A Great Adventure

by Kimberly B. Southall

All scripture references are linked to The Bible Gateway. When you click on a scripture reference, it may take a few moments for it to load. Once you are finished reading the scripture reference, click "back" on your browser to return to this article.

Did you know the Bible is a great adventure? Yes, it surely is! The Bible is God's Word--His perfect message to you and me . . . to everyone. In the Bible there are two main sections. The first is called the "Old Testament" and the second is called the "New Testament." The main difference between these two is that the Old Testament was written before Jesus had come to earth as a human, and the New Testament was written about Jesus and what He did for us.

In the Old Testament, the people who loved and followed God were looking forward to the time when God would send a Savior. At that time, their sins couldn't be forgiven like they can be now. The Old Testament is full of exciting, true accounts of what happened from the very beginning when God created the world (Genesis 1-2) up until nearly the time that Jesus was born. You can read and find out why Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Read about the first murder ever (Genesis 4:1-16). Read about the Red Sea being parted so that God's people could escape through it to safety (Exodus 13:17-14:31). Read about God's people marching around the walls of a large city just as God told them to--and then the walls miraculously falling down so that God's people would win the battle (Joshua 5:13-6:27). Read about King David murdering a man just so he could marry his wife--and then about David being very sorry and turning back to follow God again (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25). Read about Jonah being swallowed by a giant fish and surviving for three days before being spit back out (Jonah 1-4)! The Old Testament contains not only historical accounts of what happened, but it also contains poetry and songs written to God (Psalms and Song of Songs), and predictions made by God's prophets of things that would happen later (Isaiah through Malachi). The wonderful thing about these predictions is that they were all true.

In the New Testament, you can read about Jesus' birth and his ministry when He grew up (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). You can read about His miracles and what He did for all of us because He loves us so much. He died for our sins and arose back to life again. And because of that, we can now have our sins forgiven and have eternal life with God. There are also many exciting adventures to read about in the New Testament. You can read about Jesus and Peter walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). Read about an angel breaking Peter out of jail (Acts 12:1-19). Read about the young man who fell out of a third-story window and died and how Paul brought him back to life again (Acts 20:7-12). Read about what will happen when this world will come to an end (Revelation). Read what Jesus said about the signs at the end of this age (Matthew 24).

You will find one fascinating, true adventure after another in the Bible. If you don't already have one, ask for a modern translation of the Bible which is easy for you to read and understand. (The New International Version is a good choice for kids.) Then read, read, read! Reading the Bible is a great adventure!