The Bible is God's speaking. It has two sections. In the first section, the Old Testament, God spoke by the prophets, and in the second section, the New Testament, He spoke in the Son (in the Person of the Son, Heb. 1:1-2). This section is composed of the four Gospels, the book of Acts, the Epistles, and the book of Revelation. While He was in the flesh, the Son began to speak in the four Gospels. After His resurrection, He continued to speak as the Spirit through the Apostles (see John 16:12-14). Thus, the New Testament is just the Son's speaking to us, His ministering Himself as life and everything that we may become His Body, His expression, the church.
The Bible is a book of life. This life is nothing less than the living Person of Christ. In the Old Testament Christ is portrayed as the coming One. In the New Testament, the One whose coming was predicted has come. Thus, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. St. Augustine once said that the New Testament is contained in the Old, and the Old Testament is expressed in the New. These two testaments are actually one, revealing one Person who is our life.
Nearly all Christians are bothered by the first page of the New Testament. It has many names that are difficult to pronounce. But this page is the first part of the New Testament. In any kind of writing, both the opening word and the closing word are important. When many Christians come to the New Testament, they skip over the first part of chapter one of Matthew and start reading at verse 18. It seems that in their New Testament there is no such paragraph as Matthew 1:1-17. But thank God for this rich portion of the Word! This genealogy of Christ is an abstract of the whole Old Testament. It includes everything except the first ten and a half chapters of Genesis. If we would know the meaning of this genealogy, we need to know the entire Old Testament.
We need to say a word concerning the New Testament. The New Testament is simply a living picture of a Person. This Person is too wonderful. He is both God and man. He is the mingling of God with man, for in Him the divine nature and the human nature are mingled together. He is the King, and He is a bondslave. He is wonderful!
No human being has ever spoken words like He spoke, words so profound, yet so clear. For example, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35), and, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). Plato and Confucius were two great philosophers, and people appreciated the things they said, but neither of them could say, "I am the light of the world." No one else could say, "I am the life," or, "I am the way," or, "I am the reality" (John 14:6). These are simple words and short sentences—"I am," "I am what I am," and "I am that I am"—but they are great and profound. Can any of us say that we are the light of the world or that we are the life? If we did, we would surely be sent to a mental hospital. But Jesus could say these things. How great He is!