An inspiring book you must read

With this week being Holy Week for Christians (March 25-April 1) and Passover for the Jews (March 30-April 7), I thought it was a perfect time to give you a review of an excellent, inspiring and insightful book by Joseph Farah, CEO and editor-in-chief of WND, titled, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament," to be released in fall 2018.

Joseph wrote me, "For the last year, I have been sequestered for long stretches of time working on a book that I feel is the most important I have ever written."

I really think it is, for several reasons. Among the many positive purposes for this work, it will:

• Open up and introduce the Old Testament Scriptures to people who otherwise have not had the motivation to study them;
• Help Christians understand how there is a continuity of message from Old to New Testaments, especially as it pertains to Jesus and His "Gospel of the Kingdom";
• Help Jews and other non-Christians understand how and why Christians find Jesus Christ and His Gospel of the Kingdom in the Old Testament Scripture, or Tanakh, as the Jews regard them.
• Provide believers and non-believers alike with the impetus to re-read, study and embrace the Tanakh.

"The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament" lives up to its title: It literally goes through all 39 books of the Old Testament Scriptures (the same combined 24 books of the Tanakh), and reveals Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom in each one. From Genesis to Malachi, Joseph commendably, exhaustively and rightfully handles the Word of Truth in order to explain its kingdom theology.

TRENDING: Schools purging all books from before 2008 to guarantee 'inclusivity'

Much like Joseph's former investigative book, "A Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age," "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament" is a fascinating exposé of formerly hidden or undiscovered treasures and truths of the Old Testament Sacred Writings. In a way, Joseph's present volume is a prequel or biblical basis for his prophetic work.

"The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament" will be well-received by anyone who takes the Bible literally in terms of what it says about "the Gospel of the Kingdom," as Jesus described it. Kingdom theology is just as prevalent in the Old Testament as it is in the Gospels, and Joseph proves it.

Joseph writes in his Introduction: "The Old Testament, or the Tanakh, is the very foundation for our faith as Christians. Without it, we cannot fully appreciate, nor explain, nor comprehend the work of Jesus-Yeshua, the very Jewish God-Man, who came to atone for the sins of the world and build His Kingdom here on Earth. Too many churches and Bible study groups don't spend enough time in the Old Testament. It's there we learn about the richness of who Jesus was and what His mission would be – a mission, by the way, in which the best is yet to come."

It has always been somewhat of a mystery to me why some Christians completely discard the Old Testament writings, especially when Jesus and the Apostles cited them at length and regarded them as their "only authoritative Bible." The Apostle Paul called the ancient writings inspired by God and profitable for all types of uses (Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus Himself said not one bit of them would or should be discarded until all things have been fulfilled (Matthew 5:18).

In fact, Jesus couldn't have made it plainer to the Jewish leaders of His day when he said, "Moses wrote about Me" (John 5:46). Jesus was and is the God of the Old Testament. That's all a Christian should need to know to want to study and meditate on the Old Testament writings, or Tanakh.

Would you like to visit the new archeological discovery of Sodom and Gomorrah as part of a 10-day Israel tour this November with Joseph and Elizabeth Farah? That’s what they have in store this fall. Check out the full itinerary and details now.

Scholars note how there are over 300 prophecies or predictions about the coming Messiah and His Kingdom found in the Old Testament. Shouldn't those alone prompt a follower to study them?

Dr. Peter Stoner, once chairman and professor emeritus of mathematics and astronomy at Pasadena City College and chairman of the science division and professor emeritus of science at Westmont College, estimated in his work, "Science Speaks," that the probability of Jesus fulfilling just 48 prophecies was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion!

Louis Lapides, a former Jewish skeptic but now believer in Jesus, who taught biblical studies at Biola University focusing on Old Testament history and New Testament theology, explained: "Our minds can't comprehend a number that big. This is a staggering statistic equal to the number of atoms in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, billion universes the size of our universe! The odds alone say it would be impossible for anyone to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, yet Jesus – and only Jesus throughout all of history – managed to do it."

Even if we consider Jesus fulfilling just eight of the over 300 prophecies, the odds are still staggering at 1 in 10¹⁷.

Dr. Stone visualized that number this way: "Suppose that we take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man. …"

While interpreting Messianic prophecies is not the primary goal of Joseph Farah's "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament," it is equally fascinating in adventure as one goes through each Bible book discovering the Messiah and His Kingdom. Clergy, teachers and Bible students would be wise to keep this volume handy as insightful commentary when studying God and the Messiah in the Tanakh. It's also a great companion guide to study End Times prophecy. The comparative biblical references and studies from Old to New Testaments, and vice versa, are alone worth its price of purchase.

If a teacher of the law in the first century were to ask Jesus a follow-up "Where?" question to his statement, "Moses wrote about Me," Joseph Farah thoroughly answers that question in "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament."

I was not only educated but also inspired and encouraged by "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament," and you will be, too. I wholeheartedly recommend it to every person who either venerates the Bible as the Word of God or is simply curious to expound its original intent and often lost meanings.