The more we dig into the Bible the deeper our faith gets.
- Stuart Bodin
With Christian disciplines such as Bible study, prayer and acts of service in sharp decline some argue God's word is growing irrelevant. Actually quite the opposite is true. Having a light to illuminate our path is even more crucial in deepening darkness. Additionally, while the Bible's readership and study are in decline, evidence for Scripture's authenticity and thus authority are on the rise!
From scientific confirmations to the unfolding of Bible prophecy, there are mounting and persuasive reasons to believe. As Divine inspiration of Scripture seems more certain every day, we would do well to avail ourselves of the tremendous wealth of Biblical resources we literally have at our fingertips.
It's easy for those of us with much to take for granted what we've been given. Technology not only provides us with a million effortless miracles. Many are automatic, others require no more than the flick of a switch, turn of a key or click of a mouse! Truth is, we have so much that as a race our capabilities rival those of the mythical gods.
Well, not all of us. There's a great gulf between those fortunate enough to live in First rather than Third World Nations. We in the West are doubly blessed having for centuries enjoyed a Judeo-Christian heritage.
This is great news in many ways and less so in others. On the one hand, it's as if we've received the answers to the prayers of all the generations before us! Just think how wonderful a modern grocery store's 45,000 clean and pristine products would seem to more than half the world today, not to mention billions of those who came before. On the other hand, a passage from one of Christ's most haunting warnings should be echoing through the minds of our generation:
- "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48
- "Study to shew yourself approved to God, a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15
“What is needed is quantum balance and equilibrium. In this case, as a decades old prayer partner once noted in regards to resolving the tension between accurately discerning Scripture and the centrality of the Holy Spirit, “Evangelism without prayer is Fruitless, Prayer without Evangelism is Faithless. Scripture without the Spirit is Lifeless, the Spirit without Scripture is Baseless.” With this mind, let us more prayerfully study the Bible, recognizing Scripture itself must be "spiritually discerned."
Worth the Effort
What an awesome privilege to have the Bible to study. Considering the teaming throngs who live and die today, and have gone before, never having the scriptures to read. How lost we'd be without God's word to light our way. How dreadful to stand before God and Christ in the judgement and be forced to admit in front of billions of saints and holy angels we let the Book of Books gather dust on the shelf.
Why would we do such an unthinkable thing? How can we neglect such an unspeakable gift? Simple. It's too much trouble. With over 30,000 verses containing over 750,000 words the Bible's no easy read. First there's this fantastic creation story to deal and weird genealogies were folks like almost a thousand years. Then you've got an angry God's wiping people out and demanding all kind of things. Later there's heroes and villains. priest and prophets all going at it. And that's just the Old Testament...
It's true the Bible's can be tough to understand on many levels. It's a explanation as to why so few try. It not however a valid excuse. While many things in life are easy some of the most important require genuine effort. In the end the question of difficulty boils down to one simple question. Is it worth it?
You better believe it is. The hopes and fears of all mankind are fit between the Bible's pages. Reward and punishment, in time and eternity, result from Scripture's neglect.
While the Bible stands alone in many ways, any book of it's caliber of length and breadth would be a challenging read. Even so, given it's Author and purpose, the scriptures are relatively straight forward. Theology may be complex but the heart of the message of the Gospel isn't complicated. Using the time tested 7 Rules of Biblical Interpretation along with the very ipmortant 8th Rule of Emphasis, one needn't be a Hebrew or Greek scholar to understand it's vital message. In fact, for simplicity sake all the Bible's 6,400 commands can be nicely reduced to two. Love God fervently and your neighbor as yourself.
Those who can remember the two great commandments have enough to get started on the journey of living faith. They need only turn theory into practice and they're already on the path to knowing and pleasing God. To the degree we act on the light we have, and invest time educating ourselves through honest and diligent Bible study, God can be counted on to provide direction.
A simple math equation sums it up nicely. Several amazing events marked the occasion of Solomon's dedication of the first Earthly temple to Yahweh. A week long celebration saw the largest Biblically recorded sacrifice in history to which God showed His acceptance by sending fire from Heaven. Later His glory would so fill the new temple that none could stand to enter. After a short prayer by King Solomon, the Creator of the multiverse uttered a few words of His own, one sentence of which has come down to us through millennia as God's Four Spiritual Laws:
- "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
This verse is one of the most beloved of scripture. We quote it. We teach it. We sing about it. But do we do it? Do we take God up on His offer? How few these days humble themselves enough to even pray. Fewer stick with it in the face of the silence and distance of God. Fewer still care enough to seek His face by studying the scripture to understand His directives and promises. Only such students can hope to continue the course and turn from there wicked ways that God might hear, forgive and heal.
It's not unreasonable to say that comprehending 2 Chronicles 7:14 is foundational to obtaining the Lord's favor in this life and eternity. If such treasure can be mined from a single scripture, shouldn't we be anxious to find what more the Bible has in store?
Both general revelation, as revealed by science and special revelation, as revealed by Scripture, demonstrate that in reality nothing is as it seems. This is why the Bible warns that God’s promise of reward is reserved for those who diligently, rather than casually, seek Him. With Hell to loose and Heaven to gain, could even Omnity provide greater motivation? Such extreme and eternal outcomes of Scriptural spiritual warfare are the primary reasons for both Old Testament narratives, and the New Testament's call to arms.
Yet, for a variety of reasons, the a majority of modern Christians often refuse to accept Biblical insight and warning. For example, comprehension of the context of Scripture is vital to understanding its content. While no longer in vogue, Scripture's context is most certainly one of warfare theology. Like the whodunnit story of Job, considered by many to be the oldest Book of the Bible and perhaps its key codex, conflict between God the "Lord of Hosts" (angel armies) and Satan the "prince of the power of the air" (god of this world), provides the backdrop to Job's story. And much, if not all, the entire Old and New Testaments. As exemplified in a couple of familiar passages referencing conflict with the fallen angelic:
- "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross." Colossians 2:15 AMP
- " Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:7-8 NKJV
Another challenge is the Bible itself. For a variety reasons, Scripture was not designed as a simple instruction manual. Its various books and chapters, passages and verses, were neither written or arranged topically. And while often cited as why, Scripture's compilation by more than 30 authors over a period of 1,500 years is not the only reason…
For some, the ancient adage, "Life's a test" is more obvious than for others. Nevertheless, this universal truth is Scriptural in nature. Even for those fortunate enough to live in the modern world, were life’s battlefield may seem far removed. With technological advances all but conquering basic challenges, we savor the ease of victory. We not only enjoy, but daily take for granted, an incredible array of blessings. Something as common as a grocery store would have seemed a godsend to previous generations. Even a simple meal meant raising and catching the chicken, killing and plucking the chicken, gutting and then cooking the chicken on a wood burning stove. That's if there was even a chicken to be had. Out of the perhaps 100 billion who've every lived, only a few percent could even imagine picking one up ready to eat at the market or at a drive through window on the way home.
Afforded amazing advances in science technology, in many ways we posses power the greatest kings could hardly of imagined. For all his wealth, could King Solomon catch a plane and arrive half way around the globe in a matter of hours? Did he ever once jump in a car and race seventy miles an hour on smoothly paved roads enjoying air conditioning? Did his smart phone allow real time conversations with anyone anywhere on Earth or offer music from thousands of artists?
And what of knowledge? How many of the wisest men even knew the Earth was round? Did they have access to half the facts fifth graders take for granted? Could they Google any question and answer, instantly accessing the ever increasing sum of human knowledge? Time would fail to list all the marvels we enjoy. From science and technology to food and housing. From law and order to police and military protection. From health care and social programs to entertainment and travel…
On the flip side, Jesus warned, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." An even more crucial concern with spiritual conflict at an all time high. Subtle as it is certain, challenges to Christianity abound. While woefully one-sided, the Church is at war. From ubiquitous levels of demonic temptation and deception, to devilish apathy and inverted morality. An ever increasing number of serious threats are creating a culture of billions of spiritual refugees. With far more on the way.
The New Testament succinctly warns we will each give account of all we've done or failed to do, every idle word and perhaps our every thought. Such exacting standards, with no less than Heaven and Hell at stake, provide compelling evidence of an examination with everlasting consequence.
Thankfully, life as faith itself, is an open Book test. And what a Book! In the Bible alone, religion and science reach their zenith. As do every other genre. From action and adventure, to crime and mystery. From thriller and occult, to fantasy and science fiction. Each on a global and eternal scale!
An essential element of faith's test is to what degree we appropriately responded to the ramifications of conflict theology. If Christianity’s a cruise ship, sailing merrily from here to Heaven, then certainly Christ's costly atonement is sufficient. The cross of Christ is indeed everything for everyone. If however, Heaven and Earth are at war with fallen angels and devils, Christianity is a battleship and we must follow our Commander and Chief's example and directives by daily shouldering our own.
The Bible explains that both personally, and as a species, mankind faces the deadly foe of sin on three fronts. Sin within, resulting from individual and inherited fallen natures. Sin above, in the form of devilish and demonic temptation and deception. And Sin about, the collective and cumulative effect of sin within and above. In regards to sin from above, the New Testament is quite adamant:
- "And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels." Ephesians 6:10-12 MSG
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