We read our
bibles and learn the history and events of God’s people through the ages. We
see their weakness and find hope in God’s mercy for them because we also see
our own need for His mercy. At times we read for understanding of that which we
should be and what we should do. At other times we read to find comfort that we
are not alone in our troubles and not forsaken for our failure.
Some read
for love, some read for approval, and many read in case of emergency. One third
of the population of the earth considers the bible as holy; yet many more
consider it as a book of wisdom.
To us who
have placed our faith on the things said in this book what is it? Some say it
is instruction, some say a promise, to some it is a description and others say
a warning with the truth being it is all of these things.
One of the contributing writers said Gods
people are destroyed when they cannot see and for just that reason he was
instructed to write things down. What follows are some of the things that I
have been made to see about this collection we call the bible. No other book
has been cherished, loved, hated, and despised as much both through the
centuries and through the seasons of my life.
When God
speaks of what He has given men He does not say bible; instead He says “My word”.
Paul almost two thousand years ago pointed out that the promise to Abraham was
of a seed not seeds. He concludes that the singular seed was Messiah. In similar
fashion we must see that Gods word is a singular. All of the promises, all of
the instructions, every vision, and every parable is one description of the
living word Yeshua the messiah, who we commonly call Jesus the Christ, the
redeemer of Gods possession.
If we see
this then we surrender our arguments of things such as election vs free will;
for we understand that God is saying both are one. Such a thought silences us
if we understand how one is true but not the other. Instead of debating with
others who can only understand the opposite view we are brought to being humble
before God and seeking true understanding of how the two are one.
Two being
made one brings us to our next consideration about those things contained in
the Word. Jesus said that He and those who trust, rely, and expect on Him are
made one with Him. It is for this reason that we can see that when God poured
out death on Messiah it was not to kill an innocent for the guilty but that our
old man, who was guilty, could be put to death. We see that death could not
have hold on our beloved because He was perfect and so by making us one in Him
we also came into His eternal life on which death can make no claim.
Yet before I
digress too far, the word of God is a description of who we are. We are in
Messiah and He is in us and the bible is the story of our living. If we think
of our bible as facts to be learned and unlocked it does not gender to life but
if instead we see it is showing us the liberty and life in us then it contains
all for life and godliness.
Jesus said
that if one believed Moses and the prophets they would believe on Him for He
was the life they had been the witness to. Jesus also told His apostles that
they would be His witnesses. If you have placed your trust and expectation in
Him then He abides in you through His Holy Spirit. The bible has become the story
of you. If you use the things written there to strive to build yourself up
toward heaven to be as He is then you have not seen that He is alive in you. If
in the reverse you try to use those things to put the sin in you to death then
you have not seen your old man is dead in Him.
How then you
might ask do we see the sin die and His righteousness live in our living. We are
told to have faith (trust, dependence, and expectation) on Jesus and what He
has done. We are also told to add to our faith patience. Moses says it in this
way hear o Israel (those joined to God in covenant) YHWH (the covenant name of God)
is our Elohim (power denoting creation) YHWH is one (He does not work by separation
but by all being in Him) and though shalt love (giving of self to another by
faith)YHWH thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy might and these words which I command (show, teach) thee this day shall be
in thine heart (become who you are).
