Message Theme & Verses: Two Testaments
Memory Verse: Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
The Bible is a collection of many books telling one story from beginning to end. The Holy Spirit inspired many different men to communicate the truth of God in three different languages and in several different ways. Almost half of the Bible is told in stories that tell us to do something or act a certain way.
God tells the story of who He is and His plan for the world through 66 books. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. God promised to keep the truth of the Bible in tact so that even today, 2,000 years after Jesus died on the cross, we can trust that we have God’s word for us.
God wants us to know who He is and He tells us about Himself in the Bible. Whether reading poetry, letters, or stories, God has given us the Holy Spirit and teachers to help us understand His plan for the world. It is important as we read through the Bible that we see that every book and every type of book tells a piece of the story of Jesus. He is the hero of the Bible, the Savior who rescues His people from their sin.
The Old Testament tells of how God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created the world and put people in charge of it. Then, the people sinned against God by disobeying Him and wanting to follow their own path. The rest of the Old Testaments is the story of how God chose a man to bring hope to all the nations. This man would become a family and then a large nation because of the faithful promises of God. Eventually, the Savior who will set all things right, will come from this family line. But the Old Testaments stops before this Messiah comes.
The New Testament picks up where the prophets of the Old Testament left off. We begin with the family of Jesus, showing that He is from Abraham’s family, a son of Adam, and a son of King David, Israel’s greatest leader. Then, we see the life of Jesus, including His death on the cross for the sins of His people and His resurrection. Finally, the remainder of the Bible is instructions to the church and a look forward to when Jesus will return to judge the wicked and save His people for good. So, the Old Testament looks forward to Jesus and the New Testament looks back to what He has done.
We do not have the original manuscripts that the prophets and the apostles wrote. But we do have many copies. We can know that Jesus is a true, historical person. In comparison, we all believe the stories of Caesar, but we have only 10 documents copied 1,000 years after the events.
Even today, people are still finding ancient copies of Bible books. In 1946, a shepherd boy found a treasure of 900 documents in a cave in the Middle East. These scrolls were probably hidden in the caves when the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in AD 70. The Temple Scroll was among these papers and is a 2,000 year old, 8 meter long writing. Praise God, we see that through these scrolls kept in jars, that God’s word has been preserved. The writing on the scrolls are almost identical to the words we have in our Bibles today.
Barkadang Questions
1. How many books are in the Bible? (66) Old Testament? (39) New Testament? (27)
2. What 3 languages did the authors use to write the Bible? (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek)
3. Who is the hero of the Bible?
4. When was the Jewish temple destroyed? (AD 70)
5. Do you think it is good that the Bible has different types of books? Why? (People learn in different ways and have different kinds of lives. God wants all kinds of people to know Him. God wrote the Bible in a way for all people to understand who He is. God wants all people to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. Do you believe in Jesus?)
6. What do you think is the purpose of the Bible? (The Bible is God’s way to introduce Himself to His people. We can know about God, our Creator just by looking around at nature. Who made the trees and the mountains? Who put the stars in the sky and created all of the animals? God did of course! But God wants us to know more about Him. So, He wrote a book to tell us. Now, we can know that God is loving and kind. We can know that He is just and righteous. We can know that God forgives His people when they confess their sins. The Bible teaches us about who God is and tells us His plan to make all things right. He does this through His special people. God saves His people through Jesus.)
7. Have you ever used a knife or a sword before?
8. What does it mean that the Bible is sharper than a sword? (A sword cuts things open and shows us what is inside. The Bible does this to our hearts. When we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and shows us what is in there. We can read a story about someone who sins and think, “wow! Do I sin like that too?” We can read about God telling us how to live and know that we can never be perfect. Our hearts are open for us to see our sin. That is when we call out to Jesus to save us. We see in the Bible that He is perfect when we are not. We all need Jesus. You can ask for His forgiveness today!)
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