“The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.”
– Martin Luther
As a seminary student, I am neck deep in Greek, theology classes, hermeneutics, exposition training, and other technical classes. Every week I am going back and forth with the biblical languages, thick commentaries, and technical works.
There are some days the Bible seems like any other textbook I open. Yet, I know it is more.
It is easy for me for to lose sight of the big picture of the Bible: Jesus.
It is good to step back, and open a Bible without all the technical notes. It is refreshing to breathe in the big picture of the Bible: Jesus.
The Jesus Bible
Starting our day in the Word and listening to God speak through his Word is critical. The Jesus Bible is a great resource to get back to that big picture.
Remember when you first received Christ as your savior? You were in love with your savior. However, as you went to church you began to lose sight of him among the “rules,” the doctrine training, and other good things for Christians.
The Jesus Bible guides us back to the big picture. Each book of the Bible comes with a title page revealing how Christ is seen in each book. Therefore, we are led back to the realization that Jesus is the central figure of all of Scripture.
Second, the side notes are devotional. Instead of deep study notes, The Jesus Bible notes how the reader can continually see Christ in the individual passages. There are not many notes, but I find that helpful. You do not become overwhelmed with too many notes. Also, the margins are nice and wide to journal and insert your own notes as you see Jesus throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Jesus Bible is set up to be a great guide as well as an interactive tool.
Third, throughout this Bible, the reader will engage with various articles. These articles encourage a deeper understanding of Christ in Scripture and the themes of Christ’s work, death, and resurrection which affect our lives. Technical language does not crowd out the messages of these articles. Practically, these encourage us to return to our salvation and see the richness in the work Jesus did for us in reconciling us to himself.
However, there is one set back. The font size of the Scripture text is smaller than the side notes. I would like to see the Scripture font increased in order to have ease in reading. But, it is not a reason I would not buy this Bible.
Breathing In
With all the studying I do as a seminary student, it is good to step back and breathe in the big picture of Jesus. This is the biggest aspect of The Jesus Bible I enjoy. We need to keep Jesus as the focus of our Bible study. When we lose the sight of him, we lose sight of the author of our faith and salvation.
The Bible is the cradle which displays the promise of Jesus, the incarnation of Jesus, and the majesty of his kingship. I am grateful for another tool I can use in my life to keep my focus on Jesus.
I recommend this Bible as a great devotional Bible to refocus.
Breathing in the big story of redemption leads us to see Christ as our center of everything we do.
*I received a free copy of this study Bible from BibleGateway to review as I am a member of their Blogger Grid
Braced By Truth 