My pastor is fond of saying something like, if God told you He would meet you at the corner of 6th and Broadway, then you can be confident you will find Him there. Where is 6th and Broadway for us today? Where can you find God today? Where has God revealed Himself and where has God promised to show up in our lives?
Welcome to the Bible.
The Bible is a collection of books, filled with stories, statements, claims, news, and laws. It spans various genres, includes around 40 authors, and was written over about 1500 years. With that being said, we would expect the Bible to be a jumbled mess of disconnected stories and statements. Incredibly, we find unity of story from beginning to end.
What is the Bible? The Bible is the work of God through human authors. God superintended, directed the writing of every bit of Scripture. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:14-17). God superintended the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they recorded exactly what God intended.
The original autographs of Scripture are without error. They are inerrant. As the Word of the true God, the Bible cannot fail us. It is infallible. The copies of those original autographs can contain copying errors or even translation errors but due to the extreme attention to detail in copying, and the unprecedented amount of copies we have to compare, we have confidence in what the original autographs said down to the most minute details, far more than any other ancient work in existence.
Why do we need the Bible? Because general revelation is not sufficient to give us knowledge for salvation (Rom. 1:19-20; Ps. 19:1-4). Creation itself tells us there is a God whom we are to worship (Rom. 1) but the stars can’t tell us what Jesus did for us to save us from our sin. We need special revelation from God. As such, the Bible is our rule of faith and life. It teaches us everything we need to believe for salvation (i.e. faith) and how to live (i.e. practice).
As God’s Word to us, the Bible is powerful. It is no ordinary book. God is speaking in the Bible and when God speaks, God works. God gets things done with His Word, just as He created the cosmos by speaking. If you want to hear from God, read the Bible.
What’s in the Bible? After His resurrection, Jesus took a walk with two men. “And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” The Bible is one unified story, though made up of many stories and authors and genres, about who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. The whole Bible revolves around this epic center: “Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory”. And this was for our salvation.
Thankfully, most of the content of the Bible is pretty straightforward. It isn’t a cryptic and mysterious book. Children can read and understand the basics in the Bible. Yet, some parts are more difficult to understand. Even the Apostle Peter said so of Paul’s writings: “There are some things in them that are hard to understand” (2 Pt. 3:16). Thankfully, the Bible often interprets itself. So, we use the plain Scriptures to interpret the Scriptures that are more difficult to understand.
Why should we care about the Bible? Because God has promised to show up in His Word. The point of talking about the Bible is because we want to talk about and know the God of the Bible. If you want to get hit by a train, go to the train tracks. If you want to know God and experience God, then go to the Bible. Put yourself in front of the train of the Bible.
