On Sunday nights we’ve been going through this series entitled “Declaring Doctrine”. And we are basically just doing a systematic study of just the major doctrines in the Word of God. And if you remember, this is now our fourth week. We began in week number one with a sermon entitled “The Importance of Doctrine”. We talked about why knowing doctrine is important. Then in week two, we talked about the doctrine of revelation, how God reveals himself through creation, through conscience. Then we began to talk about specific, that’s general revelation. Then we talked about specific revelation. We talked about the doctrine of the Word of God. And tonight we’re going to continue with that mindset. But I want to show you Ephesians 4:14. I want to remind you why it’s important for us to learn doctrine. Ephesians 4:14 “14 That we henceforth” And if you know the context, you know that he’s talking about the perfecting of the Saints and the unity of the faith. And then he says “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,”.
And the truth is this, that you’re going to hear all sorts of different doctrines from all sorts of different people. If you’re not rooted and grounded in the Word of God, you can be carried about with every wind of doctrine. I want you to notice these words “by the sleight of men”. Think of a magician that uses a “sleight of hand”. It’s the idea of keeping something from tricking you when someone does a magic trick. And they’re actually just tricking you in some way. They are making you think something that’s not true and that’s what Paul says here about those who preach false doctrine. He says when you are carried about with every wind of doctrine, he says it’s by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And look, there are a lot of people out there like this. Whether you turn on the Christian radio station, the Christian television station, etc…Now our sermons are all over YouTube but listen, there’s a lot of false doctrine on YouTube. There’s a lot of people out there that want to lie to you and want to tell you false doctrine.
So we’re studying and we’re taking the time to learn doctrine on Sunday night because we want you to not be children tossed to and fro. We want you be mature, to grow, to be rooted and grounded in what you believe. And look, part of me was hesitant to even start this series because of the fact that when you tell people that we’re going to be learning doctrine, some might think that’s boring or not interesting. But it is important in the Christian life that you not only know what you believe but why you believe it. It’s important for you to know that what we believe and what we are leaning on is actually from the Word of God.
Let me say this, last time we were in this series, I preached a sermon on the doctrine of the Word of God. And we talked about the doctrine of the Word of God, how we got the Word of God, inspiration and preservation. We talked about illumination and all those things. Tonight we’re going to continue with the subject of the Word of God. And this is not a series on the Word of God, it’s a series on doctrine. But you can’t talk about doctrine without understanding the Word of God. And tonight’s sermon will be a little different than how I usually preach. I’m going to go ahead and give you that disclaimer. And tonight I’m preaching a sermon entitled “What is the Bible?”. And we’re answering this question, what exactly is the Bible? Now next week we’re going to talk about the reliability of the Bible. Today we’re going to talk about what the Bible is and how we got it. And then next week we’re going to talk about whether it’s a reliable book. Now of course you and I believe it’s a reliable book but we’re going to look at scripture as to how we know that it is reliable. The Bible is the most important piece of the Christian life because it’s how God reveals himself, specifically reveals himself to mankind and to us.
2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for” Notice the first thing on the list “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”. Why do we need the Bible? We need the Bible for doctrine. We need the Bible for reproof. We need the Bible for correction. We need the Bible for instruction. Notice verse 17 “17 That the man of God may be perfect,” That word perfect means complete or mature. “thoroughly furnished” That means equipped or ready “unto all good works.”. So look, if we don’t have the Bible, we don’t have anything. And we need to know that we have the Bible. We need to know where the Bible came from. So, I want to answer for you tonight this question, what is the Bible? What is the Bible? Now for some of you and maybe those that are newer Christians, you’ve never had somebody teach you this. This might be extremely interesting for some of you. It may just be review for others but that’s okay. It’s good for you to review the things that we already know.
Tonight we’re going to learn about what is the Bible. What is the Bible? And this is just by way of introduction. But I want to go ahead and teach you this and make sure you know this. The Bible is a book made up of many books. And I know you know that but it’s good for us to understand that the Bible is a book that is made up of many books. And the Bible even says this in Revelation 20:11 “11 And I saw a Great White Throne,”. Now I’m not preaching on the doctrine of judgment in this series. I’ll do a sermon called the doctrine of judgment and we’ll talk about the different judgments. All human beings will partake in one or the other one of these judgments in the end times. I’m not preaching on that but I just want you to know that the Great White Throne judgment is not the judgment of believers. The believers are judged in what’s called the judgment seat of Christ. The Great White Throne is where unbelievers are judged.
And I want you to notice what the Bible says in Revelation 20:11. “11 And I saw a Great White Throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.”. So notice, heaven and earth have flood away. Everyone will be at the Great White Throne. Now those of us that are believers will not be judged at the Great White Throne but we will be present at the Great White Throne. Notice verse 12. “12 And I saw the dead,”. These are unbelievers. Believers are never referred to as dead. If you’ll notice in your New Testament, whenever a believer dies, they are referred to as sleeping. You say why is that? Because you wake up out of sleep and one day at the resurrection, you’re going to wake up out of sleep. But here we are referring to the dead, those who are unsaved. “12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened:”. You say well what’s that? Well notice, then it says “and another book was opened, which is the book of life:”.
Now usually when we talk about this Great White Throne, we like to focus on the book of life. And I want to encourage you if you’re interested in learning because there’s a lot of misconceptions about the book of life. In our series on the seven churches of Revelation, we’re going to dig into this idea of the book of life. it’s mentioned in those chapters and we’re going to go through and study it and make sure you understand it. But at the Great White Throne, the book of life is open. And basically, everyone’s names of those who are saved are in this book. And at the judgment of unbelievers, the Bible tells us the book of life is opened. Because obviously if you’re saved, your name is there. If you’re not saved, your name is blotted out. But I want you to notice, it says “and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”.
And I want you to notice at this Great White Throne, we’re told that a book is opened. The book of life. But then it says the books were opened. And you know what is that referring to? What is that talking about? I believe that’s talking about the Bible. The Bible was opened. You say “Well I thought the Bible was a book. Why does it say books?”. Well here’s the thing, the Bible is a book made up of many books. In fact, you will not find the word Bible in the Bible. The word Bible itself is simply a transliteration of the Greek word “Byblos”. Now a lot of times when we talk about the Bible, we talk about translations or translating one word into another language. A transliteration is not the same as a translation. A transliteration is when you just take a word from one language and you just bring that word into another language. And that’s what the word Bible is. The word Bible is just a transliteration of the Greek word Byblos. And the Greek word Byblos means book. And the word Bible simply means the book. And it’s really just a book made up of many books, specifically 66 books. 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. The books of the Bible make up this Bible. And here’s the thing, at the Great White Throne, the Bible says that the books are going to be opened.
And I’m not preaching about the Great White Throne but I do want to just look at this passage and answer some questions. Because whenever we come here, people always ask these questions and I want to answer it for you. They’re going to be judged. Notice what it says at verse 12. “according to their works.”. And sometimes people will ask “Well wait a minute. I thought salvation was not of works. If salvation is not of works, why are these people being judged according to their works?”. Well remember that these are unsaved people. These people are unbelievers. In fact, go with me just really quickly into the book of Matthew. And here’s the interesting thing about unsaved people, generally speaking unsaved people want to be judged by their works. You say what do you mean by that? Well go out soul-winning with us, knock on doors, ask people if they know for sure if they are going to go to heaven. People say “Oh yeah, I’m very religious.”. What are you trusting in to get you to heaven? “Well I got baptized. Well I got catechized. Well I go to the confessional booth. Well I repented of my sins. Well I used to do this and I used to smoke and I used to do drugs and I stopped doing and repented of all.”.
Generally speaking, people want to be judged by their works. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 in reference to the Great White Throne judgment, “21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”. Notice what he says “22 Many will say to me in that day,”. In what day? The day of Judgment. The Great White Throne Judgment. He says “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,”. Now look, if you were standing before God and he’s about to throw you into hell, what would you say? I mean I know what I’d say. I’d say “Wait a minute. God you said whosoever calls upon the name of your Son shall be saved. You said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You said I had eternal security. You said that you forgave me of all of my sins.”. We’re not going to have to say that because God already knows your name is in the book of life if you believe that. But if I was standing before God and he was about to throw me into hell, I would say “The Bible teaches all you have to do is believe. Call upon you and that you would save me.”.
Now notice what these people say in verse 22. “22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”. Look, these are religious people that’ll be at the Great White Throne. They’re about to get thrown in to hell. And you know what they’re talking about? Their works. They say “Didn’t we live a good life? Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out devils? Didn’t we do many wonderful works?”. Verse 23, “23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:”. This is not that they lost their salvation. They were never saved. “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”. See, at the Great White Throne, the Bible tells us that the books will be open and the book of life will be open and unbelievers will be standing there (Catholics and Muslims and Jews and Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses and all sorts of false religions are going to stand before God). And say, but I lived a good life and I did good things and I prophesied and I taught Sunday School and I did this and I did that. And God’s going to say, “Well, I’m going to judge you based off of the books”. You know what I think he’s going to do? I think he’s going to open Romans chapter three and say “Well, let’s see what the Bible says.”.
Romans 3:10
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
And here’s what the Bible teaches, at the Great White Throne, they’re going to be judged by this book and by these books. Because the Bible is a book made up of books. And don’t let that confuse you. If you say “Oh, but he’s judging them according to their works.”. They want to be judged by their works and they’re going to be found wanting. They’re going to come short of the glory of God. So the Bible is a book made up of many books.
And let me talk to you about the organization of the Bible. Because the Bible is a book made up of many books, sixty-six books to be exact. And I want you to notice, and you may have never noticed, your Bible is organized in a specific way for a reason. Now I want you to look down at Luke 24. While we do that, the ushers are going to give each person a handout in the congregation. Luke 24:44 “44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written”. I want you to notice, Jesus is speaking about the Bible. Now I want you to notice what he says. He says “which were written in the law of Moses,”. And he’s talking about the Bible and he calls it the law of Moses. And he says this “and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”. And here’s what I want you understand, the Bible is a book made up of many books. And it is organized in our Bible based on categories. And even Jesus acknowledged this fact. He said look, while I was yet with you, all things must be fulfilled. He said fulfilled of me, which were written of me. Jesus would say what were they written in the law, in the prophets and in Psalms. Jesus divided the Bible into categories. Some of the Bible is considered law, some of it is considered Psalms, some of it is considered prophecy.
Luke 16:16 “16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.”. Now again, I told you at the beginning of this sermon, this sermon is going to be a little different tonight. It’s going to be more teaching, kind of like a college lecture. I’m going to try to spruce it up and make it as dynamic and applicable as possible. We’ll definitely have some application. But I want to begin by just explaining to you about your Bible. Because the whole point of this series is just to strengthen you to become a mature Christian who understands. Hopefully if you’ve been with us, you understand the doctrine of general revelation, specific revelation, the Word of God, the importance of doctrine. Now I just want you to know what is the Bible. And here’s what you need to know about the Bible. The Bible is a book made up of many books. And those books are organized in your Bible by category.
And you may have never noticed this but in your Bible, the books are organized by category. If you look at your handout there, I want you notice the Old Testament. When you begin the Old Testament you’ve got five books of the Old Testament to begin your Bible. Those are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Generally these books are considered to be written by Moses. They’re called the law of Moses by Jesus. And these five books of the Bible are called the Law or they’re called the Pentateuch. And the word Pentateuch simply is referring to five, just like we’ve got a building in Washington called the Pentagon with five sides. You’ve got the five books that make up the Law and they are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. So, when Jesus said things have to be fulfilled that were written of me in the law of Moses, that’s what he’s referring to; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. That is the Law or the Pentateuch.
Then you’ve got a section in your Old Testament that would be considered the historical books. And these are the books that deal with the history of the nation of Israel. These are usually the narratives meaning they’re the stories. Then you get into Joshua and Judges which are lot of stories. Because these are historical books, you’ve got the Book of Joshua starting from the death of Moses and the children of Israel entering into the Promised Land and conquering, coming out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. You’ve got the book of Judges which takes place after the death of Joshua. Before the children of Israel have a king, they are being ruled for about two hundred and some-odd years by judges. Then you have the Book of Ruth which is a story of David’s great grandmother. And it really tells us the story of David and King David. Then you’ve got the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel which begin with the first King of Israel, Saul. And it takes us through the life of David. 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles. It takes us through the kings, through Solomon, through the split of the kingdom into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and all those kings.
Then you’ve got Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. This is all the history after the kings, when they’ve been taken over by Babylon and by the Assyrians, when the kingdom has been brought into captivity. And these books are grouped together because they’re the historical books or the historical books of the Bible. So, you’ve got the Law or the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Then you’ve got the historical books (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, 1st & 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther). And those books are divided between Joshua, Judges, Ruth which is pre-King. Then 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, 1st & 2nd Chronicles which is during the Kings or with the Kings. Then we have Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther which is after the Kings or into the captivity.
Then you’ve got what we call the poetic books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). These are books that are poetic, poetry, music. Psalms is a book of music. Song of Solomon is a song. It is a book of music. Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, these are poetic type books. In the book of Job, you’ve got a narrative in the first 2 chapters and you’ve got a narrative in the last chapter. But other than that, it’s just a lot of going back and forth conversation and a lot of poetry. So, you’ve got the poetic books then you’ve got the prophets. The Old Testament ends with a section of all the prophetic books put together. And those books are divided into two categories. You’ve got the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. Now the only difference between the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets is not that one is more important than the other one, it just has to do with the size of the books. So, you’ve got the major prophets which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. And then you’ve got the Minor Prophets which are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And by the way, these books are placed in chronological order.
When you’ve got Isaiah’s prophecy, you’ve got Isaiah prophesying about the impending Assyrian takeover of the nation of Judah. Now that never happens thanks to King Hezekiah and to God moving the Assyrians to take over the northern kingdom. But they never take over the southern kingdom. But Isaiah’s prophecy talks about that impending doom and then in the middle of the book of Isaiah, there’s a shift where the Babylonians come in. And now it’s all about Babylon coming to destroy the southern kingdom of Israel. Jeremiah and lamentations are all about the Babylonians taking over the southern kingdom of Israel. Ezekiel, remember we just did the Book of Ezekiel last year, Ezekiel’s in captivity and he’s already in Babylon. So, these books are in chronological order. Isaiah is before the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah, Lamentations is the Babylonian captivity, Ezekiel & Daniel are after the Babylonian captivity.
By the way, the Minor Prophets are also in chronological order. You’ve got Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. A lot of these are contemporaries with Isaiah. And then you’ve got Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. You’ve got contemporaries with Jeremiah. And then towards the end there you’re going to have the contemporaries with Ezra when you get into Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi. It’s after the captivity. So, here’s all I want you to know and I want you to just be aware of this, that your bible is made up of many books. And those books are placed in order based on categories. You’ve got the law, you’ve got the historical books, you’ve got the poetic books, the major prophets, the minor prophets. Now that’s the Old Testament.
What about the New Testament? Well the New Testament is organized in a similar way. You’ve got the Gospels. And these are of course the story of Jesus Christ; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. They deal with the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. And these are probably the most important books in the entire Bible. The Gospels are kind of in the center. It’s the first thing you read when you get into the New Testament. Because everything in the Old Testament is leading up to Jesus. And everything after it is just referring back to Jesus. So you’ve got the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Then in a similar way to the Old Testament, you’ve got a historical book, the book of Acts or sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles. And it’s really the history of the New Testament Church and how the local church was launched and how missions were launched and how Paul took the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Then you’ve got what are known as the church epistles. These are letters that were written to churches Rome – the book of Romans, Corinth – 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatia – Galatians, Ephesus – Ephesians. Philippi – Philippians, Colossae – Colossians, Thessalonica – 1st & 2nd Thessalonians. So, you’ve got these church epistles or these letters that were written to churches. Then you’ve got what’s known as the Pastoral epistles. These are books that were written to a Pastor. And they’re basically about ministry. They’re kind of a manual for ministry. This is where you find the qualifications for a Pastor and a lot of just church settings. You’ve got 1st and 2nd Timothy that Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy. And you’ve got the book of Titus which Paul wrote to a young pastor named Titus. Then you have what is known as the general epistles. These are the epistles that were just kind of generally written to a group of people or to an individual. You have Philemon which is a book by Paul written to Philemon. You’ve got the book of Hebrews which we don’t know who the writer of Hebrews is. I tend to think it’s Paul. Some people disagree with that but it was written to just kind of the Hebrews or those who are the physical descendants of Abraham. And the whole book of Hebrews is kind of teaching the descendants of Abraham, the Hebrews, how to be New Testament Christians. It also shows how the Old Testament and the New Testament correlate together and how we connect the two. You’ve got the book of James which was written by James to a bunch of believers. You have 1st & 2nd Peter then 1st, 2nd & 3rd John. Then you have the book of Jude. These are known as the general epistles. Then you have what’s known as the apocalypse which is the book of Revelation. This is end times prophecy.
And again, I just want you to be aware of this. I mean you’re basing your whole life on this Bible, right? You should kind of know how it’s organized and the fact that people say “Oh you believe? You know the Bible is just a book.”. Well no, actually it’s sixty-six books. It’s not so much a Bible as it is a library. And it’s organized in these categories. And Jesus confirmed that because he said in Luke 24 there’s things written of me in the law of Moses and in the prophets. The Law, the Pentateuch, the historical books, the poetic books, the major prophets, the Minor Prophets, the Gospels, Church history, Church epistles, Pastoral epistles, general epistles, and prophecy or apocalypse. So, that’s the organization of the Bible.
Let’s just really quickly talk about the origins of the Bible. Where did the Bible come from? Now we talked about in the doctrine of the Word of God how God revealed himself through inspiration. The holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Then it was written down which is preservation. The same God that used sinful men to inspire his word, we believe that the same God can use simple men to preserve his word through writings. And we’re going to have a whole sermon called the doctrine of the King James Bible. And we’re going to talk about what we believe about that and why I believe the King James Bible is the inspired, preserved Word of God. Then we talked about illumination; how unbelievers can’t understand the Bible. God has to illuminate it for us through the Holy Spirit. Only saved people can really understand the Bible. What I want to talk to you about is just practically speaking. When we talk about holy men of God spake and they wrote, how did that happen? Who did that? The origins of the Bible, where did it come from?
First of all, I’d encourage you to just write this down. It’s just good for you to kind of have this knowledge. And it’s this, the Bible was written on three different continents. The Bible was written on three different continents. And we could spend the whole night just going over things but I’m just going to give you some examples. 1 continent that it was written down in was Asia. Now the nation of Israel is in the continent of Asia and Babylon is in the continent of Asia. Those are some examples. Look at Jeremiah 1:1 “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:”. Now Benjamin was a tribe in the southern kingdom of Judah which is in the land of Israel, which is in Asia. So, the vast majority of the Bible was written and took place in the nation of Israel. So, that’s clear. But I want you to realize that it’s not just Israel.
Part of the reason that I’m motivated to preach these sermons is because our church, you may or may not know this, our church has actually started four different churches. In September, our church will be ten years old. And in those 10 years, we’ve started a church in Vancouver, Washington. We’ve started a church in Boise, Idaho. We started a church in Fresno, California. And we started two churches in the Philippines. We’ve started five churches. That’s only the first 10 years. And Lord willing we’re going to have decades of doing this, starting churches, training men for the ministry. We’re training men for the ministry even right now. And I want the people and the men, especially that come out of this church, to know just basic things about the Bible. I want them to know basic doctrine.
So, here’s what you should know. The Bible was written on 3 different continents. Ezekiel 1:1 “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar,” Which is Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq. “that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”. So, he’s sitting in what you and I would call Iraq which is in Asia. The Book of Ezekiel was written in Asia. So, the Bible is written on three different continents. One being Asia. Another one being Africa. Numbers 1:1 “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,” Sometimes this is called the Wilderness of Sin. If you look at a map, it’s a peninsula that’s basically between the continent of Africa and the continent of Asia. This is where the Sinai Peninsula is and the wilderness of Sinai. But it’s considered part of Africa or part of the African continent. So, here we see that Numbers was given while Moses was in the wilderness of Sinai, while he’s on the continent of Africa.
Then part of the Bible was written in the continent of Europe. Obviously, Paul was all over the place. I’ll just give you one example how we know that he was in Europe. He was in Turkey and he was in Rome which is in Europe. And you know history tells us, but he tells us that in his writings as well. Philippians 4:22 “22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.”. This is Paul writing the book of Philippians while he’s in prison in Rome. And in the book of Philippians you’ll find the key words of Philippians. He keeps saying rejoice in the Lord, have joy in the Lord. He’s sitting in a prison and he’s encouraging the Philippian church to be happy and to be joyful. Kind of what we were talking about this morning about contentment not being based on your circumstances. It’s based on your frame of mind. And if you just have joy in the Lord then you can have joy anywhere.
Philippians 4:22 “22 All the saints salute you,”. And then he said that he’s telling the Philippians, he’s in Rome, he’s saying all the saints in Rome salute you. Then he is going to drop a name “chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household.”. And he’s saying Caesar, the Roman Emperor, has had some of his people living with him converted by Paul. So, the Bible is written on three different continents; Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Not only that, but maybe you can write this down. The Bible is written in three different languages. The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew and the New Testament was primarily written in Greek. There a few sections of our Bible that were written in Aramaic. Portions of Daniel and portions of the book of Ezra were written in Aramaic. So, when you look at this book called the Bible, you’ve got a book that’s actually made up of multiple books. And they are organized in different categories. And they’re organized by their categories. Whether they’re a legal book or a historical book or a poetic book or a prophetic book. And those books were written on three different continents and they were written in three different languages. And they were written in a variety of literary forms. And we’ve already talked about this, so I don’t want to talk about it too much, but you’ve got legal documents, you’ve got historical documents, you’ve got poetic documents, you’ve got prophetic documents. They’re different literary forms and they’re not similar in the way they are written. Because they’re written by a vast majority of authors.
And here’s the other kind of stat I want to give you. The Bible was written by 40 different human authors. 40 different human authors wrote the Bible in a variety of literary forms on three different continents in three different languages. And this variety of authors is huge. I mean you’ve got rich and poor, you’ve got politically powerful and politically connected and not politically powerful and not politically connected. You’ve got portions of the Bible that were written by kings or political leaders. You’ve got portions of the Bible that were written by priests and Levites that are basically full-time spiritual leaders. You’ve got portions of the Bible that were written by scribes. You’ve got part of the books in the Bible written by a physician, a doctor. You’ve got parts of the Bible written by Paul who was a scholar. You’ve got parts of the Bible written by herdsmen and fishermen. Our Bible is written by 40 different authors, from all sorts of different backgrounds, from all sorts of different places, with all sorts of different education, all sorts of different cultures. They came from three different continents and three different languages. And it was written over a period of some say 1400 to 1600 years. This is our Bible.
You say, “Well why is it that God would have it written like this rather than in 1 place, 1 language”. I think he did that for one reason. Go to Genesis 24:3 and I’ll show you a verse about this. Genesis 24:3 “3 And I will make thee swear by the Lord,” The word Lord there is talking about God Almighty, Jehovah God. “the God of heaven, and the God of the earth,”. See, our God is the God of the entire earth. H’s not the God of one region. He’s not the God of one section. He’s not the God of one location. He’s not just the God of the Jews or the God of the Americans. He’s the God of the entire world. Part of the Bible was written in Asia. Asia by and large rejects God. But you know what, God is a God of Asia and he’s the God of Africa and he’s the God of Europe and he’s a God of the Americas. He’s the God of the earth and heaven. He’s the God of all languages. He’s the God of the poor and the rich, the educated and uneducated. And for that reason, his Bible, this book, was written in a variety of ways. 40 different authors over 1500 years. Some rich, some poor, well-educated, not educated, well connected, not connected, fishermen, scholars, Kings, three different continents, three different languages.
And here’s what’s really interesting about the Bible. Wouldn’t you think with everything that I’ve said to you so far, that you’ve got a book that’s made up of many books, a book written by all sorts of human authors, written on different continents, over a vast period of time, wouldn’t you think that the Bible would just be a blog filled of ramblings and incoherent sayings? I mean could you imagine if we started writing a story right now. Let’s say I write part of the story and you’re going to write part of the story. And then someone over there is going to write part of the story. But we’re going to be on different continents and we’re going to be speaking different languages and we’re not even going to live at the same time. I mean if we brought that book together, probably a lot of nonsense and probably pretty incoherent statements. What’s interesting about the Bible is that the Bible as a whole is one cohesive, united book.
Luke 24:25 “25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:”. Some of the prophets were herdsmen, some of them were scribes, some of them were priests and Levites, some of them had education, lived over hundreds of years, multiple prophets, writing all sorts of different things. But he says you have not believed all that the prophets have spoken. And he says this “26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses”. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, The Pentateuch, The Law “and all the prophets,” The Minor Prophets, the Major Prophets. “he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”. Because from Genesis to Revelation, there is one theme throughout the whole Bible. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this book is a coherent book. It’s the story of one man; the God man Jesus.
John 5:45 “45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father:” This is Jesus speaking. “there is one that accuseth you, even Moses,” He’s talking to the Pharisees who are Jewish. And he’s saying look, you think you’re trusting in Moses. But Moses is the one who is going to accuse you “in whom ye trust.”. Then he says in John 5:46 “46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.”. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote about Jesus. Moses wrote of Jesus too. Joshua, Judges and all of these books have a scarlet thread that connects the entire Bible.
Go to Acts 10:43. “43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”. And here’s what I want you to understand, this Bible that you and I hold in our hands, this book that is really made up of 66 books that was written over 1,600 years, that was written on three different continents in three different languages by 40 different authors, it is one cohesive, united book about the Lord Jesus Christ. But wouldn’t you expect it to be just a bunch of randomness? You know that other false sacred books were written by one man. Now if a false sacred book is written by one man, wouldn’t you expect that book to be cohesive? The Quran was written by one person, Muhammad. The writings of Buddha were written by one person, Buddha. The Book of Mormon was written by one person, Joseph Smith. And here’s what’s interesting. If you read The Book of Mormon, it’s a bunch of nonsense. I mean it’s a bunch of just ridiculous stories put together. It doesn’t make any sense. You would think if it’s written by 1 man then it would have a coherent sense but it’s nonsense. If you read the Quran, it’s nonsense. You would think that 1 man, Muhammad, could write something that wasn’t just a bunch of foolishness. You’d expect them to be cohesive and they’re not. The Bible was written by 40 men and it’s cohesive, it’s united and it makes sense.
And we can go back and reference as I do in sermons and it all connects. People say “I can’t believe the Bible because it was written by a man”. You know what your response should be? No actually it was written by 40 men over 1,600 year on 3 different continents, in 3 different languages. And the fact that they could write a cohesive book should prove to you that it was actually written by God. 2 Timothy 3:16. “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”. So don’t let anybody scare you when they say “The Bible was written by man”. The Bible was written over 1,600 years on three different continents, three different languages, legal, poetic, historical and prophetic documents.
You say why would God do that? To show you that this book was not run by any one man. This is written by God. It’s God’s book. Now if you’re holding the Quran, realize that it was written by 1 man and maybe he lied to you. The Book of Mormon was written by 1 man and maybe he lied to you. This book was written by God. So, I hope you understand what we hold in our hands, this book is actually a book made up of many books, many authors over hundreds of years, different places, different cultures, different continents. The only way it can all be bound together as one book that makes sense is if God did it. And in case you don’t know, God did it.
Let’s pray.