49 New Testament

NEW TESTAMENT

I just want to continue and tell you that the New Testament is a collection of 27 books and epistles (letters). Composed over a 50 year period, that is it, all the words that were written in the New Testament and that are read today, are and were lived for 50 years. People were so amazed at everything that was going on, they wrote it down. Of course with the help of God. That was the plan, and to this day that is what we are reading. Its amazing how this word has been tried, many times to be destroyed, and here it still is today. Many, many people tried over the many years and it was always impossible, that is what always amazed me. It was composed by different authors. Of course the primary personality in the New Testament is Jesus. The primary theme is salvation in Jesus Christ. Based on the New Covenant. Its an agreement with God. So that we can learn what we are entitled to. The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and the Isrealites and it was a law. The new covenant is now and focuses on grace, and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each one contains an account of the life of Christ. None of them portray all the details of His life, but when we consider them together we can reconstruct a fairly good account of what was going on at that time.

Matthew was a disciple, and so was John.. but Luke and Mark were not one of the twelve. Luke was a hangaround of Peters, and was actually a doctor, and Mark was another hangaround, but he hung with the apostle Paul.

Acts follows the Gospels. This then gets into how Christianity spread following the death and resurrection of Jesus. Following Acts are the Epistles (Letters) and Paul wrote 13 of them. The rest were written by followers of Jesus. What Paul wrote then to the churches, or I should say the people, cause its not really a church. A church was a group of people that were Christians.. so they could have been getting together at a house or anywhere actually, and what Paul was trying to do was help them and guide them. That was his journey in life.. and you know what.. those epistles that he wrote, when I read them.. they are pretty relevant to us today because many of the problems that existed in the early days, are still issues that we struggle with today.

The last book of the New Testament is the book of Revelation, jam packed with prophecies. This was written for the purpose of giving its readers hope, inspiration and comfort in the face of severe persecution. Read it you will see, in it, it demonstrates that in the end God wins..... Eternal life forever in a new heaven and a new earth.. its comin. We will see it all.... We use the word “see” to mean that we finally understand and discern the beauty and glory of God after being blind to it. Like when we say: Oh, now I see. Our soul is tuned in to the glory so that the glory of God that shines through the gospel is seen as glorious, and we are no longer spiritually blind to it.

So the first Gospel is from Matthew who is also known as Levi. He was one of the 12 apostles. And he was also a Jew. He wrote the Gospel to try and convince the Jewish people that Jesus was the Messiah. Tough job actually. But he doesn’t only confine all this good news just to the Jewish people. He actually emphasizes that the gospel is for all people. God’s qualities are consistent throughout the Bible. In both testaments, God is a God of incredible love and compassion; however, God is equally a God of justice and righteous wrath against sin throughout Scripture.


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