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You and the Bible
The Bible is an extraordinary book, not just in terms of its unique history and compilation but also in its claims to hold the ultimate revelation of God himself. We should never lose our sense of wonder at the fact that we can even hold it in our hands. Many Christians around the world today do not have such open access to the Bible and the majority of Christians down through history never held a Bible in their hands.
First-century believers would have been amazed at the ease at which today Christians can buy a Bible,and equally astonished at the casual attitude most Christians hold toward the Word of God. For them, the scrolls and parchments that re-corded God ís Word were a treasure beyond comparison.
As Antony of Egypt commented back in the third century, Be astounded that God should have written to us.
It is not uncommon in the West for a home to have more than one Bible. And yet for many people, the Bible remains on the shelf, dusted off for special occasions or maybe carried as a symbol of spirituality on church visits. We may have open access to the Bible, but for the vast majority of people, the Bible remains a closed book.
An Open Book
God's intention, however, is that the Bible be an open book for you. He has invested within its pages a description of his will and plan for yourlife. So what makes the Bible openup - come alive, so to speak?
Read Luke 8:11-15
This parable of Jesus highlights the one factor that makes the difference between the Bible being a closedbook or an open book for you ñ thereceptivity of your heart (for the fullparable, read Luke 8:4-15). In this famous parable, four kinds of hearts are described:
- A calloused heart - a heart that is hardened against Godís Word.
- A shallow heart - a heart with little depth for Godís Word to take perma-nent root.
- A distracted heart - a heart pulled away from Godís Word, torn in manydirections by desires or worries.
- An open heart - a heart receptive and responsive to the Word of God
Now here comes the important question. Which kind of heart do you have? Bytaking a regular inventory of your heartís condition, you can make sure that youhave an open heart toward Godís Word.
The hardening of a person ís heart can happen if he or she consistently refuses to obey the promptings of God's Spirit or puts up barriers against God due to hurts and emotional wounds. If you find that your heart is in any way hardened, the answer is simple: ask God to soften it. Even that request is a major step forwardtoward God opening your heart to his Word.
If you believe your heart lacks depth, the answer lies in two areas 1) maintaining a daily intimacy with God in prayer and 2) obedience to his Word in the face of difficult circumstances. Remember: a shallow heart still receives Godís Word. What is needed is to allow the Word of God to take root and bear fruit. This can only happen through consistency and perseverence (readRomans 15:4).
If you find your heart is distracted by the ìcares of this world,î the Word of Goditself holds the answer. By responding specifically to Godís promises concerningissues of material concerns (Matthew 6:24-34; Hebrews 13:5-6), you can clearyour heartís field of any distractions to Godís Word.
FACTS WORTH NOTING
- The Bible is the world’s undisputed bestseller, topping the charts ev-ery single year.
- The Bible has been translated intomore languages than any otherbook.
- The Bible has played a significantrole in the shaping of internationallaws, educational systems and thestandards by which we judge hu-man rights.
Regardless of the condition of your heart, the Holy Spirit has been sent to helpyou plow up the ground of your heart in preparation for receiving the Word ofGod. The action of Godís Word itself can have a plowing effect, exposing thethoughts and attitudes of your heart (read Hebrews 4:12).
KEY THOUGHT
The key to the Bible becoming an open book for you is this:
Closed heart = Closed book
Open heart = Open book
An open heart to God's Word is not a rare condition. It is a result of the plowing action of God's Spirit and constant exposure to God's Word. And, as we shall seeas we continue through this course, having an open heart to God is part of what it means to be a new creation in Christ.
Two Characteristics of an Open Heart
There are two main characteristics of a heart open to God's Word:
Hunger for the Word of God
Nothing can subsitute for a driving hunger forGodís Word. It is not enough just to open theBible. There must be a hunger for God to revealhimself in his Word. If you feel like there is notyet a hunger for the Word of God, make this apriority in prayer. Ask God to give you a hun-ger for his Word and you will find that this is aprayer he delights in answering.
Read Proverbs 2:1-6
If youíve already discovered the stirrings of hun-ger for Godís Word, then you will find that theBibleís pages will ring with the voice of GodísSpirit. God has hidden treasures for you in hisWord. Each page is like the ìcave of wondersîin the story of Aladdin, a hidden labyrinth of treasures - spiritual gold, silver andprecious gemstones. But the key that unlocks all those treasures is the hunger ofan open heart.
Read Psalm 19:7-11
COMMENT
A hunger for God’s Wordis the hallmark of a closewalk with God. If you feelyou don’t yet have a deephunger for the Word ofGod, you will probably findthat your relationship withGod is somewhat distant.Conversely, if you consis-tently spend time with theLord each day, you’ll findthat your hunger for hisWord will deepen
Obedience to the Word of God
When God specifically highlights an area of your life he wants to change, Godrequires you to respond in an act of obedience.
Read James 1:22-25
Obedience is the evidence of a life genuinely aligned with God in love for him(read 1 John 5:3). No one earns points with God for the number of sermons theylisten to, nor for how many times they have read the Bible through. What countswith God is not that we talk the talk, but that we walk the walk.
Read 1 John 2:3-6
Now that you have read this passage, we encourage you to stop, go back and readit again.What is this passage talking about? What is the measuring stick it places againstyour life? Without a doubt this is one of the most challenging statements in theBible (yes, you can go back and read it again, if you want!).
Read John 15:9-10
Notice how the Bible does not say that if you obey God, he will accept you. TheBible says that we have already been accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:4-6). Thisis the wonder of the work of the Cross on our behalf. What the Bible does do,however, is equate ìremaining in my loveî with ìobeying my commands.î Thismeans that you cannot claim to have a close relationship with God yet live a lie.Obeying God is proof of the genuineness of your intimacy with God. You cannothave one without the other.
Read Luke 6:46-49
As you study with the Online Bible College, you will find that a major emphasis ofthe course content is on relationship with God through the study of his Word. But that relationship is founded upon an on going lifestyle of obedience. Don't just read the word of God; do the word of God
Trembling at God's Word
Our attitude to Godís Word sets the pace for how that Word will affect our lives.If we treat the Word of God lightly, we should not be surprised if that Word haslittle impact on our lives.
Read Isaiah 66:2b
What does it mean to tremble at God's Word? The Bible itself encourages us to stand in awe of God's Word and gives us many examples of those who do (for example, Psalm 119:161). We should never treat the Word of God casually. If we disregard God's Word for our lives, we will experience the penalties of a life not aligned to God. This is no light matter. The trembling described in the Bible,however, is not a reaction of fear but an attitude of awe.
God, through his Word, will convict you of sin (anything in your life that is notaligned with God's holiness). You then have a decision: do you harden yourself against his Word and find an excuse for why it does not apply to you, or do you respond in obedience to that Word? Your choice will directly affect your continuing openness to God's Word and thus the impact of that Word on your life.
The Author of the Bible
In order to dig deep for the treasures found in Godís Word, you need to get to know the one who wrote the Bible. As an example, if someone were to write you aletter, the first thing you would do is take a look at the bottom of the letter to seewho wrote it. That one item of knowledge - knowing who authored the letter - puts the whole letter into perspective.
In the same way, when we read the Bible, an important first step is to know who wrote the Bible. The Bible is unique, however, in that it has two levels of author-ship. Let's take a quick look at these two levels:
The human author
Each and every book of the Bible had at least one human author (and occasion-ally more than one). Sometimes these authors are identified at the beginning ofthe book itself (check Ephesians 1:1; Jeremiah 1:1); sometimes they are not(check Hebrews; Genesis), although ancient tradition and scholarly investiga-tion have often combined to identify the most likely writer.
When you study the Bible, it is a valuable exercise to acquaint yourself with the writer of that book (if he is known), as well as the identity of those to whom he iswriting, since this will shed light on the content of his writings. Each human au-thor has his own particular writing style and emotional background, which re-flects on the content of his book, something we will see in a later lesson
The divine author
Despite the fact that the words of the Bible were penned by over 40 differenthuman agents, the Bible itself is emphatic that behind each human author is theHoly Spirit himself. Without taking this into account, the Bible is nothing morethan a window on the past and no more relevant to life today than a history text-book or an ancient farming manual.
This higher level of authorship ñ the authorship of God himself, inspiring thehuman writers ñ is what makes the Bible unlike any other book. And the HolySpirit is not only the source of the Bibleís inspiration; he is also the one whoweaves all the threads of the Bible together into one resounding theme: the ac-tion of God to realign human lives to his purpose and will.
Read Acts 4:25-26
Read Acts 28:26-27
Both these New Testament passages are quotations drawn from the Old Testa-ment. The first is a quotation from a psalm written by David and the second is aquotation from a prophecy penned by Isaiah. Yet in both instances, the Biblestates clearly that the Holy Spirit ìspoke throughî these human writers.
Read 2 Timothy 3:16
Read 2 Peter 1:20-21
Many different kinds of men wrote the Bible:
- kings
- shepherds
- fishermen
- historians
- priests
- a scribe
- a tax collector
- a doctor
- a royal cup-bearer
- a government official
- a sycamore-fig tree tender
Yet each of them was "carried along by the Holy Spirit" so that what he wrote could be described as "God-breathed." If fact, some of the human authors of the Old Testament prophetic books did not fully comprehend everything "to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing."
Read 1 Peter 1:10-12
Within the pages of the Bible, a "mystery" slowly unfolds, "hidden for long ages past," that only becomes fully understood with the coming of Christ (read Ro-mans 16:25-26). And so we see the authorship of the Holy Spirit evident on two levels - in guiding the words and content of scripture and in unfolding the "mystery" of God's redemptive plan. It is the authorship of the Holy Spirit that makes the Bible a supernatural book.
The Spirit and the Word
Having authored the Bible, however, the Holy Spirit's involvement in God's Word does not end there. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God continue to form a close partnership so that you cannot have one without the other. In fact, many of theirdescriptions overlap.
- The Holy Spirit is called ìthe Spirit of truthî (read John 15:26) and God'sWord is called "the word of truth" (read James 1:18).
- The Holy Spirit is called ìthe Spirit of lifeî (read Romans 8:2) and God'sWord is called "the word of life" (read Philippians 2:16).
- The Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of grace" (read Hebrews 10:29) and God's Word is called ìthe word of his graceî (read Acts 20:32)
God's Spirit and his Word go hand in glove (note Ephesians 6:17). Both play avital and complementary role in the Christian life. Many Christians, however,have an overbalance with one or the other. Some Christians are Spirit-oriented ñthey emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Spirit in theirlives. Others are Word-oriented - they put an emphasis on the teaching of God's Word and the establishing of strong biblical foundations.
Both the Spirit and the Word are needed. If you have Godís Spirit without his Word, your life will lack boundaries. You will be like a river without banks. Onthe other hand, without the Holy Spirit's work in your life, your life will have no power. You will be like river banks without a river flowing between. Both the Holy Spirit and his Word have equally vital roles to play in bringing the Christian toward the goal of maturity in Christ. The Spirit of God provides the impetus; the Word of God provides the direction.
The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation
Read Ephesians 1:17-18
Note that in this passage Paul writes that he "keeps asking" that God give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He keeps on praying, not because he believes that God hasn't heard him, but because he knows that his prayer needs to be answered on a continual basis. Each and every day, we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in our lives (see also Colossians 1:9).
Revelation
Revelation is the "eyes of your heart [being] enlightened" by the action of the Holy Spirit. This is the essential ingredient that opens up the Word of God to become a dynamic force in your life.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:9-10
The Holy Spirit reveals to us the heart of the Father through his Word. Throughhim we are able to "search the deep things of God" found in the pages of God's Word.
Itís an amazing thing that it is technically possible for a person to read the Bible from cover to cover, yet not capture the heart of what God is saying. This is because it is only when a heart is open to the revealing work of the Holy Spirit thatthe Bible suddenly comes alive and its God-breathed secrets laid bare.
Read 2 Corinthians 3:13-16
Before our spirit is regenerated by Godís Spirit, there is a spiritual "veil" over ourminds when we read the Bible. But note the wonderful promise of God. We donot need to pray that God take away the veil. In Christ it has already been re-moved, because "whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
When we believe on the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit ñ the divine author of the God's Word - is sent into our hearts (read Ephesians 1:13). He is one who switches on the internal lights so that you can understand his Word. It is at this point that what people call the Bible becomes the unveiled Word of God for you personally.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
The Bible is written in "words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths inspiritual words." What the Holy Spirit originally inspired, he now reveals on apersonal basis to you. What was originally Spirit-breathed is now Spirit-discerne.
Read 2 Corinthians 4:6
Revelation means that something suddenly "clicks" with our spirit, like the "lights going on" on the inside, and we suddenly see things the way God sees them. This is a supernatural event. In the same way that the Holy Spirit "brooded" over the waters at the time of creation (see Genesis 1:2), so he now broods over his Word to make it come alive to those who belong to him. And just as God spoke into theoriginal darkness and said, "Let there be light!" (see Genesis 1:3), so he now speaks into the darkness of our heart to reveal the light of his truth.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the practical application of revelation to our lives. Itís not enough justto get a revelation of God; wisdom causes us to move closer to him. It's not enough just to have a revelation of sin; wisdom takes steps to deal with that sin.
Read James 1:5
Wisdom is imparted to the Christian life by the Holy Spirit through his Word. Not only was Paul asking continually (in Ephesians 1:17) that we receive the Spirit of wisdom, but we are also encouraged to ask for wisdom.
Read Isaiah 11:1-2
In this passage, Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah would have resting upon him "the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding." Paul is alluding to this prophecy when he writes to the Ephesian Christians about being given "the Spirit of wis-dom and revelation." He is praying that the same Spirit that rested on the LordJesus Christ would also rest upon us as believers in Christ.
It is a combination of these two ingredients ñ revelation and wisdom ñ that makesthe Word of God ìliving and activeî (read Hebrews 4:12).
- Revelation is inspired understanding (read 1 John 5:20) ñ the ìlivingî as-pect of Godís Word.
- Wisdom is applied understanding (read Matthew 11:19; James 3:13) ñthe ìactiveî aspect of Godís Word.
Revelation opens our eyes to Godís thoughts; wisdom directs our feet in Godísways.
The Holy Spirit as Teacher
Read John 14:26
As has already been emphasized, the Spirit of God and the Word of God are in-separable. For this reason, the Holy Spirit is our primary teacher. He takes the written Word and makes it the "living and active" Word for us personally.
Read 1 John 2:27
The Holy Spirit is described as "the anointing you received from [God]" - ananointing that remains in you and "teaches you about all things." Some have said,on the basis of this one verse, that Christians do not need human teachers. This ofcourse is not true, since the Bible describes the ministry of the teacher (Ephesians4:13; 2 Timothy 2:2) and we are even encouraged to ìteach one anotherî(Colossians 3:16).
In order to understand what John is meaning by this verse, let's do something that is always important in Bible study - look at the verse in its context.
Read 1 John 2:24-29
John is not telling us that there are no longer any teachers in the Church. What heis doing is warning against "those who are trying to lead you astray."
The Holy Spirit will not teach anything contrary to his Word. There will never bea contradiction between the Spirit of God and the Word of God. The mark of the anointing of Godís Spirit is that he will encourage you to "remain in him" (verse27). And the fruit of the anointing of God's Spirit is that he will empower you todo "what is right" (verse 29).
What we need to recognize is that unless the Holy Spirit is teaching (whether it bethrough personal study of the Bible or through hearing a teacher of the Bible), nogenuine learning will take place. And the mark of the genuine anointing of GodísSpirit upon his Word is that, firstly, it will draw you into a walk of intimacy withGod ("remain in him") and secondly, it will energize a walk of obedience to God(doing "what is right").
These two aspects - intimacy and obedience - are the twin goals of the HolySpirit and the fruit of genuine study of Godís Word.
Conclusion
In this first lesson, we have looked at what the Bible means to you:
- How the Bible becomes an open book for you.
- How the Holy Spirit has inspired God's Word.
- How the Holy Spirit continues to reveal God's Word.
Even at this early point in your study at the Online Bible College, we want you to understand the emphasis that we place upon obedience to Godís Word, not justthe study of Godís Word. Hopefully by now you know that reading the Bible is not simply an academic exercise. In fact, far from being an intellectual matter, it is anintensely personal one. A person who studies the Bible for its academic valuemay learn many wonderful things, but will never hear the voice of God person-ally. However, a person who has a hunger for Godís voice will experience the Bible to be just what it is ñ the Word of God.
