Without a doubt, the Bible is the best-selling publication of all time. Estimates tell us between 5 and 7 billion copies have been sold since printing made the Word of God available. Billions; that’s amazing. 

 

However, the more interesting statistic than how many Bibles have been sold is, how many Bibles have been or are being actively read on a regular basis?  Some studies say somewhere between 5%-7% of Christians have read through the Bible, which of course does not include non-Christians who happen to own a Bible, or Bibles in in hotel rooms, schools, courtrooms, government or corporate offices, and Bibles which have been given as gifts and then placed on a shelf or in a box somewhere. That’s far less amazing.

 

What’s interesting, is that the Bible is likely the most loved or hated book in the world. Why would that be? Perhaps because we live in a broken and sin-filled world, and some people (a small percentage) want to know the truth, but most people (a large percentage) don’t. (For further thoughts on that ratio, see Volume 8: The Many and the Few in this series).

 

Publishers and those who seek to encourage people to read it have translated the Bible into thousands of languages and dialects. In English alone, there are over 450 known versions of the bible. One would be tempted to think with that kind of spectrum of availability, lots and lots of people would be readers and students of Scripture. It’s a great effort, for sure. 

 

Human will, or free will, has had quite an impact of whether or not people read (or even own) a Bible. Human’s don’t really like to be told what to do. They don’t like being corrected. They don’t like being told they are wrong, or that they’ve made a terrible mistake. It’s not their fault really – they came that way from the factory. We are all born with a sinful nature; a rebellious nature, and with that nature comes the belief: I’ll decide for myself what is right and wrong; I don’t need anyone (or God) telling me otherwise. This of course originates directly from the beginning of humanity in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Even disobeyed God, and took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (translation: I’ll decide what’s good and evil by myself; not God).

 

Perhaps if there was a better explanation of the entire Bible; a simplified overview for example, more people would read it. That’s what The Bible from 30,000 Feet hopes to accomplish. 

 

The simplest breakdown of the Bible is as follows:

 

The Old Testament contains the creation, the flood, the history of God’s chosen people (the nation of Israel), god’s blessings and curses, prophecies of God’s judgment, and foretelling of the coming Messiah.

 

The New Testament on the other hand, contains the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, introduction of Kingdom of Heaven, initiation of the Church, instructions to the Church, and the description of end of the age, including God’s final judgment and eternity.

 

Pretty simple, right? Sort of.

 

For the most part, the Bible is in chronological order; but not entirely. That is, not every book or its contents are perfectly sequential with regard to time. For example, the book (and story) of Job, which is the 18th book of the Old Testament, very likely occurs somewhere between Genesis 12 (Abraham) and Genesis 50, which is the time of the patriarchs.

 

Further, there are multiple repetitions throughout the Bible; the New Testament gospels for example. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (the first four books of the New Testament) are four variations (writers’ perspectives) of the same story: the story of Jesus. The events and writings of these gospels were occurring simultaneously.

 

Another example is the books of Kings and the books of Chronicles in the Old Testament. They cover mostly the same time periods, but are written from different perspectives and contains varying details. 

 

After the New Testament gospels, the book of Acts is the history of the beginning of the Church; not a church such as First Reformed Baptist Church of Stoneville, but rather the Church (which is also known as the Kingdom of Heaven), and consists of all who have repented and placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. If you attend a church where some (or many) of the members are true followers of Christ, then those people are a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. 

 

After Acts comes the Epistles: the writings of the Apostles to churches which they (or someone else) started, filled with blessings, instructions, corrections, warnings, and even rebukes. Most of these epistles are written by the Apostle Paul, who was not one of Jesus’ original 12 Apostles (minus Judas), but who was later chosen by Jesus Himself in a miraculous scenario detailed in the book of Acts three different times.

 

Most people understand the New Testament is where Jesus first shows up as a baby in Bethlehem, but that is not entirely accurate. Actually, Jesus shows up in many books of both testaments; in the Old Testament in a pre-incarnate form, and the New Testament in a fully-God and fully-man form. In the Old Testament, when you see the phrase “the angel of the Lord,” you’re reading about Jesus. Not “an angel,” or “an angel of God;” these are actual angels. 

 

In the following eight sections of this book, we will how the Bible unfolds the grand narrative of God’s creation, His covenant with His people, their disobedience and need for redemption, the fulfillment of that redemption in Jesus Christ, and the hope of eternal restoration. 

 

The Bible shows both the faithfulness of God and the failure of humanity, while offering the good news of salvation and the promise of a future new creation where God will dwell with His people forever.

Finally, the Bible doesn’t contain all of the details of every story and every person and every miracle and everything said or done. If God had included everything, we would be carrying around a very, very big book: 

 

“Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25) 

 

Sometimes summarizing for purposes of easy distribution and personal ownership is a good thing. 

 

May our Lord Jesus Christ be praised and honored and glorified by all that we say, all that we think, and all that we do.

 

H.K. Holevinsky