I certainly do not know the statistics, but I wonder if people read very much today? I’m talking about books now, not newspapers, comic books, etc. Many books today can be read on electronic devices. I suppose that counts, but it just doesn’t seem the same as holding a real book in your hand.

The greatest book ever written, and I guess the least read, would have to be the Bible. As the title above says, it is God’s message to us. Have you ever wondered what God has to say? Have you ever wondered what He is like? Maybe you have personal questions or would like to know what is going to happen to us when this earthly life is over.

Adrian Rogers once said, “Someone said, ‘The Bible is such a wonderful book. It is shallow enough that a little child can come and get a drink without fear of drowning, and so deep that the scholars can swim in it and never touch bottom.'”

Sometimes my wife and I like to read ‘legal thriller’ books written by a secular author that are very well written. The author has the ability to pull you into the story simply by using words, and has written many books. Several have even been made into movies which have also been successful.

You just can’t beat the Bible, though. Casual Bible readers will start nodding off to sleep about now, but those who are serious about really getting into God’s Word just can’t get enough.

The book of Revelation is without doubt the least read book in the Bible, but it is the only one that promises a blessing by doing so.

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

If you want to know what the future holds, there it is. It’s all packed into that one book … Revelation. But that’s not all; there are several books within the Bible that tells us future things, and the more we read them, the better we understand Revelation.

People often get discouraged when reading the Bible, saying they just can’t understand it. Hey, no one, and I mean NO ONE understands it all. Think about it. God, specifically Jesus Christ, wrote it (John 1:1-5), so no one is going to completely understand God. He is the Creator. We are the created. That would be like me trying to explain how a computer works to a grasshopper. BUT … God wants us to understand it. Otherwise, there would be no need for Him to write it.

The only way to really understand the Bible as a Christian is to allow the Spirit of God, who we call the Holy Spirit, to teach us as we read. He is the best and only teacher we need.

If we are a Christian, we have the Spirit of God living within us. He is the pledge with which God has sealed us as a guarantee, promising we always belong to Him.

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Many Christians are missing so many blessings by not being faithful readers of the Bible. Many try to get their spiritual ‘kicks’ from emotional genuflecting, instead of the real thing. To me, that is like eating the white of an egg instead of the yellow or eating cottage cheese instead of gravy and biscuits. Once you’ve had the best, the heck with all the rest. I’m sorry, but anyone who can eat just the white of an egg or cottage cheese is tougher than I am.

That reminds me of sermons. (Don’t ask me why.) Who knows, but this is another great example. Comparing the Bible to anything else is like comparing today’s sermonettes with sermons from men like Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Surely you must admit there has been at least once in your life that you wondered what God says about something. Don’t go ask someone. Read His book. I’ve never known of a question that cannot be addressed from God’s Word. When you rely on someone else to tell you what God says, you’re getting their opinion. Don’t settle for an old used rattletrap; get a brand spanking new car. Get it from the horse’s mouth, in other words. Get the original, not a copy.

God has a message for each of us. It is in His book. Read the Bible. Enjoy! You’ll be blessed!

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

I have read for years, from several reputable Bible scholars, that there are over 7,000 promises in the Bible. Think about that number for a while. That’s a lot of promises! More so, God actually keeps His promises, unlike you and me!

From our youth through our adulthood, how many times has someone promised us something but failed to deliver? How many times have we done the same? Some folks are better at keeping their promises than others, but none of us can say we have kept them all.

God says what He means and means what He says. Maybe some find that hard to believe since we live in a world that is far from perfect. However, we can’t, or at least shouldn’t, judge God based upon the failures of mankind.

Every promise and/or prophecy that God has made has either been fulfilled or will be. His success rate is 100%. He does not lie and He always keeps His promises.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'” (John 14:6).

Jesus emphatically declares that He is the only way to the Father. In other words, He is the only way to be saved and go to Heaven. He also emphatically declares that He is the truth. Thirdly, in this passage, Jesus emphatically declares that He is life.

Only in Jesus can we be assured that we can be saved, by hearing and accepting the truth, and have eternal life. Now some will say, “Just because He said it doesn’t mean it’s true.” However, those who have put their faith in Jesus alone know they can depend on Him because He lives within them.

“Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:25-30).

God has made many promises, as previously stated. For example, He has informed us that:

• We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and sin will be judged (Romans 6:23).
• He gives us eternal life if we accept Jesus (John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).
• Those who believe are heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17).
• Heaven is our home (John 14:1-4).
• The world is going to be judged (Revelation 4-20).
• In Heaven we will have no more tears, death, sorrow, crying or pain (Revelation 21:4).

God states in His Word that He is God. Following are a few examples.

“To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).

“‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand” (Deuteronomy 32:39).

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:5-6).

“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).

“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me” (Isaiah 46:9).

Some will shy away from God in the Old Testament because they think He is too stringent. They want the loving God in the New Testament, but He is the same God. Apparently, they have never read His book called Revelation.

“For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Malachi 3:6).

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

In the Old Testament, God tells Moses to tell the children of Israel that His name is “I AM.”

“Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?'” And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:13-14).

Now in the New Testament, Jesus tells the children of Israel that His name is “I AM.”

“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM'” (John 8:58).

Well now, must be the same God in both Old and New Testaments.

Jesus Christ is either God or the biggest charlatan who has ever walked the earth. You don’t have to believe it, but what if you’re wrong? Personally, I and millions of others know He is God because His Spirit lives within us. We know He is coming for us, and we wait with great anticipation.

Turn to Him today. You can trust HIM!

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html