KNOWING YOUR BIBLE
September 19, 2021: Dear Friends, Today, we will continue our focus on learning some of the important people who have been written about in the Bible. This series was started with the August 22 blog, continued on August 29, with a change in the focus on the September 5 blog, to coping with all the turmoil and disasters that were happening in our world at that time. Spending some time reviewing these blogs by going to the website above left, will add perspective to the rest of your studies in this series.
For new followers of this blog, a series on KNOWING YOUR BIBLE has been written in the April through July 4 blogs, that give detailed instruction of how to learn the Bible. Topics in the series include how the Bible is organized, how to search for and read Bible verses, and how the books of the Bible are related. Studying this series will be very helpful to those wanting to learn to understand and know the Bible.
The Bible has been recognized as the most important book in the world. There have been millions of copies sold throughout the world. Through Bible reading and study, learning about God and God’s wisdom, his instructions and teachings, his love and compassion for each of us, is of the upmost importance in gaining and applying the knowledge learned about God. The Bible is God’s Holy Word to us as is written in 2nd Timothy, chapter 3, verses 16-17: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
The person focused on in this blog is Abraham. Abraham’s name is written throughout the books of the Bible. He is considered the Father of all nations, with the roots of Christian and Jewish religion going back to him through his son Issac. The roots of the Muslim religion can be traced to Abraham’s son Ishmael.
Many think that Abraham was the first person that recognized God as the Holy One, The Almighty, The Creator of the world.(Hebrews, chapter 11, verses 1-3 and verses 8-12). According to historic records, the written account of Abraham’s faith has mainly been found in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Keep in mind that the events written about Abraham, his sons, grandsons and great grandsons, occurred approximately between the years of 1800 BCE to 1700 BCE. As time has progressed there may have been more written sources of Abraham’s life besides the Bible, but, if so, the sources are not commonly known.
Also remember when reading about persons in the Bible that feelings, emotions and actions that are commonly found in these persons and others in the written stories, are found in humans today. (Matthew, chapter 15, verses 18, and Galatians, chapter 5, verses 19-21.) Does this indicate that mankind has not changed through the centuries of years? One factor almost always occurs and, that is, reading and studying the Bible will bring changes to the one who follows what is being read and applies the knowledge learned to his or her life. This is why KNOWING YOUR BIBLE is so important!
This week, go to the book of Genesis and starting with chapter 11, read through chapter 23. In future blogs we will continue reading and studying in the book of Genesis, studying the life of Isaac, his twin sons, Esau and Jacob, and the twelve sons of Jacob, concluding in the 50th chapter of Genesis. These topics will be written in 3-4 future blogs.
If time allows, search for and read other Bible verses listed above, reading verses before and after the verse or verses listed, to add perspective in what has been written.
MAY GOD BLESS YOUR BIBLE STUDY THIS WEEK!