Why did God bother to write a book, preserve and protect it through centuries of human attempts to destroy it, have it published in almost as many languages as are spoken on earth, and make it freely available at no cost, on the World Wide Web, to the whole world? Is this book so important and so valuable to the world that He took the trouble to do all this for us?
The answer is “Yes,” and “Yes”! The Bible is the only source of information about God, us, and His world that makes sense, is true, and can change our lives and destiny forever.
The marvel of the Bible in our digital age is that it is freely available in a variety of translations and versions online and free of charge to anyone who owns a smart phone. This gives nearly the whole world access to the Word of God and its message.
Why is this so important?
The Bible is the story of John 3:16…
“[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The story of this book is the one and only thing that stands between heaven and hell, the eternal destiny of those who read it and believe it and those who don’t read it and don’t believe its message.
That’s one great reason the Bible is the greatest story ever told!
The Bible answers, in a simple story, the problem of evil. Evil is a reality in the world. Despite the insistence of those who punt evolution as the origin and process of the universe and our world, evolution cannot answer the issues of psyche, morality, and ethics. Their origins are a mystery apart from a Creator outside of time and space, who created humans in His likeness. How did evil happen on earth? God gave humans the power of choice. With free will came the responsibility to remain connected to the Creator and live functionally or to disconnect and enter the realm of chaos and dysfunctionality. What we have now is the result of the choice the first pair made.
The Bible tells the story of the nations…how they came from one pair, why we have nations who speak different languages, how the nations were divided and scattered across the globe, where the nation of Israel originated and why Israel is the cradle and environment of the story.
The Bible is the story of one man, told by many over several millennia, who came from heaven, entered earth as a human baby, and lived, died, and rise again, here. He came to rescue humankind from the plight humans created for themselves through their rebellion and disobedience. Despite the Creator’s patience and longsuffering, the story of God’s own nation continued into disaster, punishment, exile, and return. This was, all a preparation…of God’s nation and the nations on earth, to receive His man for the hour.
After the interlude of His life on earth, this man’s intervention resulted in the radical transformation of thousands of His followers. In fact, this global movement, as it came to be, was initially called “The Way”. Spearheaded by the few men who were His close associates and were witnesses to His resurrection, despite fierce opposition from the Gentile government ruling vassal nations and the fanatical religious Jews, the movement spread around the known world.
Over a period time, manuscripts recording the story across centuries, were collected and evaluated by godly and wise men as divinely inspired. They were gathered into two volumes, first the Tanach, the Jewish Scriptures, then the stories of Jesus, and interpretations of His life, death, and resurrection, in the form of letters, called the New Testament.
Finally, these two volumes were joined together to become one story and entitled “The Bible”. The entire process, involving the minds of many godly men applied to their sacred task, was God-inspired and God-directed. It was a partnership of God and man to prepare and preserve God’s story which presents the only way for humans doomed to eternal destruction to be reconciled to a holy God.
The marvels of this story are many…
Although written in human language using a variety of letters and words, this book has power to transform the lives of those who believe its message. Its power lies both in and beyond its words.
2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
[16] “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”
1 Peter 1:22-23 NIV
[22] “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. [23] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
[12] “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
No other book on earth has the power to transform, not reform, people from rebels to sons, and to guide and teach those who believe its message into peaceful and godly living.
No other book has garnered so many enemies and survived so many efforts to exterminate it from the earth. Why do people fear this book so much that they want to rid the earth of its presence? It had been burned and banned, and yet it lives on. It is both loved and hated by miliions.
Those who believe this book have deeper understanding of what is written than those who don’t. Its message makes no sense to unbelievers for one reason…
1 Corinthians 2:13-14 NIV
[13] “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. [14] The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
This is the only book that, through its story, brings God into human lives and human history. Without the Bible, we have nothing to tell us about Him and lead us to Him. Without the story of the Bible, we would be lost forever, and we would never know the reason.
There are many other marvels about this book but here is its conclusion.
God has entrusted this book to us, His people. Jesus’ blood brother, Jude, called it…
Jude 1:3 NIV
[3] “.. the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”
This book is a body of truth entrusted to God’s people. We have a sacred trust to…
- Guard it from contamination.
We are to guard “the faith” by keeping it intact.
This book has been contaminated by additions and subtractions that do not come from God. There are dire consequences for those who dare to tamper with its truth.
Deuteronomy 4:2 NIV
[2] “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”
Revelation 22:18-19 NIV
[18] “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. [19] And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”
Peter warned of some unscrupulous people who twisted God’s Word out of shape.
2 Peter 3:15-16 NIV
[15] “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. [16] He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
- We are to live by its truth.
3 John 1:3-4 NIV
[3]” It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. [4] I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”
David’s prayer is our prayer.
Psalms 86:11 NLT
[11] “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.”
Jesus prayed for His disciples…
John 17:17 NLT
[17] “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”
- We are to pass on this deposit, intact, to the next generation.
2 Timothy 2:2 NLT
[2] “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”
Psalms 102:18-22 NLT
[18] “Let this be recorded for future generations, so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord. [19] Tell them the Lord looked down from his heavenly sanctuary. He looked down to earth from heaven [20] to hear the groans of the prisoners, to release those condemned to die. [21] And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion, his praises in Jerusalem, [22] when multitudes gather together and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.”
Truly, this book can never be anything else but the greatest story ever told because of its author, its content, its power, and its outcome. This book is God speaking through men to tell the world of His love so that we need never perish but enjoy eternal life with Him. Its worth believing!