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All things work together….
Count it all joy……
For I know the plans…
The Lord is my shepherd…
Do not be conformed…
I can do all things…
Do not be anxious…
Seek first…
Cast all your anxiety…
Fear not, for I am with you…
Be strong and courageous…
Whoever dwells in the shelter…
The Bible is a collection of 66 books that tells one unified story. Over time, people recognized that these books together tell one story. Each book is unique from others and an essential portion of God’s revelation. We call this closed collection of books that are God's Word, "the Canon." God has said all that we need to know him and to live a godly life in between the covers of our Bibles.
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If God really did speak, we would expect his words to be recognized as divine. That’s exactly what happened!
God began his story with the Jewish people. He chose them as a people to tell his story. He spoke to them through leaders and prophets about his plan and the people of Israel began to collect and treasure what he said. They recorded his word on clay tablets, parchment, and scrolls in collections they called the Tanakh, what we know as the Old Testament.
After many years, their story still unfinished, it ended on a cliffhanger as God’s voice became silent. God promised the Jewish people all throughout their Scriptures that he would send a rescuer to deliver not just their people, but also the whole world from the curse of sin.
God would deliver all of us from the sin in our hearts and the wedge it puts between us and our good Creator. Through the Christ (Messiah), God would invite the whole world into his plan, and make a way for all people to know the true God.
Just when the Israelites gave up all hope of a savior, the promised hero showed up—plot twist—as a baby. He is the reason for Christmas. He is the reason time is marked based on his birth — B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, translated as, In the Year of Our Lord). The hero God sent to save the world was his own Son born in human flesh.
God spoke most clearly to us about himself through his Son, Jesus—through his life, death, and resurrection.
Then, four of Jesus’ followers each wrote an account of Jesus’ life, and each book became recognized as an extension of the Hebrew Scriptures. They were called “Gospels” or “good news,” and are the first four books of what we call the New Testament.
Before Jesus left earth, he promised to write one last chapter of God’s story. Until the death of the apostle John, who wrote the last book of the Bible, God’s Spirit kept writing his story through a number of Jesus’ followers.
They explained the significance of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and how he fulfilled the Jewish Scriptures. These authors explained the good news of how the God of Israel can become your God and my God.
In God’s wisdom, he used these select authors to tell us all we need to know about God, his plan, and how to live the way he intended for us until Jesus returns to judge the world. When Jesus does return, he will judge us based on whether we believed in him and his Word or not. Most importantly, he will judge us based on whether we believed in his Son, Jesus.
See, the books of the Bible weren’t just chosen by men. Instead, they were given by God. As they were given, they were treasured and recorded. Years after the apostle John died, it became apparent, as people studied the Scriptures, that God was done revealing himself, and we need not wait on a new revelation. All we need to do is return to what God has already given us—his complete story—to hear him speak.
God’s Word—his Old and New Testament—shines brighter than other books as something totally unique. The books of the Bible were, over time, recognized by men and women for what they are—the precious self-disclosure of God himself.
by Bibles.net
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
John 21:25 ESV
The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority, direct or indirect.
by F.F. Bruce | SourceThus the writings of the Apocrypha should not be regarded as part of Scripture: (1) They do not claim for themselves the same kind of authority as the Old Testament writings; (2) they were not regarded as God’s words by the Jewish people from whom they originated; (3) They were not considered to be Scripture by Jesus or the New Testament authors; and (4) they contain teachings inconsistent with the rest of the Bible. We must conclude that they are merely human words, not God-breathed words like the words of Scripture… Therefore, they have no binding authority for the thought or life of Christians today.
Hear renowned biblical scholar B.B. Warfield explain how we got the New Testament in this article, written in 1892. Despite challenging language at times, you will find Warfield's writing engaging, helpful, and thorough.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
God’s faithfulness
to his people
convinces us that
there is nothing missing
from Scripture
that God thinks
we need to know
for obeying him
and trusting him fully.
We should not
expect any further “revelations”
until Christ returns,
for God has laid
the theological foundation
of the church
through his holy
“apostles and prophets”
(Ephesians 2:20),
and we are not
to add to that
foundation,
but build on it.