The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees the worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter. - Phillips BrooksWhat a great word picture!! If we look at our world through the lens of the Word how would our actions change? Would the way we live out Truth be different than what we experience now? When we go deeper we see that the Word is a living, breathing guide to life. What it contains within its pages reaches beyond life and shatters death.
How can this be true of “just a piece” of literature? It is because the very premise of the Bible is that it is the story of God … inspired by God … given as a gift to man. Like God breathed the breath of life into man in the garden, he breathed his breathe of life into the Holy Scriptures.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is God-breathed…” (NIV)
“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed …” (MESS)
“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed …” (MESS)
The Scriptures are "theopneustos" in the original Greek -- "breathed out by God"
I love that!! His Word … the Scriptures … are not dead and stagnant but Living!! Breathed OUT by God!! We have the privilege of having in our possession Words that the creator of the universe inspired into existence for us to live by. Do we cherish that privilege?
We also see in 2 Peter 1:20-21: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)
Some have argued that this inspiration was true of the Old Testament Scriptures but that the New Testament was just mans account of their experience with Jesus and the ensuing spreading of the gospel. But we see in
John 14:26 Jesus says, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. I believe Jesus was letting the apostles know that when it came to their future writings he would help them, through the Holy Spirit, to recall his Words and his teachings, so that others would be drawn unto him and know the Truth. So this fully covers both the Old and New Testament Scriptures.
Once we whole-heartedly believe that the Bible … the Word of God … was divinely inspired we can fully embrace its teachings as Truth!!
Now that we have rested at this first stopping point let’s move forward on our journey. On our next stop we will be looking at: How the Word Cleanses Us.
