THE REVELATION OF GOD – 3
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
The Bible Reveals God
In our first
lesson, REV.
1, we made plain the difference between our denominational friends and
the
churches of Christ in reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. Many of
them believe the Holy Spirit converts men outside of the Gospel. We
believe
that the Holy Spirit converts men through the Gospel. Why do you read
the
Bible? For its poetry, its history, its law?
Do
you read it expecting that God will impart His Spirit to make it true,
and
to enable you to understand it? If so, you read it like an infidel,
for
he does not believe that God is in it; and if He is not in the Bible
(as
some seem to think), if the Holy Spirit is not in it until He imparts
additional
power, it is devoid of inherent truth, and is no more the revelation
of
God than the productions of men. Is the Bible as it is the word of God?
If
not, it is not worthy of our time and attention.
We closed REV. 1
with this thought-provoking question: Why are the thoughts, the works,
and the productions of men insufficient to save us? One of you rightly
wrote and
said because of the teachings of Jeremiah 10:23 and John 14:6. Man’s
ways
are also insufficient to save because they are only the achievements
of
human minds; and the deepest philosophy, the grandest poetry, or the
most beautiful system of religion, that bears only the impress of human
intellect, can never lift us higher or make us better than the mind
from which it originates.
Why, therefore, do
we consider the Bible such an important book? Answer: Because it
presents
to us the thoughts of the mind of God, and proposes to lift us up to
Him.
How many of you really and unqualifiedly believe that the Bible is the
word of God, the revelation of God? How many of you are willing to
receive it as a message from Him, as a perfect and beautiful
portraiture of the Divine mind? How many of you read it simply as a law
book, and not the bright and smiling face of the loving Father? How
many of you are willing and ready to
lay it aside for the mysterious, the speculative, or the uncertain? O
for
a deeper, stronger and more abiding confidence in the living word of
the
living God!
The will of God is not the expression of
despotic power, but the revelation of a Being of infinite power, wisdom
and goodness. The plan of salvation is not only the revelation of a
nicely constructed system, but also the manifestation of a Father of
boundless sympathy, love and mercy; the adaptation of God to the wants
and to the understanding of men. As the sun bursts in glorious splendor
through the rifted clouds and fills the world with light, so God, yes
God shines through the Bible, His own word, "to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4: 6). We have affirmed that it is impossible
to
separate God and the Bible; that you cannot accept one and reject the
other,
or reject one and honor the other. Do you ask for proof? To the proof
let
us turn:
The nations that are destitute of the Bible
worship many gods. They are without hope and without God in the world
(Eph.
If God is revealed
in the truth, if His presence keeps it alive, does not He work in us
through it (Eph. 1:18‑23)? His thoughts turn our thoughts heavenward
(Isaiah 55:7‑9; 2 Cor. 10:4-5); His facts or truths unlock our
understanding (Luke 24:45); His commandments conquer our stubborn
resistance (1 Pet.
What is meant by our assertion that God
reveals Himself to man through the Bible? We will endeavor to enlarge
the thought, and make it plain even to the most careless observer. Does
the Bible reveal God’s person, or His attributes? Answer: Both. Is He
capable of sympathizing with suffering sons of men? The Bible answers:
"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him” (Ps. 103:13). Is He a Father? The Bible answers: "That ye may
be the children of your Father which
is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good,
and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust” (Matt.
Do you say the
Bible is
the work of man? If so, its author is great enough to be a God! The
Bible reveals the God of infinite power, of inexhaustible wisdom, of
unceasing goodness. Man is limited in power; circumscribed by mental
and physical frailties;
full of imperfections. Could he invent such a God, as the Bible makes
known?
The God of the Bible knows all things, and therefore makes no mistakes.
Man
does not know anything; there is a mystery, deep, unfathomable and
eternal
behind everything he professes to know. Could he imagine a God who
comprehends
all mystery; to whom darkness is as bright as the day? NO SIR!
If man were
perfect he
could of his own power imagine or invent a perfect ideal, and if one
man had
written the whole of the Bible, our minds might grasp the idea that he
originated
it. But when we reflect that it was written by thirty‑six men, during a
period
of sixteen hundred years, and that it harmonizes in all its parts; and
when
we further reflect that they lived in different ages, surrounded by
different
circumstances, we are driven to the irresistible conclusion that it is
not
the work of man, unassisted by the Lord.
All history
sustains these
declarations, for the gods of men are nothing more than the offspring
of
sinful hearts and clouded imaginations. You may aggregate the gods of
the
heathen of all ages and countries, and combine all that is attributed
to
each into one grand ideal, and he will be like the source from which he
came,
impotent, sensual, and earthly. It is, therefore, undeniable that the
Bible
is the Revelation of God, of His power, of His wisdom, of His glory, of
His
presence.
From Adam's
transgression downward, man's corrupted mind, frail body, and breaking
heart cried out after God. Man needs a power above himself; a
god he will have. Sin was a dark and stormy gulf, whose waves
chanted the notes of despair. On one side, man sinned, suffered and
died. On the other, full of love and compassion,
shone the majesty and glory of God. Man was unable to cross
these turbulent waters. God, out of pity and love, would not, for His
presence is a consuming fire (Heb.12: 20-29); and no sinner
can see His face and live. Hence, the first revelations of His person
were
vague, indistinct, and unsatisfactory. In this way He appeared to Jacob
(Gen.
28:11‑28), and many others who lived in the patriarchal times. Man at
that
time could not endure more.
See the little drop
of water resting in the bosom of the ocean wave. God wants it. Does He
send an angel to lift it up and help it on its mission of mercy? No, He
sends a
golden sun‑ray to warm it, to expand it, to spread light through it,
and, wonder of wonders!! it begins to rise.
Did God send an angel to lift man up to nobility of character? By no means. He gave him a promise, a vague and
imperfect outline of Himself, far away in the dim distance. Man’s heart
began to get warm, his mental vision began to brighten, and his
aspirations began to grasp after the pure, the good - the everlasting.
Moses saw Him in
the burning
bush (Ex. 3:1‑6), but this did not satisfy the longings of his mind. It
was
only a faint reflection of his majesty and power. Hence Moses said: “If
I
have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way." The Lord answered
this
by promising to be with him and give him rest. This did not meet his
wants,
for he desired to see God. And he replied: "I beseech thee, shew me thy
glory." The Lord answered: "I will make all my goodness pass before
thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall
no man see me, and live. And the Lord said,
Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and
it
shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in
a
cleft of the rock, and I will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
and
I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my
face
shall not be seen” (Ex. 33:12-33).
God manifested
Himself to
The Lord was with
them, for it is said that when the tabernacle was completed: "A
cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34). Indeed, the entire Mosaic
system teaches that God was present to bless them. They were honored
above all nations of the ancient times; yet how few of them possessed a
clear conception of the love and purity of God. They had law, statutory
and ceremonial; LAW IN ABUNDANCE; but in their imperfect understanding
of the truth, much of their work became mechanical, lifeless, and
unacceptable.
True, they saw the
glory of God when Sinai's cloud‑capped and hoary summit echoed His
mighty footsteps, thundered His existence through every heart, and
painted consternation
on every face. But this demonstration, awful as it was, did not reveal
His love, nor enforce upon them the thought that He is ever present in
His word. Few of them felt His presence in after years. Few of them
meditated upon His word until they came so near the gates of eternity
that they could feel the throbbing of His wondrous life. Yet their
motive to do well, and to be good, was in the law under which they
lived. Their obedience and purity as a nation rose and fell with their
appreciation of the fact, that God revealed Himself to them through
their law, His law.
Loved ones, the
manifestations of God during the patriarchal and Jewish dispensations,
were only preparatory to the greater, higher, grander, clearer, fuller
manifestations of God under the Dispensation of Grace.
Go
TO REV. 4 -
The Bible Reveals Jesus - 1