The Bible is not written like that. My first reaction is that God did not want mere intellectual understanding without faith. Instead, He wanted to reveal truth in a way that faith is required to receive it. Not only that, faith is not complete in its onset. It is more like a child taking his father’s hand without a clue where he will be led, then discovering in the journey how much his father can be trusted.
As for the writing of this enduring Bible of nonfiction, it has one main purpose: God wants to reveal Himself to us:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Hebrews 1:1–2)
The OT is like peeking at the future. Its readers did not get a full picture of the Son that was to come, but they were given glimpses of Him and His purpose for revealing God to us in a human body. One of the reasons is that we needed to see God’s Laws lived out in this perfect, sinless One. Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17)
By doing this, Jesus showed that God’s revelation of truth, His nonfiction story, progressed from promise to fulfillment, from partial to complete. This is called progressive revelation in that the OT anticipated Christ’s coming; the New Testament records His coming.
Just like a new Christian cannot immediately grasp the meaning of the entire Bible, The OT writers didn’t understand everything they wrote. For one thing, it didn’t always apply to their day. That’s why Peter said,
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10–12)
This does not imply that the OT is inaccurate, nor that its readers were without full faith in God. Those who read it in its entirety along with the NT begin to realize that any distinction isn’t in the rightness or wrongness of the revelation but in its completeness. Just as a child progresses from letters to words to sentences, so God’s revelation progressed from types, ceremonies, and prophecies to final completion in Jesus Christ and the NT.
Some do think the OT is incomplete by New Testament standards or that it is totally unnecessary reading now that we have the NT and the covenant of grace. However, the OT is also fully inspired by God and that truth is affirmed often in the NT:
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)
We need to remember that these NT writers did not have the full NT when they wrote the above affirmations. Also, while the OT isn’t all of God’s truth, all of it is true. As it is read, God reveals His character and His plan for redemption. It is like a vista unfolding before us while we walk along a path, even though that vision and those truths are not put in a logical, easy-to-understand order like editors insist upon today. The only way to see the wonder of what God reveals is by reading it, applying what is seen, and continuing to read, trusting God to make Himself known in the marvel of what He has breathed into the hearts and pens of His human servants.
PRAY: Jesus, Your Word is like You reciting into my heart what You want me to know. At times, some of it seems garbled or vague, but when Your Spirit gives clarity, it always gives me truth that I need for the things that are happening in my life or in the world around me. Some might critique the writing style, but the endurance of Your Book proves that You are the greatest author and You know exactly how to use words to change lives.
PONDER: how can my faith respond to 2 Timothy 3:16–17 and 2 Peter 3:16?
No comments:
Post a Comment