The Bible is the certified counsel of God, authored by the Holy Spirit
through the instrumentality of inspired mediums.
It has the irrefutable seal of divine authenticity and is worthy the supreme
devotion of all our perceptual faculties.
The mildest inclination to add or subtract from the Bible does not emanate from
God but must always be resisted as a device by satan to destroy man under the
guise of religion.
We must not retreat into politically correct shells when challenged on the
grounds of our faith. The buck stops with God and He has given us a transcript
of His commands in the Bible.
"We are to love the Word of God with all our heart, and mind, and soul,
and strength; with the full force of our nature we are to embrace it; all our
warmest affections are to be bound up with it,” Spurgeon writes.
God is the author of the Bible; whereas men were only secretaries. The Bible is
not just a record of an ancient Semitic civilization; it is the Living and
Eternal Word of God and its holy dictates are binding on every individual
worldwide.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. The same in the beginning was God. All things were made by Him and without
Him was not anything made that was made,” (John 1:1-3).
Christians are qualified to take a stand against every unfavourable situation
and adverse implement; to alter anything it according to the ultimate reality
and supreme authority of the Word of God.
“Such veneration we ought indeed to entertain for the Word of God, that we
ought not to pervert it in the least degree by varying expositions; for its
majesty is diminished, I know not how much, especially when not expounded with
great discretion and with great sobriety,” contends
the reformer John Calvin.
Derrick Ndzimande sings: “It is the power, victory over sin and purity
divine; the power of the Holy Ghost.” The Bible has the power to master
righteousness out of our human disgrace and carnal infirmity.
As John the Revelator dips his quill in the ink
to write the Bible’s last Amen, the canonical direction of God through Isaiah
are fulfilled: “Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among My disciple _
to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it
is because there is no light in them.
It is the all-sufficient revelation of God to mankind. Every minute
aspect of our lives and worship must conform to the Bible as to the ultimate
manual for human conduct.
There is no one inhabiting
the universe who can profess exemption from the righteous requirements Bible.
All humanity is on call to live as the Scriptures direct.
“No blush is to mantle our cheek when we are called Christians; we are
never to speak with bated breath in any company concerning the things of God,”
insists Charles Spurgeon.
“That which a man carries in his hand he may forget and lose, that which
he wears upon his person may be torn from him, but that which is bound about
his heart will remain there as long as life remains.
The Authorship of the Bible
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about
by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the
will of man, but men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy
Spirit,” (2 Peter 1:21, 22).
Consecrated men were mere
outlets whereas God is the Source of every Word in the Bible. We must,
therefore, approach the Bible not as any other literature but the mandatory
Decree of the Original Majesty which it is not optional but binding on everyone
to observe.
The Supremacy of the Bible
The Bible is not a religious fetish. It is the Second Person of Trinity!
Christ is the Word of God personified as the Bible is the Word of God in
print. All things were made by the God’s Word and it goes without saying that
there is nothing that is not subject to the divine authority of the Bible.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come
down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making
it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the
eater, so is my Word that goes out of My mouth: It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,”
(Isaiah 55: 9-11).
The Bible is an invincible force and inestimable treasure; whereas human
knowledge at its best is finite and transient. It has the potency to activate
the perfect purpose of God and to enter all of His promises into force.
The power of the Bible is not atmospherical; it is worked out through
the verbal agency of believers. “Now, I have put my Words in your mouth. See
today I appoint you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to
destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant,” (Jeremiah 1: 9, 10).
The Character of the Bible
“And if it be deemed a great wickedness to contaminate anything that is
dedicated to God, he surely cannot be endured, who, with impure, or even with
unprepared hands, will handle that very thing, which of all things is the most
sacred on earth.
“It is therefore an audacity, closely allied to a sacrilege, rashly to
turn Scripture in any way we please, and to indulge our fancies as in sport;
which has been done by many in former times,” notes Calvin.
The Bible is God-breathed, stamped with the literal character of the
Holy One of Israel, wherefore it is impossible to attest the nature of God
aside the compendium of divine oracles embodied in the Bible.
In the Bible we find the infallible mind of God, righteous requirements
of God, the fallen state of man, the immutable way to salvation, the inevitable
doom of sinners and the eternal joy of believers.
“The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise
the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
altogether.
“More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is
warned, And in keeping them there is great reward,” (Psalm 19: 7-11).
The Bible Testifies Jesus Christ
The Bible is ultimately all about Jesus. He is not a recurrent sub-theme
but the towering figure behind the theological unity of the Bible from Genesis
through Revelation.
Believers in the Old Testament dispensation looked to the advent of the
Messiah: “‘Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the
Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ Says the
Lord of hosts,” (Malachi 3:1).
From Job, the oldest book of the Bible, to Malachi, the foregoing
epilogue of the Old Testament, believers in the former dispensation knew that
their Redeemer lives and looked to Him who would consummate the sacrifice for
sin and the salvation of fallen humanity, hence the importance underlying
John’s announcement: “Behold, the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the
world.”
Believers in the New Testament dispensation have the “sure word” and the
“present truth,” owing to the fulfilment of Christ’s first advent and His
finished work on the cross.
Like the Old Testament church, we also have a living hope which will be
actualised at the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ to make all things
new. Halleluiah! God speed the day!
Christ
says: “Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and
they are they which testify of me,” (John 5:39).
The Bible is Decoded by the Holy Spirit
The Bible is cryptic to the carnal mind, which is the reason why
capricious authorities of science, falsely so called, heap cold scorn, inspired
by ignorance and arrogance on it. It is not a mark of learning, as some
consider it, to discredit the Bible on a deficient rational basis. Some of the
best minds in science and learning like Isaac Newton, John Locke and Blaise
Pascal were adherents of the Bible.
Sir Isaac Newton, universally renowned as one of the ablest scientist
made these observations:
“At the end of his mathematical principles of natural philosophy he has
given us his thoughts concerning the Deity, wherein he first observes, that the
similitude found in all parts of the universe, makes it undoubted that the
whole is governed by one supreme Being, to whom the original is owing of the
frame of nature, which evidently is the effect of choice and design.
“He then proceeds briefly to state the best metaphysical notions
concerning God. In short, we cannot conceive either of space or time otherwise
than as necessarily existing; this being therefore, on whom all others depend,
must certainly exist by the same necessity of nature; consequently wherever
space and time is found there God must also be.
“And as it appears impossible to us that space should be limited, or
that time should have had a beginning, the Deity must be both immense and
eternal.”
Leo Tolstoy, the legendary Russian author came to similar conclusions
after a midlife spiritual conflict which led him to renounce atheism and accept
Christ:
“No matter what answers a given faith might provide for us, every answer
of faith gives infinite meaning to the finite existence of man, meaning that is
not destroyed by suffering, deprivation, and death. Therefore, the meaning of
life and the possibility of living may be found in faith alone.
“I realized that the essential significance of faith lies not only in
the “manifestation of things unseen” and so on, or in revelation (this is
simply a description of one of the signs of faith) ; nor is it simply the
relation between man and God (faith must first be determined and then God, not
the other way around) , or agreeing with what one has been told, even though
this is what it is most often understood to be.
“Faith is the knowledge of the meaning of human life, whereby the
individual does not destroy himself but lives. Faith is the force of life. If a
man lives, then he must have faith in something. If he did not believe that he
had something he must live for, then he would not live. If he fails to see and
understand the illusory nature of the finite, then he believes in the finite;
if he understands the illusory nature of the finite, then he must believe in
the infinite. Without faith it is impossible to live.”
We cannot enumerate through sensory perception the amplitude of God and
the expanse of the cosmic experience.
The Bible makes plain
that there is a limit to the realm of exploration and thereafter it takes
revelation enabled by spiritual incentive to ascertain reality:
“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have
entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who
love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yes, the deep things of God,” (Corinthians 2:9, 10).
The great apostle Paul,
a man richly versed in the oracles of God could only exclaim at the infinitude
of the ways of God and man’s incapacity to wholly fathom divinity:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has
known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?” (Romans 11: 33,
34) In light of this, I cannot readily understand the sheer stupidity of
divinity professors and exponents of higher criticism who attempt to
circumscribe God with their pathetic minds on the strength of peer
ratification.
The Bible says that the carnal man cannot understand the things of God
because there are foolishness unto him. The essential vitality of the
Scriptures consists not in observation but in experience and the Holy Spirit,
who is given to those who believe in Christ as a seal of redemption is the
Enabler to this end:
“These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive
you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you
do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught
you, you will abide in Him,” (1 John 2:26, 27).
The Bible Has Sanctifying Power
Christ says “You are already clean because of the words which I have
spoken to you.” The pious application of the God’s Word and biblical repentance
works sanctification in the believer.
Moreover, we cannot by our
own strivings measure up to the holiness without which no man will see God. It
is the activation of the Holy Scriptures, both as the standard and enablement
of righteousness that we may overcome and stand justified before God: “It is
the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to
you; they are Spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63).
The Bible and the Holy Spirit are Inseparable
“For there are three that
bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these
three are one,” (1 John 5:7). The work of the Holy Spirit as our Supreme Guide
in life and worship is consistent with and inseparable from God’s Word.
Knowledge of this will equip us to douse the false fire of those who
claim spiritual revelation that conflict with the Bible for the Holy Spirit did
not come to efface the doctrine of the Bible. Rather, it is the Holy Spirit who
authored, authenticated and continues to fulfil the Bible’s testimony of Jesus
Christ: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me,” (John
15:26).
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into
all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He
will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He
will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has
are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you,”
(John 16: 13-15).
The Bible is
the Final Canon of Scripture
The Bible is the unamendable constitution of God for every
believer and infidel alike. It answers every question of life and nothing
should be added or subtracted from it as it is dangerous to do so.
“Do not add what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the
commands of the LORD your God that I give you,” (Deuteronomy 4:2). No
individual, authority or organisation must make new precepts of their own, join
them to the final and authentic canon of Scriptures as set forth in the Bible
and accord them the same level with the Bible. To do so is treasonous
presumption of the position of God. Those who do so only deceive and destroy
both themselves and their adherents.
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If
anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this
book. And if anyone takes away from this book of prophecy, God will take away
from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are
destroyed in this book,” (Revelations 22:18,19). The full compendium of
Scripture incepted in the Old Testament is fulfilled and perfected in the New
Testament.
Counterfeit religion has gone
viral in this generation. The test of authenticity for all spiritual experience
or life decisions must be its total conformity to the Bible. Get yourself a
Bible today. Study and live it!
Nothing counts against that. You have nothing to lose and destiny
to secure by jumping into your Bible right from this message and living each
day on a healthy dose of God’s Word.
