5 August 2008

THE WORD OF GOD GIVEN TO MAN

When we consider the Scripture we must consider that man had a desperate need for this "Instruction Book." Lost in the history of the human race has been the knowledge of God. Many fables have arisen to explain the simple truths that we experienced by Adam and Eve.

We must remember that even Adam and Eve were creatures of time and physicality. Even their knowledge of God, and things spiritual and eternal, came from His Words to them in the Garden, in the cool of the evening.

The sin of Adam and Eve had broken this personal contact which they enjoyed with their Creator. God still talked with members of the human race. Consider Noah; God spoke with him the instructions of the Ark. Still, this personal relationship had been broken by sin. The restoration of this relationship would await the coming of the Savior.

God allowed man, for many generations, to continue to pass down the truths of which Adam and Eve had been intimately knowledgeable. But, man is a sinful creature. That sin nature even began to corrupt the truth of this knowledge.

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible man into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." (Romans 1:21-25)

After a very few generations mankind had, because of the sin nature, forgotten the truth of God. Man had even begun to worship things that he had "created" (idols) rather than worshiping the Creator. Man, as a race of creatures, had become lost in the mire of sin. There was no way that man could, by himself, find a way back to God.

God could have let man continue on his journey to an eternity of ignorance and damnation. God had other plans. He wanted to redeem His creature into a life of glory. God began to teach humanity the truths of Himself and creation. God started at simple concepts which man could understand even in his sin darkened mind.

God also began to produce a written record. An oral tradition did not work. The ravages of the sin nature mitigated against such a plan. God also wanted to teach more than it was possible for man to understand. With a written record God could be precise in His message. This would be a message that could be expanded in depth of understanding.

Isaiah explained the process of progressive revelation. "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; her a little, and there a little." (Isaiah 28:10)

We call this process the Bible. Scripture is intended both to lead the wandering soul back to his Creator God and to instruct the pious in the Glory of God. II Timothy 3:16-17 gives us the purpose of the inspired and preserved Scripture. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

God gave us His Word as an expression of His love. To those who would argue that the Words could be lost in time I would ask two questions: First, is it really possible that any gift of God could be removed from His intended recipient? Second, at what time did God withdraw His love from His people?

A "lost," or "compromised" Scripture argues against all the other promises of God. Such cannot be!

God gave us the Scripture. He knows that man is an inquisitive creature. Man is curious as to what "make our world tick." Even today I read an article in a newspaper which said that man is coming close to unlocking the secrets of the origin of the universe.

I wonder how much these people are spending on their research. Bibles can be bought for as little as one dollar. If a person doesn’t have a dollar, there are churches and individuals which will give them a Bible. The true secrets of the origin of the universe are in the Bible. "In the beginning, God..."

That truth will not be found in a test tube. That truth will not be found in a microscope. That truth will not be found in the work of a geologists search through the rocks of the ages. Only the True Rock of Ages can give this truth.

The fact is that the true story of "Origins" lies outside the realm of scientific inquiry. Origins lies in the realm of the spiritual and the eternal. The most we can, even the most brilliant and observant among us, ever find is bound up in the realm of time and physicality. Science can only view the results of creation, not the creative acts of God.

That story is given to us in the Scripture.

God gave us the Scripture. He knows that mankind is a worshiping creature. Man was created with the need to worship. He will do so! Even the most atheistic person will worship something. Even if it is the struggle for knowledge, he will worship. It is his nature.

God, the True Creator of the human race, created man to fellowship with Him. The sin nature will disallow this possibility until man find Jesus at the foot of the Cross. Without a knowledge of the True God, the worship of man will be misdirected and harmful.

That misdirected worship will also not be a satisfying experience until, and unless, it finds the Object of the desire.

God gave us the Scripture. He knows that man is a spiritual creature. Many will deny this because, once again, our physical senses are all that we can readily understand. The concept of the spirit is denied because our physicality cannot see, hear, or taste it.

But, we can feel this spiritual hunger. Our problem is, with our limited understanding, that we cannot even understand just what is the source of these longing’s and hunger’s. Neither, without the Words of God, can we ever assuage these longings.

Do you want to understand the real problem is of the "drug culture?" It is that spiritual longing for a relationship with God that is in our psyche but beyond our understanding. We want. We, for the most part, don’t even understand what we want.

So we search in all manner of physical places and actions. Some move toward violence with their neighbor; some move with altruism toward their neighbor. Both leave the longing unfulfilled. More and more action substitutes for the cure.

The cure is given us in the Words of the Scripture.

God gave us an inspired Scripture because, "...God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

We will again pick up this theme in our next session.

12 August 2008

THE WORD OF GOD GIVEN TO MAN (Continued)

I have a friend who has been working for the rail road for almost twenty years. He has been on a job that requires his availability "24 x 7." This means that his is "on call" every day - for the entire day. He does make very good money.

Well, I guess that I make "good money." I just don’t make very much of it!

Steve, my friend, does make a very good salary for his work. But the hours are killing him, literally. It seems that the body likes to know when it is going to go to sleep. A "staggered" bed time will not produce the type of rest needed for good health. Staring 62 years old in a few months, Steve’s doctor has said that his body can no longer cope with the strain of the "on call" existence.

He may have to retire a little earlier than he had planned.

Our bodies are like this. We need proper rest; that is just a built in need. We need proper nourishment. We even need a certain amount of mental stimulation.

We do need these things in moderation, of course. Too much rest will cause the body to lose "muscle tone." We will being to be "sluggish" in our tasks because the body is not stimulated to exercise. Even too much exercise can tear the body down if it is not properly supervised. Too much nourishment... Well, if this happens you begin to look like me. Seriously, all sorts of physical ailments are traced to being overweight. A lack of mental stimulation leads to a life of boredom. Boredom just drains the joy out of life!

There is another need we have as humans. It is part of the make up of the human body. We were created to be in fellowship with our Creator. Moderation has never been a problem in this area. We cannot come too often to fellowship with our Creator. The problem here is that, with our sin darkened states, too few realize that they have this need. We, as a race of people, tend to not understand the longing within our psyche for this fellowship. We search elsewhere.

We try to fill this longing with all manner of vice and virtue. Unfortunately we fail to seek the One Who has the answer.

Strong (Systematic Theology) understands that as we were made with spiritual hungers, it would follow that God would provide some sort of spiritual aid in the revelation of Himself to humanity. This revelation is contained in the Words of the Bible.

This revelation from God is necessary. We have made the point several times already that we are creatures of time and physicality. Since God is of Spirit and eternity, we can have no frame of reference to even understand that He exists, let alone have any specific information regarding Him, with the use of only our natural minds.

His general revelation, that disclosed through the evidences of His creative acts. These evidences are clear testimony that God has created the universe and all that is within. However, the sin nature within man has so distorted his understanding of these truths that they have considered these very proofs of the existence of God as evidences for atheism.

Man has considered the very existence of God as outside the realm of human reasoning. Man is right in this! The sin nature will always lead away from God. There must be a record from God to the Truth because natural man is unable to consider the Truth of God. This is so from both a naturalistic sense and, given the sin nature which distorts the vision of the Truth of God, this is true in the natural man’s spiritual sense.

Strong continues by arguing that our natural understanding is an unacceptable guide in things truly spiritual. "Because our minds have been perverted by sin, any truth which we may find by our natural reasoning powers must be confirmed by the Divine." We need to confirm the spiritual teachings of man by an appeal to the inspired and preserved Words of God.

Satan has even provided counterfeit scripture for the perusal of man. There are complete scriptures available from false sources. Some stand alone; some stand as "additions" to the real Scripture inspired and preserved by God. Some stand as "guides" to the understanding of the Bible. All are false. Not one effort, purporting to lead spiritually, written by man is acceptable unless it points to the Person of Jesus Christ, is consistent with the Biblical message, and lays no claim to being the infallible Words of God.

This includes every single word I’ve ever written!

No Koran, no Book of Mormon, no Science and Health, or any of the other false guides, is fit to be read or studied for spiritual enlightenment.. Their false message is confirmed by the Spirit to be false. Their false message is confirmed by the True Word of God to be false. Their false message has been written by sinful humanity.

Strong, again, says that "Neither reason nor intuition throws a light upon certain questions whose solution is of the utmost importance to us..." Only the True Inspired and Preserved Words of God can lead us to true fellowship with the God Who originally created us. Only the Words of God can explain the Person of God.

Pendleton (Christian Doctrines) tells us that without Divine revelation there can be no knowledge of things which need to be understood by man. Pendleton discussed four areas where this revelation is given for our human good.

First of all is the fact that we were born to be worshiping persons. That is part of our makeup as human beings. We will worship. The only question is what we will worship. The "gods" of this world are many. Some worship the political process. Some worship "artistic freedom." Some worship the pursuit of knowledge. Are any of these wrong? No. They are all right in their own way.

But, the creature, us, was created to worship the Creator, God." Unless we find this reality we are lost in a quagmire of misdirection. We will never live a fulfilled life without a fulfilled soul!

Without the Scripture, given us by God, we can never find acceptable worship.

A few hours ago I felt a real desire to go to the store and buy a bag of potato chips. Silly. I have no need of potato chips. The salt probably isn’t really all that good for me. The empty calories are really not good for me. But, suppose I had gone to the store. If I had attempted to pay for this little bag of potato chips, what would I have used?

Personally, I’d like to just take an old bag and say, "Fill ‘er up." This couldn’t be wrong. After all, this is what the bag was originally made for. It was made to be filled with chips. "No," they would tell me, "You need a new bag each time."

If I give them the old bag and take a new bag of chips, can I just walk out the door with it. Again, they stop me. "You have to pay for this."

"But, I paid for the last one. This is just more of the same stuff."

Do you see where I am going? Every time we go to the store to buy a bag of potato chips we have a certain ritual to follow. We toss the old bag into the trash. We pick out a new bag. We give the people at the store some "coin of the realm." And, it had better be the correct amount of coin!

Isn’t that silly? Isn’t that ridiculous? Isn’t that reality?

If we know how to buy potato chips, shouldn’t we also want to know how to worship God? That is just simply reasonable. If there is a wrong way to buy potato chips, doesn’t it stand to reason that there are wrong modes to worship the Creator of the Universe? If you doubt this is true just read a few verses in the fourth chapter of Genesis and have a little talk with Cain and Abel.

Second, we must realize that acceptable worship toward God begins with understanding Who He is and directing your worship toward Him. The Scripture gives us this knowledge. The Spirit speaks with us through the Word and guides us into all Truth.

The Bible also gives us God’s standard of moral rights and wrongs. This is a concept that sounds so wrong to the world at large, isn’t it! This is because the world at large has been infected with the sin virus.

Seriously, though, if God did create us it would stand to reason that He understands all about us. From this understanding would logically come the best way for us to live a fulfilled and happy human life. To ignore this understanding would work to our detriment.

Get real, folks. God’s ways are not because, as Satan suggested to Eve in the Garden, He wants to "hold us down." The provisions of God for our lives is because He desires to hold us up in His loving Hands!

Third, God has informed us of the future state. The realization that there is a Heaven to gain, and even a closer fellowship with God, is an inducement for holy living on our part. This, the holy living, will give us greater satisfaction and happiness in this life even as we prepare for the next.

Also, the knowledge of this future state will give us great comfort at all times; but especially in times of loss, distress and persecution.

Finally, the revelation of God has told us of the necessity and means of salvation. At first glace it seems that this didn’t even need to be stated. But, consider if God had not told us that we were lost creatures in need of salvation, would we be able to figure this out on our own? We might try to placate a misunderstood God. But, would we really consider that there was a full and free salvation available?

Even if we, somehow, stumbled upon this fact, without the leading of Scripture we would never understand that salvation is in Jesus Christ. Look at the silliness which nonBiblical religions seek to appease their gods. For the most part these have no understanding that there is such a thing as a salvation attainable in this life. None even suspect that God supplies this salvation with no work on our part.

Jesus did all the work for our salvation on the Cross of Calvary. We are only recipients of His great grace!

We should also note that God has given us three distinct levels of revelation. The first of these is General Revelation. We briefly discussed this above. This is a revelation that God exists. When we look at the wonders of the universe around us we must deduce that there was a Creator or there could have been no creation.

God also gave us a Specific Revelation of Himself through the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Living Word of God. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18)

The Truth about Jesus is found in the inspired and preserved Scripture. Without the Scripture it would have been difficult for us to understand Him and His nature. The Written Word has assured us a complete and accurate picture of Who Jesus is. Jesus, in turn, declares the Father to those who learn of Him.

We learn about Jesus in one other manner. The experience of Jesus Christ lies within the hearts of the Christian. He is a living and real Person. We experience His comfort and companionship as we read of Him in His Word and talk to Him in our prayers.

Special Revelation comes to us in the Scripture. The Scripture is the Written Words of God. This Words is inspired and preserved as the message which God has for the Christian.

19 August 2008

THE WORD OF GOD GIVEN TO MAN (Continued)

The fact of Scripture is a fact of the love of God for humanity. As a race, humanity is in rebellion against the Lawful Ruler of the Universe. The sin within man is a repudiation of this love. The Book of God is His testament to His love as it is via these pages that He outlines the way, and the need, for man to return to Him.

Strictly speaking Christianity is not a religion. Religion is a search for man to find a way to appease an angry deity. Christianity is the realization that God so loved the world that He sent His Son to die for those very sins which have caused man to be alienated from God. Rather than us trying to perform acts of penance to appease Him, Christianity shows that He died on the Cross to save us. The Book of Love gives us the story of that Heavenly Love which calls us back to Him.

This written message is shown not to be the work of many persons, each describing his or her own search for meaning and redemption. The written message of God, as contained in the Scripture, shows that the many human penmen were all writing the same message from the same God. Although "God used many human penmen, He is the Only Author of Scripture.

It is His Book, His Testament, His map for humanity to come to Him.

Strong (Systematic Theology) sees that the Scripture gives us a single volume. "Despite the number of human authors, the Scripture exhibits the work of one mine in that none of the ‘moral or religious utterance[s]’ is contradicted by another writer."

The fact that the Authorship is of God makes the Scripture a unique book that can be trusted in all its utterances. We have seen that when the Bible speaks of science it is accurate. Often this accuracy reveals a knowledge of facts which were far beyond the scope of the people to understand in the time of the original writing.

When the Bible speaks on social issues it speaks with an understanding of both the depravity of the human heart and the special noble character which God instilled in the created human race.

When the Bible speaks of history it speaks correctly. This is so both in the history of the age in which the original penmen wrote and in the history that was, and many times is, yet to come. The prophecies fulfillment show that God is the Author and Captain of even human history. He has never lost control!

Most importantly, however, is that the Bible speaks of the spiritual and eternal realms with an accuracy which is not possible to human capability. We have never experienced the realities of spirit and eternity. These are explained to us by the pages of inspired and preserved Scripture.

The Bible carries the attributes of the Author. God is our Constant Contemporary. He is with us in our youth as we gaze with wonder at the world about us. He is with us in our adult years are we seek to grasp the importance of our task in this world. He is with us as we walk into the "Valley of the Shadow" to lead and comfort. Where we are, if we are Born Again, God is there to uphold, guide and counsel!

This is true from generation unto generation. I watched my grandparents serenely confident in the Lord they served. I have learned to follow where He leads to find the best possible destination. Now, I am beginning to observe this same journey being begun in my grandchildren. The Bible holds the same sway, and power, for the generations. Harkness (Beliefs that Count) says, "It [the Bible] is God’s eternal Word to every generation."

Indeed, the inspiration and preservation of the Scripture has given God’s Book a permanence which outlasts the greatest works of man.

There are some guarantee’s which the Bible has for us. Since God does not lie, and the Bible is His very words, the Bible is always true and always trustworthy. The silly season of Presidential politics is upon us. We have learned that the promise of a politician is only good until the votes have been counted. The promises of God are always certain and true.

I was tempted to say that we could "bank" on the above. Then I considered that banks do, sometimes, fail. God never fails!

Since God is eternal, the Bible is never out of date. I have theology books written during the "flower" of the 1960's. These books sought to be "relevant" at the time. As such, they are laughably out of date in this time. I also have books that simply sought to expound on the Scripture. They made no concession to the then current culture. Some of these books (reprints) are hundreds of years old. They are sill useful as their subject and focus was Scripture.

The Bible is the very Words of God. Since this is so, this is the meaning of inspiration, the Bible is more relevant, even, than any other book I might imagine. And, it always is so! Not only that, the Bible is never too advance for the person of any age or time. It is the Constant Words of The Constant Contemporary.

Neither do we need worry that the Bible will ever be "lost" in time. As an eternal Book, from the eternal God, time and man cannot destroy its Words. The Bible stands even when all else might fail. A comforting thought in this time of cultural degradation.

Since God is good and loving, the Bible will never lead one astray or into pain. We can trust the Bible to lead us into the paths of righteousness every single time. Since God is the Creator of mankind, and thus knows us more intimately than we know ourselves, we can trust that the guidance of the Bible will lead us to the best possible conclusion even for our humanity - every single time.

That He leads our souls into righteousness is a blessing. That He leads our bodies into the best possible situation for our physical and mental health is a constant joy!

Since God is omnipotent (all powerful), we can trust that the Bible will outlast any attack made upon it. Potentates could not burn the Bible into oblivion. Critics cannot "analyze" the power from God’s Book. Religious renegades cannot cover the Scripture in their heaps of platitudes. Science can never prove the Old Book to be false. The Word of God stands, and will stand, when all the efforts of Satan and man are but memory. The Bible stands!

Since God is omnipresent (present everywhere at all times), the Bible is useful wherever a man may be in life or in space - in age, area, or situation. Martyrs often died, even in the flames, with the praises of God and His Word on their lips.

The Words of God give peace to the dying, guidance to the living, solace to the soul that is hurting and weary, joy to the seeker, grace to the sinner, and endless hours of swimming in an ocean of inspiration that never runs dry. The Bible is the Words of God lovingly given to man.

Since God is the Creator, the Bible always presents the most fulfilling way for a person to live his life even in the here and now. Since God is the Creator, the Bible always presents the most fulfilling way for a person to live his life in the hereafter, as well.

The Words of God are a gracious gift to all who would receive Him!

Bancroft (Elemental Theology) reminds us that Scripture is so constructed as to lead men to Jesus Christ. "...Scripture is the history, interpretation, and inerrant record of God’s revelation that culminates in His own presence among men."

It is the Scripture which tells us of the love of God that sent His Son. It is the Scripture that tells us the old, old story that Jesus died in time so that we might live in eternity. It is the Scripture, confirmed by the Spirit, that leads to our conversion from sinner to children of God.

The Bible shows us the glory of God, the need for salvation, the way of salvation, the way to live in time, and the way to prepare to live in eternity. The Bible has been called the miracle Book of the ages. The Bible is also the miracle Book of this age. What glory and love from God that He would inspire and preserve His Message for us!

26 August 2008

THE WORD OF GOD TO MAN (Continued)

As we look into Scripture we see that God used a diversity of operation in the production of His Word to humanity. I believe that this says something to us as Christians. There is no question, from the giving of the Great Commission to the events surrounding the conversion of Cornelius - and beyond, that God has entrusted the dissemination of His Message to man into the hands of the membership of His churches.

Note that I did not say that this message was entrusted to the churches. The authority of the churches is only presented through the membership. No church "hierarchy" is in charge of the message. The Holy Spirit works within the hearts of individual believers; the churches are only, then, empowered through the corporate membership.

To state this another way: The churches are powerless except as their membership is empowered. If the reverse were true we would see churches standing true even as the members lapsed into heresy and error. This, of course, is an absurd picture. When the membership departs from "the faith once delivered," (see Jude 3) we begin to see those churches fall from the true application of the faith. This is why, humanly speaking, the pastor is charged with teaching the Truth in fidelity to the Word and the Spirit. The purpose, and the responsibility of the pastor, is to keep the membership pure so that the church may remain strong in its influence among the brethren and the world through the testimony of those members.

In doing this job we may use several methods of transmitting the Gospel. Sound music is a tool. Sound preaching is a primary tool (see I Corinthians 1:18). Strong Sunday School teaching is a tool. In our day, radio, television, tracts, and many other methods may be used to spread the Gospel message. Only that which is anathema to the Gospel should be rejected out of hand.

As God has shown us, a multiplicity of methods may strengthen the appeal of the message.

Criswell (The Criswell Study Bible) argues this fact. "God used different means such as dictating words.., prophecy, and prophetic vision to impart His Word to humanity. By these means He gave His Word without error and through the personality of the human writer, exactly as He wanted it to be written and revealed."

It may be instructive to realize that dictation was more commonly used in the Old Testament writings than in the New. I believe part of this is due to the influence of the Spirit in these New Testament times.

In the days before the sacrifice of Christ at the Cross of Calvary, the sins of the people were covered by the blood of the animal sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that these could never atone for sin. It took the Perfect Sacrifice to usher in the day of Perfect salvation. In the Old Testament the Spirit would come upon the prophet for the task at hand. In these New Testament days the Spirit comes to live with the person who has had his sins forgiven by the Savior.

This does not preclude that God could have dictated His Words to the New Testament writers. This only points out that the New Testament example of the fellowship of the believer with the Father is greater due to the facts of Calvary.

Dreams and visions, of course, are methods by which God has sent His message to those who might not have readily understood. When we are away from the cares of the world the reality of God may be more fully felt and experienced.

The "problem," here, is that many in our day have begun to worship the concept of dreams and visions. They search out answers in ecstatic experience. As a general rule, these are not for us in this dispensation. The Lord has already given us His message in His Word. We need no further word. Therefore, as a general rule, such are not of Him. We are not writing Scripture. This is a closed volume. To act as though this were not so is to denigrate the veracity of the Words of God.

There may be exception. These will be few. These must all be tested against the already given Word. God will never contradict Himself. Beware and be in prayer!!

Strong (Systematic Theology) reminds us that inspiration used the cultural and literary styles of the writers. "The Bible is God’s word, in the sense that it presents to us divine truth in human forms, ad is a revelation not for a select class but for the common mind."

So, how did God allow the use of the human penman’s "cultural and literary styles" and yet give us His exact words? The simple answer is: He is God and do whatever He pleases. Personally, I believe that God led these writers through such life experiences that they wrote His Words as He inspired those Words.

The words are always His Words. He has allowed for the human penman’s personalities to produce His Message exactly as He wished it to be sent to mankind. The fact that the Bible, humanly speaking written by over three dozen humans over a nearly two thousand year time frame, to be of One Message without error or contradiction, is proof that this is the work, and the Word, of God.

The differing styles offer a richness of expression. They give us a multifaceted picture with depth and breadth. God orchestrated; man simply played His notes and differing instruments.

Strong also noted that inspiration used progressive revelation which made it easier for mankind to grasp His truths as He gave His story to man. "First came pictures, object-lessons, external rites, prediction; then the key to these in Christ, and their didactic exposition in the Epistles.

I think I can explain this concept with the illustration of how I managed to graduate from college. Just skip forward if you’ve heard this before!

When I was in high school I only took the required math courses. I took ninth grade "Business Math" and never touched another math book. I liked math. But, the next course was geometry. I rationalized that I didn’t like "drawing circles;" so I didn’t move forward with the discipline.

In college they said I had to take some course called, "Advanced Algebra." I looked at the text book and thought, "This can’t be Greek to me. I’ve seen Greek letters. This looks like another language!" It was suggested to me that I take the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) test to gain an idea of what the course would be.

I was handed the CLEP test. There on the question sheet was that same foreign language script. I, literally, couldn’t read the questions. I could read the answer sheet. It was all A, B, C, or D. I just marked those little boxes and handed in the test. The test proctor said I was done very quickly. I said, "You either know it or you don’t."

I passed the test and got my six mandatory hours of college math so I could graduate! I still do not understand algebra.

Had I taken the "pre" courses in high school I might have understood the college course. I didn’t; so I didn’t!

God’s progressive revelation started with the "pre" courses. He taught man through the ages. Christ was the culmination of the Ages! All else has been explaining what has gone before. It is all good. It is all necessary. But, without that early work we could not begin to understand all that God has for us in this day and beyond.

This concept of diversity of operation in the matter of inspiration is a picture of the grandeur of God. He is not a one dimensional Being. He is multi-faceted. He is a Being of great beauty and wonder. His Word describes Him even in the giving of that Word.

The wonder and the glory of the Lord of Creation!

The diversity of the Divine shows, also, the intelligence of the mind of God. The Truth which He wishes to convey is presented in many different ways. This is not simply to restate, or for emphasis - although I believe this is part of the purpose as God knows we are a people sometimes slow to learn. This process also allows us to see a full, depth filled, multifaceted view of Him. Man need not be in doubt as to what it was that God desired to communicate.

Not only this, of course, the Spirit is also with us to illumine and explain. Still there are times when we fail to grasp the full meaning of His Words. Such is the fact of the Mind of God and the frailty of humanity.

This diversity also shows the grace of God. He knows that the mind of mankind is often clouded and slow to understand. Our attention spans are lengthened by His diversity. He, graciously, makes it easier for us to read and study His Message to us.

It is our intention to complete this study during our next session as we look at the fact that the Scripture is fully trustworthy.

Bible Questions Ministries