So many people to this day wander about looking for God. So many religions in so many regions have searched high and low to seek the creator of the wondrous stars above, the majestic mountains, and the powerful oceans. In seeing the world around them, they know that there has to be one who created all this or is acting behind them. Man has searched for millennia to find the one from whom humanity has come. Religions have tried to guess at who or what this entity might be. The guesses they have are so diverse it seems to be like throwing darts at a board is as good as any guess. All opinions seem equal to the world.
But thanks be to God that we do not have to guess. God came to us in the person of Jesus. He was born to us that we may truly know of His mercy and love. He died on the cross for us to prove how far He was willing to go so that we may experience His goodness, and so that we may be made whole again. He desires us to be in heaven with Him where there are no more tears. Only joy and peace lives in every soul for all eternity. We could never know this as reality if He did not come down to us in reality and do what He has done for us.
Jesus Himself is the full revelation of God, his goodness, his power and mercy. Jesus came to us for our salvation. But this salvation takes instruction. Jesus taught by word and action, which was later written down that we too may know God and believe. These writings are known to be the four gospels. The followers of Jesus wrote letters to the faithful after Jesus ascended into heaven. All of these writings are called the New Testament of the Bible. Before the time of Jesus, God inspired many prophets and kings to do His holy will and to prepare for His coming. These writings are called the Old Testament of the Bible. These two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament, make up the Bible.
God’s definitive teaching has been written down for us so that we may have faith and hope in Him because we can know of His goodness as fact. It can be our experience now. How good it is that God would reveal Himself so that we can have such confidence and peace.
The Bible is what we have come to know is the holy Word of God. In other words, God is responsible for what is written without error. God inspires the people who wrote in such a way that each human writer would write according to their personality and understanding, yet always remain faithful to the desires of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, not one word of these holy words can be changed. Neither does anybody have the right to add or subtract from these sacred scriptures. The monks who wrote copies of the Bible from ancient times were so meticulous that if one word was mixed up, the entire parchment would be thrown out and they would start anew. In fact, the Bible is by far the most reliable ancient book there is in having the least mistakes in copies made, yet has also by far the most copies made. The Bible is not like the telephone game. There are no new teachings, nor can there be any teachings contradictory to the Bible. Everything we need to know for salvation is contained therein.
In the Bible, we find who God is. He wants us to have a relationship with Him. We also find His instructions for us on how to live our lives. There is so much wisdom as we read these words asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God also strengthens us through the Bible. The Bible inspires us to pursue the good. The more we read the Bible, the more we have an encounter with the Holy Spirit while reading His word. God speaks to us through the Bible. The Bible is wholly something different than anything else in the world. It should be read daily by all believers. It is God’s gift to us.