONSIDER THE OVERVIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

 

                                           LESSON SIX

THE INTRODUCTION

 

Scholars have determined approximate times in the New Testament by the references in the Bible to people who lived at times we do know.  For instance, The Bible says Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great and we know he died about 3 or 4 b.c.  Therefore, Jesus was born before that.   We also know that Jewish men would not enter into ministry until they were at least 30 years old.  Before that, they would have to learn a trade and Jesus was a carpenter in His early years.

 

We also know that the Gospel of John says Jesus started His ministry at Passover time and was crucified at a Passover.  In between these two Passovers, John mentioned two other Passovers.  These four Passovers

makes Jesus’ ministry three years. 

It is also interesting that the Fall of Jerusalem by the Roman army in 70 A.D.  is not mentioned in the New Testament which means the various books were written before that.  The only exceptions are Ist., 2nd, & 3^rd. John and the Book of Revelation.  Possibly the Book of Jude was also later.  It is supposed that  these books were written between 85 and 100 A.D. which was far enough after the Fall of Jerusalem that mentioning it was not necessary.

 

Even though the dates are approximate, they are given to help us to understand the timeline of the New Testament.  The timeline in turn shows the relationship between the major events, the dates of the books and the development of the Church of Jesus Christ.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Bible.  All 66 books in some way teach us about His person and His work.  One of the ways in which we see this is to see how the Old Testament prophecies of the Jewish Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  Realizing the hundreds of years between the many prophecies and their fulfillment is more than a coincidence. 

 

Consider these Bible verses….

 

OLD TESTAMENT        REFERENCE                 NEW TESTAMENT      

PROPHECIES                                                      FULFILLMENTS          

 

Genesis 3:15                   Seed of a woman            Galatians 4:4         

 

Genesis 12:3, 15:4, 5       Seed of Abraham            Galatians 3:16

 

Genesis 49:10                  Descendant from             Luke 3:33

                                      Tribe of Judah

 

Micah 5:2                        Place of birth                  Mathew 2:1

 

Isaiah 7:14                       Born of a virgin               Matthew 1:18

 

Isaiah 9:1, 2                     Ministry in Gaililee Matthew 4:12-16

 

Psalm 110:4                    Priest greater than            Hebrews 6:20

                                      Melchizedek

 

Isaiah 53:3                       Rejected by Jews            John 1:11

 

Zechariah 9:9                   Palm Sunday entry John12:13, 14

 

Psalm 41:9                      Betrayed by a friend        John 18:2, 3

 

Zechariah 11:12               Sold for 30 pieces           Matthew 26:15

                                      Of silver

 

These are only a few fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy in the New

Testament concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Another tool in understanding the New Testament is learning about the relationship between the Jewish nation and the Roman government.  The Romans negotiated their way into Palestine by threatening to use the force of their military which they eventually did in 70 A.D.  But initially, The Jews and the Romans had an arrangement.  As long as the Jews did not resist whatever the Romans did in such things as collecting taxes, the Jews could practice their religion and even have their own religious police force.  The Jews could even punish other Jews but they could not execute anyone.  This is why the Jews had to turn Jesus over to the Romans on trumped up charges to have Him crucified.  The Roman and Jewish historians confirm many of the people and events in the New Testament.  A Jewish historian, by the name of Josephus, who was not a Christian even mentions Jesus and His resurrection.  The hatred of most Jews towards Romans is brought out by the hatred of the Jews who collected taxes for the Romans.  The Apostle, Matthew, was one of those tax collectors, called publicans.  And this is why Jesus was criticized for associating with “sinners and publicans”

 

It is also interesting to note the different references to Jewish leaders.

The PRIESTS were the descendants of Aaron, Moses’s brother.  Priests performed the sacrifices and rituals in the Jerusalem Temple.

 

The RABBIS were the teachers in the Synagogues.  There were many synagogues but only one Temple.  Some Jews assumed Jesus was a rabbi.

 

The PHARISEES were the legalistic separatists who thought they were the only ones who truly followed the Law.  They criticized Jesus for associating with sinners.  They were the most “religious” people in Israel.

 

The SADDUCEES were the liberal elite who were the most wealthy and politically influential group. Because they had their own view of the Bible, they did not believe in the resurrection.

 

The SCRIBES were the religious lawyers who kept the records of all the interpretations of the Law.

 

The SANHEDRIN was the Jewish high court which passed judgment on Jesus.  It was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees even though they did not get along. 

 

These are a few of the things that give us a background to the New Testament and will be obvious as you read through it.

 

It is good to be introduced to the background of the New Testament but now we will consider the question, Why are there four gospel books, all telling the story of Jesus’ life here on earth?

 

LESSON SEVEN

THE FOUR GOSPELS

 

                             MATTHEW          MARK        LUKE          JOHN

 

APPROX. DATE            58 A.D        50 A.D.       60 A.D.       95 A.D.

 

 

IMMEDIATE                  Jews            Romans       Greeks         World

AUDIENCE

 

KEY VERSE                  21:5             10:45           19:10           20:31

 

TONE                            Prophetic     Practical      Historical     Spiritual

 

UNIQUE                        42%            7%              59%            92%

MATERIAL

EMPHASIS                    Kingdom     Action         Complete     Christ

                                      Is here                            record                   is God

 

Note that Matthew, Mark and Luke are all written about the same time and  they have a lot of the same material.  This is why they are called the Synoptic Gospels because they are seen together.  Mark was the first and the shortest.  93% of his material was repeated in the other two because they saw the same events but added more material.  The thing to keep in mind is that the Holy Spirit guarded each writer to write without errors but each writer had a different emphasis and a different immediate audience and that is why we have four instead of just one.  The differences in emphasis and audience is so the writers could address the main cultural influences of that day.

 

The contribution of the Jews was to give us the Old Testament which prepared the way for the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and His church.  The Romans gave us a single government that controlled all of the nations around the Mediterranean Sea so that missionaries could travel to those nations without any need for going through checkpoints or being denied access.  The Greeks gave us a language which became the commercial language of the Mediterranean area and was the language in which the New Testament was written which meant any educated person of that time could read the New Testament regardless of what country he lived in.  This was the only time in history that all three of these occurred at the same time. 

 

The proof these three gospels were written to these three cultures is found in their books. 

 

Matthew wrote to the Jews to show that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah who came to usher in His Kingdom.  This is obvious by looking at the Genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17 which begins with Abraham because he was the first Jew and they were only interested in the Jewish race.  Another clue it was written to Jews is the many references to Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies such as in 1:22; 2:15, 23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:24 and 26:58.

 

Mark is short and to the point because Romans were men of action and did not care about history or the Old Testament.  Mark showed that Jesus was the greatest man of action of all time.  Mark uses the word, “straightaway”-KJV or “at once without delay”-NIV 41 times to show Jesus was a man of action.  Mark has no genealogy and explains Jewish words, geography and culture knowing his audience is not Jewish.  Look at 3:17; 5:41; 7:11 13:3.

 

Luke writes to the Greeks because they thought that they had developed mankind to the highest physical level through the Olympics and the highest intellectual level through their philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc.  Luke’s genealogy of Jesus goes back to Adam showing Jesus fulfilled the ideals of perfect humanity exceeding anything the Greeks could accomplish.

 

John  is in a class all by itself.   It assumes you have read the other three because John was written 40 years later and its material is 92% unique.  His genealogy of Jesus goes back to eternity past because Jesus is God with no beginning.  In fact John emphasizes the deity of Jesus to clearly establish that Jesus of Nazareth is truly God and truly man which is a mystery beyond our understanding but is true because God, Himself, has revealed it to us.

 

Another interesting fact about the New Testament is Jesus’ selection of the 12 apostles.  They were by large, uneducated in comparison with the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They were fishermen, a tax collector and a zealot who wanted to fight the Romans.  Eleven of them were from Gaililee which was considered country people and not on the level of the more sophisticated people in Jerusalem and Judea.  In fact the 12^th. Apostle, Judas Iscariot the traitor, was the only one from Judea.  When these 11 ordinary men plus the Apostle Paul and others were empowered by the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, they turned the world upside down.  The point is not that the Lord only uses uneducated people as the Apostle Paul was highly educated.  The point is that the Lord uses ALL kinds of people.  The same Holy Spirit is in every Christian.  What does this say about what the Lord can do with you if you are willing?  We can’t be apostles in the same sense the original ones were, but we can be willing servants of the most, high God in whatever way He chooses to use us.

 

I previously mentioned that the three year ministry of the Lord Jesus was based on the four Passovers in the Gospel of John.  They are given in chapter  2, verses13 and 23 for the first Passover at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Then Passover is implied in chapter 5, verse 1 and specifically mentioned in chapter 6, verse 4 and chapter 12, verse 1.  The last Passover was when Jesus was arrested, crucified, and resurrected.  40 days later, He ascended into Heaven.

 

Scholars point out seven major events in the Lord’s life on earth that have great significance for us.  They are:

BIRTH- The second person of the Trinity, Jesus who was God Himself,took upon Himself the flesh of mankind to become our Savior.     

BAPTISM- Jesus identified with us so we would identify with Him.  Baptism is a means of public identification with the Lord.

TEMPTATION- He defeated Satan in the wilderness by resisting him with Scripture just as we are to do with our temptations.

TRANSFIGURATION- A little taste of the glory of Heaven.

CRUCIFIXION-Christ paying the price for the sins of all who repent and trust in Him which makes us acceptable in God’s sight.

RESURRECTION-Proof of God’s power to raise the dead which He promises to all believers. 

ASCENSION-Jesus returned to His position and privileges in Heaven where He now prays for us, guides His church and waits for us to join Him.

 

LESSON EIGHT

THE BOOK OF ACTS

 

After the four Gospels comes the book of Acts which is a transition from the Kingdom of God being primarily the Jewish nation to the Christian Church.

Consider the differences…………………

 

OLD TESTAMENT                           NEW TESTAMENT

ISRAEL                                             THE CHURCH

 

One nation                                         All nations

 

One land                                            All lands

 

One culture                                        All Cultures

 

One Language                                    All languages

 

This transition from the Jewish practices to Christian faith was a traumatic event for the Jews as many of them considered any Jew who became a Christian as a traitor.  Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, hunted down Jewish Christians to murder them  We read this in Acts ch.9 v.1 & 2.

 

However, Christians owe a debt to the Jews as they gave us the Old

Testament and most of the first Christians were Jews,  A controversy arose

because  some Christian Jews insisted on non-Jews to first become Jews in

order to be complete Christians.  This conflict in the church was finally

settled in Acts 15 by the church council in Jerusalem, the mother church.   

What they decided was that gentile Christians were not obligated to become

Jews as some were trying to promote.  But they were to respect Jews in two

ways:  one was to only serve Jews kosher food approved by them and the

other was to respect  Jewish customs concerning relationships with their

women such as marriage .  These were essentials in order to have fellowship.

Naturally, gentiles were also not expected to have the Jews abandon all their

customs, but just not to impose them on the gentiles.  The basic point is that

we are united on certain doctrines that cannot be compromised because they

are the essentials of our faith.  But we are to have liberty in the non-

essentials such as food, clothing, hair styles, etc.  Christians sometimes

become confused as to what are the essentials and what are the non-

essentials.  Salvation through the blood of Jesus is an essential.

 

In the book of Acts we see that the Apostle Peter became the Apostle to the Jews as he fearlessly preached to the same people who crucified Jesus.  And the Apostle Paul became the Apostle to the gentiles (non-Jews).  It is interesting to note that Paul was educated in the three cultures we referred to in the Gospels.  He was a Pharisee- a Jew among Jews, A Roman citizen entitled to all of their privileges, and familiar with the Greek language and culture having grown up in Tarsus.   One way to look at the Book of Acts is to say that chapters one through eight focuses on Peter and the Jerusalem Church whereas chapters nine through 28 focuses on Paul and his missionary efforts.

 

Chapters 13 through 28 tell of Paul’s four missionary journeys where he traveled around the Mediterranean Sea starting churches in the various countries he visited.  The rest of the New Testament is mostly letters to those churches and the people who worked in them.  So, the Book of Acts lays the groundwork for everything that follows.

 

Paul’s journeys are given in the following chapters:

First Journey                   13:1 to 14:28

Jerusalem Council           15:1 to 35

Second Journey              15:36 to 18:22

Third Journey                  18:23 to 21:17

Paul’s arrest & appeal     21:18 to 26;32

Fourth Journey                CHS. 27 & 28

 

There is much to digest in the Book of Acts but hopefully this will give you an overview of it.  Following the Book of Acts are the letters written to the churches and the people in the Book of Acts. 

 

LESSON NINE

THE LETTERS

 

There are nine letters from the Apostle Paul to churches:

 

BIBLE BOOK TITLE     WRITTEN TO               THEME

CHURCH AT:

 

ROMANS                      ROME                      Salvation by faith alone

I CORINTHIANS           CORINTH                correcting errors

II CORINTHIANS                   CORINTH                comforting/Paul’s credentials

GALATIANS                 GALATIA                Salvation by faith not works

EPHESIANS                  EPHESUS                 God’s Purpose for the church

PHIIPPIANS                  PHILIPPI                  Joy in all circumstances

COLOSSIANS               COLOSSAE             Christ is Head of Church

I THESSALONIANS      THESSALONICA     Resurrection of believers      

II THESSALONIANS     THESSALONICA     Return of Christ

 

And then there are four letters from the Apostle Paul to people he worked with:

 

BIBLE BOOK TITLE               THEME      

 

I TIMOTHY                   Instruction to Timothy as Pastor

II TIMOTHY                  Keep the faith

TITUS                            Sound doctrine and godly life

PHILEMON                   Request to Philemon to regard Onessimus the slave as a Christian brother.

 

The next book, HEBREWS has an unknown author but was obviously influenced by Paul either directly or indirectly.  This was written to encourage Jewish Christians not to leave Christ and not to return to their old ways because Jesus Christ is superior to the Old Testament way of life. Not that the Old Testament teachings were wrong but that they were preparing the way for Jesus and He has now fulfilled them.  Why go back?

 

The next seven books are letters that were written by the people who are named in the titles:

 

BIBLE BOOK   HUMAN WRITER             THEME

 

JAMES        JESUS’ HALF BROTHER       Good deeds produced by faith

I PETER     APOSTLE PETER                            Encourage suffering Christians

II PETER    APOSTLE PETER                            Warning against false teaching

I JOHN        APOSTLE JOHN                     Assurance of salvation

II JOHN      APOSTLE JOHN                     Christian faith leads to joy.

III JOHN     APOSTLE JOHN                     Spiritual health and prosperity

JUDE          JESUS’ HALF BROTHER       Defense of faith.

 

It is important to realize that the letters have a purpose and a theme and are best understood by examining their background.  Although they have an immediate audience, they are inspired by the Holy Spirit to instruct us as well as the people they were written to.  The themes given here are brief and do not cover all that the books say.  If at all possible buy a study Bible or a book that gives outlines of each book of the Bible and in-depth background information

 

LESSON TEN

THE REVELATION OF JOHN

This book explains that our Sovereign God has planned and will carry out all the details of future events culminating in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, the end of world as we now know it, and the establishment of a new heaven and earth.   It includes the final judgment of all people.  The key to understanding it is to combine other scriptural passages with the prophecies of Revelation and is therefore too involved for this brief overview.  Consult your pastor or Bible teacher for help in interpreting this important book.

 

SUPPLEMENTAL STUDY SHEETS AVAILABLE THROUGH BARNABAS FELLOWSHIP WEBSITE.

 

LIFE OF ABRAHAM

 

MAP OF ABRAHAM’S JOURNEYS

 

LIFE OF JACOB

 

TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL

 

LIFE OF JOSEPH

 

LIFE OF MOSES

 

MAP OF THE EXODUS AND THE WILDERNES WANDERINGS

LIFE OF JOSHUA

 

MAP OF DIVIDED KINGDOMS

 

OUTLINE OF JUDGES AND THEIR TIMES OF DEFEAT AND OPPRESSION

 

LIFE OF DAVID

 

KINGS AND PROPHETS

 

FALL OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH

 

THE THREE RETURNS FROM EXILE TO THE HOLY LAND

 

MAP OF NEW TESTAMENT PALESTINE

 

JESUS’ ARRESTS, TRIALS AND CRUCIFIXIONS

 

JESUS’ RESURRECTION APPEARANCES

 

OUTLINE OF ACTS

 

MAPS OF PAUL’S FOUR MISSIONARY JOURNEYS.

 

This ends our Core Bible Studies.  

 

We trust these studies will give you a foundation of biblical knowledge that you can build upon.  We hope you will keep your copy of these studies for reference as you fill in the gaps in the future. 

 

The most important step in understanding God’s Word is to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Then the Scriptures tells us that the Holy Spirit, who indwells all believers, will help us understand the Bible.

 

If you are not sure of your relationship with the Lord and want to belong to Him, pray a simple prayer such as this:

 

Lord Jesus I come to you confessing my sin realizing I deserve your wrath.  I believe you died to pay the penalty for my sin and I ask you to come into my heart, change me, and help me to live for you.

 

If you have prayed this prayer or would like help in continuing your study of God’s Holy Word, the Bible, contact Barnabas Fellowship.

 

 

Written by Rev. Gene Mullen, Barnabas Fellowship