So the Bible contains everything that God wants his church in all times and all places to know about Him. The Bible is not simply a history of the Jewish people and the Early Christian Church. It is the supernatural revelation of God to you and me. Therefore, God’s Word in the Bible is as relevant and personal today as it was to the Israelites and the Early Church.
How do we take this truth home? Very simply….
Read the Bible!
The Bible is like a:
- Mirror: It gives you an honest look at yourself. God’s word shows us who we really are. When we see our reflection in the mirror of God’s Word, we see ourselves as He sees us: as truly unique creations of God, personally designed and precisely crafted to be ambassadors for God Himself in this creation. But we also see our own sin, our unbelief, and our disobedience. We can see that we are dirty. No part of us is clean, and the stains grow deep within our bodies. Indeed, we see that apart from being washed in the grace of God that comes through faith in Jesus, we will never be clean, never able to do or accomplish the things God has given us to do.
- Microscope: It reveals faults that we can cover up to the naked eye. Self-help books have their place, but they are nowhere near as effective for diagnosis and treatment for the needs of the soul as Scripture is. God is your designer. Your Creator. David said, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:3-6). The Bible is like a magnetic imaging scan for the soul.
- Portrait of God: It reveals who God is to us. The Bible tells us what God is like, the things He is interested in, the things He has done, and the things He is going to do. Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:27-31).
- Love letter: It is God’s message to you. He loves each of you so much. Do you know how much He loves you? Have you read His love letters to you? But now, this is what the LORD says- he who created you, he who formed you: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth- everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made (Isaiah 43:1-7).
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Projector: It shows you what you will become. John wrote in Revelation, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:1-8).
Read your Bible. Study it. Memorize it. Ask God to give you a burning desire to read His Word to you. Nothing is more relevant. It is the truth for which you and I can live and die.
Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. 