2-1-7-Bible Inspiration

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God breathed out the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit who moved upon the authors of the Scriptures as they meditated and wrote.

To say that the writing of the Scriptures was directed by God's Holy Spirit is to say that they are by God.

Underline these verses with green in your Bible.  (1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:16) with green.

The Bible is called the Word of God because God put into the minds of men the thoughts which He intended them to write.

Read Hebrews 1:1.  Isn't it a wonderful thing that God, the One who created and keeps everything which exists, wants to speak to man?  How did God speak to the "fathers" in long ago times?.  Here are some of the prophets that God used to speak to men: 1.  Hosea, 2. Joel, 3.  Micah, 4.  Haggai, 5.  Zechariah,  6.  Malachi.

Read the first verse of each one of the books written by these prophets; these men understood their message to be: "The Word of "

God carefully selected and prepared the men with whom He would share His thoughts for all mankind.  Read Jeremiah and Galatians 1;15.  When did God begin to prepare Jeremiah and Paul to be two of the 40 writers of the Bible?

The writers of the Bible received through the Holy Spirit, their message from God.  But they had to express this message in the language and terms which the people would be able to understand.  God did not dictate the words just like someone talks into a recorder.  If God had done this, the men who wrote the Bible would have been no more than machines.

Among the many occupations, of the writers, were fisherman like Peter and John.  Daniel was a govenor, David was a king and Paul made tents for a living.  They came from different occupations, they lived at different times, and in different places and countries.

The very first of the 66 books found in the Bible were written nearly 1,500 years before Christ.  The last was not written until some 100 years after Jesus.

39 books of the Old Testament were written in Hebrew and 27 books were written in Greek.

The Unity in the Bible is found in the unchanging promise of a Savior, the Messiah.  The promise is first found in Genesis 3:15 and then fulfilled in the person of Christ.

Do you remember the way in which John referred to Jesus at the very beginning of his Gospel?  Read John 1:1.  John says that Jesus is the .

Now read Hebrews 1:1-2.  God has spoken to us through the living Word .

Down through the Centuries God has been speaking through prophets and he continues to speak today through Jesus Christ.  May our eyes be open, our ears alert, and our hearts eager to receive and obey all of this marvelous message of God.

Its Fulfillment

The purpose of this lesson is to show the unity of the Bible by seeing how the unity of the Bible by seeing how the prophecies of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in the New Testament.  We will be studying the eight Messianic prophecies listed below: Isaiah 7:14, Born of a Virgin; Micah 5:2, In Bethlehem; Jeremiah 31:15, Death of the Babies; Isaiah 40:3, Messenger of the King; Isaiah 9:1-2, Ministry in Galilee; Zechariah 9:9, Mounted on a Donkey; Psalm 8:2, Praise from Children; Psalm 118:22-23, Rejected Stone.

If you are going to do well in this lesson you will have to follow instructions carefully.  We are going to be using the red pencil/pen to mark our verses since it is being used throughout the course to mark the kingdom.  The color red will remind you that the Messiah was the Anointed King.

In a previous unit we learned that there is a single idea which can be found throughout all of the Scripture.  The idea which gives Unity to the Old and New Testament is the  promised Messiah.

We will be studying the content of some of these messianic prophecies and the way in which they were fulfilled in the New Testament.

Exercise: In your Bible write in Red the Letter "F" by the side of each of the following Bible references: Matthew 1:23, 2:6, 2:18, 2:3, 4:15-16.  The letter "F" (In Red) indicated the fulfillment of a Messianic prophecy.

Isaiah 7:14 was a prophecy that the Messiah was to be born of a .

Which one of the five verses you have marked with a red "F" shows us the fulfillment of this prophecy?

Remember to make sure to underline each of the Messianic prophecies in this lesson.  Your success will depend upon you doing this.  Underline Isaiah 7:14 and Micah 5:2 with red.

The prophecy which is found in Micah 5:2 has to do with the birthplace of the Messiah, which is the village of .

Which of the five verses you have marked with a red "F" gives us the fulfillment of this prophecy?.

Underline Isaiah 40:3 with Red.

Isaiah 40:3 deals with the messenger who was to announce the coming of the Messiah.  Where was this to take place?

Which of the five verses you have marked with a red "F" gives us the fulfillment of this prophecy?

Now open your Bible to Matthew 4:12-16.  It deals with the beginning of Jesus ministry in Galilee.  Read Matthew 4:15.  This verse tells us that long before Jesus, someone had prophesied that Jesus' ministry would take place in the Province of .  According to verse 14, who was this prophet? .

Verses 15 and 16 are the same words as the prophet Isaiah's Because they are quoted from Isaiah they are printed in Poetic Form in the New International Version Bible in order to make them stand out from the rest of the verses.  They are further indented then regular verses.

Many fulfillments of the prophecies in the Old Testament are printed in the same way.  Look over Matthew, chapters 1, 2, and 3.  What are Three prophecies of the Old Testament that are found in that are found in these chapters?  You will be looking for those verses which are indented and printed in Poetic form.  Write the references for these three verses below:

In Matthew's Gospel, the verses which are quoted from the Old Testament are most often fulfilled prophecies.

Another help in using the technique of comparison is to be able to use the verses and notes which appear in the columns and at the bottom of each page in your Bible.

The Bible verses in the columns are called cross-references.  Later you will learn to use the verses to aid you in the technique of comparison.  The verses and notes at the bottom of the page are called Footnotes.

Look again at Matthew 2:6.  You already know that Matthew 2:6 is a quote from the book of Micah.  At the end of Matthew 2:6 are two small letters.  Small Dark Letters are footnotes.  Small Lighter letters are cross-references.

Look at the bottom of the page for the letter "h" (the dark small letter at the end of Mat. 2:6).  Footnote letters at the bottom of the page are followed by the Verse Number of the reference they belong to.  Is it Micah 5:2 as you would expect.  Lookup Micah 5:2 to be sure it is the same.  Note that sometimes the New Testament writers used different words.  This is because they were using a different translation of the Bible.

Look up Matthew 2:18.  using the footnote given for this verse you can see that it was taken from chapter verse

Exercise: Underline Jeremiah 31:15 (in red).

The prophesy of Jeremiah was fulfilled when Herod the Great killed the in .  When Matthew wrote this Gospel, the Holy Spirit helped him to remember that prophecy.

In the NIV Bible it is also possible to find the New Testament fulfilled by looking at the references of the Old Testament prophecy.  They are found in the columns, known as the .

Find the Dark numbers in the column for Jeremiah 31:15.  Prophecies from the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament have a star at the end of the new Testament references in the cross references.  The star is at the end of what new Testament verses .

Matthew 2:17-18 are the fulfillment of the prophecy in Jeremiah 31:15.

Where would you find the reference for the new Testament quote of Isaiah 7:14? Find the reference and write it .

With the help of the , you can now say that Matthew 4:15-16 has been quoted from the prophet , chapter , verses .  Exercise: Underline Isaiah 9:1-2 in red.

With the help of the , you can now say that the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 40:3 was recorded by Three New testament writers.  Where is this fulfillment found in Matthew's gospel?

Now open your Bible to Matthew 21.  There are Three messianic prophecies quoted in this chapter of Matthew's Gospel. (There are, other quotes from the Old Testament in this chapter, but you will be looking for the messianic prophecies.)

What is the first Bible verse in Matthew 21 which has a Messianic prophecy .

What is the Old Testament reference for this verse?

The theme of the prophecy is the entrance of the who is seated on a donkey, into the capital of Palestine, the city of .

The theme of the Second messianic prophecy quoted in Matthew 21 is the praise of the children to the Messianic King (letter "j").

The Bible verse is Matthew .

The Old Testament reference is .

The theme of the third messianic prophecy in Matthew 21 is how the Messiah will be rejected like a which has been put aside by the builders.

The Bible verse is Matthew

The reference in the Old Testament is

By now you should have noticed one of the most amazing facts about the life of Christ.  All of the main events in Jesus' life, and even some of the smaller details, were prophesied many hundreds of years before they happened.  The messianic prophecies and their exact fulfillment in Jesus Christ's life and strong evidence that the Bible is not a book made by men, but is by .  Even though parts of the Bible were written by different men at different times and places, there is an incredible through all of its pages.

Matthew shows the fulfillment of prophecy in the person of Jesus Christ, the true Messianic king.

What is the main theme of Matthew's gospel? Kingdom of

For the Jews of Jesus' time, one of the most important Messianic Psalm.  This was psalm 2.  Compare Psalm 2:7-12 with Matthew 3:17.

All the Bible is important because Jesus Christ is the Central Theme of all its pages. It has been inspired by God and it is all for us.  Let's give praise to God the Father who inspired it, God the Son, in whom it was fulfilled, and God the Holy Spirit, who makes it live in our daily life.

Why did Matthew quote from the Old Testament?

Led By God

It is important for every believer to know and obey the will of God.  The Bible says: "i will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go." (psalm 32:8)  According to this verse, is it possible for you to know God's will for you? 

Memorize this verse and it's reference.  The words of Psalm 32:8 are a beautiful promise that our heavenly Father has given to each one of his children.  In every decision we have to make, God wants us to:

So we can be absolutely sure that will guide us when we are making important decisions in life.

Now we are going to study the methods God uses to guide us.

One of the methods God uses to show his will to us is through Prayer.

is the first thing we must do in order to know God's will.  The second is to read the Bible which is the of.

These words talked to you in a special way: "Jesus replied, 'let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also.  That is why I have come." (mark 1:38)  Through these words of Jesus you can come to understand that it is God's will for the gospel to be preached in other where there was no testimony yet.

When the words of the Bible strike us with special force, we know that God is directly to us through his Word. 

Believers should never do anything which they know goes against the teaching of the Bible.  For example, the Bible clearly states: "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor." (Ephesians 4:25)  According to this verse, believers should not lie.

If you find that you must tell a lie in order to get a job, can you do it and still be in agreement with the Word of God?  (answer Yes or No)   Would it be God's will for you take a job if you must lie in order to get it?

Much of God's will for you can be found in this way.  For instance, the Bible has this to say about the person a young believer must marry.  "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?... What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?" (II Corinthians 6:14, 15)

Will God tell us to do something which goes against the teaching of the Bible?

The third method God uses to guide his children is the advice of other believers who are more experienced in their faith than you are.

We should be careful about thee person whose advice we seek.  Here is a list of what you should look for in the person you ask for advice:

The Bible says: "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." (Colossians 3:15)  In this case, the word "rule" means to "act as a guide or leader."  The verse then says, "Let the of Christ act as a guide or leader."

If we do not have the peace of Christ in our hearts about something we are planning to do, or if we do not feel quiet about the matter, it is very possible that God is showing us that:

Another method that God uses to guide us is through Circumstances.  When Circumstances are Favorable God may be saying "Yes", when they are not favorable, he may be saying "No".

Suppose you think that the Lord wants you to travel to a far town on a certain day.  You pray and ask for God's leading but you discover that you cannot find a way to get there.  How would you know that it was not God's will for you to do that?  By means of unfavorable

It is important to know that circumstances alone cannot be used to find God's will.  Circumstances help us to know whether we were right or wrong about God's will when we used the other methods of finding guidance.

There are times when circumstances may seem to be unfavorable, but we feel sure from our prayer and Bible reading that something is the will of God.  Times like this are a trial of our faith.  But, if our plan is according to the will of God we can be sure that God will change the circumstance.

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