LESSON 2: WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ABOUT ITSELF.

 

Introduction

 

The Bible is the holy book of Christianity. It is the most precious jewel of Western thought and culture. More than that is the revelation of God to man. Actually it is a library that contains 66 books inspired by God, 39 from the Old Testament and 27 from the New Testament. It has 1,189 chapters, 31,103 verses. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by some 40 authors, including wise men, kings, prophets, farmers, doctors, legislators, among others. The Bible is the source of Truth (John 17:17), it will never go out of style (Isaiah 40:8). It leads us to Christ (John 5:39). It was inspired by God and the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:19-21, 2 Samuel 23:2). Therefore, one must not reject his teachings (1 Samuel 15:23). 

 

REVEALED BY GOD

1) Who revealed the Holy Scripture? (2 Timothy 3:16)         

All Scripture is inspired by God, and useful to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice.    Answer: God.

 

2) Who received the revelation? (Hebrews 1:1)                 

God, having spoken many times and in many ways in other times to the fathers through the prophets. Answer: The fathers through the prophets.

 

SOURCE OF GUIDANCE AND SOLUTIONS

3) What is the Holy Bible compared to? (Psalms 119:105)        

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.      

Answer: Like a lamp and a shining light.

 

4) What benefit does the study of the Holy Bible provide? (2 Timothy 3:15-17). And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is inspired by God, and useful to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, so that the man of God may be perfect, fully prepared for every good work.  Answer: Teaching, correction, instruction in righteousness and preparation for every good work in Christ Jesus.  

 5) What blessings does the Holy Bible offer us? (Romans 15:4)           

For the things that were written before were written for our teaching, so that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, we may have hope.  Answer: It gives us patience, consolation and hope.

 

6) How long will the Holy Bible last? (Isaiah 40:8) 40:8).

The grass withers, the flower withers; but the word of our God remains forever. Answer: Forever.

 

7)  What happens when someone ADDS or TAKES away words to the Holy Bible?  

+ You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you (Deuteronomy 4:2)

+ Every word of God is clean: He is a shield to those who hope in him.  Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you, and you be found a liar (Proverbs 30: 5-6)

+ For I protest to anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will bring upon him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life, and from the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book (Revelation 22: 18-19). Answer: if words are added we are found liars and God will add the plagues of the Apocalypse because we do not teach the truth and if we remove it, God will remove us from the book of life and the Holy City. 

 

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

1) Have a Holy Bible and read it every day (Deuteronomy 17:19)               And you will have it with you, and you will read in it all the days of your life, so that you learn to fear the Lord your God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to put them into practice.

 

2) Scrutinize it assiduously (S. John 5:39).                       

Search the scriptures; because it seems to you that in them you have eternal life; and they are the ones who bear witness to me; (the Bible talks about Jesus).

 

3) Accept it with joy and gladness (Jeremiah 15:16). 

Your words were found, and I ate them; and your word was for joy and joy of my heart; for your name is called upon me, O Lord God of hosts.

 

4) ardently practice his teachings (Revelation 1:3).

Blessed is he who  reads , and those who  hear  the words of this prophecy, and keep  the things written in it; because the time is near.

 

THE OPINION OF GREAT MEN ON THE BIBLE:

 

v Emilio Cautelar,  famous Spanish writer and politician: "The Bible is the purest revelation of God that exists."

v   Emmanuel Kant,  famous German philosopher: "The existence of the Bible as a book for the people is the greatest discovery that the human race has ever experienced."

v   Sir Isaac Newton,  famous English mathematician: "We have the Holy Scriptures as the most sublime philosophy."

v   Count Leo Tolstoy,  eminent Russian writer: "The moral development of man and child is impossible without reading the Bible."

v   Francisco I Madero,  Former President of Mexico: "I appreciate the Bible at its highest value. One of my greatest efforts is to work so that my people are enlightened and understand the great principles of this book."

 

 

THE BIBLE CONTAINS SCIENTIFIC ANTICIPATIONS:

 

* The Roundness of the earth:  "He sits on the circle of the earth, whose inhabitants are like locusts; he stretches out the heavens like a curtain, unfolds them like a tent to dwell in" (Isaiah 40:22).

* The earth hangs in the void:  "He stretches out the north over the void,

Hang the earth on nothing (Job 26:7).

* Air has weight:  "By giving weight to the wind, And putting the waters by measure (Job 28:25)

* The origin of the sun and the moon:  "Then God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and they serve as signs for the seasons, for the days and the years... And God made the two lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he also made the stars (Genesis 1: 14, 16).Scientifically verifiable: The sun in its rotation movement lasts 24 hours, generating day and night, in its movement of translation it lasts 365 days, in which the seasons of the year appear, all in perfect harmony   , nothing of the big explosion.

* The number of the Stars is incalculable:  God told Abraham to count the stars. “And he took him outside and said to him: Look now at the heavens, and count the stars, if you can count them…” (Genesis 15: 5). As the army of heaven cannot be counted nor the sand of the sea measured,...(Jeremiah 33:22).

* The process of Embryology:  "Remember that you shaped me like clay; and will you return me to dust?...You clothed me with skin and flesh, and woven me with bones and nerves (Job 10:9, 11 Because you formed my entrails, you made me in my mother's womb... Your eyes saw my embryo, and all those things were written in your book, which were then formed, without missing one of them" (Psalms 139:13 , 16) "As you do not know..., or how the bones grow in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God, who does all things" (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

* The origin of man:  The Bible says that God created man in his image and likeness... And God said: Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and I will rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens , in all the beasts of the earth...(Genesis 1:26-27). A famous author speaking of the stature of man said: "Adam, he was more than twice as tall as the men now living on earth" (History of Redemption, p. 21). Nothing of evolution and origin of man as a common antecedent of the monkey.

 

MY RESOLUTION:

 

I believe that the Holy Bible is inspired by God. I accept it as a rule of faith.           

I promise to study it daily. Firm: _______________________