(Read John 1:1—18)

The bible is called the "Word of God". But what do we mean by "Word"? If I were to say to you, did you get the word, you would probably know what I was talking about. I would be saying to you, did you get the message. Well that is exactly what we’re talking about when we say the bible is the Word of God — it is His message to us. In a nut shell, that message is that He loves us totally, with no strings attached, and He is calling us to become His adopted children. He is calling us to have a share in His own divine nature. When you think about it, it kind of blows your mind. God, all powerful creator and supreme being of all heaven and earth, of all creation, is actually asking us to share is His own divine nature.

But now, you’re probably asking yourself, what was that he was reading before, something about the word becoming flesh. What’s that all about?

Well, in the beginning of creation, as the book of Genesis tells us, when there was nothing at all except a huge void, God spoke out and said some words. God said, let there be light and darkness; let there be sea and sky and dry land; let there be fish and birds and. animals of all kinds; and, let there be men and women, and so forth. By His speaking these words, all these things came into being. But none of this happened before God spoke the Word. Thus we say, "in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God." Then, at a point in time, God, who is the Word we were just talking about, decided to become one like us. So God took the form of a man, in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, we say that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

It is often said that the Bible is the best selling book of all time. While it’s true that it is the best seller of all time, part of the statement is inaccurate. The Bible is not a "book" in the strict sense of the word, rather it is many books. In fact, it contains 73 books in all. The Bible is actually a collection of 73 different books, most of which have different human authors.

You may have noticed that I used the term "human authors". I purposely used the term "human author" because, although each separate book of the bible has its own different human author, all of the books share the same one divine author — God.

Each book of the bible is inspired by God. That is, He guided the human author to write what he wanted even though these human authors sometimes didn’t realize that God was the one who was guiding what they wrote. This is what makes it so special and sacred to us. What the human author wrote is some special message from God to us. But, at the same time, we also have to be aware that these human authors were not mere transcribers of God’s dictation. Although guided by God, they still wrote, expressing their own thoughts in their own way. They used their own language and styles of writing in order to best get their message across to their readers. That is why we must be very careful when we read the bible and attempt to interpret its various messages. We have to remember that although its messages are still as important and meaningful and relevant to us today, they were originally written for peoples with a different languages, cultures and lifestyles than our own. Thus, some of the writings are poetic in style; some are in prose; some are historically correct, and some are strictly stories. What is important, however, is that each contains a message to us from God. But because of the varying styles and types of

writings, and remembering for whom they were originally written, we have to be careful in our interpretation of them. That is why it is now, and always has been, the role of the Church to be the official interpreter of the bible.

As I mentioned earlier, the Bible, or the Scriptures, as they are also referred to, is made up of 73 different books. Each book, besides its name as a reference, is broken down and numbered as to chapter and verse for easy reference. The books are also separated into what we call the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament": The time before Jesus Christ and the time during and after the life of Christ

The Old Testament contains 46 books and the New Testament contains 27. The books of the bible begin with the Book of Genesis, which, as I mentioned previously, talks about the creation of the world, Noah and the great flood, and other events concerning man and God, his creator, and ends with the Book of Revelations, which deals with future events, and is perhaps the most difficult of all the books to understand, because it is so full of signs and symbols. In between these two, we have many books covering a wide variety of topics, such as:

a) War stories

b) Accounts of national history

c) Poems

d) Prayers

e) The narration of the life of a great person

The Old Testament tells the story of the Hebrew people, who were chosen by God to be His own special people. He was to be their God and they were to be his people. It tells of how God rescues the Hebrews from their bonds of slavery in Egypt and gave them their own land in what we now know as Israel. Through Moses, he formed an agreement, which we call a covenant, with the Israelites and gave them laws, the 10 Commandments, to live by (Read the Book of Exodus). The Books of the Prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel and others, reveal to us how, when the Hebrews became unfaithful to God and their covenant with Him, He sent these men to warn them to change their ways and to return to their faithfulness to Him.

The Book of Psalms, some of which might be familiar to you, such as Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want", etc. are beautiful prayers to God and formed the Hebrew Hymn Book. They should be, and still are today, beautiful forms of prayers for various spiritual and everyday needs, as well as prayers of praise, covering the deepest of thoughts and the fullest emotions. When you’re tired, try Psalm 23; if you’re afraid, read Psalms 27, 91, 121 or 139; when you’re happy, Psalms 95-101.

The Old Testament also contains what is known as "Wisdom literature". The Books of Proverbs, Wisdom, Job, Sirach and Ecclesiastes are some examples. They deal with man as an individual, rather than, specifically with the Hebrew people alone; and with the relationship between not only God and man, but also between man and other men, and in living our lives on a daily basis. (Wisdom 6:1-2) (Sirach 3:1-16) Ecclesiastes 2:1-12)

All of the books of the Old Testament, some of which I have mentioned, and many more I did not, have the one purpose in God’s overall plan of salvation for us, and that is to prepare the way for the coming of his only son, Jesus Christ. That is why, when we read many of the books of the Old Testament, they seem to be somehow incomplete. The reason is that they were only the preparation and are not brought to completion until the coming of Christ. Many passages, in fact, foretell of Christ’s coming (Isaiah 9:1-16) and (Isaiah 12:17-21).

The New Testament, or second part of t bible, is about how God — in the person of Jesus — became man in order to over come sins and man’s inheritance, until this point, which was separation from God. It is the fulfillment of the mystery foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament. It is not only the historical study of the birth and ministry of Christ, but it is also a love story. It is the story of how God so loved the work of His own hand — us — that He became as one of us in all things but sin. And finally, He even gave His own life in ransom for us, so that we may share everlasting life with Him. It is God’s message to us as to how we should live our lives in imitation of Him — embodied in the person of Jesus the Christ, the savior of the world.

The first four books of the New Testament are known as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Although they are four different accounts relating to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, they are similar in many ways. Because of the great similarity among the first three, they are referred to as the synoptic gospels. All the Gospels deal with Christ’s ministry, teachings, parables, miracles and healings, but most importantly of all, with His passion, death and resurrection; for it was through Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection that God’s plan of salvation was brought to fulfillment. Through His suffering, death and, most importantly, His resurrection from the dead, we were freed from sin and given the opportunity for everlasting life. That is why the Gospels are so very important, they are the principal witness to the life, death and resurrection of the Word of God made man.

Following the gospels is the Acts of the Apostles, which deals with the time after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven, when the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, was sent to the members of the Church that Christ had formed (Matt 16:16-20) —"You are Peter the rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church." Through the power of the Holy Spirit, those who believed and were open to His Word, were given the power to live and preach Christ’s message — the message of love: To love God and also to love one another as He loves us.

The remainder of the books of the New Testament, with the exception of the Book of Revelations, which I mentioned earlier, are called the Epistles. They are the letter of Paul and other disciples to either the various churches which had been formed, to specific individuals within the Churches, teaching them, encouraging them, and reassuring them to hold onto and to be faithful to what had been given to them. They kind of say to us "hang in there; don’t give up." They urge us on to be active and faithful witnesses to the Gospel message — to love as Jesus loves; to be holy as He is holy. We are told that we are to pass on the Good News of the Resurrection to others. We are called to preach and evangelize about God’s salvation.

In summary, the bible is God’s message to us. It is how He communicates with us in the here and now, as well as in the past. It is the story of how God entered human history and revealed His plan of salvation to us. This plan was outlined to us in the Old Testament, but was only brought to fulfillment in the New Testament through Jesus Christ — the Word of God become flesh. Since God is spirit, we cannot see God. But, through His Son, Jesus Christ — God made man, God the Father is revealed to us.

The bible is a religious book (a book in the loose sense of the word) whose purpose is to tell of God and His plan for us — for those who are open to His Word, especially of His great love for us; His great deeds on our behalf, and His teachings on how to live our lives so we might obtain heaven.

Love is the whole reason for creation — for us and for everything that exists. God is so loving that He wants to share His happiness, the happiness of loving at a level beyond our comprehension, with us whom He created.

God need not have created anything. He is infinitely happy within Himself and needed nothing outside of Himself. Yet, He chose to create us and to share His great love with us. His love is so great that even after we, his creatures, turned our backs on Him, He lowered Himself to become one of us, to suffer and die for us on a cross — for our sins — and then, to rise from the dead, so that we might have new life. That then is God’s Word to us — to love as He has loved.