Preface

The entire contents of this book, The Concise Bible, are excerpts from the Bible; that is, the text of this book is the Bible itself in an abbreviated edition. It has been compiled with the needs of those who are unfamiliar with the Bible in view, and to introduce in an easy-to-read format an outline of the Bible message to those who desire to better understand the main points of the Christian beliefs.

The central theme of the Bible is Jesus, whom Christians accept as the promised Messiah, or Christ; and the mystery of the coming kingdom of God. In order to truly understand this message, one must, as Jesus said, read with a child-like and humble heart. If one will read God’s word as though searching for a hidden treasure, then, for certain one will find true in one’s own life those words from the Bible: “You have no need that anyone teach you.”

After you have finished reading this book, we would like to urge you to find a copy of the Bible itself, and read it.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16

About the Bible

The Bible is made up of two books called The Old Testament and The New Testament. This word, testament means a declaration or contract, or in some cases, a will. As used here, it means the contract or promise to which God has bound himself in his dealings with mankind. The contract of salvation that God has given us is based upon the death of Jesus Christ on the cross; it is a promise that God has saved us through Jesus and made us heirs of his Kingdom of Heaven. Believers in Christ are confident that the sins of mankind have been taken away forever through the death of Jesus on the cross—that Jesus, the Son of God, who was born on this earth about 2,000 years ago, took upon himself, in man’s place and as his substitute, the punishment deserved by sinful men. This means that our sins can be forgiven, and that we can believe in the promise of God, the wonderful news that we can receive eternal life that God offers to us. It is the good news of this promise that is the heart of the Bible message. The contract written before Christ is called The Old Testament and the contract written after Christ is called The New Testament. The Old Testament, centered around the Jewish nation, was authored by many writers between 1500 B.C. and 400 B.C., and consists of 39 books containing their history, laws, prophesies, poetry and songs. The message of God’s new kingdom and of the coming Christ are repeated in many prophesies. The New Testament explains the facts, how these prophesies of Christ were fulfilled in Jesus, and teaches about his salvation. It was written by Jesus’ disciples between 30 A.D. and 90 A.D., and begins with the four gospels—short histories of the life of Jesus—including also 21 letters to Christians, etc., for a total of 27 books. The Jewish people accept only the Old Testament as the Bible, the Word of God, which they call the Law and the Prophets. Christians, however, believe that both the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God. First of all, you should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20-21

Chapter 1　In the Beginning

The Bible tells us how this world, astounding in its complexity and life, began, how man was created and why, how mankind has rebelled against their Creator and ignores him, and of God’s awful curse of Death because of men’s sin against him. It is because of our sin against God, the Bible tells us, that we live, from the day we are born, with the doom of death hanging over us. We have no hope, no real and lasting joy and peace—only death awaits us. Whether we are rich or poor, strong or weak, slave or free, sick or healthy, soon we must die, and then, the Bible tells us, we must stand before our Creator and tell him why we ignored him and his righteous laws. God, not man, will judge us, according to his laws, not ours.

No religion, no philosophy, no man in the history of the world has shown us how to be saved from this horrible curse—except the Bible.

Chapter 2　“I Will Destroy the Earth”

When the violence and sin of man became so unbearable that God could no longer look upon it, he decided to destroy everything that breathed. Even today we can see buried in the rocks all over the world—on the highest mountains and in the deepest ravines, the fossils and remains of the animals that were destroyed in that terrible judgment that God sent on the earth.

God has promised that the next judgment will be a destruction by fire. In the New Testament in 2 Peter 3:10, we find these words: “God’s day of judgment will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a great roar, the elements will melt in the heat and the fire, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up.”

Chapter 3　A New Promise

After the flood, Noah lived for many years. Gradually the earth again became populated with men, but as they increased they once more became sinful and rebellious toward God. They began to make idols to worship instead of God, and after a few hundred years the world had again fallen into darkness and was full of sin.

Then once more God began to send warnings through prophets that he would punish sinful men again. These prophets who brought God’s message to repent were hated and persecuted, and not a few were murdered. But God, who loves men, continued to send these prophets to the world, generation after generation.

Chapter 4　The Messiah Is Coming!

God, through the mouths of the prophets, has promised us that a day is coming when he will establish a Kingdom of Righteousness, over which he will rule himself. He also promised that someday he will cleanse men from evil and bring them salvation from sin.

The prophets promised more than this. They revealed that God would send a man to this world who would, first, be a Savior from sin, and then, later, would come again as a king and a judge. The name which they gave to this coming Savior, King, Judge was “Messiah”, and the prophesies concerning him were given long before the birth of Jesus, the “Christ”.

Chapter 5　The Savior, Jesus

The astounding message of the Bible is that the Creator of the universe became a man, a man like us, because he loved us and wanted to save us from the awful results of our sin. He himself, the glorious king, the mighty Creator, the holy God, came to this miserable wicked world and became the representative man, the substitute for our sins. He came to take away the sin of the world by dying for mankind. With nails through his hands that were pounded by men, with the spit and blood on his face, he took upon himself the just punishment for the sins of mankind.

Chapter 6　Wonderful Words; Mighty Deeds

To this very day, the words of Jesus pierce the hearts of mankind because of their righteousness, humility and purity. But Jesus did not just speak beautiful words. He did not say to his disciples, “Follow my teachings;” He said, “Follow me!” In the same way, believers in Christ should show in their lives an example of righteousness, love, and purity, not covetousness for money and material possessions, not love of praise and honor from men, not a desire to control other peoples’ lives with power and authority. Jesus is our example.