FEB 3

Luke 24:44-45
Memorise Luke 24:44
“…all things must be fulfilled …concerning me”

We know that God promised to inspire and preserve His Word perfectly for us. Since we know that a perfect Bible has been given to man, it is logical to assume then that God would certainly guide His people to correctly and accurately identify which books of the Bible should be in the canon and which should not. It is the logic of faith that will lead us to such a conclusion. However are there proofs even within Scripture itself that affirm this? How do we know which books are in the Canon of Scripture?

Concerning the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself spoke of books that made up the authoritative Word. In Luke 24:44-45, as He conversed with His disciples just before His ascension, He reminded them of all that He had taught them about the prophecies found within the Old Testament. He affirmed them as words that were beforetime already written in the ‘law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms concerning me’. These three represent the threefold division of the Hebrew Bible, which at the time of Jesus, had already been widely recognised as Scripture. The division was as follows: the law of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), the prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings were called the former prophets; and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve smaller books from Hosea to Malachi were called the latter prophets) and the Psalms which also referred to the holy writings consisting of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the two books of Chronicles. All these make up the 39 books of the OT. Surely, if there had been missing books that were not in the list, or if there had been extra books that were not supposed to be there, Jesus would have told His disciples. But he did not. Thus we can be certain that the Scripture which Jesus held in His hands were the complete Old Testament, which contain the same 39 books which we hold in our hands today.

Now that we know we have the Word of God, will we spend time to read, study and meditate upon them?

Thought: Surely an all-powerful all-knowing God is able to give us the right books that He wants us to have!
Prayer: O Lord I cannot even trust myself completely no matter how certain I may feel but in Thy Word I can, now and forever.