Ancient Treasure Map

Transcription

1 Ancient Treasure Map God wants everyone to go to Heaven! It s very important to know that and one of the ways he has to tell us about his plans for us is through a book Christians call the Bible. The word bible comes from a Greek word (biblos) which simply means book. Sometimes it s called Scriptures, or God s Word, but most importantly it s a treasure map showing us the way to heaven, or paradise, and to live forever with Jesus. In fact the Bible is a collection of 66 books: letters, songs, love poems, and wise sayings. Some books tell us about history, some tell us about the future through amazing dreams which God gave to some people. Most of the Bible is about the history of God s people before the time of Jesus and that s called the Old Testament (39 books). The New Testament (27 books) begins with the story of Jesus and then how the Christian religion began. Revelation, the last book to be written in the Bible, was written about 60 years after Jesus death. Moses wrote the first book, Genesis, about 1500 year before Jesus. The Bible begins in a book called Genesis with God creating people on earth to live in a paradise called the Garden of Eden. It ends in the book of Revelation where God creates a new paradise for his people to live in following many thousands of years of problems brought about by God s enemy, Satan. God asked a group of people to write the books that make up the Bible. For the New Testament that was 8 or 9 people. For the

2 Old Testament it is over 30 people he asked to write down his message. How they wrote down God s message is also very interesting. We are told that all scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16) but the only bit God actually wrote himself was the 10 Commandments. In Exodus 32:15-16 we read, Moses went back down the mountain with the two flat stones on which God had written all of his laws with his own hand, and he had used both sides of the stones. So what does inspired mean? Sometimes all God had to do was ask a person to write something down. In Luke s gospel God used a man called Theophilus to ask Luke to tell the story of Jesus and how the church began. Here s how Luke tells the story: Luke 1:1-4 Many people have tried to tell the story of what God has done among us. They wrote what we had been told by the ones who were there in the beginning and saw what happened. So I made a careful study of everything and then decided to write and tell you exactly what took place. Honourable Theophilus, I have done this to let you know the truth about what you have heard. Luke studied all the stories about Jesus and his first disciples. He may have gone to a library or asked some of the disciples first hand what happened. After deciding what to include and what to leave out Luke finally wrote the Gospel which has his name and also the book Acts of the Apostles. God would have guided Luke in deciding what to include in his books and the way it could be written. The Apostle John was given visions (special dreams) in which he saw some amazing things about the future of the world and even a new world for God s people to live in. After John saw them he

3 was told Write in a book what you see. (Revelation 1:11) In fact the book of Revelation describes the process by which John received the visions and the information in them: Revelation 1:1-3 This is what God showed to Jesus Christ, so that he could tell his servants what must happen soon. Christ then sent his angel with the message to his servant John. And John told everything that he had seen about God's message and about what Jesus Christ had said and done. God will bless everyone who reads this prophecy to others, and he will bless everyone who hears and obeys it. The time is almost here. Those who were given visions didn t always understand what they were seeing or even how to describe them with human words. In the Old Testament a famous government official in the country of Babylon, called Daniel, was given visions. This is what he said after he d seen one, I was disturbed by this vision that made no sense to me. (Daniel 8:27) John too had visions hard to describe but he tried his best to put them into words which we could understand: Then I saw something that looked like a glass sea mixed with fire, and people were standing on it. (Revelation 15:2) Could we say what a sea of glass mixed with fire is like? John and other Bible writers often had to tell us about things which we can never see until Jesus comes again. God had to use humans to write his message so that we can understand him. He is superhuman and so everything about him would be too hard for us to understand. So God has to come down to our level of understanding in order to tell us about the wonderful life we can have with him. He does this by using humans to write the message with words and ideas that we can understand.

4 Jesus says, The Scriptures tell about me (John 5:39) because even in the history of Ancient Israel we learn about how he saved them from slavery in Egypt, Assyria and Babylon. We also read, Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth. (Colossians 1:16) In the New Testament we read the gospels which of course tell us about God becoming a man in the person of Jesus. Most importantly the Bible says that it can show us how to be saved, or get to heaven, the Holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise enough to have faith in Christ Jesus and be saved. (2 Timothy 3:15) The Bible says of itself, All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. (2 Timothy 3:16) Jesus wants us to have a good life here on earth now not just when we get to heaven. He says, I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. (John 10:10) That s why we read of Jesus healing people and making them really happy. So we also find God s instructions in the Bible on how to have a good, happy life. I am the LORD your God, and I cure your diseases. If you obey me by doing right and by following my laws and teachings. (Exodus 15:26) David, who wrote many of the Psalms, says of the Bible, Your word is a lamp that gives light wherever I walk. (Psalm 119:105) In other words, the Bible shows us how to live now, to have a good and happy life now, and also how to get to heaven and have a fantastic future.

5 God has made sure that this wonderful collection of stories and instructions has survived thousands of years. That means we will have the same chance of getting to live in paradise as those who lived at the time the Bible was written. That survival is a miracle in itself! The Bible - what more could we want?