J. Vernon McGee - Thru the Bible: Genesis through Revelation

By J. Vernon McGee

NASHVILLE DALLAS MEXICO CITY RIO DE JANEIRO BEIJING

Copyright 1981, 1982, 1983, 1998 by Thru the Bible Radio.

Compiled from previous publications by J. Vernon McGee.

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers and distributed in Canada by Lawson Falle, Ltd., Cambridge, Ontario.

ePub Edition June 2018: 978-1-418-58603-4

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

McGee, J. Vernon (John Vernon), 19041988

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee.

Based on the Thru the Bible radio program.

Includes bibliographies.

Contents: v. 1. GenesisDeuteronomy.

1. BibleCommentaries. I. Thru the Bible

(Radio program) II. Title.

BS491.2.M37 1981 220.77 813930

ISBN 08407-49783 Royal AACR2

ISBN 08407-49732 Nelson

The radio broadcasts of the Thru the Bible Radio five-year program were transcribed, edited, and published first in single-volume paperbacks to accommodate the radio audience. From the beginning there was a demand that they be published in a more permanent form and in fewer volumes. This new hardback edition is an attempt to meet that need.

There has been a minimal amount of further editing for this publication. Therefore, these messages are not the word-for-word recording of the taped messages which went out over the air. The changes were necessary to accommodate a reading audience rather than a listening audience.

These are popular messages, prepared originally for a radio audience. They should not be considered a commentary on the entire Bible in any sense of that term. These messages are devoid of any attempt to present a theological or technical commentary on the Bible. Behind these messages is a great deal of research and study in order to interpret the Bible from a popular rather than from a scholarly (and too-often boring) viewpoint.

We have definitely and deliberately attempted to put the cookies on the bottom shelf so that the kiddies could get them.

The fact that these messages have been translated into many languages for radio broadcasting and have been received with enthusiasm reveals the need for a simple teaching of the whole Bible for the masses of the world.

I am indebted to many people and to many sources for bringing this volume into existence. I should express my especial thanks to my secretary, Gertrude Cutler, who supervised the editorial work; to Dr. Elliott R. Cole, my associate, who handled all the detailed work with the publishers; and finally, to my wife Ruth for tenaciously encouraging me from the beginning to put my notes and messages into printed form.

Solomon wrote, of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh ( Eccl. 12:12 ). On a sea of books that flood the marketplace, we launch this series of THRU THE BIBLE with the hope that it might draw many to the one Book, The Bible.

J . V ERNON M C G EE

The Bible is probably the most maligned Book that ever has been written. It has been attacked as no other book has ever been attacked. Yet it has ministered and does minister to literally millions of people around the globe, and it has been doing this now for several thousand years. A Book of this nature and with this tremendous impact upon the human family certainly deserves the intelligent consideration of men and women.

Sir Walter Scott, on his deathbed, asked Lockhart to read to him. Puzzled, as he scanned the shelf of books that Walter Scott had written, he asked, What book shall I read? And Sir Walter replied, Why do you ask that question? There is but one book; bring the Bible. There is only one Book for any man who is dying, but it is also the Book for any man who is living. A great many folk do not get interested in the Bible until they get to the end of their lives or until they get into a great deal of difficulty. While it is wonderful to have a Book in which you can find comfort in a time like that, it is also a Book for you to livein the full vigor of life. It is a Book to face life with today, and its the Book which furnishes the only sure route through this world and on into the next world. It is the only Book that can enable us to meet the emergencies and cushion the shocks that come to us in life. The Bible is different from any other book.

That this Book has influenced great men who in turn have influenced the world is evident. Let me share with you some quotations.

There was an African prince who came to England and was presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. This prince asked a very significant question, What is the secret of Englands greatness? The queen got a beautifully bound copy of the Bible and presented it to the prince with this statement. This is the secret of Englands greatness. I wonder if Englands decline to a second-rate and then third-rate nation may be tied up in the fact that England has gotten away from the Word of God.

Prime Minister Gladstone, probably one of the greatest legal minds Britain ever produced, said, Talk about the questions of the day! There is but one question, and that is the Gospel. That can and will correct everything. I am glad to say that about all the men at the top in Great Britain are Christians I have been in public position fifty-eight years, all but eleven of them in the cabinet of the British government, and during those forty-seven years have been associated with sixty of the master minds of the century, and all but five of the sixty were Christians. I personally think that part of the problems we are having in the world today is that we have too few Christians at the top, too few who are acquainted with the Word of God.

Michael Faraday, perhaps the greatest scientist of the early 1800s, said, But why will people go astray, when they have this blessed book of God to guide them? Sir Isaac Newton, a scientist in the preceding century, said, If the Bible is true, the time is coming when men shall travel at fifty miles an hour. And Voltaire, the French skeptic, commented, Poor Isaac. He was in his dotage when he made that prophecy. It only shows what Bible study will do to an otherwise scientific mind.

It might be interesting to note what some of our early presidents had to say about the Bible. John Adams, our second president, said, I have examined all [that is, all of Scripture] as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life will allow me, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world. It contains more of my little philosophy than all the libraries I have seen, and such parts of it I cannot reconcile to my little philosophy I postpone for future investigation. President John Quincy Adams said, I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you: Search the Scriptures. The Bible is the book above all others to be read at all ages and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice through then laid aside, but to be read in small portions every day. And the presidents back in those days, who made our nation great, did not get us into foreign wars and were able to solve the problems of the streets. Someone may counter, But the problems werent as complicated then as they are now. They were for that day, friend. Not only England but also the United States has gotten away from the Word of God. And the farther we get, the more complicated our problems become. Right now there are men in positions of authority in this land who are saying that there is no solution to our problems. That is the reason I am teaching the Word of God in its entiretyI believe it is the only solution. And, frankly, friend, we had better get back to it.