This site is dedicated to people who are not familiar with the Bible. The idea behind readit4yourself.com is two-fold: The Bible is an amazing book, and you don’t need anyone to tell you what it says because you can…read it for yourself.  Certainly, scholars and friends can help us understand it particularly when we first start reading it, but once you become familiar with the Bible you don’t need anyone to tell you what it says because… you can read it for yourself.

When Jesus walked the earth and communicated astounding and profound truth, He explained those concepts to fishermen, farmers and shepherds.  Jesus’ initial audience were regular people.  They were not highly educated.  And Jesus spoke in a way that His profound truth could be understood by those normal people.  Jesus compared spiritual ideas with things to which those people could relate. Heaven, Jesus said, was like a tiny seed that when planted in the ground can grow into a mighty tree.  The Son of God was like a good shepherd who sacrificed his own safety for the good of his sheep. And God, Jesus proclaimed, was like a loving dad who wanted to give good gifts to a son.  And when Jesus wanted to explain a complex spiritual concept, He told a simple and direct story about it.  For example, Jesus explained that God wants to forgive us just like the father forgave the prodigal son, and the person that God wants me to help might be like a person who I pass by on a street who has just been mugged.  Jesus spoke in clear and understandable ways, and since the Gospel is a record of  the things that Jesus said, it too is easily understood.  

John the Gospel writer said something interesting in the book that he wrote. John said that Jesus performed many miracles that affirmed His divinity, but John wrote about the particular ones that he did so that the reader would come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. John the Gospel writer also said that as a result of belief in Jesus, a person would gain everlasting life just as Jesus had promised. (John 20:30-31)

This is the same reason that I wrote the articles for this site.  They are all studies that highlight and explore predictions about Jesus as recorded in the Bible.  I highlighted the portions of the Bible that I did in the hope that you would study the predictions and as a result believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  And by believing in Jesus,  you would gain everlasting life just as Jesus had promised. (John 3:16)  

Obviously, Jesus had many famous quotes, but one of my favorites is what he had to say on the subject of predictions.  Jesus said, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” (John 14:29)  I like Jesus’ approach to faith.   He did not expect blind faith devoid of logic.  Jesus wanted to give us solid reasons for our belief in Him.  He said that He would tell us before it happened, so that when it happened, we would believe. 

Ultimately as you explore the Bible you will learn that belief in Jesus is what God wants from us.  God wants us to believe in Jesus and in his mission, and in order to facilitate that faith God gave us the gift of predictive prophecy.  And importantly, God documented those predictions in writing in the pages of the Bible.  We cannot see Jesus, so belief in Him is still a “leap of faith”.  But regardless, it’s a leap that pushes off from a foundation of logic. (A foundation of fulfilled predictions)

This site is simply an easy way to highlight and study those remarkable predictions.  I gathered the predictions from the Hebrew Scriptures together with their fulfillment in the Gospel accounts so that the reader can have all the evidence that he or she needs in order to make their own informed decision about Jesus and His claims about Himself.  All of the Bible passages are re-printed within the articles, but I included all of the Bible references so that you can look up these passages in your own Bible.

There are two pictures on the home-page of this web-site.  One shows a man who is standing in what appears to be a primitive church building.   The church in this picture is empty, and he is reading his Bible alone.  That image serves as a metaphor for this web-site.  In  life there are churches filled with lots of people exhibiting their various normal human personalities, idiosyncrasies and foibles.  However, when all is said and done, the church empties out, and it comes down to you and the Bible and the God of the Bible.  This reminds me of a verse in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he warns all of us that when we pass from this life, we will by ourselves stand before Jesus who will act as our judge (Romans 14:10). In the end we will all stand alone before Jesus, and He will determine our future in the afterlife.  At that point, we cannot rely on pastors or friends.  We must rely on the Word of God and His mercy. In a way, reading  the articles on this sight will prepare the reader for that inevitable encounter. 

The other picture on this web-site’s home-page is an image of the Burning Bush that Moses “turned aside” to see.  That too is a metaphor for this web site. When we read about the story of Moses and the Burning Bush in Exodus chapter 3, we learn a few lessons that can be applied to our lives.  First, before Moses saw the Burning Bush, he was just going about his normal business.  He happened to be a shepherd, so he was moving his flock around the desert when he came upon an unusual sight, the iconic Burning Bush.  When Moses noticed that remarkable sight, he took the time to check it out.  He paused from what he was doing, and he made the effort to explore that amazing phenomenon.   Secondly, the Bible says that WHEN God saw that Moses turned aside to explore this unusual site, it was then that God showed up and introduced Himself to Moses.  That began a relationship that changed Moses forever, and it also changed history.  Perhaps that can happen for you and your own relationship with God.  I would like to suggest that the Bible could be your Burning Bush.  I encourage you to turn aside and explore this remarkable book.  I hope that at the end of that journey, you will experience your own encounter with God just like Moses did.