Join me as I try to respond to this simple question whose answer; despite it being so precise and straight-forward; has left the hearts of many frustratingly dissatisfied. At this, even believers haven’t been spared as majority of us only struggle inwardly as we vainly try to display a happy face before rather unbelieving crowds. Here we go!
In an effort to deliver a satisfactory verdict on this one, I’m going to take a straight-forward approach. In this case, I’ll invite you as the reader to just rest your mind as a child would in his or her first day in kindergarten – just take this as novel experience, would you?
Bible in this case is a revelatory text in the sense that it contains the testimonies of different witnesses who lived in the years past; mostly Hebrew; whereby these witnesses were paying witness, not according to human bias, but according to God’s neutral standpoint regarding human existence.
In this case, the Bible puts everything exactly how God; the origin and sustenance of everything that’s existent; revealed it through His timelessly expressive Spirit. In this way, Bible becomes a library of books (as we all understand it) whereby each of these books point to one truth: God is present. Each book in this case has been authored by the same person, the Holy Ghost, who kept every single book within the specific context of time, place and person all the way from the beginning (of man’s commissioning in Eden) to the end (the end of man’s commissioning whereby every soul will be called to account for how effectively they got to fulfill what God had ordained for them – this obviously depends on the special grace that was at play in our individual lives).
The Holy Ghost then equipped different men in different places and at different times in history with the required skill to deliver God’s contextualized message to different groups of people in different places and at different times in history. At this, one thing remains certain: Human existence is in fact a cycle; in that whatever happened in the past always has a way of re-occurring in the later days. As the preacher puts it in Ecclesiastes 1:9; there’s nothing new under the sun. In this way, the Bible becomes the most relevant book out of all the history books that have ever been authored. It speaks to today’s man in the same way it would to a man who lived 1000 years ago or even more.
In this way, any genuine believer should be able to point every single book within Scripture back to God who has in this case been revealed through Jesus Christ. Thus, I should be able to locate the central personality; Jesus Christ; within any book in the Bible as He is the only member of the Godhead who got in touch with the physical right from the very start when He made the universe (the heavens and earth) and man.
In this case, I compelled myself to begin viewing the Bible through Jesus’ lens. While at this, I ended up pointing out one unique thing which Jesus said during His earthly ministry right before He returned to heaven. He said that He’d come to fulfill all that had been written in the Law, psalms and the prophets. Certainly, it was based on the message contained within three main subsections of Scripture that He ended up delivering the final message which is the Good News of the Kingdom of God (the Gospel).
In this way, Scripture can then be broadly classified into four main categories: The Law of God which was delivered through Moses, the Psalms of Israel’s musicians which came in hand-in-hand with the prophetic messages of God’s anointed and finally; the testimony of Jesus Christ concerning God’s eternal Kingdom as well as the way for humanity to gain access into this Kingdom (through repentance – Matthew 4:17). Since every message within the Law, psalms and prophets had already be confirmed by different witnesses; God also sent John the Baptist to witness to Jesus Christ’s message about the Kingdom of God for the sole purpose of establishing Jesus testimony about the Kingdom of God. Thus, every single message within Scripture stands out as being credible because at least two witnesses have been recruited by God for the delivery of every message.
Matthew 18:16: “But if He does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” – Jesus here revealed that two witnesses are critical in the establishment of any report.
Thus, when any one of us approaches the Bible, it would be good for them to have this in mind: that they will either be going through the Law of God which has been revealed through Moses, the prophecies about the initial and final coming of Christ which have been revealed by the psalmists, the prophets and even Christ Himself (as His personal testimony); or the very message of Christ which is the most important as it provides for all men a way of preparing themselves for the coming eternal age. Jesus Christ came in as a Kingdom mentor to help us get prepared as Kings and priests who are to serve in different positions of authority in God’s coming eternal Kingdom.
Galatians 4:1-2: “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.” – Similarly, as long us we are still children in the faith, we are all subject to kingdom training until the time when we will be ready to take up our God-given inheritance which has been sealed in Christ Jesus. In this verse, Paul has likened each one of us to an actual child of an earthly king who, despite having the name that guarantees him or her ownership of everything, still has to be trained up so that when the time comes; he or she is able to be a responsible ruler.
Thus, Scripture is the Law of God, the prophecy about the coming of Christ and His return at the end of this age and finally; the message of the Gospel which is Christ’s testimony concerning the Kingdom of God which will soon be entrusted to His Church. One thing which Scripture hasn’t been revealed as by any of the witnesses throughout the Old Testament as well as the entire New Testament is this: Religious text. It’s because it isn’t, man. Rather, Bible is the tool that has held the entire world in place; from the earlier days up until today; through Law and governance, morality, business, education, philantropy, art etc which all point to the perfect person; God. It is God’s letter to the human ruler whom He’s sent to earth to govern it in the capacity of a king; providing all the needed context that’s meant to help man make the right decisions in life. In this case; Solomon revealed scientific wisdom, Moses revealed the Law, Joseph laid down the principles of economics, David demonstrated the art of music while Jesus taught governance and true living.
Luke 24:44: “Then He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” – Surely, if all that has been written about the Son of God must be fulfilled, no human is exempt for we have no privilege like Jesus Christ’s before the Father. Whatever that has been written concerning us must by all means be fulfilled; whether we allow God to be a part of our lives or not; because everyone will meet his or her well-deserved end when it’s all said and done. Stay woke, stay blessed; you are loved by God.
