The Strand Study Bible

PREFACE T his Study Bible has been a lifelong venture. I believe Christians from all persuasions will benefit from it. True scholars will find this work “fair and balanced.” Since its conception in September of 1977, almost 40,000 hours have gone into the completion of this reference bible. May the CHAPTER OUTLINES (explaining where CHRIST can be found in that particular book), CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINES, Introductions , Subject Heads , Dates , Boxed Scripture (referencing the Triune Godhead), Cross-references , Footnotes , Inset satellite imaging maps , Religious Notes , HIStorical Notes , Historical Notes , Chronological Readings , PROPHETICAL EVENTS , Charts , “MINI” SERIES, and BIBLE HELPS be of help to you, the reader. Nevertheless, they are only aids. The Bible would be of great value without them, as only the Scriptures are truly inspired and important. W.H. GriffithThomas in How We Got Our Bible notes: Dr. Andrew Murray has reminded us in one of his books that milk represents food which has already passed through digestive processes before it is taken by us. So we may say that all the little books of devotion, the helps to holiness, the series of manuals of thought and teaching, however valuable, represent food which has passed through the spiritual digestion of others before it comes to us. And it should be as such. If these helps are put first, to the exclusion of the Bible alone, and the Bible day by day, they will become dangerous and disastrous, crutches that prevent vigorous exercise, and lead to spiritual senility. If they are put second, they become delightful and valuable, inspirations to further thought and pathways to deeper blessings. 1 T he beauty behind this reference work is that it chronologically connects the entire Bible into one common theme, and that theme is CHRIST . Robert Farrar Capon in The Parables of Judgment notes: As you may be aware, this unifying, Jesus-is-everywhere-in-the-Bible method of interpreting the history of salvation has been around for a long time. If you have ever looked at the running page headings printed in some editions of the King James Bible, you will recall that the compilers of that version felt quite free to read Christ into the Old Testament. 2 After all, what is the purpose of the Bible but to relate to mankind what was necessary to renew our relationship with our Creator. And what is this necessary element? JESUS CHRIST , the MESSIAH , God’s promise of salvation. Woven into all the Scripture, therefore, is the perfect portrait of God’s beloved SON . From Genesis to Revelation, the central message of the Bible does not change: it is the promise and fulfillment of CHRIST . The only distinction between Old Testament believers and New Testament believers is their view of the cross. Whereas Old Testament saints looked forward to the promise of the coming MESSIAH (Gen 3:15 & 22:8, Jn 8:56 and Heb 11:24-26), New Testament saints look back on the fulfillment of that promise. Thus, the key to understanding Scripture, as God intended, is to realize His common theme: JESUS CHRIST . W.B. Pope, the great Methodist theologian notes: That the New Testament as fulfillment should so perfectly correspond with the Old Testament as prophecy is in itself the most wonderful phenomenon in literature: it is evidence as near demonstration as needs be of the intervention of a divine Hand. The Redeemer made manifest in the later Scripture answers face to face, and feature for feature, to the form predicted in the older Scripture. One idea runs through the whole: the kingdom of God set up or restored in His incarnate Son. 1 M ay this red -letter edition of both the Old and New Testaments, along with the blue -letter (for the FATHER ) and purple -letter (for the HOLY SPIRIT ), help you to see this common theme throughout the Bible and open to you in a living way the only Book God ever authored.

His servant and yours, Brad Strand

1 Griffith, Thomas, W.H. How We Got Our Bible , Dallas, TX, Dallas Seminary Press, 1984. Print. 2 Capon, Robert Farrar. The Parables of Judgment , Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans Pub, 1989. Print.

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