| August 6, 2000 |
Vol. III, No. 14
|
...There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible: 929 chapters in the Old Testament and 260 chapters in the New Testament. 773,692 words make up the books of the Bible [KJV] and 3,566,480 letters of the alphabet compose the words of the Bible. The average word has less than five letters of the alphabet in it.
The Bible was 1,600 years in writing. The first book was written about 1,500 B.C and the last was written about 96 A.D. Some of the writers were: Moses, educated in Egypt, and was a shepherd; Joshua, a spy and a soldier; Ezra, a scribe and pious priest, Nehemiah, a cup bearer to the king; David, a musician, shepherd, war hero and a king; Isaiah, a prophet; Ezekiel, a Jewish exile; Daniel, a statesman; Amos, a shepherd and a peasant; Matthew, a tax collector and hated publican; Luke a physician; Paul, a tent maker; Peter and John were fishermen; also ignorant and unlearned. All of these men wrote at different places at different times; but, when their works were all put together they formed a unity that cannot be denied. Each harmonizes with the other perfectly.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119. The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9. The middle chapter of the Bible is Psalm 117. The middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 118:8. The shortest book in the Bible is 2 John. The shortest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 117. The shortest verse in the Bible is John 11:35.
There are two chapters in the Bible which are similar: 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37. The verse that has all of the letters of the alphabet but J, is Ezra 7:21. The verse that has all of the letters of the alphabet but O, is Daniel 4:37. Job is possibly the oldest book that is known to man -- it is found in the Bible.
There are 850 references made to the Old Testament in the New Testament. 280 of these references are direct citations.
The four accounts of the gospel of Christ contain 3,920 verses. 1,865 of these are the Lord’s words recorded. Of His quoted conversations, 179 verses are literal Old Testament words. Ten percent of the daily conversations of Jesus was Old Testament verses literally quoted.
Do you like adventure stories, poetry, history, literary or love stories? All kinds may be found in the Bible -- take your choice.
The size of the Bible has been a discouragement to some. The average Bible has from one thousand to twelve hundred pages, and these are pages crowded in the margins with relatively small type. The size of the Scriptures is enough to discourage the average man from ever hoping to really understand the Bible. Yet, this is a first look at the Scriptures which leads to an essentially false conclusion. When one learns how to “rightly divide” the Scriptures, the great size is no longer a serious problem. It takes about ninety hours to read the Bible in its entirety, even in a casual way.
John Wycliffe, born in 1320 A.D. was the first to translate the Bible into the English language over a period of 22 years. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate. Cardinal Hugh divided it into chapters in 1250 A.D. William Tyndale was the first to put an English New Testament in print, 1525 A.D. Sir Robert Stephens was the first to divide any part of the Bible into verses, 1551 A.D.
Eulogy of the Bible. “Many years ago I entered the wonderful temple of God’s revelation. I passed the portico of Genesis and walked down through the Old Testament art gallery where the pictures of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David and Daniel hung on the wall. I entered the music room of the Psalms where the Spirit swept the keyboard of nature, and brought forth the dirge-like wail of the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, to the grand impassioned strains of Isaiah, until it seemed that every reed and harp in God’s organ of nature responded to the tuneful touch of David, the sweet singer of Israel. I paused in the chapel of Ecclesiastes where the voice of the preacher was heard, and into the conservatory of Sharon where the “lily of the valley’s sweet scented spices, some pointing to far off events, but all concentrated upon the moon-lit hills of Judea, for our salvation. I entered the audience room of the King of kings, and caught a vision from the standpoint of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; entered the Acts of the Apostles, where the Holy Spirit was doing His office work in the forming of the church; passed into the correspondence room where Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John penned their epistles. I stepped into the throne room of Revelation, where all towered into glittering peaks. I had a vision of the Lord upon His throne in all of His glory, and I cried, ‘All hail the power of Jesus’ name, Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him, Lord of all.’”
--Carl A. Allen via a tract distributed by the Benchley church of Christ, Bryan, Texas
After Simon Bar-jonah's profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus acknowledged Simon's rock-like character that was being developed. He gave Simon a new name: Peter, a name that in the original Greek language means a stone. Then Jesus credited Simon with having learned the truth of Jesus' identity, not from man, but from God Himself. And speaking of the truth Simon Peter had uttered as to the true identity of Jesus, the Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:13-18).
"The gates of Hades" is a term Jesus used to speak of death. Hades was the unseen realm, the place where the spirits of those who have died await the resurrection and the final judgment. Peter had come to realize Jesus' true identity, and this was cause for rejoicing. But what Peter did not yet realize was that Jesus would soon die. The elation Peter felt in having a close relationship with the Christ, the Son of God, would soon give way to confusion and despair, as Simon Peter helplessly watched his Lord arrested, tried, and crucified.
Normally, all that a person hopes to accomplish, he must accomplish before his death. But in the case of Jesus, the crucifixion would come before Christ had established His church. He had not yet built it. He said, "I will build My church."
Once Jesus was arrested, tried and put to death, even His closest friends and disciples thought His work had ended in failure. Note the gloom and despair in the words of the two disciples who walked along the road to Emmaus after Jesus' crucifixion and before they had heard about His resurrection. "We were hoping that it was He who was to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). With Jesus dead, as they supposed, their hopes had been dashed.
But wait! Within the next few minutes, they would learn the glorious truth of Christ's resurrection. Their gloom turned into rejoicing. Death, that is, "the gates of Hades" had not prevailed against Jesus and His plans. Jesus had prevailed.
And sure enough, just as He promised, after His resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven, He built His church upon the solid bedrock of truth -- the truth that He is indeed theSon of God.
In Matthew 16:19, Jesus promised to Simon Peter, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." In this context, when Jesus spoke of the "kingdom of heaven" to which Peter would be given the keys, He was speaking of the church, the spiritual body He was about to build or establish. We will look more closely at verse 19 in our next study.
–CRJ