There are sixty-six Books in the Bible. The first Book is called Genesis. Genesis is the Book of beginnings. The first five Books of the Bible are called the “Pentateuch.” “Pente” means “five.” Some Jews refer to these five Books as “the Books of Moses.” The five Books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Moses was born in Egypt. Moses was a descendant of Levi, who was one of the sons of Jacob, or Israel. We shall study about Israel, Levi and Moses later on. Moses was the man whom God chose to write the first Books of the Bible.

The last Book of the Bible is called “The Revelation”, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Greek word translated “Revelation” is “Apokalupsis.” This word means “the unveiling.” The human author, whom God used to write “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”, the last Book of the Bible, was the Apostle John. While Jesus Christ was on earth He selected twelve apostles, four of whom were fishermen. These four apostles were Andrew and Simon and James and John. Andrew and Simon were brothers. Simon was later on named “Peter” by the Lord Jesus Christ. James and John were also brothers. They were called “Boanerges”

Mark 3:17
“And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and He surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder.”

“Boanerges” means “the sons of thunder.” Simon Peter and John were partners in the fishing business

Matthew 4:18
“And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.”

Then He saw James and John with their father. They were in their fishing boat mending their nets. Matthew 4:21. The Lord said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Peter and John became partners in the business of fishing for men. They labored together in the service of the Lord, witnessing concerning His life and works and ministry, His death and resurrection. Luke 22:8; Acts 3:1, 3 and 11; Acts 4:13 and 19, and Acts 8:14.

John, the brother of James, outlived all the other apostles of Jesus Christ. He is called in the Bible, “that apostle whom Jesus loved.” John 13:23; John 19:26; John 20:2; John 21:7 and 20. Like Moses, the first human author, the Apostle John wrote five Books of the Bible: “The Gospel of John” and three Epistles, “I John”, “II John”, and “III John”, and “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Concerning Moses, note this statement in the Bible

Numbers 12:3
“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”

Moses died about 1455 B. C. (Before Christ). Moses was 120 years old when he died

Deuteronomy 34:7
“And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died.”

The Apostle John was about 100 years of age when he died. He died about 100 A. D. (Anno Domini), “the year of the Lord.” The last Book of the Bible was written between 1500 and 1600 years after the first Book of the Bible was written.

Moses was God’s appointed deliverer and leader of Israel. Moses was God’s law-giver. Later on we shall study concerning him as the mediator of a covenant, or agreement, a contract, that God made with His people Israel.

God’s call of Moses is recorded in:

Exodus 3:4 to 7 and 10 and 14
“And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. “And He said, ‘Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’” “Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.”

“Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” Exodus 3:10.

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14.

At the time of his call by God Moses was a shepherd. Exodus 3:1. That was about 1495 B. C. At that time Moses was 80 years old.

Exodus 7:7
“And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.”

Other shepherds who wrote Books in the Bible were David and Amos.

I Samuel 16:11 and 13
“And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down until he come hither.”

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”

Amos 1:1
“The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jereboam, the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”

Thus we see that the first Book of the Bible was written by a shepherd and the last Book by a fisherman. We learned also that Peter was a fisherman. Peter wrote two Books of the Bible: two Epistles, I Peter and II Peter. Peter was quite an old man when he died. When Peter and the Lord Jesus Christ were here on earth together the Lord Jesus told Peter when and how he would die.

John 21:18 and 19
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Thus spake He signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.”

Shortly before his death Peter referred to the statement of Jesus Christ:

II Peter 1:13 and 14
“Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance: Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.”

We have learned that Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John, were four of the twelve apostles whom Jesus Christ, while on earth, selected from His many disciples. Of His twelve apostles, John wrote five of the Books of the Bible, Peter wrote two of the Books, Levi (Matthew) wrote one. Matthew wrote the first Book after the death of Christ; it is called “Matthew”. It is generally believed that James, who wrote the Epistle of James, was one of the twelve apostles. This James is thought to be the James called “the Lord’s brother”. Galatians 1:19. He was not the brother of John. John’s brother, James, was killed by Herod about 45 A. D.

Acts 12:1 and 2
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John, with the sword.”

So we learn that Christ had two apostles by the name of James.

Then the sixty-fifth Book of the Bible, one of the shortest Books in the Bible (one chapter of 25 verses) was written by Jude. It bears his name. It is generally believed that he was one of the twelve apostles. We have mentioned six of the twelve apostles, Simon Peter, John, James, Andrew, Jude, and James. It is thought that Jude was also called “Thaddaeus”. Matthew 10:3.

ADAM AND CHRIST

B. C. and A. D.

We have explained that B. C. means “before (Jesus) Christ”, that is, before He was born of Mary in Bethlehem. A. D. means years since that great event took place. Dating back B. C. from the birth of Christ to the creation of Adam there were about 4000 years of the history of the human race.

According to the Bible the first man was Adam:

I Corinthians 15:45 and 47
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.” “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the Second Man is the Lord from heaven.”

If we date from the birth of Adam, we call the year “A. H.”, Anno Homini. This means, “the year of man”. Some people speak of A. M., “Anno Mundi”. This means, “the year of the world.” We have no way of telling how many thousands, or millions, of years since the world was made. But we can be quite accurate in fixing the date of the making of the first man and his wife, Adam and Eve. They were in the garden of Eden about 4000 years “Before Christ”.

Therefore Christ was born about 4000 Anno Homini, “the year of man”.

Later on we shall study concerning Adam and Christ “the first man” and “the Second Man”, “the first Adam” and “the last Adam”. But for the present we will note that about 4000 years elapsed between the time the first man was in the garden of Eden and the time that the little Child Jesus was in the manger at Bethlehem.

GOD—CHRIST

Now, note the first verse of Genesis and the last verse of The Revelation

Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Revelation 22:21
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

Thus the Bible begins with God and the Bible closes with the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall study later on that the Lord Jesus Christ was God before He came to earth as a human being and He is included with God, His Father, in that first verse of Genesis. Note the words of Christ in Revelation 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the Almighty.”

The Bible is peculiarly God’s Book. It is God’s revelation to the human race. Note this plain and important statement in the Bible concerning the Bible.

II Timothy 3:16 and 17
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

The Greek word translated “given by inspiration of God” is “theopneustos”. This means “God-breathed”. This is somewhat explained in:

II Peter 1:20 and 21
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.,”

The Holy Spirit is infallible. Men who wrote the Books of the Bible did not write their own ideas or doctrines. They were moved or “carried along” by the infallible Holy Spirit. Hence these statements concerning God’s Word.

I Peter 1:24 and 25
“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away: But the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

Psalms 119:89
“For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.”

Psalms 138:2
“I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy loving kindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.”

Hebrews 4:12
“For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Now let us note what Jesus Christ said about the Scriptures and Himself.

John 5:39
“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.”

Luke 24:25 to 27
“Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Luke 24:45 and 46
“Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.”

Then note several other Scriptures, spoken or written after Christ went back to heaven.

Acts 4:27 and 28
“For of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.”

Acts 26:22 to 24
“Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad.’”

I Corinthians 15:3 and 4
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; “And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in the 27 Books, from Matthew to Revelation, by noun and pronoun, more than 6900 times.

The very heart of the Bible is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was in the Godhead in creation, came down from heaven to die for sin; that is, He appeared once in the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:26. But note the fact also of His resurrection and ascension; for He went back to heaven where He now lives at God’s right hand: “This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12.

This was all in fulfillment of God’s infallible Scriptures, according to God’s infallible Word. God’s free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23.

QUESTIONS—LESSON ONE

1. Mention several things recorded in the Bible concerning the Scriptures, as to their origin, authority, purpose, and value.

2. By Whom were the human writers moved along?

3. Name six men whom the Holy Spirit used to write Bible messages.

4. Name the Books that Moses and John wrote. Mention two facts concerning each of these writers.

5. Name six of the twelve apostles. Which two were called “the sons of thunder?”

6. Which apostle remained alive the longest? How did he close the last Book of the Bible?

7. Which two apostles labored together for the Lord Jesus Christ? Which of these two were told by the Lord that he would be put to death?

8. By what name did the Lord call Himself when He appeared to Moses?

9. What did Jesus Christ call Himself in Revelation 1:8?

10. What are Adam and Christ called in I Corinthians 15:45 and 47?

11. About what year A. H. was Christ born? About what year B. C. did Moses die?

12. What shepherd was anointed by Samuel?

13. Who said, “The Scriptures testify of Me”?

14. Where is God’s Word for ever settled?

15. State two or three things the Scriptures said concerning Christ.

16. What did Christ do for sin and sinners?

17. Where is Christ at the present time?

18. Which apostle was called “the Lord’s brother”?

19. For what are the Scriptures profitable?

20. What Book did Levi write?

For more articles by Pastor J. C. O'Hair, visit the J. C. O'Hair Online Library.