©2002 Pastor Thomas Miles

The Bible is a unique book inspired by God and penned by numerous writers, virtually a library within one book. This article is a simple guide to reading the Bible and understanding the many books in the Bible.

The Bible is a compilation of 66 books written more than 1500 years ago separated into two sections:
·       The Old Testament, God's relationship with humanity before Jesus’ birth
·       The New Testament, God's relationship with humanity after Jesus’ birth
The literary value of the Bible alone gives a candid selection of poetry, drama, history, biographies, speeches, love stories and predictions of the future. One book united by a common bond relationship to God.

You can get a basic synopsis of the Bible by reading Genesis, Chapters 1-20 of Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Mark and Acts in this order. To get a basic understanding of Christianity and Christ read in this order Mark, John, Acts and Romans. The Bible is a story of people and their struggles, joys and sorrows and the answer to those problems.

The first five books, Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numbers & Deuteronomy of the Holy Bible describe to the reader God's relationship with humankind in three eras from the beginning of time, from Abraham and his descendants and with the Israelites. These first five books contain many great stories and many laws and rituals. This section is the foundation of the Bible.

The History books are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, 1st & 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. This section records how Israel conquered its land, set up its kingdom, was then taken captive and lived in confinement for years before finally being returned to its original homeland.

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs (Solomon) and Ecclesiastes are the books of poetry and wisdom. The emotions displayed in these writings are sincere feelings taken from the life of the writer. The emotions displayed in these books come from love, life, fear, jealousy and a desire to know God.

The books of the prophet's finishes up the Old Testament. Isaiah, Lamentations, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Daniel, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi give us words of warning, predictions and promises. The prophets warned Israel of the penalty of turning from God. The writers of these books made predictions regarding the outlook of Israel and the promise of a coming deliverer. The prediction of the end of human life and time is also contained in these books and correlate with many New Testament writings.

The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the first four books of the New Testament and are journalistic type accounts of the teachings and life of Christ. These writings are parallel in nature yet unique in many ways. The four authors of the Gospels were men that loved Jesus, followed Him and wrote about the events and things they saw. The Gospels record the life, death and resurrection of Christ and tell about His coming again for His chosen people.

The book of Acts is a historical book pertaining to the foundation of the early Christian church and how it spread across the nations delivering the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people.

The first Christian leaders wrote the Epistles or books of letters and they expand on the teachings of Christ and how they relate to our relationship with God and people about us. The books of the Epistles or letters are Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st & 2nd Thessalonians, 1st & 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1st & 2nd Peter, 1st, 2nd & 3rd John and Jude.

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, covers human history from its beginning to its ending. The awesome and sometimes amazing promises of God given to His people are written about in Revelation. Life beyond earth is spoken about in the end time prophecies taking the reader beyond the end of time and this world, as they know it to the realm of God's world. Revelation is also a book of hope and promise, a book of great love and compassion because it assures its readers of better life once Christ returns for them.

The Bible is a book for all time, for all peoples and great theological knowledge is not needed to understand the Bible. God in His intimate and infinite wisdom has promised to unveil the Word to the reader if they will allow God to speak to them while they read. God's Word has a central theme, which is His love and desire to know and be known by every human being, and the price paid to share in this most intimate personal relationship with you the reader. Read God's Word and you will find that the more you study the more you comprehend, the deeper you dig the more you will find and the better you will feel about all things around you.

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