True & Beautiful Things About the Bible--New TestamentSample

The Curtain Is Rising

Oh, good, you’re back from intermission. The curtain is about to rise on Part 2 of the Bible, the New Testament.

In Part 1, we saw how God wrote down the history of how He created, loved, called, redeemed, protected, preserved, and saved His people. It covers thousands of years from the opening, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," to the promise, "All peoples on earth will be blessed through you," and over 300 prophecies throughout that point to Jesus Christ—which is only right considering the theme of the entire Bible is Jesus.

It’s true—the Bible isn’t a self-help book, though believing God’s truth heals us, forgives us, and restores a wholeness in us. It’s about Jesus, but it draws us in.

And it’s not a verse-a-day quote book, though meditating on God’s Word promises to bring strength and peace and wisdom.

But the Bible isn’t a history book either, though when we look at world events through God’s eyes, we see Him changing the courses of nations and rulers like His mighty finger drawing the course of a river in sand.

All the thousands of years of history that we studied in Part 1 now point us to a few days at the turn of the calendar in a tiny country in the Middle East.

When the time was right . . .

The New Testament picks up with a baby's cry in Bethlehem and then quickly fast-forwards 30 years to when Jesus of Nazareth closes the door of His craftsman shop behind Him and begins a three-year itinerant ministry, mostly in the north country of Israel.

The first four books, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, follow in the dust of Jesus’ feet as He teaches and heals and coaches a ragtag bunch of students. But the books then laser focus in on one week in Jesus’ life that changed everything. In fact, the Gospel of John focuses even tightly on the one day that changed history—the day that God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

The events that fill the rest of the New Testament happened in a span of 50+ years, as word spread about what Jesus Christ did for us and how we should respond in turn.

But the story is far from over. We’re really at another time stamp as we look forward with all our hope and faith to another day yet future when Jesus will set everything right in the world that went wrong thousands of years ago and every day since.

And on that day, the universe won’t be able to contain the celebration.

So that’s the big story. The curtain is rising. Now, we’ll visit every book of the New Testament, one at a time, to fill in this true and beautiful story of Jesus Christ, our great Savior and lover of our souls.

Your heart will likely be stirred with faith and love for Him all over again and again. You’ll see what I mean.

Next: God kept His promise.