TALK THRU

THE BIBLE

by

BRUCE WILKINSON

and

KENNETH BOA

Copyright 1983 by Thomas Nelson Publishers

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Wilkinson, Bruce

Talk thru the Bible.

Contents: 1. Old Testament—2. New Testament.

1. Bible—Introductions. 2. Bible—Study—Outlines, syllabi, etc. I. Boa, Kenneth. II. Title.

BS475.2. W53 1983b 220.6’1 83-13343

ISBN 0-8407-5286-5 (Nelson)

ISBN 0-8407-5353-5 (set)

This book is a compilation of material from the following:

Talk Thru the Old Testament

Copyright 1980 by Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Inc.

Charts on pages 43–45, 136–137, 182–183, 227, and 299 are from the Walk Thru the Old Testament seminar notebook, copyrighted by Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, 1974, 1976, 1979. These charts may not be reproduced without written permission.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

To our wives

Darlene and Karen

“An excellent wife is the

crown of her husband.”(Prov. 12:49).

Introduction to the

Bible

On an earthbound level, there are two fundamental sources of human knowledge: reason and experience. Both are essential to our understanding of the world about us, but they are limited. They leave unanswered the most crucial questions that can be raised—Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Is there any purpose to human existence? Where is history going? Unless there is a third source of knowledge, a source that carries us beyond the limits of reason and experience, there is no hope of finding answers to these basic issues of meaning and significance.

The Bible claims to provide this third source of knowledge. It is revelation, and the belief that God has revealed Himself and His ways to man in Holy Scripture is the underlying axiom of the Christian world view. In it we have direct access to a revelation from a personal Being who created all things and who is not subject to our limitations as fragile, finite creatures.

The Bible describes two forms of revelation; these are usually called general and special revelation. According to Psalm 19:1–6 and Romans 1:20, God has revealed truths about “His invisible attributes…His eternal power and Godhead” to us through His creation, and this general revelation is available to all. In addition to the external revelation of nature, He has also implanted the knowledge of His existence in every human heart, although many have chosen to suppress this truth in (Rom. 1:18). God’s special revelation involves His more direct means of communicating to some people in a variety of ways, including dreams, visions, and angels, ...