Welcome to
Let's Explore

Letter From
A Friend

Take a look at a motor-car. By the badge on the side we know who made it. We know its purpose. The owner of the car receives an instruction manual explaining how to care for his car so that he can get the maximum performance from it.

Like the motor-car, we have a maker. To function efficiently, we need an instruction manual. Let’s explore the Bible to see if it is really a reliable instruction manual for our lives.

 

So you want to explore this letter from a friend! At some time or other we stop to wonder - Who am I? Where did I come from? What purpose is there in my life?

 

 

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20, 21.

 

The Bible is really a library of sixty-six books, written by many authors hundreds of years apart, yet their writings all agree. Obviously their writing was under God’s direction. This is why all the books fit together so perfectly.
When Jesus was on earth, He constantly quoted from the Old Testament (the New Testament had not been written then) showing the importance He placed on the Scriptures.

What did Jesus say about the importance of the Bible (Scriptures)?
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me. John 5:39.
The Bible is our guide to eternal life. That gives it added interest for exploration. It’s not just a guide for today. It shows us how we can obtain eternal life with Jesus.

Jesus told us why we can trust God’s Word.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17.

Who gave us the Scriptures and why?
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, for correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16,17.

 

Did you note the word ALL. That means every chapter of every book in the Bible. The Bible gives us a complete picture of LIFE; to take away any part of the Bible is to spoil that picture.

What about people who claim to have divine power?
Tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Isaiah 41:23.

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. Isaiah 46:9,10.

God asks if anyone else can foretell the future – far ahead of when things happen. Do any other religious teachings apart from the Bible explain “the end from the beginning”?

Only the Bible tells us (a) who made the world, (b) where man came from, (c) why are we here, and (d) where are we going. The Bible gives us a complete picture of man’s future.

So God’s plan for man could be preserved, what did God instruct His prophets to do?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it." Exodus 17:14.

Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations. Jeremiah 36:2.

Stories passed down from one generation to the next soon get a little hazy or forgotten. God had a definite purpose in requiring His prophets to WRITE DOWN the record of the past and His prophecy of what would happen in the future.

We have proof that Daniel studied other books of the Bible. How do we know Daniel recognised the books as inspired by God?
I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet. Daniel 9:2.

Jesus saw the importance of Old Testament Scripture too.
He [Jesus] said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ Luke 16:31.

 

With a bit of research, anyone can write a historical record. But the Bible not only tells what has happened in the past, but what is going to happen in the future.

Some events prophesied in the Old Testament have since taken place.

Let’s look at the prophecy regarding the ancient city of Tyre (Tyrus).

 

They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. . . I will make you like a bare rock:, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You Weill never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. Ezekiel 26:4-14.

When God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel, it seemed as if the great rich city of Tyre on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea could never be destroyed. Yet the prophecy was fulfilled exactly.

First, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, destroyed the city of Tyre. But Tyre had to wait 250 years for the rest of the prophecy to come true.

The people of that country built a new town on an island a little way out in the sea, and called it “ Tyre.” In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came to attack this new Tyre out on the island.

Since he had no navy to fight against the island town, he ordered his men to gather all the ruins of old Tyre and cast them into the sea, and so a road was built out to the island. In building the road to the island, they even scraped up all the gravel from the site of old Tyre. The prophecy was right.

What did the prophets say would become of the great, rich, strong, proud city of Babylon?

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there . . . Isaiah 13:19-21.

Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals . . . a place where no one lives. This is what the Lord Almighty says: Babylon’s thick walls will be levelled and her high gates set on fire… Jeremiah 51:37,58.

The Babylonians thought Babylon could never fall. Its great stone walls were over 90 metres high and 18 metres thick. The city was a mighty fortress. Yet the prophets wrote the messages that God dictated, and these came true – every single word. When we compare the Bible with history we have proof that the Bible prophecies are true.

 

Many years after the prophecy was written it was attacked and the great walls were broken in pieces.

  • The city was destroyed by fire.
  • The city is still in ruins and has never been rebuilt.
  • Not one person lives in Babylon. Wild birds and beasts occupy the ruins.

More than 100 years before Cyrus was born, what did the Lord say he would do?

This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him; . . . to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. Isaiah 45:1,2.

Who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams. Isaiah 44:27.

This is a prophetic picture of how Cyrus, ruler of the Medes and Persians, would attack the city of Babylon.

What happened?

He diverted the river Euphrates that ran under the walls of Babylon and through the city. That night, when the riverbed was dry, Cyrus marched his army into Babylon along the path of the dry riverbed. The watchmen were too drunk to care about locking the gates of the inner wall by the riverbank, and Cyrus took the city with ease.

Isaiah wrote the words of this prophecy 100 years before Cyrus was born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some amazing things happen in our world, but of what can we be sure?

Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7.

Aren’t you glad God knows what is coming and He tells us about it in the Bible?

Why does God bother to provide this written instruction for us?

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages is come. 1 Corinthians 10:11.

The Bible is a guide to us giving helpful instruction so we will know how to live and be ready for events that will take place.

Men have been trying for 2,000 years to destroy the Bible, but without success. God has protected His Word from its enemies. As we explore the Bible further, we will see why men have found the Bible so precious and have fought so hard to preserve it.
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CONGRATULATIONS!

You have just completed Topic 1.
Look forward to Topic 2 ...
FRIENDSHIPS DON'T JUST HAPPEN ... Created or Evolved?
This first lesson guide was just a preview of the course, you are not enrolled for this Course yet.
You have the option of doing this Course, via the Internet, or via Australia Post.
If you enrol for the Internet or online Course, remember to try the Quiz, or Review Sheet 01,
at the end of Lesson 1.

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