I WORKED for a while with a firm of civil engineers. There were many jobs during the years that I was with them, but one contract outlasted all others. It was work at a town on the north east coast.

The contract was for rebuilding breakwaters and fortifying the sea wall. As the coast was constantly being eroded, the defences against the sea had to be good. It was a risky business too. If a machine became bogged down in the sand, it could easily be claimed by the tide and lost.

The disappointing part about the work was that there was so little to see. Most of the work was underground and out of sight. Pile driving had to be very deep. Several feet of sand had to be gone through to find clay and, beneath that, rock. Failure to get down to something firm would mean disaster.

Sure Foundations
But there was so little to show for our effort. I have no doubt that many passersby thought we were doing little or nothing. Yet those strong foundations, the piles, the tons of concrete, all hidden from view, were the most important part of the job.

Much the same is true of the Bible. So many people begin reading at the gospels. Yet they are the superstructure. The foundation of the Old Testament is vitally important. Indeed the New Testament cannot properly be understood without it. Its ability to help and save us depends on what has gone before. Its opening words take us straight back to the Old Testament:-
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
(Matthew 1:1)

Unless we have worked hard at the foundations, we shall be on unfamiliar ground. Worse, we shall not see the importance of the gospel writers' message.

Of course, we should be just as foolish to read the Old Testament and to stop there. That would be like putting in all the footings and not bothering to build a wall. The Old Testament leads up to the New. It makes little sense without Christ.

The New Testament claims to be the word of God just like the Old Testament. The apostles of Jesus wrote as they were moved to write by the Spirit of God. History again determined which documents have been preserved, but God controls history. The books which make up our Scriptures are those which God has seen fit to preserve.

At the end of the 4th Century a Church Council met at Carthage. It officially confirmed the "canon" of Scripture. The word canon here means a rule or standard. The Bible is the unalterable rule of faith. In reality, however, the books were already regarded as the holy word of God. The Council simply accepted formally the catalogue of books then in use.

Like the Old Testament, the New Testament can be broken down into three sub-groups. The Gospels and Acts are the history books. Romans to Jude are all letters. Some were open letters and some personal. The book of Revelation is sometimes called the Apocalypse. It is a book of symbol and prophecy.

The word "Gospel" was once Gods-spel, which meant God's story. That is what the Bible is. Today the word means the good news. The good news concerns Jesus Christ. It is the good news about the forgiveness of sins and being saved from death. It is also the good news of a kingdom which Jesus himself preached.

This "gospel" was preached to Abraham centuries before Jesus was born. When the word gospel is used today, however, it is usually with another meaning. It refers to the four books which are especially about the life and work of Jesus. These are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Four Gospels
Matthew, one of the twelve disciples, writes for the Jews. His purpose seems to have been to show that Jesus came to be King of the Jews. He makes many references to the Old Testament to show that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. He is the Messiah.

Mark seems to have been a young man who lived in Jerusalem. He was a disciple of Jesus, but not one of the twelve closest. His gospel is the shortest. It may also have been the first to be written. Mark supplies many interesting little details about the incidents he relates.
Luke was a doctor. He writes about Jesus from another point of view. He would be especially interested in the healing work of Jesus and writes about him as the Saviour.

John concentrates his story on Jesus as the Son of God and the glory of God. He is much more concerned with the spiritual nature of Jesus' teaching. His gospel contains many things of deep and hidden significance.

Together the four gospels present the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. They begin with the way in which his coming fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. His birth had been anticipated in the word of God. He is God's Son.

Jesus was born by a miracle. He was the son of a virgin through the power of God. He was brought up in a Jewish household in northern Israel.

He began his work at about the age of thirty when he was baptised. All through his life he resisted temptation and sin. He devoted himself completely and utterly to doing the will of God in everything. God blessed him with great power for preaching and working miracles.
Jesus was the rightful heir to the kingdom of God and to the royal throne of David. Yet he sought to save men and women by humble service. He was rejected by his own people and cruelly crucified. Jesus accepted this, making himself a sacrifice for the sins of men and women. Through his death God grants the forgiveness of sins of those who believe in Christ.

After three days in the tomb Jesus was raised to life again by God. He appeared to many before ascending to heaven. There he awaits the time when God will send him back with almighty power as the Gospels promise.

A Young Church at Work
The Acts of the Apostles is a record of what happened after Jesus had gone into heaven. It is really the acts, or work, of Jesus carried on by his apostles. They received his power of the Holy Spirit to help them.
First the church was established at Jerusalem. Then the gospel was preached in other places. Slowly it spread out like ripples on a pond. Peter and John preached in Judaea. Philip and others took the gospel to Samaria. Then the work spread into Asia and all the world. Peter "opened the door" to the Gentiles when he preached to Cornelius. Paul became the "apostle to the Gentiles" and made several missionary journeys to the Gentile world. 