The Missing Message :: By Gene Dahler

ourCOG July 18, 2023 9:10 pm Uncategorized 1

This brief message is to bring to light a key element of the Bible. This is a general overview of a biblical foundation that is seldom, if ever, shared by most teachers or pastors. Basically, it’s to present what the Bible is really about.

The need for a message like this became obvious when the Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Ministry was teaching a prophecy study to 60 students with an average of over 30 years as Christians. A poll revealed that only one person in the group “thought” they knew what the Bible is about. Consider this group had a total of 1,800 years of collective individual Christian experience time. Taking it one step further, we assume that they had attended at least 40 Sunday services a year since they became Christians. If that were the case, then there was in this group a total of individual Christians who had heard 72,000+ sermons, and even after 72,000+ sermons, only one person thought they “might” know what the Bible is about. That number was very disturbing.

It then became apparent that what the Bible is really about is “The Missing Message” in the vast majority of the churches and Bible studies. This is really curious since it should be the most important and interesting message for believers today.

A recent check of YouTube videos found that there weren’t many that said they were going to tell you what the Bible is about. When I listened to at least the beginning of most of those videos, I discovered they were about the Bible structure, such as how many books (66), how many scribes (40), that there was an Old Testament and a New Testament, etc. Basically, what they told you was how the Bible was organized and who the scribes were. None of them covered the topic of what the Bible is about. So, that’s what triggered this document to give believers a general overview of what the Bible is really about.

So, what is the Bible about?? The Bible is a biography, not of a person, but of planet Earth. You Bible students are already aware that in Genesis Chapter 1, the earth is created, and in Revelation Chapter 21, the earth is gone. The Bible covers what happens on earth during that approximately 7,000 years and provides two additional chapters describing what happens after (Revelation 21 & 22). It is essential that we understand the big picture. The details and smaller pieces will not make sense until we do.

The Bible covers planet Earth from beginning to end. It tells us about the people on earth, from Adam to the last person alive on the planet in Revelation. It tells us how God deals with people during this whole time. It also tells us that God divides the people into groups; the first group is the nation of Israel. In Genesis Chapter 35, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel, his 12 sons become the leaders and names of the 12 tribes, and their descendants become the members.

The second group is the church, which was born on Pentecost, 32 AD, with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. It has the best blessings, too numerous to mention in an overview, and continues until today. In regard to Jesus, the Bible tracks His genealogy (approximately 4,000 years) all the way from Adam to when Jesus rides in on the donkey on the first Palm Sunday to be declared the Messiah of the nation of Israel but is rejected. Jesus then explains to us what’s going to happen next and starts teaching about the coming church era, which is what we have had for approximately the last 2,000 years.

The Bible covers nations and, in particular, describes the nations that have relationships with the nation of Israel, both good and bad. In Genesis 12:3, God tells the nations that He will bless those who bless Israel, and He will curse those who curse Israel. That continues to happen to this very day.

Every book or story needs a villain, and our book has the world’s best, Satan himself. The Bible describes what Satan does on earth, some of what he does in heaven, and his final demise into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10).

It is important to understand that God has a master plan and that He also has foreknowledge. He sanctioned prophets and apostles to bring that message to us, and, in most cases, those prophets and apostles paid with their lives to bring us these messages in the Bible.

To summarize, the major themes are:

o Planet – Creation to destruction

o People – From Adam & Eve to the last person born on earth

o Groups of people –

Israel –Gen 35 – Rev 20
Church – John 12 – Rev 22

o Nations – The nations of the world, but primarily those involved with Israel, from 1,500 BC to the end. Example:

Gen 12:3 “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse” (NASU).

o Jesus – His involvement in things on earth and in heaven

o Satan – His attempts to cause God’s master plan to fail on earth, from beginning to end.

Scripture defines God’s involvement in all of this from the beginning to at least 1,007 years into the future from now.

Some say, “I didn’t even know God had a master plan.” Folks, think about this: we are flying along on our little planet at 66K/MPH.

Someone better have a plan!!!!

If you have been considering what was previously written, you may have come to the realization that we are literally living this book. In fact, everyone on earth or has ever been on earth is living this book, whether they believe it or not. Therefore, everyone should be very interested in what it says about the time in which they are living and what will happen in their future.

So, scripture defines for us God’s involvement on Earth and His relationship with the people on earth from the beginning to the end. For us today, it’s most important that we understand what we need to do to be on God’s side during this period of time and the phenomenal future for those who are.

As a bonus, I am adding one of the great mysteries involving the Bible. That mystery is that very few people today understand what the Bible is about. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be a single leader of a nation or of a world organization today that understands what the Bible is about and that everything it says will happen in the future will happen just like it always has.

A prophecy that’s being fulfilled today is Matthew 24:37-39, which simply says how the time we are living in now will be like the days of Noah. The people will not know what is about to happen. For the people in the days of Noah, that would be the flood. For the people on earth today, it would be the tribulation period. Jesus himself declared the tribulation period will be the most devastating period of time since the beginning (Matthew 24:21). That is what is about to happen here on earth.

We’re told by the prophets and apostles that we will see the beginning of the events of the tribulation period while the church is still here. The evidence is overwhelming that it is happening now. God had prophets and apostles sacrifice their lives to get us this message. He obviously really wants us to know what is about to happen. The big mystery is, since we’ve been printing Bibles since the 1500s and practically everyone today has one, why don’t the majority of the people understand it, particularly the leaders?

Also, how about the pastors? It would appear that there are not many pastors that have this perspective or this understanding of God’s Word. Those that know, understand, and have belief, hope, and faith in God’s Word are the only ones who know peace as we approach the end of the church era and continually anticipate the arrival of His Son, an event known as the rapture of the church. The Bible-knowledge believer has total confidence in this since everything prophesied in the Bible has always happened exactly as stated.

Many of us who know Jesus as our Savior look for His appearing. We eagerly anticipate the day Jesus suddenly catches us up to meet Him in the air and takes us up to glory before the anti-Christ initiates the tribulation period here on earth (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).

Those left behind will feel the full force of the troubles about which the Lord is graciously warning all those who will listen. The time is now to look up in anticipation of Jesus’ soon appearance, which is imminent. Please don’t fall for the lie that the Lord will not return until after you die. That is not the reality that scripture points us to.

If you have not yet put your complete trust in Jesus, please, please don’t delay; call upon Jesus while you may! Yes, many people will turn to the Savior during the Tribulation and receive eternal life. However, the vast majority of those who do will experience severe persecution and martyrdom. It’s far better to heed God’s warnings now before the full impact of the Tribulation becomes reality.

Today, we should be expecting the unexpected. We don’t know which of the tribulation events we will witness the start of; perhaps it will be all of them. Stay in the Word, the one thing you can rely on.

One thing to never forget, even though we are witnessing the decline of our nation: keep in mind that most of us have been privileged to have lived during its very best years. In addition, all of us born-again, Spirit-filled believers have the most incredible inheritance waiting for us of any who have lived on earth. We are blessed. Thank you, Father. This is most likely the best time to have lived on earth in the last 1,991 years.

I hope this general overview of what the Bible is about will help you in your understanding of God’s Word when you’re reading, studying and discussing the Bible, which I hope all of you do. I also hope this document is a faith-building blessing to those that desire to understand what is happening on earth and what God is about to do.

Remember, live every day in the full recognition of: