No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

The Word Of God

No book in the history of the world has been more prolific, more powerful, and more life-changing than the Bible. Written by forty men over 1500 years, the book of books contains the record of man’s beginnings, the unfolding of a divine plan fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ, and the testimony for every person to understand the mind of the Creator. No book has been more impactful on the landscape of humanity than the Bible but it has become the most misunderstood and neglected body of wisdom possessed by man.

The first English translation was done by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388. Chapter divisions did not begin to appear in the text until 1228. The Old Testament was divided into verses in 1448 and the New Testament in 1551. A complete Bible with chapters and verses first appeared in the Geneva Bible in 1560. There are thirty-nine books in the English version of the Bible with twenty-seven in the New Testament. This includes 1189 chapters in the entire Bible, 929 chapters in the Old, and 260 in the New Testaments. Job 29 is the middle chapter of the Old Testament and Romans 13 the middle chapter of the New Testament. There are 23,214 verses in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, there are 7,959 verses. The middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 118:8. In the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 20:17 is the middle verse, and Acts 17:17 is the middle verse of the New Testament. The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9. An interesting fact about two verses in the English Bible: Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except ‘J’; Daniel 4:37 contains all the letters of the alphabet except ‘Q’. There are approximately 592,439 words in the Old Testament and approximately 181,253 words in the New. The longest word in the Bible is found in Isaiah 8:1.

It is amazing to consider all the interesting facts about the Bible. Examining the Bible for all the trivia of unique facts is a fun-filled exercise but has no value to the purpose and design of the Bible. Knowing all of the elements of the Bible is not what saves a man but understanding its message. The Bible is the mind of God revealed to man for the eternal purpose of salvation. Many know a lot about the Bible but know very little about the meaning of the Bible. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to put down in words the meaning of God’s plan to redeem His creation from the fall of sin. Having a Bible decorated with ornate artwork or to hold dearly the Bibles of grandparents or loved ones is of no value if the Bible is not read for its purpose to guide men to the truth. The Bible is available in printed form, on smartphones, computers, audio, and video and yet most have no idea what the Bible teaches. It seems a better thing to own a Bible than to read it.

The Bible is the most important possession a man can have. Contained within its pages is the hope of life, the promise of the life to come, and the assurance God’s promises. It is a book that demands a man to read and spend time mining the many veins of golden truth permeating the pages. No greater wisdom is found in the world. Its message remains unchanged over thousands of years. There is no body of wisdom that is as concise, complete, and necessary for every man than the book of books: the Bible. Read it to be wise. Meditate to find its meaning. Never allow a day to settle without quality time harvesting the fields of God’s grace in the message of Jesus Christ – the Bible.