The Bible

The Bible…

Contains 66 different books

Has an Old Testament with 39 books

Has a New Testament with 27 books

There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible

There are 31,173 verses in the Bible

There are 807,361 words in the Bible

Knowing all these interesting facts may make you a baller in Biblical Trivial Pursuit, but are these facts life-changing? Do you look at the Bible as a history book full of interesting facts to memorize or do you look at the Bible as the perfect, infallible Word of God? How do you respond when you collide with the Bible?

Check out these two very different responses to the Bible:

Centuries ago the Prince of Granada was sentenced for life to solitary confinement in one of Madrid’s ancient prisons. Apparently, the authorities feared he might aspire to the throne. During his imprisonment he was given one book to read – the Bible. Over the next 33 years, the Prince apparently read the Bible hundreds of time and read it with painstaking care. But when he did after 33 years of imprisonment, and the authorities began going through his cell after his burial, what they found was striking. All over the walls of his cell, they found that he had etched in the soft stone notations such as these:

The eighth verse of the 97th Psalm is the middle verse of the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter “J”; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest; no word or name of more than six syllables can be found in the Bible.

It is incredible that this man spent more than 33 years carefully studying this one book that has been described even by its critics as one of the most amazing pieces of literature ever written, and all he got from his study was a few isolated pieces of Bible trivia. (from The Ministry of Nurture by Duffy Robbins)

Compare the Prince with the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8…

In Acts 8:26-40 an Ethiopian man was traveling home in his chariot reading from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The man needing help understanding what he was reading asked Philip to explain God’s Word. Through looking at the book of Isaiah, Philip told him the good news about Jesus. Immediately he responded by pulling the chariot over, asked Philip to baptize him right then and there, and gave his life to Jesus. The eunuch’s life was forever changed after encountering the Word of God.

Two stories. Two different encounters with the Bible. Two very different responses.

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Which story do you relate more with?
Is the Bible just a history book filled with trivia answers and cool facts to you?

Is the Bible simply decoration on your coffee table or night stand collecting dust while making you look “spiritual”?

Or is the Bible the “sharper than any double-edge sword” Word of God that is your life guide that when you encounter it, it forever changes you?