Believers have always longed to hear from God. Imagine being an Old Testament believer living in a time before written revelation. The first five books of the Bible were penned by Moses, the guy we meet at the beginning of Exodus. That means all the people we find in the book of Genesis and Job (Job probably lived before Abraham) did not have a written Bible. Genesis covers around 2,370 years, so there were a lot of people, for a long time, who longed to hear from God.
Now, in the New Covenant, God has given us 66 books of
written revelation. On top of that, Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide and
teach us. When we read the Bible, we hear from God. Jesus said in Matthew 22:
31-32, “But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that
which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living.” Jesus was talking to unbelieving Sadducees who mocked the
supernatural. Jesus condemned them because they had not read, they didn’t
understand, and believe the written Word of God. They were responsible to
understand what God had revealed.
Also notice how Jesus viewed the Scripture. He said, “have
ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God.” He didn’t say, “Moses said”
even though Moses penned it. Jesus asked if they had not read, in the Bible,
what GOD had said “unto YOU.” The Bible is God’s Word. The Bible does not
“contain” the Word of God, it is the Word of God. Pseudo intellectuals like to
talk about their “translations containing the Word”, but, much like the
Sadducees of old, they have a different view of the Bible than Jesus. The Old Testament Scripture did not contain God's Word, it was God's Word.
The Bible is God’s Word, and it is God’s Word to you, and you have access to it. When I open my Bible and read it, I am reading God’s Word. You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem to hear from God. You don’t need to climb a mountain and wait for a vision. You also don’t need to learn Greek or Hebrew to read God’s Word. My English Bible is the Word of God. Don’t let anyone shake your confidence in the Bible. Some will try to make you think only Greek and Hebrew scholars can tell you what God said. Only the trained professionals can know and hear from God and unlock the hidden secrets because they know what God's Word really says. That’s not what Jesus believed.
Some want to make the Bible merely a historical book to see what God said to Moses with little application directly to us today. Jesus didn’t believe that either. Jesus made application to this Old Testament verse, to the people in his hearing, and didn't first feel compelled to let the Sadducees know the historical redemption timeline.
Other believers want to set aside the written, revealed Word and go back to listening and waiting for God to speak and go back to the Old Covenant days instead of enjoying the blessings of the New Covenant. Imagine, being an Old Testament believer living in a time before written revelation. Imagine what it was like for Mahalaleel (Genesis 5:17) knowing only what Adam told him. Then, he finds out one day, there would be a book with the mystery of redemption revealed. That book would be available for anyone to read. God's will revealed. And then people set it aside and wait for a revelation. He'd think we were nuts.
The Bible is God’s Word, and it is God’s Word to you, and you have access to it. When I open my Bible and read it, I am reading God’s Word. You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem to hear from God. You don’t need to climb a mountain and wait for a vision. You also don’t need to learn Greek or Hebrew to read God’s Word. My English Bible is the Word of God. Don’t let anyone shake your confidence in the Bible. Some will try to make you think only Greek and Hebrew scholars can tell you what God said. Only the trained professionals can know and hear from God and unlock the hidden secrets because they know what God's Word really says. That’s not what Jesus believed.
Some want to make the Bible merely a historical book to see what God said to Moses with little application directly to us today. Jesus didn’t believe that either. Jesus made application to this Old Testament verse, to the people in his hearing, and didn't first feel compelled to let the Sadducees know the historical redemption timeline.
Other believers want to set aside the written, revealed Word and go back to listening and waiting for God to speak and go back to the Old Covenant days instead of enjoying the blessings of the New Covenant. Imagine, being an Old Testament believer living in a time before written revelation. Imagine what it was like for Mahalaleel (Genesis 5:17) knowing only what Adam told him. Then, he finds out one day, there would be a book with the mystery of redemption revealed. That book would be available for anyone to read. God's will revealed. And then people set it aside and wait for a revelation. He'd think we were nuts.
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