GOD’S MAGNUM OPUS
It is a treasure that is incomparable in its worth, inexhaustible in its resources, inextinguishable in its power, inexorable in its effect. The greatest of all that the universe possesses and can ever possess. It is the life of the believer, the only message of hope to the perishing, the dread of the enemy. The vilest of sinners are saved by it, the weakest of saints are sanctified by it. In it we have the mind (1 Corinthians 2:10-16) and the message of God revealed to us from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). It is voice of God, in written form – The Holy Bible. To have the Holy Bible in your hands is the greatest of all privileges a human being can have and to know and receive the message of God is life and eternal life.
Yet the one book that is unused, misused and even abused by many professing believers is the Holy Bible. It is tolerable if the world is at loggerheads with the Holy Scripture, however it is sad, when many believers don’t read, meditate, dig deep into the mine of God’s treasure trove, on this side of eternity. “If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the Bible.”1 said J.I.Packer, a theologian of our times. It seems like it is working well with many a believer.
THE OBJECTIVE OF MY ATTEMPT
While I’m not attempting to teach you how to study the Holy Bible (as I’m learning too), my prayer through this attempt is to help you see the Scriptures as God intends us to and grow in understanding God’s purpose, in giving us the Holy Bible.
The all-encompassing nature of God’s Word over our lives is stated in 2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
Each word in these two verses is loaded with life transforming truths. “All things pertaining to life and godliness” have already been “granted to us” by “His divine power”. These “all things” that we need for “life and godliness” have been given to us “through the knowledge of him” , and this knowledge “has been granted to us(in) his precious and very great promises” (which is the entire Holy Bible). The effect of knowing God through “His precious and very great promises” is that “you (believers) may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”.
UNDERSTANDING THE BIG PICTURE
Most of our Bible reading is done with a “consumer mindset”, meaning our attitude is like “what do I get from this passage?”. While practically speaking that is where all Bible study must lead us to, we ought not to begin there. Otherwise, such a mindset will make us become choosy in our reading, interpretation and even in our application. We must and early so, learn to adapt the method and the mindset God Himself has given us in His Word. The Holy Bible is not in the least a collection of wise sayings with deep spiritual insights that benefit us. Nor is it some mystical book with incomprehensible dogmas. The Holy Bible has one main storyline, structure and summary that both define our life on earth and determine our eternity thereafter. God Himself has delineated this storyline, structure and the summary of the Holy Bible in the 3rd Chapter of Genesis. We need only to stick to it to learn how to study His Word.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15
The context of these words set the backdrop for understanding the way one ought to study the Holy Bible. Man created in the image of God, deemed as the vice-regent of God’s creation, allowed Satan to deceive his wife eve and so chose to rebel against God’s glory and brought about sin and its curse on the entire human race. The words spoken by God here to Adam and Eve while judging Satan form the storyline and in many ways the structure and the summary for God’s Word and work. This gives us a broad outline to study God’s Word and thereby also gives us the lens through which to view humanity, history and even eternity.
Hence I lay down an approach and a mindset or a lens we must view the Holy Bible with in the remainder of the article.
1. READ THE HOLY BIBLE GOD CENTRICALLY
“I will….”God is the speaker here. He is the speaker throughout the Holy Bible, that is why it is God’s Word. He is the subject of the Holy Bible, the supreme character, the author of human story, redeemer of mankind. He is the mover of history, the worker behind every scene, the planner, executor and the accomplisher of all that He purposes. Therefore, we must read the Holy Bible God-centrically. It doesn’t mean that God is always the one who is speaking, but He is always the One who speaks whenever we read the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is written by 40 different authors, over a span of 1500 years in three languages in various settings, however the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21). Hence to not read the Holy Bible with God as its central figure is to miss the purpose of it all. While God speaks to us from His Word, we ought to remember that He is the focus of everything and gloriously so.
While many believers show great interest in knowing God’s will for their lives, few care to accept it when God revealed it in His Word. God’s will for our lives is God Himself!
2. READ THE HOLY BIBLE REDEMPTION CENTRICALLY
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;”
The storyline in the Holy Bible is a storyline of war. There’s one main hero, one main battle, one victor and one great victory and one great defeat. This is the story that defines every story in human history, and determines everyone’s eternity. And there are only two categories of people, those who belong to the Victor and those who reject Him. This battle and the battle ground and the victor and victory are all determined by God. God is the initiator of this battle, the battle is between Satan, the fallen Angel (and his seed) and between the woman and the Seed of the woman. The battle is the redemption of mankind that God achieved through His Son Jesus Christ. This is the central message of the Holy Bible. This is the Gospel message. Prophesied and promised in the Old Testament, accomplished and applied {to those who repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ (John 1:12)}in and through Jesus in the New Testament. The entire Holy Bible is a story God’s redemptive work in and through His Son Jesus Christ to display His glory.
This is a progressive battle. Therefore the Seed of the woman and His victorious work is revealed progressively throughout the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is a preparatory ground for this coming Seed. The pictures of redemption (Gen. 3:21), the chosen people of God (Gen. 12), the promises of God (Gen. 12:3, 26:4, 28:14, 49:9-10), the prophecies ( Psalm 22, Isaiah 53), the practices in the Temple and many more of these are all a shadow of the coming Seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hence when you read the Holy Bible read it with the redemption story as its central theme. If you don’t understand the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in all of your Bible reading then you are not reading it the way God intended it to be read.
The following saying is attributed to St. Augustine, “The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament”. That is so true.
The remainder of this article will be published in the second part. May the Lord enable us to read His Word the way He intended us to.
Bibliography
1. J. I. Packer, quoted in Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p. 78). NavPress. Kindle Edition. (http://chucklawless.com/2020/10/10-11-20-sunday-quote)
By Cyril Nehemiah