Where will you find the Word of God? A Jew will tell you the Torah. A Muslim will tell you the Koran. Many Americans will tell you you can find it anywhere and most people in the eastern hemisphere will tell you won’t find it at all. Based on my convictions as a Christian I understand the Word of God to be discovered in many places (creation – Psalm 19:1-4, conscience – Romans 2:14-15), but most importantly the Word of God is revealed through the Bible. The Bible is the manifest Word of God. These words are God’s word. The same master mind that created the world and set the universe in order wrote a book, and he wants you to read it. God wants be found and demands that he be understood to the extent that our human minds are able.
Tag: bible
The truth matters. God’s truth matters. If God tells us something it must be important. As His followers we must never take for granted the fact that Satan will never stop trying to subvert the Bible.
As has been shown in earlier entries on this site, prophecy provides proof that 1) the prophet of old prophesied truth, and thus 2) spoke of the future in a way that no man, apart from the power of an all knowing being, could. Therefore, we can deduce that if the prophets of old were confirmed by what they spoke, there must be a Higher power providing these men with the ability to foreknow.
In Ezekiel 2:4 God tells Ezekiel that he is being sent to the children of Israel, “a rebellious nation,” to say to them, “thus says the Lord.” Ezekiel, throughout the entire book of prophecy bearing his name, states the same thing: thus says the Lord. (See Ezekiel 6:1, 12:17, 22:33, etc.) This is a very important statement made in Ezekiel, and he is not alone among the prophets in its use. Jeremiah begins his book stating these were the words of the Lord (1:2,4).
Over the last sixty years there has been a drastic increase in the number of available Bible translations. By my count, there have been at least fifty full (both Old Testament and New Testament) English Bible translations published since 1949, and at least twenty-five of those fifty were published after 1990. It appears this trend will continue with more translations being published every year. There is no doubt that the Bible being translated from the original languages (Old Testament was written in Hebrew and New Testament was written in Greek) into other languages is a praiseworthy event.
Undoubtedly, this concept is especially pertinent to Christianity and the Bible. Why believe the Bible over other holy books and texts? The Bible makes some very extraordinary claims about salvation and even the creation of the universe, but why should we believe it? When we read the Bible, can we trust it to be reliable, accurate, and credible?
I thought it was a divine revelation, a visitation from the Holy Spirit. A skeptic challenged me and a long conversation ensued. I found myself saying things I had never put into words and a rapid shift in perception occurred. I had this certainty, the Lord was moving me to a higher plane. It seemed to have been from the Lord. . . until I started reading the Bible and found out differently.
The word of God teems with imagery. From Pharoah and Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dreams, to Revelation’s well-known apocalyptic symbolism, to Jesus’ many memorable parables (“The kingdom of heaven is like…”), God employs imagery throughout Scripture to reveal His will. Speaking to the mind’s eye, the Bible’s imagery encourages us to first envision its truths that we might then be enlightened by them.