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Hoyte Nelson's Poems/ Reflections & Biblical Essays
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Essay The Holy Scriptures (Highlighted
for emphasis) In
the book of Hebrews we read this most revealing truth: It begins with these
words, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many
portions and in many ways, has in these last days spoken to us in His Son…”
(Hebrews 1: 1.2a). The
Apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,…” (2
Timothy 3: 16). What
a revelation for the Christian to know that the purposes of God, beginning with
Moses and all the prophets, are now fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise
the Lord! Remember what Jesus said to the
two men on the road to Emmaus about himself: “And He said to them, “O
foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into
His glory?” “Then beginning with
Moses and with all the prophets, He
explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke
24:25-27). Therefore, to try to understand
the Old Testament Scriptures apart from their fulfillment in Jesus Christ is to
invite all kind of systems of theology built upon man imagined suppositions. The
purpose of this article is to focus upon the many “ways” found in the
Scriptures whereby God has given to us His inspired Word. The writer of the book
of Hebrews, in addressing the Hebrew (Jewish) Christians, reminded them of that
fact. My purpose is to point out some of the many ways in which God used to give
us the inspired Word as we have it today. As we begin to examine some of the
different “ways” that God used to bring us His Holy Word; the Apostle Peter
gives us some vital insight on this subject in his Epistles: One
of the “ways” that God gave us His inspired Word according to the Apostle
Peter is by “prophecy.” (We will also see other ways as we proceed)
Prophecy is different from all the rest of God’s inspired word in that
it was all about the future when it was prophesied; therefore, all the future
promises of God are prophetic. This
is what the Apostle says about prophecy, “But know this first
of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men
moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1: 20, 21).
It
seems to me that the reason the Apostle Peter focuses upon this important truth
is because prophecy is always about the future; therefore, prophecy is always
beyond human capacity. In prophecy,
man’s intellect, will, or background. Etc. is never a factor; whereas, in all
other Scripture, man’s footprints:
(His writing style, his personal characteristic’s, background, and his
intellect), are always a factor. For example, each of the gospel writers, it is
said, wrote from their own perspective. (We will be able to see the difference
between prophecy and the other inspired writings as we continue this study). It is a fact that the prophets often spoke about many
things that were not prophetic: History, current events, etc.; Jeremiah, for
example, preached against Judah’s apostasy and failures which led them into
the Babylonian captivity (exile); yet, in so doing, he gave to them glimpses of
prophetic hope. It is said that the “angel of the Lord” spoke to
Moses at the burning bush.” (Exodus 3:2) Also, He revealed to John the
“Revelation” (Chapters 4:1 - 22:6). Remember Abraham, when he offered to
sacrifice his son Isaac, etc.; it was this angel that stayed his hand and
prevented him from killing his son, Isaac. (Genesis 22: 11,15) The angels of the
Lord often communicated with God’s people in their time of need. It was in
these times that the scriptures were being lived (fleshed) out before their very
eyes. Another
“way,” used by the Holy Spirit to bring us God’s Word, according to Peter,
was by “wisdom.” 2 Peter 3: 15,16a writes, “and regard the patience
(long-sufferings) of our Lord to be salvation;
just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters.”
The Apostle Paul was not prophesying, but was proclaiming
prophecy already fulfilled in Jesus Christ by the “wisdom” given to him by
the Holy Spirit. Another
things God did through Paul was to reveal to him the mystery concerning the
make-up of the church, the mystery that was kept secret from the prophets of
old, (1 Peter: 1: 10-12); that is, that the Gentiles would be fellow heirs with
the Jews in what was the mystery which Jesus called, “My Church” (Ephesians
3: 3, 6-11). To Peter, this was
“hard to understand” (2 Peter 3: 16). For
a Jew today, it is still hard for them to understand how Christ (the Messiah)
could have fulfilled all the promises contained in the prophets in the bringing
together in his kingdom, both Jew and Gentile, as one body in Christ; thus, the
mystery, kept secret from eternity pasted, is now unveiled as the “Israel of
God” complete in Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1: 13, 19, 26; Galatians 6: 16) Another
“way” that God used to give us His Word is found in the references to the
gospels of Matthew and John. God used their minds as an instrument of His grace
in giving us the gospels. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom
the Father will sent in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you” (John 14:
26). When the Holy Spirit fulfilled this promise, He did not dictate it to them,
but each of these two writers wrote from that which he had witnessed as God
gifted him to do so. John, in the conclusion of his narrative, says, “And
there are also many other things, which Jesus did, which if they were written
one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books,
that would be written” (John 14: 26, nkjv). Another
“way” the Bible is inspired is found in Luke’s gospel. Chapter 1: 1-4 He
speaks of those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. It was from them
that he received his information. Dr. Luke says that he “investigated everything carefully…that you might know the
exact truth about the
things you have been taught;” that is, by these witnesses, “which from the
beginning were eyewitnesses.” Notice carefully what he says, “It seemed good
to me, also, having a perfect understanding from the things from the very first,
to write…” Luke, having carefully investigated the accounts of the
eyewitnesses, wrote his gospel. Since “all Scripture is given by the
inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3: 16), we can rest assured that Dr. Luke was
so inspired. John
Mark, who is said to be Peter’s son in the faith (1 Peter 5: 13) wrote the
gospel of Mark. It is supposed that Mark, not being an Apostle, depended upon
Peter’s eyewitness account for much of the information contained in his
narrative. I would imagine that the reason the Holy Spirit did not inspire the
Apostle Peter to write (a gospel account) because he had already encouraged Mark
to write, rather than he. Nevertheless, it is one of the inspired gospels.
Another
“way” that the Holy Spirit used to give us His Word is found in the Book of
the Revelation. John received the “Unveiling of the Revelation” from “My
angel,” (Messenger) according to Jesus (Revelation 1: 1), and when John
finished the “Revelation,” he said, “I fell down to
worship at the feet of the
messenger who showed me these things. And He (the messenger) said to me, do not
do that, for I am a fellow servant of
yours and of the prophets and
of those who heed the words of this book: worship God.” Interestingly, this
angel (messenger) said that he was of those “who gave heed to the words of
this book.” In other words, this angel (messenger) was subject to the unveiled
Revelation in his lifetime: “He gave heed to the word of this book.” Truly,
the “Revelation” was more than prophecy, it was important to the people of
that day; otherwise, he would not have given heed to the words of this book as
it is said in (Revelation 22:9). There,
probably are other references to the “many ways” that God spoke to His
people, but the final “way” was in the giving of His only begotten Son to be
our Savior. (John 3: 16) There is no book like this Book! “It has God for its
author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its
matter…” (Baptist Faith and Message), but because it was not written in our
native language, and because we do not have an original autograph; men have
continued to bring to us the best available interpretation (translation)
possible, based upon their training, doctrinal background, and resources
available, etc. For example: In the fly-leaf, introductory page, of the KJV is
this statement: “Containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the
original tongues: and with the former
translations diligently compared and revised.” Today, we are left with
“Translations,” and “Revisions;” nevertheless, God has, no doubt
in my mind, so protected His Word that in spite of our frailties, He has secured
for all eternity every truth that He ever purposed for us to know. What a
Treasure! |