The Bible is the Word of God

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In the Greek language in which the New Testament was written, the word inspired means "God Breathed". Scripture was not written by the will of men. That is, men did not merely decide to write about God. The Bible is not man's book about God, but Gods Book to humankind. A key word in II Peter 1:21 is moved. In the original language, it means to be carried along, much as a ship is carried over the surface of the sea by the winds blowing its sails.

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We should approach our study of the Bible with great reverence, because it is the Word of God, not the word of men. Each word is important.

God warned Moses, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2) A similar command is found in Proverbs 30:6: "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." Just before the close of the Bible, God inspired John to include these words in the Book of Revelation: "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book". (Revelation 22:19)

God did not just give His Word to humankind; He promised to preserve it forever, so that everyone would have access to Gods revelation. "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever" (Psalm 12:6-7). On the same subject of the divine preservation of God's Word, Jesus said, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than on tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). Tittle is a very small mark in the Hebrew language, in which the Old Testament was written.

There is an easy method to remember the number of books in the Old Testament. The word Old has three letters; the word Testament has nine letters. If we put three and nine together we have thirty-nine, the number of books in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament was penned by about thirty-two men as the Holy Spirit moved on them. It spans a period of at least 3,600 years of human history, and it required about 1,500 years to complete. We can divide its thirty-nine books into four sections: Law, five books; History, twelve books; Poetry, five books; and Prophecy, seventeen books, the first five usually being called Major Prophets and the last twelve usually being called Minor Prophets.

The Bible is a powerful book, and a study of it can change the whole perspective of a persons life. In the story of Mutiny on the Bounty, one incident illustrates this point. The mutineers sank their ship and landed with native women on the lonely island Pitacaim. There were nine white sailors, six natives, ten women, and a girl of fifteen. One of the sailors knew how to distill alcohol, and the island became filled with drunkenness and vice. After a time only one of the sailors was left living, surrounded by native women and their children. The sailor found a Bible in one of the chests taken from the Bounty and began teaching it to the survivors. As a result, his own life was changed, and finally the life of the whole colony/

In 1808 the United States ship Topaz visited the island and found a thriving, prosperous community without whiskey and without crime. The Bible had totally changed the life of the colony! So it has been from age to age! "The entrance of the words giveth light" (Psalm 119:130)