Introduction

The Bible, by a very long distance, is the best-selling book in the World.  Millions of people find salvation in Jesus through it and live by the wisdom in its pages.  It is a dangerous book, changing lives and shaking nations. 

But the Bible isn’t really a book.  It’s a library: a collection of many different types of writing over 600-plus pages.  Some passages are gripping. But others are dense and seemingly inaccessible – especially if you’re reading it for the first time.  Other passages are at best confusing, and at worst unmentionable in polite company. 

The catch-22 is that getting a feel for the whole Bible story is essential to understanding any one part of it.  But there is a single key to unlocking the treasure of every page: every character, every story, every song, every poem, everything in the Bible is really all about one person: Jesus.  The more we get to know the Bible, the more we get to know him.

This is a spiritual reality that can only be appreciated through a relationship with God.  So as we read, we must also pray.  The point of the Bible is to lead us in to a relationship with God, so one could say that its purpose is to teach us how to pray.

Bishop Tom Wright invites us to think about the Bible as a play.  The play is written in six Acts, entitled: (1) Creation; (2) The Fall; (3) Israel; (4) Jesus; (5) The Church; and (6) Heaven.  But most of Act 5, the time of the Church, is missing.  So the actors have to improvise, remaining faithful to the story and characters set so far, whilst also driving things to the scripted conclusion.  Today, that’s what Christians are doing in the world.  To improvise well we have to read the script, to learn about the various characters, the story so far, and where the play ends up.

We hope this helps the process. Enjoy!