(Genesis 1:1) The Bible is God's revelation of Himself. Its purpose is not simply information or inspiration—it is given for us to know God! On the pages of Holy Scripture we discover the truth about God. (0940250213) ----more---- Understanding the Essence of the Bible What is the Bible? At its very heart, the essence of this book we're studying, what is the Bible? Is it a book of science? Is it a book of history? Is it a book of poetry? Is it a book of literature? What is the Bible?  The Revelation of God Through Scripture While it has elements of all of that in it The bottom line is this, the Bible is God's revelation. The Bible is really not first about man. It's a book about God. It's not about things or events. It's all about us knowing God. As a matter of fact, the last book of our Bible is the book of what? The book of Revelation. Now the word revelation, It literally means to take the veil away. It's like pulling back the curtain. God progressively in scripture starts taking the veil down, taking the veil down, taking the veil down until he gets to the final revelation and he just rips the curtain off. And he says, here I am in all of my glory. And here is what I'm doing in this world, and here's what I'm going to do in eternity. Knowing God Through the Bible Oh, friends, this is why I love the Bible. Because the Bible tells me about God. The Bible brings me to the knowledge of who God is. What is the very first word of the Word? Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Psalm 14 verse 1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psalm 90 verse 2, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Literally from vanishing point to vanishing point, he is God. Go back as far as you want, God is there. Go forward as far as you want. God is there. Psalm 139 verse 7, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Isaiah 40 verse 28, "Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding?" I'm telling you, the Bible is all about knowing God. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen." What is this about? It's about revealing God to us. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And how does it all end? Revelation 19:6. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude. And as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying, Alleluia for the Lord, God omnipotent reigneth." This is what the Bible says about God, and we're beginning our series of what the Bible says with God himself because I don't see how you could start with anything else. It's all about God. From start to finish, in every book, God is revealing Himself to us.  Different Beliefs About God We're living in a world where some people don't believe in God at all. They're called atheists. They just say, we don't even believe there is a God. There are deists in the world. People that say that God made the world, but then he just let it go. He doesn't sustain it or keep it. It's on its own. I'm glad that's not true. There are people who claim to be theists. They give some intellectual acknowledgement that there is a God, but they really don't know him. There are agnostics who don't outright deny God like the atheist does, but they just don't think God can really be known. They are skeptics. There are pantheists. They believe that everything is God and that God is everything. There are polytheists, people who believe in many gods. I was traveling some time ago doing gospel work outside the United States and was in a part of the world where they believe in many gods. And you must begin with this, there is one God. He is expressed i