On a certain occasion a young man purchased a liner ticket
to take an extensive trip. It was a dream comes true. During his trip he ate
almost nothing since he had spent all of his money on the ticket. He did not
think he could afford to pay a restaurant bill on the ship. On the last day of
the journey, feeling he could no longer endure the hunger, he headed to the
restaurant saying to himself, "Even if I have to pay the bill by washing
dishes, I must have a proper meal." He was so surprised when he asked the
waiter for the bill and the waiter said, "No sir, you do not owe anything,
your ticket covers all the meals during the voyage."
Often we are the same. We have the fountain of provision and blessings
in our hands - the Word of God. But though we have this fountain of life with
its promises, we do exactly as the young man in the story. We live without
enjoying all of the good things God has already bought for us, ignoring the Word,
and missing the promises and blessings that are actually already ours!
The Bible is the greatest of all treasures. It has the answers to all
our needs, tells us how to manage our finances, and how to deal with problems,
family, and emotions. Joshua 1:8 says:
“This Book of the Law shall
not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that
you may observe to do
according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way
prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
The Psalmist says in Psalm 119:105:
“Your word is a lamp to my
feet, and a light to my path.
But most importantly, God gave us His Word to reveal Himself to us!
God inspired different men in diverse times and cultures to write the Word, the
Bible, so we could know Him and receive His promises. But how are we to understand,
make use of, and practice the Word to make our ways prosperous and right?
I. HOW TO APPROACH THE WORD:
- Seeing the Living Word Jesus!
To be able to receive the most from the Bible I
need to learn to read with the right mindset.
How did God intend the Bible to be? The Bible is
the means through which God speaks to His beloved, the church. Therefore as we
read, we enjoy the exhilarating expectation or receiving insight into the heart
of the wisest Being in the universe. Enjoy reading it with the same interest
and focus that a person in love would read a letter from his fiancé - reading
it over and over again, to catch all that it is conveying.
John 5:39,40
“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them
you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet
you refuse to come to me to have life.”
This shows us that the entire Bible is about
Jesus! Mike Cleveland’s study entitled “The Cross” tells us: “It is important
to understand that God hid the gospel in a "mystery" (that is, in
story form) in the Old Testament (Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-4; 3:9; 6:19, Colossians
1:26). We do not mean to imply that the stories didn’t actually happen. We
affirm that the Bible stories are literal events (unless clearly stated to be
parables), and that the Bible is a historically accurate account of God’s
dealing with man, as well as containing spiritual truths about the cross, sin
and salvation, etc.
But from John 5:39,40, we see that “the Word of God was given to reveal
the glory of God’s character”. It does that best in revealing the sinner’s
need through the Law, and then in revealing Jesus Christ as the Solution to the
need. More specifically, our basic hermeneutic [or Bible interpretation] is that
Moses and the Prophets (in other words, the entire Old Testament) wrote about
Christ.
Jesus said, "...the
Scriptures testify about me." This is true, not just in the well-known
passages of the Old Testament (Exodus 17, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Zech. 12, etc.)
but in hundreds and thousands of places throughout the entire Bible.
The Cross study seeks to examine and reveal
Christ and the gospel not only in the well-known passages, but in the parts that
are less-known, but that just as clearly reveal the "mystery of the
cross" in story form. In “Jesus in the Bible” - Finding Jesus in Every
Book of the Bible, by Kenneth Boa says: "Believe it or not, Christ
permeates the Scriptures. He is the living Word (John 1:1) of whom the written
Word speaks constantly. Everywhere we read, we find hints, glimpses, foreshadowings,
veiled references, graphic pictures, whispered allusions, and prophetic
mentions of Jesus. He moves through all the pages of the Bible, not just in the
Gospels or in the apostles’ epistles. Look carefully, and you will see Him
again and again in the poets and prophets." [(page ix) 1] The
"everywhere" includes Leviticus, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ruth, Judges,
etc. and all the 39 books of the Old Testament. Those books contain the
"hints, glimpses, foreshadowings, veiled references," and all the
rest.
If we want to be biblically accurate in our
interpretation of scripture, specifically the Old Testament, we must begin with
the understanding that "these are the Scriptures that testify about
me" (Christ). Some people may see that there are, indeed, clear
foreshadows and prophecies about Christ, but they might miss the "hints,
glimpses and whispered allusions" that are sprinkled throughout the
Scriptures.
Just as Jesus opened the eyes of His disciples in
Luke 24:45 'And He opened their
understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures,” Jesus desires to
do the same for us: “And beginning with
Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning himself [Luke 24:27].” This is fundamental to the
working of the Word in your life.
The Bible is not some written set of rules or
principles to live by; it is the Living Word of God. The Living Word is Jesus Christ
Himself, and when your understanding is opened, the Word becomes light, Jesus
is revealed, and you will enjoy the life He offers and continually breathes in
you!
When the Word is able to impact your heart, it
becomes your fountain of life. It establishes you in the goodness of God, and
as Titus 2:11 says, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for
the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify
for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
The more we see Jesus in His grace, the more it
changes the way we think and live!
- Meditation
Joshua 1:8 says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth."
The word meditation in Hebrew is the word
“hagah,” which implies “muttering,” “murmuring.” This means meditation includes
not only mulling the Scripture passage over and over in your mind, but we are
called to recite the verses to ourselves. Wesley Campbell calls it “praying the
Bible,” and while it may have the appearance of being mechanical, reading
verses out loud is a form of chewing on the Word. The Lord motivates us in this
passage to continually confess or declare the Word, saying: "You shall meditate in it day and night..."
Psalm 103:5 says, “He fills my mouth with good things,” while Jesus emphasized, “Man does not live on bread alone but on
every mouth that proceeds from the mouth of God.[Matthew 4:4]”
The best way to interact with the Word is by
asking God questions about the passage you are reading. It will also help if
you not only read scripture passages but try to enter in to the story by asking
the Holy Spirit to bring them to life: know that it is His desire to do so!
Jesus
tells us in John 16:13-14, “But when he,
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth… He will bring glory
to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
The invitation to meditate on the book of the
law, the Word of God, is one that is open to us all day and night!
The result of studying the Word?
The object is to see more of Jesus have our hearts enlarged to God’s
affections, His purposes, His heart! The idea is not just to receive
information but that the Word of God penetrates our hearts, impacts us, and
changes our way of living by revealing more of Jesus to our lives. Nobody can encounter
Jesus and ever be the same!
II. HOW TO STUDY THE WORD
Everyone seeking God desires to hear His voice in a personal and
direct way. It can be hard to believe that He is genuinely interested in us -
that He loves and longs for us. John 17:24 says: Father I desire that those you have given me may be with me where I am,
and to behold my glory.
Jesus desires—intensely longs!—for us to be with Him and to contemplate
on His beauty! This is the greatest invitation we can imagine! This is why,
when you are studying the Word, especially if you’re just beginning to get used
to the idea, the place, atmosphere, and time play a fundamental role. These suggestions
are little practical tips to get you fired up and going:
- Choose a certain place
Whenever possible, study at a desk as this will
help you to concentrate. Do not try studying on the bed when you are tired,
because your good intentions will most likely turn into profound sleep!
- Buy a notebook and make it your devotional diary
This will allow you to write down all that God
tells you and to be able to go over it again when needed. It will help you retain
what you have learned, since writing makes memorizing, as well as allow you to
continually go over the things that God has already revealed to you.
- Establish a study pattern
As you are beginning to develop the habit,
according to your personal preference, decide how you are going to interact with
the Word each day. You can do this by determining the amount of time you are to
spend or by establishing how many chapters you will study. Keep it the same
every day, but be prepared to feast longer than you’ve set for yourself as the
Lord opens up His treasures to you at His banquet table!
III. BENEFITS OF STUDYING THE WORD
- It gives us a greater revelation of Jesus!
“The Cross” study tells us about the story wherein
the resurrected Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, found in
Luke 24. In it, Jesus performed the miracle of opening their eyes to see Him in
the Scriptures! That is, He illumined their understanding so that they might
see Him. The exact words are: Luke 24:31 (NIV) “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”
Mike Cleveland writes, “This same miracle must be
performed today. When God opens our eyes to Christ we "recognize Him"
in the clear prophecies, yes, but we also recognize Him in the veiled
references. After the miracle of grace where Jesus opens our eyes (illumines
our understanding), we see Jesus, just as the Greeks asked to do ("sirs,
we would see Jesus"-John 12:21).
We see Him when we read our Bibles, and we see Him
everywhere. We see Him in the story of creation, in the story of the ark, in
the Passover Lamb, in the uplifted serpent, the smitten rock, the sacrifices of
the Tabernacle, in the stories of Samson, and Esther, and Nehemiah, and David,
and all the other hundreds of passages that "concern Himself." “You
see, this walk on the Emmaus Road was really a picture of the way those two
disciples had been studying their Bibles.
As they walked along that road, Jesus was right
there with them, but they did not discern Him. He was so close, He was speaking,
but they did not recognize Him. That was how they had studied their Old
Testament Bibles. They would open the pages and read the words, but they did
not discern Christ. He was right
there in all the clear prophecies, foreshadows, hints, whispers and allusions,
but they did not recognize Him. See what an amazing "object lesson"
that walk on the Emmaus Road was? And my friend, how is your discernment? Do you
read your Old Testament and see Christ? Or are you in need of having your eyes opened, too? “Earlier I mentioned that
this manner of interpreting the Bible is
of first importance. Let me share with you where I get that: 1 Corinthians
15:1-7 (NIV)
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the
gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your
stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached
to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on
to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of
whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles …”
Paul stated that the cross of Jesus Christ is of "first
importance" and that His death and resurrection were "according to
the Scriptures." The "Scriptures" he mentions here are the Old
Testament Scriptures, those where the cross of Christ is "hidden in a
mystery." In other words, when reading the Old Testament, we read of
Jesus’ death for our sins and His resurrection from the dead, and that gospel
(and that manner of interpreting the Old Testament) is of "first
importance."
In our walk as followers of Jesus, we will enjoy,
both with Scripture and with the writings of other men, proper biblical hermeneutics
being about seeing Jesus. After all, if we are supposed to "fix our eyes
on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) then when we read the Scriptures, any of them, we
should see Him. We should be like the people in the synagogue who, after Jesus
read the Word from Isaiah, "fixed
their eyes on Him" (Luke 4:20). We should be like the three disciples
who, after hearing Moses and Elijah on the mountain, "saw no one but Jesus
only." This is the right and proper way to interpret the Bible. "And when they lifted up their eyes,
they saw no one but Jesus only" (Matthew 17:8). We see Him as the eternal
God, as the second Member of the Trinity, as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, as the King and Sovereign of the universe.
- It prepares us to confront doctrinal errors
As we grow in learning to see Jesus everywhere in
the Scriptures and to filter the Bible through His finished work at the cross,
we become more readily able to detect errors when presented with doctrine that
appears to be from the Bible but lies in a non-Jesus-exalting interpretation.
The Holy Spirit is so in love with Jesus Christ that He cannot keep from
telling about His goodness, especially throughout the Scriptures! Hallelujah
that this same Holy Spirit has empowered our hearts to love Jesus with the same
love, that anything less than Jesus-exalting will never sit well with our
spirits!
- It helps us in spiritual warfare
2 Corinthians 10:4,5 tells us, “The weapons we fight with are not the
weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up
against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ.”
Our warfare involves constantly renewing our
minds with Jesus Christ and His truths. Every other thing that does not exalt
Jesus goes straight to the trash bin!
- It makes our prayers powerful
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you
desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7
The more we see of Jesus’s heart, the more we
know His will. Thus, as we behold His character and beauty, whatever we pray
for comes closer and closer to His heart.
- It gives us the security of salvation
When you first begin your walk with Christ one of
the Satan's special weapons is to make you doubt your salvation. He brings
guilt into our lives to make us think that God has left us and that we are no
longer worthy of His forgiveness. That is why the Lord assures us in 1 John
5:13: “These things I have written to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of
God.”
The more we see of Jesus, the more our faith is
being built up in His goodness and grace that’s greater than any sin.
- It guarantees us a successful life
Joshua 1:8 explains, "You shall meditate in it day and night... For then you will make your
way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
You will carry the seal of success because you
learn to accept the truth that God truly prospers you in everything you do not
based on what you do but based on the sure blood of Jesus!
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