Knowing the Bible, week 3, Monday, chapter 3

KNOWING THE BIBLE

Chapter 3

THE THEME, THE CENTRAL THOUGHT

AND THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE

WEEK 3 - Monday

Bible Reading: Dt 8

Read and pray: “He humbled you, and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know it, to make you understand that man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord shall man live.” (Dt 8:3)

b. The Books of the Prophets During the Captivity

There are, in total, two books: Daniel and Ezekiel. Both were prophets during the captivity of the people of Israel.

c. The Books of the Prophets After the Captivity

There are, in total, three books: first Haggai, then Zechariah, and finally Malachi. Dividing the prophets according to the captivity period, there are these three categories of books. The earliest prophet, Obadiah, lived approximately in 800 BC, near 900 BC. The last prophet, Malachi, lived approximately in 390 BC, near 400 BC. Isaiah lived around 760 BC.

If we also consider Lamentations as a book of the prophets, there will be seventeen prophetic books, from Isaiah to Malachi. If we remove Lamentations, there will be sixteen. Some people have grouped the longer prophetic books, calling them major prophets, and the shorter ones minor prophets. In this case, there are four books among the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The remaining twelve books are the minor prophets.

B. The New Testament

• The Four Gospels: There are four Gospels. They are the first four books of the New Testament.
• Acts of the Apostles: There is a single book of Acts.
• The Epistles: There are twenty-one books, from Romans to Jude.
• The Book of Prophecy: The only book of prophecy is Revelation.

The four Gospels, Acts, the twenty-one Epistles, and the book of prophecy make a total of twenty-seven books. An easy way to memorize the number of books in the Bible is to remember that three times nine equals twenty-seven, that is, thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven books in the New Testament.

THE SUBDIVISION ACCORDING TO SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

This is the best way to subdivide the Bible and it is the way we recommend. There are three categories in the Old Testament and three categories in the New Testament. The nature of these three categories is the same in both Testaments.

A. The Old Testament

1. History: From Genesis to Esther, there are seventeen historical books. This section begins with the creation of the universe by God and continues until the Israelites returned from captivity to rebuild the temple and the holy city. This is the history and journey of God’s people before Him; it is all that they experienced before God.

2. Experience: There are five poetic books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. There may be some historical records in these books, but they are not essentially historical books. There are also some prophecies in them, but their main emphasis is not prophecy. These five books emphasize the spiritual experiences of God’s saints before Him.

If there were only history, in the preceding category, without the experience that followed, we could only see the historical facts without understanding the inner condition under such circumstances. These five poetic books of the Bible describe precisely the inner condition of God’s chosen people under various circumstances and experiences. By reading these five poetic books, we can discover the spiritual experiences of these people before God.

3. Prophecy: From Isaiah to Malachi, there are seventeen books. There are seventeen historical books at the beginning, and seventeen prophetic books at the end, with five experiential books in the middle, totaling thirty-nine books.

B. The New Testament

1. History: The four Gospels plus the book of Acts constitute the five historical books. The four Gospels speak of the Lord Jesus’ experience on earth along with the experience of His disciples following Him. The book of Acts shows us how the disciples testified of the Lord wherever they went. These five books are essentially historical facts.

2. Experience: In this section, we have the twenty-one Epistles, from Romans to Jude. These twenty-one Epistles speak of the experiences of Christians. The Gospels and Acts show us what Christ and the Christians encountered. They show us their activities, their movements, and their works. The twenty-one Epistles explain the inner spiritual experiences of Christians.

3. Prophecy: There is only one book, the book of Revelation. Whether in the Old Testament or the New, both begin with history, move to experiences, and end with prophecy.

For individual Christians, the order is the same. First, we have our history before the Lord. Then we develop some spiritual experiences during the course of history, and finally there is hope and anticipation of the future.

The Old Testament narrated in detail much history and many spiritual experiences, and in the end spoke of the saints being filled with hope and anticipation of Christ’s coming.

The New Testament is written in the same way. There are many facts and experiences, and in the end there is expectation and hope, which is the return of the Lord Jesus. No Christian can avoid these three steps: history, experience, and expectation.

Enjoy more:

Hymn - The Supreme Manifestation - "The Bride and the Tabernacle"

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