The Bible is an amazing book. It was written over the course of 1,500 years by dozens of different authors, some famous, some not, but they all write as if one individual has been writing for centuries.
The Bible in its nature is a historical book and at the same time a prophetic book whose prophecies are fulfilled completely accurately in history. It describes a very ancient story—the very dawn of mankind and its fall, and it does not stop its historical narrative until 2000 years ago, when the so-called New Testament was written, and after the writing of the teachings of the god, advice for a godly life, how to serve the god and above all how to save oneself, the Bible concludes its narrative with prophecies that cover the entire future history of mankind in prophetic visions, whose value is inestimable.
Going back to the beginning of the Bible, we can read the account of the creation of everything. It is extremely interesting to see how the god makes every single thing in its place, beautiful, harmonious, which can reproduce itself and thus always be there on the earth. Here it is important to say that all creatures were created male and female from the beginning and were commanded to be fruitful and to multiply, something they continue to do to this day, and it is enough for people to do nothing, and they handle life on their own.
The marvelous creation of the earth was accompanied by the creation of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and each of these creations was created for its own purpose, which cannot be broken to this day. Even if men today pretend that they have no need of the god, they cannot exist without his creation.
Then the lord, the god, created man from the dust he had already made and breathed life into him and man became a "living soul". The account of the creation of man is no different in logic from that of the animals. Humans were created male and female and commanded to be fruitful and multiply but also to fill the earth and subdue it.
Then the god planted a garden in the east, in the land of Eden, and placed the people there not only to live, but also to cultivate the garden and to guard it. In the garden there are all kinds of trees and then two: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Many of these things do not exist today, because of man. And what man does is to disobey the one commandment given to him, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I think most people have heard how this happens, but basically, it's a conversation between the woman and Satan in the form of a snake who tempts Eve to rebel against the god. The motives are banal, how the god lies to them, that in fact if they eat, they will become like the god and that it is actually all right to disobey the god. So our great-great-great parents riot—if quietly—and eat. This is the end of the good of man, and from here on only follow stories of crime, murder, violence, war, hatred—in one word, the fall of man, as it is to this day.
Here man is cast out of the garden and told that death will rule over him. And he is kicked out of the garden, driven out of it and left to fend for himself, though not quite. Before that, they are given leather clothes, which means they are told that their shame will be covered by the death of the innocent animal. And we know that it is Jesus of Nazareth who is called the lamb of the god who takes away the sin of the world. Here is an amazing prophecy spoken to the woman that the seed of the woman will crush Satan's head, but Satan will bite him in the heel.
The Bible then tells how people begin their sinful lives, which is unfortunately with a murder out of religious envy. One of Adam and Eve's children kills the other because the other is accepted by the god and he is not. This is the first fratricide. After that, humanity multiplies and the evil in it does so as well. So much so that the god in his anger destroys them with a flood of water that covers the whole earth and destroys both man and animals. But a small group is saved in a chest. Noah and his wife, their three sons, and their wives were deemed worthy to begin the life of mankind anew. Unfortunately, with this, the crime does not leave the person, and he remains a criminal, except for a few who, having faith in the god, do good and live righteously. The man forever remains a criminal who wishes good to no one but a small circle of relatives. But even then, his nature is criminal.
The Bible continues with an amazing story: the separation of the different languages. We all know how many languages and dialects and idioms there are in the world, but we don't know their cause, because atheism doesn't give us any answer, why people would invent new languages and try to separate themselves from each other in this terrible way and then they will write dictionaries and grammars so that they can translate what is said into another language. For example, in order to have the Bible in our language, we have to translate it. It's complicated, even overly complicated, and it can't be done "just like that." It is the job of learned people to artificially create dictionaries, grammars, and most importantly, make someone speak their invented language. We all know about the unfortunate attempt with Esperanto to create an artificial language that would be a lingua franca—it doesn't work. Then how do we convince the world to have 7000 languages and dialects as it is today? Impossible. But let us hear the biblical account. And it is that the people, while they are still together, one people, the descendants of Adam and Eve, speaking their language, find a place they like and want to build a city and an extremely high tower in it. “And they said, ‘Let us build ourselves a city and a tower as high as the sky; and make a name for ourselves before we scatter over the face of the whole earth.’” This makes the god very angry, and he "distributes" the different languages, which are amazingly many, so much so that it seems that each family has received a new language. This causes them to be scattered over the whole earth—something that we very we clearly see is true.
After that, the god's word abruptly changes its global narrative, which has been seen up to this point, and begins to speak about a single person, about his family and wandering—Abraham. This man was found and chosen by the god while living in the land of the Chaldeans (which is Mesopotamia). He is given amazing promises by the god, spoken about him and his descendants, or rather his descendant, which descendant is also the main theme of the Bible. Remember this truth, it is of the utmost importance. He is told that he will be a blessing to all the nations of the world and that he will have the protection of the god in everything, for his god will be the only living god. Abram is commanded to leave his homeland and his native home and told that he will be shown a new land that will be a homeland for him and his descendants. Abram travels for a long time because he set out with his father, which was not exactly what he was told, and he was also going with his nephew, from which nephew much later would be born two nations opposed to Abram's people. After the death of his father, the god takes him to Palestine, where many people already live, that is, the land is occupied, not free and protected by big and strong people, about which the Bible will talk a lot later. Abram lives among them as a foreigner and never buys anything except a field with a cave for a tomb for his wife and, later, for himself.
Abram has one big problem—his wife is barren, and the promises that are given to him are all for him and his offspring. Therefore, he and his wife come up with a plan, a plan that may seem strange now, but for that era it was rather normal (although even in modern times there are similar concepts). Their plan is for Abram to take Sarah's handmaiden as his wife and for her to give birth so that Sarah can adopt him and have a child. This plan was carried out but, as usual, problems arise. Sara's maid starts thinking too highly of herself and begins to despise her which leads to many issues in the household. So much so that the maid decides to run away while still pregnant but is brought back by a messenger of the god. After many years, the god himself comes to visit Abram and promises them that they will have a son, which happens a year later. Abraham is then one hundred years old and Sarah, 91 years old. Thus, Isaac is born, and to Isaac is born Jacob while they are still living as foreigners in the land. And Jacob has a brother who, even if they are twins, is the firstborn, and Isaac is preparing to make him the heir of Abraham's blessings, which seems unfair to both his wife and Jacob, because it is seen that Jacob is the one who seeks the god of their fathers, not Esau. So they come up with a plan to pretend to be his brother and trick his father into giving him the blessing, since he can no longer see. He succeeds, but Esau gets so angry that Jacob must flee to the land of his mother's relatives, which is the land of Abraham. Thus, Jacob goes to his uncle Laban and falls in love with the younger of his two daughters, Rachel. Since there is no dowry, Laban agrees for Jacob to work for him for seven years, tending his flocks. And so it goes. But on the night of the wedding, Rachel is replaced by Leah, the elder sister. Jacob feels cheated, rightly so, and after a new arrangement for another seven years he also gets Rachel, and for another six he gets flocks. The two handmaidens of Leah and Rachel also become his wives. During this time, most of his children are born, not without some difficulties and problems. After that, Jacob returns to his land, and because he is afraid of his brother, he receives revelations, visions and words from the god to not be afraid. The two meet and then there is peace between them. Jacob lives in Palestine and his children grow up.
His youngest son Joseph, however, begins to have communication with the god and the god appears to him in dreams. This causes his brothers to hate him and even want to kill him. But the eldest saves Joseph by persuading them to sell him as a slave in Egypt. But the god is with him, and he succeeds in all his tribulations, is tested by the god, and is then elevated to second only to the king of Egypt, called a pharaoh. This is done as he interprets two dreams of the pharaoh that he has from the god. The pharaoh decided that Joseph is the wisest man to deal with the coming famine prophesied in these two dreams and appoints him governor over Egypt. Then the famine begins, and his father's family begin to suffer from a lack of food for themselves and their cattle. So they go to Egypt, and at first Joseph does not reveal to his brothers who he is, but puts them to a test, which they manage to pass. Then he is revealed to them, and then the whole family of Jacob goes down to Egypt.
There they are well and settled in the best land of Egypt, where they multiply greatly, until another king comes to power, who does not know Joseph and sees in the people of Israel competitors, because they are many. So he tries to exterminate them by forcing them to cast away the boys that are born. So was cast away Moses, who was said to have been close to the god. They hid him for three months. His mother plasters a basket with asphalt and lets him float down the river. There the pharaoh's daughter finds him and raises him as her own. Thus, brought up as a prince, he lives lavishly in the time of his people's distress.
When he is forty years old, he goes to visit his brothers, but they reject him. When he tries to protect one of them and kills an Egyptian, this becomes known to the pharaoh and Moses flees to the land of Midian, where two sons are born to him. When he is eighty years old, a messenger from the god appears to him in a burning bush on Mount Horeb. The god speaks to him and commands him to go to Egypt to liberate the god's people because they are slaves, are being oppressed, and because the time has come. However, Moses feels very inadequate for such a task. This angers the god, and he gives him his own brother Aaron as an assistant. The two go to Egypt, and after many plagues that afflict the people of Egypt, the pharaoh and his subjects finally agree to let the Jews leave. At the beginning of the road out of Egypt, despite the enormous suffering of his people, the pharaoh (today's kings do the same) decides that he has done something stupid in letting his slaves go and tries to bring them back, for which he calls his army and gives chase. Caught between the Red Sea and the enraged army of the pharaoh, the Israelites are terrified. But the god parts the sea before them, and they go into the desert. The pharaoh's army tries to follow them, but it is not possible, because it is a way for people with faith which they do not have. So the sea closes after the Israelites over the heads of the Egyptians, who all perish.
Despite the incredible miracles, such as no god (even if there are no others) has done for any people, the Israelites lose their trust in the god and in Moses and want to return to Egypt, where they may have been slaves, but were fed every day with food they like and did not need to live in a desert. This angers the god so much that he tells them they will not see Palestine, they will die in the desert, and only their children will enter the promised land. And so it happens.
However, several very important events for the god's people take place in the desert. When they reach the same mountain where Moses met the god, he appears to all the people in an even greater vision. If Moses saw a burning bush, then the people see the whole mountain on fire, covered in smoke, there is thunder and an earthquake, and the audible voice of the god. Then the people make this decision: they want someone to listen for them and convey what the god says to them, in this case Moses. And so it happens, and all the people stop listening to the voice of the god. How sad. They could have all been prophets and priests and approached the god and listened to his voice. But this is the moment when they accept the law of the god, which law explains to them how to live in the land they are going to, how to have a temple for the god, how to have priests to offer sacrifices for the god, and generally everything needed so that the god's people will have a state in the land of promise.
Forty years later the people enter Palestine where they offer peace to all the local peoples if they would submit. But it is not allowed by the god and many wars begin in which Israel always win until they almost conquer the land. Almost, because they often don't care, and so instead of exterminating or driving all the other people off the land, they let them live among them, which will later prove to be a serious problem.
When they conquer the land, they begin to live differently than other people. Nations have kings, or even democracy, but all people in Israel live as free citizens. It is a great time and a glorious time in which the god gives them judges, one man at a time, to judge what is right in the sight of the god and what is not, especially when they need to make war with the surrounding nations, which is often. At the end of about 450 years, they get tired of living free, because freedom also means responsibility, and they demand a king from the god's prophet Samuel. This is not pleasing to the god, but he gives them a king and laws for the kingdom. Thus Israel begins living as a kingdom.
Some of their kings are great men of the god, others are abominable men who worship all the gods, and we know that Satan himself is behind them. In the days of the kings, the god raises up prophets for them to instruct them and guide them in the straight paths of the god, but they reject the prophets. Fortunately, most prophets are commanded to record their prophecies in books, and so we have their words available even today. These are the books of the prophets in the Old Testament. In these books, in addition to the prophecies that are related to the lives of the people themselves, there are many prophecies that speak of the coming of the savior, the god's anointed one, who will save them from their crimes.
It may seem strange to you, but if the god's holy commands, which you cannot fulfill, are constantly spoken around you, then you quickly learn about your need for a savior. Thus, the god's people live in anticipation of their savior who according to the prophecies is the master himself, that is, the god who will come to his temple on a day known only to him.
Unfortunately, the people themselves fail to see the ways of the god and obey them. They are always looking for "other ways" to please the god, not to be like their father Abraham. Moreover, many of them openly oppose the spiritual, so much so that they begin to hate the prophets and exterminate them. Neither do they want to fulfill the laws of the god and prefer to be like other nations. This causes the god to remove them from the earth (this is the previous such occasion of removal from their land; the one following only concluded a few decades ago). And he put up with them for a long time to make amends, but they don't want to. Therefore, they were handed over to the empire of the Medo-Persians, who resettled the entire nation to Babylon, and other peoples settled in many places in Israel. According to one of the prophets, Jeremiah, this captivity would last 70 years.
Because the god is merciful and kind, he cares for his people even when they are in captivity. There are various stories from those times, but one of the main ones is about Daniel, who was a prophet of the god and the chief minister of the empire for a long time. He sees visions/dreams or interprets such. In these visions, the exact time of the coming of the prince, the anointed of the god, and his slaughter in Jerusalem is determined. This is probably the only vision—prophecy—that sets the exact time of the death of the god's anointed, albeit in prophetic weeks.
The god then causes the kings of the empire to begin issuing orders for the Jews to return to their place, although not before many difficulties. They also give them rights and help to rebuild the temple and the walls and gates of Jerusalem, which were previously torn down during their migration. Thus, the people return and aided by the prophets Zechariah and Haggai begin the construction of the temple and the wall of Jerusalem amid many slanders, conspiracies, and persecutions. So they finish the city and the temple but remain not free people, rather subjects of the empire of the Medes and Persians, due to their disobedience and crimes before the god.
This is the last information we have until the time of the New Testament. The reasons are again prophesied by the prophets who say that because they have broken the god's contract, he has forsaken them. But it is also promised that if this is the case, a day is coming when Israel will be visited by the lord, and they will all see the god's salvation.
When the time of the visitation comes, which is several hundred years later, the god raises up a man who goes into the desert and from there begins to speak to Israel. This is very strange behavior, because it is expected that if someone wants to speak to a people, he goes to the place where there are the most people and there he proclaims. But no, John/Yoannes, the one who immerses, goes to places where no one lives and there he expects the people to come to him. The amazing thing is that they do go—all of Israel except the religious and political leaders. The leaders absolutely refuse to obey the word of the god through this man. However, the most amazing of his words is that he says that one is coming to whom he is not worthy to offer the sandals, who will immerse them in the holy spirit and in fire. He tells the people to repent of their crimes and immerse themselves in water as an expression of that repentance. Last to this ritual immersion comes
the lord Jesus himself. When John sees him, he says that he is not worthy to immerse him, to which he is told that they must do everything which is righteous by the god. So he immerses him. As soon as he comes out of the water, the holy spirit descends on Jesus in the bodily form of a dove, and a voice is heard from the skies, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." As soon as the spirit comes upon him, he is led into the desert to be tempted/tested by the slanderer, traditionally called the devil. After his absolute and crushing victory over the evil, he begins to minister to the god's people in great works, miracles, signs, and words of comfort and salvation.
Not long after he begins to call his disciples. It's not easy to make sense of, because we humans don't do it this way. With us, if someone wants to learn something, he goes to a teacher or a school or university and learns. With Jesus it is exactly the opposite—he chooses whom to call directly from the place in which that person is, lives, works, or resides. One of them from the tax-house while he is working, some of the others from the boats while they are throwing the nets, others he calls by a proxy and speaks to them prophetically. The fact is that he chooses them by the will of the god, and not them choosing themselves to be there. However, he never turns away anyone who asks to follow him, except in isolated cases (the freed man in the Gadarene region). These people will remain with him for three and a half years, until the time of his murder, and then they will see him raised from the dead and will remain with him forever, except his betrayer—Judas Iscariot—who not only betrayed him, but did so in a particularly harmful way—with a kiss.
During his ministry to the children of Israel, the son of the god seeks only one thing in any person—faith in himself. If someone believes that Jesus is the son of the god, that he is the son of David, that he is the lord, etc., he receives from the god practically everything he asks for. And people who ask in faith are told that their faith has saved them. In these few years, Jesus resurrects the dead, cleanses lepers, casts out demons from people, heals every disease and infirmity, walks on water, tames storms, pays taxes with money taken from caught fish, etc. Everything he does, however, is done out of his compassion and love for the people. That is why his miracles exclude the suffering of people. Some of his disciples ask him whether they should burn to ashes a village with fire from the sky (not human) for which they are severely rebuked and receive the explanation that he came not to destroy, but to save. This should be understood as, not to make people suffer, but to suffer for them.
Amazingly, the political and religious leaders are not too enamored with his words, because he calls them hypocrites, among other things. The reason is that when a person does not want to do the things that seem inconvenient to him, he replaces them with other "more convenient" ones, which he calls "holy, pleasing to the god." Thus it sows delusion among the people who begin to think that if the leaders do this and explain that it is right before the god, then they too begin to do the same because it is easier and more convenient. The revelation to which they are subjected, however, provokes their fierce resistance and constant plots to kill Jesus, who is called the anointed one.
Let me digress for a moment and explain what anointed means according to the god's word, the Bible. Purely etymologically it is to take olive oil and pour it on someone. This purely human action has its spiritual dimension—it indicates that the holy spirit comes upon and in that person. Note that this was before the era of the new contract began where we are now and where when you receive the spirit you do so through prayer and speaking in tongues. So now you don't need anyone to confirm that you have received the holy spirit, because he testifies for himself.
The execution of the plots to kill him cannot take place until it is permitted by the sky. And the sky has its own agenda. The most important ingredient for the sky is faith and obedience to the truth and the spirit. So the disciples go through different lessons and listen to the word of the god in different situations until the god is confident that they can receive the holy spirit after the lord ascends to the sky. When this happens, in fulfillment of the prophecies about him with which the old contract is filled, he goes to Jerusalem to suffer for our salvation. At one point, the suffering is so great for him that the scripture says his sweat during prayer became like drops of blood, that is, his blood began to seep through the pores of his skin.
At the end of this period he has a very long conversation with his disciples on the subject of the holy spirit and prayer to the god. It declares to us that it is good for us that he should ascend, that we may receive the holy spirit. He is sent to be our advocate, teacher, helper, counselor, and anything else that helps us reach the kingdom of the sky. I cannot be stronger in my words, but this conversation requires your full attention, which is not the subject of our narrative, because of its vastness.
Then the lord goes to the temple of the god in Jerusalem and begins to cleanse it of all that is not permissible to do in it but is instead done for the sake of profit. Thus begin the last days of his life on earth. After the final confrontation of the leaders, politicians, and occupiers (Rome) with Jesus and his disciples, he is killed by being crucified, which is typical of Rome. He is placed in a rock-cut tomb. Amazingly, his enemies goes to the Roman emperor's procurator with the claim that it is necessary to guard the tomb for three days, lest the disciples steal the body, and declare that he has risen from the dead. For this reason a guard is sent and the tomb is sealed. That's how the rest of Friday and Saturday pass, without any "accidents". However, on the first day of the week, which is still Sunday in Israel, not Monday, events begin to happen that have not stopped happening to this day. According to Jewish custom, some of the women who followed him from Galilee went to the tomb very early in the morning to anoint him with incense. But when they get there, they find no one to anoint, the tomb is empty, only the swaddling clothes are there, as well as the headcloth, but separate. While they are wondering what is going on, messengers from the sky appear to them, explaining that he has risen from the dead, just as he had predicted before, and to tell the disciples. But even before they get there, Jesus himself appears to Mary Magdalene, and she does not recognize him, thinking that he is the gardener. He reveals himself to her. Thus begins his appearance to all his disciples, at a certain moment "appearing to more than five hundred brothers at once," as the scripture says. At the end of this period of forty days, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of the god, the son of man, as he often called himself, ascends into the sky and sits down at the right hand of the god, where he is to this day, as our high priest, who offered his own blood as a perfect sacrifice to the god for us all, and now intercedes for us before the throne of grace until the day when he returns and reigns and his kingdom will have no end. Amen.