Description of the Holy Bible – Part 17

Reasons For Study of Bible cont.’
The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines ‘history’ as “all the events that happened in the past”. The Bible simply starts with the creation story with the words “In the beginning God… created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Genesis means “beginnings” or origin, and unfolds the record of the beginning of the world, of human history, of family, of civilization, of salvation. The Bible is the story of God’s purpose and plan for His creation (Gen 1:1 is not the beginning of the existence of God).

History of Jesus
It is critical to note that the history of Jesus in the Bible is not His “history” in the true sense of the word because Jesus existed before the Bible was written. The uniqueness of Jesus is that He confronts us with the reality of the infinite.
The New Testament has much to say about the fact that Jesus Christ existed before He appeared here. Every other human being has emerged from history. Jesus is the only one who has ever come into history. The Bible starts with this statement “In the beginning God created…” (Gen 1:1). “God” in Genesis 1:1 is Jesus (Jn 1:1). The Bible does not tell us when God started to exist. As Jesus Himself has declared: “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (Jn 8:58). He passed from the infinite into the finite, out of the eternal into the temporal. Jesus Himself said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8). It is also of utmost importance to know that the Great “I AM” (Ex 3:14) in the OT is Jesus Christ hidden in every page of the OT.

(See the article on Jesus in the OT). When Jesus appeared to two believers travelling on the Road after His resurrection He said…
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets spoken! 26Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:35)

Beginning with the promised offspring in Genesis (Genesis 3:15) and going through the suffering servant in Isaiah (Isaiah 53), the pierced one in Zachariah (Zachariah 12:10), and the messenger of the covenant in Malachi (Malachi 3:1), Jesus reintroduced these disciples to the Old Testament. Christ is the thread woven through all the Scriptures, the central theme that binds them together. Following are several key passages Jesus may have mentioned on this walk to Emmaus: Genesis 3; 12; Psalms 22; 69; 110; Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 31; Zechariah 9; 13; Malachi 3.
“For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev 19:10)

Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Ultimately, all prophecy is related to Jesus and His redemptive work and exalts Him.
Jesus reproved those in His day who searched the Scriptures but did not recognise that they bear witness to Him. (John 5:39).

Nobody knows the beginning of God or His end
Therefore, note very carefully, the terms anno Domini (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin, which means in the year of the Lord but is often translated as in the year of our Lord. It is occasionally set out more fully as anno Domini nostril Iesu (or Jesu) Christi (“in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ”).

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