A Bible Handbook For Beginners: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto may path

By Albert Guthrie

This handbook is designed to help all believers to have a better grasp of the Bible. But it is also written with the Jewish people in mind. Without the Jewish history, there would be no Christianity.

John 1:11 declares that Jesus <> came unto His own (the Jewish people), and His own received Him not (they rejected Jesus as their Messiah). As a result, salvation has come to the Gentile nations (Romans 11:11).

The apostle Paul uses an olive tree as a metaphor in Romans 11:24 to explain an integral truth. Paul, in that text, says that we as Gentiles who were considered wild by nature (non-Jews) were grafted into the natural olive tree (Jews), along with the natural branches, through Jesus Christ, who is God's chosen One to reconcile both the Jews and the Gentiles into one covenant. This metaphor speaks not only of two differing races of people uniting together in one covenant, but it speaks to the fact that Judaism and Christianity are dependent upon each other. One cannot do without the other. They are divinely intertwined. Hence, we have the term "Judeo-Christian."

God intended that the Jewish nation was to be a prototype of the church body of Jesus Christ. This handbook reveals that process of God's divine plan. It will be obvious as you wade through the pages of this handbook--the unfolding of the plan of God from ages past. It will reveal how God has worked through obstacle after obstacle to produce a solution for all people regardless of religion, race, color, culture, or gender.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889436300

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A Bible Handbook For Beginners

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path

Albert Guthrie

ISBN 979-8-88943-629-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88943-630-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Albert Guthrie

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Knowledge of God's Word is the most powerful asset in the life of a believer.

This handbook is highly recommended as a handout by Pastors to their new inductees

Introduction

Chapter 1

Is God real? Is there only one God?

Chapter 2

Adam and Eve

Noah, the Obedient Ship Builder

From Abram to Abraham

Abraham, a Type of New Testament Believers

Isaac and Jacob

Chapter 3

Israel, the Prototype of the Church

Joseph the Dreamer

Joseph Sold into Slavery

Israel Relocates to Egypt

Moses, the Emancipator

Moses and Aaron Dispatched to Egypt

Hapi, One of the Egyptian Gods

Chapter 4

The Passover Instituted

The Jewish and the Gregorian Calendars

The Crossing of the Red Sea

Chapter 5

The Law Given at Mount Sinai

The Church in the Wilderness

1. The Burnt Offering—Leviticus 1:1–17

2. The Brazen Laver—Exodus 30:17–20

3. The Table of Showbread—Leviticus 24:5–9

4. The Golden Lampstand—Leviticus 24:1–4

5. The Altar of Incense

6 AND 7. The Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat

Moses and the Striking of the Rock

The Transition of Leadership to Joshua

Joshua Anointed to be the New Leader

Samuel, Saul, and David

Chapter 6

David Anointed to Be King

Personal Testimony

Chapter 7

Zachariah, Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph

The Birth of Jesus

John the Baptist

The Baptism of Jesus

Jesus Is Filled with the Holy Spirt

Chapter 8

The New Birth: What It Means to Be Born Again

The Importance of Water Baptism

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

Chapter 9

The Rapture of the Church and the Tribulation

What Is the Tribulation?

Who Is the Antichrist?

The Second Phase of Christ's Second Coming

Chapter 10

The Last Things: Eschatology

The Marriage of the Lamb

The Kingdom of Christ

The Twenty-One Judgments of Revelation: The Apocalypse

Judgment of the Saints and the Unbelievers

The Judgment Seat of Christ

The Judgment of the Unbelieving

Satan Loosed for a Season

The Earth Refined

A new heaven and a new earth

Jesus reverts all authority to the Father

Eternity Begins

Prayer

Prayer of repentance

Scriptural encouragements

Afterword

Book Reviews

Author's Note

About the Author

Knowledge of God's Word is the most powerful asset in the life of a believer.

This handbook is highly recommended as a handout by Pastors to their new inductees

Introduction

I have been a pastor for fifty-three years, serving in three different pastorates. One of the things that I've observed throughout those years is the fact that a large percentage of believers don't have an overall grasp of the Bible.

Also, to a greater degree, young believers in the faith often find themselves not knowing where to start or even what is expected of them. They've accepted Christ as their Savior, but what exactly it means to be a Christian and where do they go from there can be a bit puzzling and, in some cases, overwhelming. Many of their questions go unanswered.

There are others who aren't very motivated to spend time in the Bible due to factors such as the difficulty in understanding the context or the language of the writers, the complexity of the prophetic books, the lack of sequence as is normally found in a story, the symbolisms, and some apparent contradictions, which really aren't contradictions but on the surface appears to be so.

To the credit of many church leaders who share this view, they are providing a Biblical foundation for those individuals with special classes to help them get started in the knowledge of the Word of God and set them on the right path. Still it is each believer's responsibility to search the Scriptures on their own. It is my sincere prayer that this handbook, which the Lord has laid on my heart to write for quite some time now, will compliment other materials in current use in the churches today.

This handbook is a brief overview of the entire Bible. It is written with young believers at heart, but it is also designed to include a broader community of seekers, avoiding complicated texts, while allowing the reader to have a better grasp of the core truths of the Bible. This handbook, therefore, is for all who may need this insightful overview of the Word of God, which is focused on the central message of the Bible.

It is quite factual that the Bible is a book of mysteries, and because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, it needs to be understood from the perspective of the Holy Spirit's influence and inspiration. But for sure, God wants us to get into the Scriptures that He may fill us with truth and the blessings of His Word, with the aid of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus died on the cross and ushered in the period of Grace that we live in today, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, Comforter and Guide. The Holy Spirit knows the mind of the Father, and He has empowered us to know God's Word and instruct us in the right way. The importance of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the universal church of Jesus Christ as a whole cannot be overstated. It is indispensable.

The Holy Spirit is the one who inspired the forty writers of the Bible, and He is the one who helps us to understand the truths that are not readily apparent or clearly understood in the pages of the Bible. This, of course comes with time. The more time we spend in the Bible, it's the more the Holy Spirit will reveal things to us. The Holy Spirit reveals the Father's will to us as we read and study His Word. Additionally, God, in His wisdom, has placed matured believers in each local church and has given them the gift of interpreting and teaching His Word. We need all the resources that are available to help us to provide greater transparency in God's precious Word.

It is also true that the Old Testament in itself can be a turnoff because of the wars and bloodshed in that period of time. The laws were also extremely difficult for the people to remember, let alone to keep them. For us living in the twenty-first century, those laws seem very odd with all those daily sacrifices, feasts, and ceremonies. Thankfully, those sacrifices and ceremonies don't exist anymore. Thank God we are no longer living in that dispensation or period of time—under law. Jesus Christ and His cross have changed everything forever.

It is therefore unfortunate that there are some religions today that are still hanging on to portions of those Old Testament Mosaic Laws that they favor, mixing Law and Grace, which ought not to be. I would invite such folks to read the book of Galatians carefully from a valid translation of the Bible. The book of Hebrews is also highly recommended. I use the word valid because there are many different translations of the Bible that are available to the public, but some are not faithful translations of the original manuscripts. Some are downright off the rail.

Although the ceremonial activities in the Old Testament are no longer practiced today, we cannot ignore the core principles or messages that are inlaid in their usage since everything recorded in the Old Testament were pointing to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would change the world fundamentally.

Strange as the Old Testament laws and ceremonies may seem, they add credibility to the Scriptures. God has been showing us for centuries by using different methods and types to prepare generations of people for what He would ultimately do to change the world and the lives of people in extraordinary ways—for our present and ultimate good.

We can recall the story of the shepherds, for instance, out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks at night when an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them and announced the birth of Jesus to these shepherds. Immediately, they left the care of their flocks and went to Bethlehem in search of the newborn King, the Messiah Christ.

The reason for responding with such haste and faith in the message of the angel is because the prophets had prophesied hundreds of years previously that Christ the Messiah would come. They were in great anticipation of such a glorious event, not knowing it would have happened in their time, but it did.

So they came to Bethlehem without delay, and to their great excitement and delight, they found the baby Jesus lying in a manger. A prophecy they heard and believed in for centuries was fulfilled in their days, and they were witnesses to this momentous and glorious fulfilment! It does not matter how long it takes for God's Word to be fulfilled, God will always honor His Word.

Some examples of principles and types of situations that are metaphors, analogies, allegories, or prototypes of what was to come are provided along the way in this handbook. God, in His wisdom, has been providing us with footsteps throughout the Old Testament toward the ultimate manifestation of the Messiah, Jesus Christ for centuries. It finally happened at the precise time in the divine timetable and wisdom of God.

In essence, the Bible is one story, from Genesis to Revelation, pointing to the finished work of God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This handbook is an effort to trace the plan of God through the Old Testament to the New Testament to help to give the reader a consistent message of God's marvelous plan for the human race.

In spite of the countermeasures and opposition from Satan and his demonic schemes, God's will and purpose will always triumph because God loves us, and He will not give up on us. It's up to us not to give up on Him.

The word church will be used often in this handbook, but what we call church is really a place of meeting by the church. The definition of the word church is the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. All believers in the Lord Jesus Christ make up the church of Christ. In the Greek, the church is called the ecclesia, meaning the gathering of those summoned. In layman's term, it is a body of people who are called out of the world's system into the family of God, made possible by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The church is therefore called the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of His church, and we are the body, making it a complete unit.

With all the difficulties some may have with the Bible, it is the most fascinating book in the entire world. It is filled with laughter, heartbreak, hope, encouragement, miracles, mysteries, wonders, and glorious promises. Above all, it gives us solutions to the dilemmas of life. Not only does it give us solutions to our problems but also provides us a pathway in life that if followed will help us to avoid costly errors, leading to a much brighter and productive future. Obedience to God always leads to the best possible outcome.

This work or handbook will not solve, address, or answer all the questions people may have with the Bible, but it is intended to give the readers an overall and broad view of God's purpose for all people—the big picture. To be clear, the Bible was not written by any secular human being. The Bible is a book that is given to mankind by God Himself through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit and about forty Holy Spirit–inspired and anointed writers over a period of about fifteen hundred years.

Even though it was written over that length of time by different authors, many of them did not know each other personally or even lived in the same time period, yet the Bible is without error or contradictions. That is simply amazing.

Those of you who are students of the Bible know that God is supreme and sovereign. He is the ultimate power in the universe. This great and awesome God has given us this amazing book, the Holy Bible, with answers and solutions to life's vexing problems and a clear picture of what the future holds.

The Bible has been a source of blessing and life-changing experience for countless millions of people over thousands of years. No other book in the world can compare with the Bible because it is inspired by God. It is not based on fables but facts; it is without error, deceit, or falsehood; and it can be fully trusted. It is a book of absolute and divine truths designed to build us up and take us back to God's glorious original plan before sin was introduced into the world.

It is essential that every believer and also unbelievers understand that the Bible is God's inerrant Word, and God cannot lie or deceive, nor does He change. He does not need to change because He is perfect in all His ways, and anything that is perfect has no room for improvement.

God, in His wisdom, has not only given us answers to the challenges of life, but He has given us a clear picture of the future of earth as well as the future of humanity, even beyond time as we know it. No other book in the world can begin to attempt to foretell the future with such accuracy as the Bible. God is not a man that He should lie. Not one word of His will ever fail.

In my life's experiences, I have had to deal with schematics and technical manuals. One of the things that has always frustrated me has to do with the fact that very often, you will not find all that you are searching for at any one place. It is often given in bits and pieces in different parts of the manual, forcing you to search page after page to find what you are looking for. The Bible, to an extent, is also written that way. There is no sequential (chronological) order, and this is so, I believe, because God wants us to spend time searching the Scriptures. The more time we spend searching for things in the Bible, the more we will learn in the process. Excessive time spent in the Bible can never be considered a waste of time because the Bible was written under the auspices of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, time spent reading or studying the Bible, the Holy Spirit will always reveal some new truths, which will encourage and build us up in the faith. It does not matter how many times or how many years one may spend reading the Bible. There will always be new revelation. It is inexhaustible.

This handbook is designed to help anyone—hopefully everyone—in whose hand the Good Lord in His divine plan has placed a copy. It is written to give everyone an encapsulation of the overall plan and purpose of God and hopefully will increase your confidence in God's inerrant Word, His will, and His purpose for your life.

It is my belief that a macro view of anything is always best before one is introduced to the micro aspect of something as complex as the Bible. I believe this work will help young believers in particular to get a good start in the study of the Word of God. God's Word is our spiritual food designed to nourish our souls and cause us to grow strong in Him.

Chapter 1

Is God real? Is there only one God?

Because there are so many religions in the world (estimate four thousand to ten thousand, some believe it's even higher), many of their leaders are inserting their own theology into spiritual matters. As a result, there are many erroneous dogmas found today in all false religions and even in some Christian churches. Consequently, many people are confused as to who the true God really is, or even which religion is right, or is there even a god.

Proper doctrine is essential to all those who are seeking for truth. Truth is powerful. The Bible teaches that truth liberates people. When the truth is withheld or replaced with deceit, it will throw us off the right course, leading to disappointments and sometimes grief.

If you are struggling with finding the right direction for your life, it is my prayer that this overview of the Bible will put you on the right path. The one and only true God wants us to know Him on a personal basis and to serve Him in Spirit and in truth and to enjoy His great love and favor for us. He is a personal God.

From a universal perspective, I am led to begin with the distant or infinite past. There was a time when nothing existed, only vast open and empty, endless spaces. How far back? No one can tell. However, from a geological perspective and also by the science of radiocarbon and radiometric dating as well as other methods to determine the age of fossils, rocks, and soil, evidences have been uncovered to estimate that the earth and certain living creatures have existed for billions of years on this earth. However, this present human race began only about six thousand years ago based upon the time line of the Scriptures.

The universe is made up of innumerable numbers of galaxies. A galaxy is a system consisting of billions of stars, gases, dust, and their own solar systems. Planet Earth is located in the Milky Way galaxy. The universe in itself is endless. The earth is only but a grain of sand when compared with the vastness of the galaxy that it exists in, or any galaxy for that matter.

We are told that there are countless numbers of galaxies in the universe, each having their own solar systems and held together by a mysterious phenomenon called gravity (like magnetic attraction). Those galaxies are so vast that even the stars within them are separated by billions of miles—so vast that the distances between them are measured in light-years instead of miles.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a light-year is the distance light travels in one earth year. One light-year is equivalent to about six trillion miles. Light travels at the unbelievable speed of 186,000 miles per second. Yet at that speed, it takes many earth years for light from the nearest stars to reach the earth so that the light from each can be seen on earth. The foregoing is just a tiny example of the vastness of space and the unknown number of galaxies that exist in this limitless void called space, but I wanted you to have that global perspective as we deal with the subject of God.

If one will take the time to step back for a moment to reflect on everything around us in an objective way, logic alone would teach us that there must be a superpower in existence, far greater than any power that exist on the earth. The Bible teaches that such a person is none other than the Almighty God, who is the Creator of all things and Who, in His great wisdom and power, has set His laws in place to govern these endless creations of His.

For the invisible things of him (God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Why do I think it's necessary to even mention such seemingly irrelevant or uninteresting things? Simply because it is the will of God to draw our attention to such phenomena. Therefore David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says in Psalm 19:1 (NKJV): "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handywork."

Speaking of the heavens, let's take the sun for instance. The sun is ninety-three million miles away from us, yet every morning, it rises faithfully from the east without failure at approximately the same time every day in some parts of the world. This it has been doing from the moment that God said, Let there be light and there was light (Genesis 1:3). The sun is necessary for life to exist on earth. It provides light and heat. Although it is ninety-three million miles away, it is able to keep us from freezing to death. No life or vegetation can exist without the sun.

The moon gives light at nights, including many other wonderful benefits to sustain life. We are told that the moon helps to stabilize the earth so it does not wobble on its axis, thereby helping us to have a fairly stable climate. It also helps with the seasons, the weather, the migration of animals, tides on the ocean, and