You've heard the famous story about Paul Revere's ride, right? Paul Revere was waiting for word about how the approaching British army would attack during the American Revolutionary war. One of the other revolutionary spies was supposed to tell him how they were coming by setting lights in the church tower - "one if by land and two if by sea" - and then he would ride out to warn all of the villages and towns.
Well, for us that's a cool story. And in many respects it is also pretty cool history, too. But at one time it wasn't history. At one time, it was a bunch of British troops starting to move. It was a spy lighting lamps. It was Paul Revere waiting for a signal on a horse. And it was a fast night ride to warn the countryside.
The Bible is like that. God did - and still does! - amazing things. He appeared to people and spoke to people. They listened to Him and they either believed Him or they didn't. The things that He said would happen always came to pass just as He said they would. And then people realized (sometimes too late) that they needed to listen to Him.
So they wrote down the stories about what God did and said, and how His people believed or didn't, and what the consequences were. That's what the Bible is. It is the collection of stories and other writings that God's people have collected over time to make sure the people that come after them know about the God of the universe and how He deals with His people!
Near the end of the Gospel (which means "good news") that Jesus' disciple John wrote, he actually wrote down WHY he wrote the Gospel: "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31)
ReplyDeleteThe point that I'm trying to make here is just that the Bible is a collection of stories and other writings that were based on things that happened at different points in time that all fit into one bigger story. But they were written down for a reason. On each occasion, the writer was trying to help other people (and those who would come later - like you) to know who God is and how He relates to His people.
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