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From Creation to Consummation:  An Overview of Holy Scripture

Part One:  The Holy Bible

K.  Elijah Layfield


In the nineteenth century, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French commentator, came to America and made the observation that the goal of Americans was "to seek by themselves and in themselves for the only reason for things…So each man is narrowly shut up in himself, and from that basis makes the pretension to judge the world."  To say this another way, man is the measure of all things.  Nothing exists but what can be seen, experienced, and explained by mankind.  This view makes mankind the height of the universe.  All things are here for man's approval, and mankind has no other reason than to eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow man dies.  For this culture, to see anything beyond man as the measure of all things is a matter of faith.  The very idea that there is a God is a matter of debate, and to believe this idea must be a matter of faith.  But this is not the way the Bible speaks.

1.    Behold Your God:  The Claims of the Bible

The Bible never makes an argument for the existence of God.  From the very outset of Genesis, the implication that there is a God is so strong that the idea of man being the measure of all things crumbles to the dust.  In the Bible, we find that not only is there a God, but He is a personal God.  We find that He is the measure of all things.  Then we find that not only is there a God, but that He is not content to be silent.  He speaks. Isaiah 1.2 says, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken." He talked with Adam and Eve in the garden and walked in the cool of the day.  He came to meet and talk with Abraham and called him to Himself.  He met with Moses at the burning bush and revealed who He is.  He spoke directly out of heaven at Christ's Baptism, Transfiguration, and Agony in the garden.    Will you listen to Him?  We must remember that God does not speak just to hear His voice.  He speaks to reveal Himself and reveal our relation to Him.  Therefore when He tells us, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might " (Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV).  We ought not to think that He is making a suggestion.  He is commanding us to love Him, just as we often command our children to eat.  Just as our children will die without food, so shall we die apart from the eternal life provided by God through Jesus Christ.  We will never know Him, nor what is expect of us if we had not received His Word. The Bible reveals that the God of the universe is a speaking God.

2.    Thus Says the Lord:  The Predictions of the Bible

Why should we listen to Him?  What makes God so trustworthy?  In fact, how do I know when He speaks? He has never spoken audibly to me.  In fact, the Bible shows that God rarely speaks to individuals.  His preferred method was through prophets, and later to His apostles.  God would speak to prophets and apostles in order that they would relay His message.  Prophecy is not something new or distinct in Judaism and Christianity. The world is full of prophecy.  Mere days before Princess Diana died, a psychic predicted that she would soon marry again.  Of course this prophecy was wrong.  But when God gave prophecy, He did it in His name.  He put His reputation on the line whenever He spoke through a prophet and apostle.  In order to assure His people that God was indeed speaking to them, God made strict rules concerning prophecy in Israel.  God said, "The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die " (Deuteronomy 18:20 ESV).  If whatever was prophesied did not come to pass, the prophet was to be killed as a false prophet.  This insured that God's Word could be understood as being the accurate revelation of the true God of the universe.  By the fact that all that He says comes true, there can be no doubt that He exists and speaks.  In Titus 1.2, Paul calls God the One that "never lies."  The Bible reveals that the God of the universe is a truthful God.

3.    For God So Loved the World:  Jesus Christ, the Theme of the Bible

There is no greater predictive prophecy than the prophecies concerning Jesus of Nazareth.  Unlike the predictions of worldly psychics, the prophets of God predicted that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7.14, Jeremiah 31.22), He would be born in Bethlehem, (Micah 5.2), He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13a), He would be crucified (Psalm 22:16c), and He would be resurrected (Psalm 16:8-10b, Isaiah 53:10c).  Isaiah 53, a familiar portion concerning God's suffering servant, is such a testimony to Christ's fulfillment of that portion that Jews who reject Jesus as the Messiah reject that portion of Scripture.  They would rather think that Christians sneaked a chapter into their Bible rather than believe Jesus was who He said He is.  Time will not permit me to tell of the multitude of other prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled.  In fact, the prophecy and fulfillment of those prophecies by Jesus are so great that the mission and message of Jesus Christ really is the theme of all the Bible.  In His understanding of His Word, Christ continually summed up the Scriptures in Himself.  He says, "For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment" (Luke 22:37 ESV). Christ is the answer to all of the Bible's questions.  What will God do about sin and rebellious humans?  How can God be so good to those who sin against Him?  How will mankind ever please a righteous God?  What is God like?  Up until the Incarnation of the Son of God, and after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, history has been anticipating and reacting to the Cross.  And when we read God's promises concerning the Son, we see that from all eternity God has been planning the work of redemption.  The Bible reveals that the God of the universe has an eternal plan for creation.

4.    The History of Redemption:  The Historical Reliability of the Bible

It is important to realize that God is not a character in the Bible.  Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Paul are not characters.  They were not invented by literary authors.  They are beings that have existed and do exist in the history of the world.  Because of this fact, the Bible is considered a historical book, or a book on history, or a book about history.  The history of the Bible is the history of the world.  "The Scriptures are an exact representation of the reality and not clumsy attempts to reconstruct the setting many years after the events, at a place from it and with no accurate sources from which to draw as the critics would have us believe" (Hamilton, Floyd.  The Basics of the Christian Faith.  Harper, 1946:  172).  So we are not surprised to find that no unquestionable finds of archaeology exist that suggest the Bible to be erroneous.  On the other hand, we find meticulous attention to detail when it comes to history in the Bible.  Luke writes, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught " (Luke 1:1-4 ESV).  Others were already writing about Christ's life, and Christ's life was lived out among ordinary people that could testify to His life.  Luke reminds Theophilus that when he was writing his account, he followed things closely and gave an orderly account.  Because of Luke's method, many have said that he is one of the greatest historians to ever record history.  But God is the one that inspired Luke and filled him with what to write.  The Bible reveals that God's eternal plan has been and still is being acted out in history.

5.    The Chief of Sinners:  The Power of the Bible

At the age of 18, when I spoke as a Bible scholar, even though I had never read the Bible for myself, I didn't know about any of the things just talked about.  I refused to read the Bible because I believed that people overseeing Bible productions, such as King James authorizing his version, would take great pains to insert their own ideas in order to control people.  I concluded that to be free from the control of others, I must not read the Bible.  But what happened when I actually did read the Bible for myself?  I didn't find any errors!  More than that, I found that there is a God who speaks and who brought to pass a eternal plan of redemption into history for sinners like me.  I was confronted with the reality of Hebrews 4.12-13, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account ." Instead of finding errors, I found that  "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple " (Psalm 19:7 ESV).  This has been God's means of converting people throughout the ages.  He takes sinful, unbelieving people and confronts them with Himself in Scripture.  When they turn to Scripture they find this amazing, trustworthy God making outrageous promises to those who will believe Him.  He offers Himself as the only satisfying treasure of the universe, and puts forth His Son to redeem man's appetite so that they will want Him.  All of this occurs at the meeting place of His Word.  At His Word, we find the unblushing promises for reward.  And it with His Word that the Spirit regenerates us to believe those promises.  In His Word we find the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that purchases those promises for us.  And through His Word we continue to trust Him until we are caught up with Him in glory.  The Bible reveals that God's eternal plan is at work in history through His Word.

6.    Our Holy Bible:  The Transmission of the Bible

My main problem had been that I did not understand the Scriptures, nor the power of God.  I did not know that God had finished another work in history that has kept His Word free from error.  His Word had been given to His prophets and apostles, and transmitted through them without error.  And God has worked through His people in two ways to keep error from creeping into the writings..  First, He has worked to preserve His inspired writings' exclusivity.  He set apart those works that He had chosen to make up our Bible.  By setting the Canon of Scripture through His people, God was able to mark out those books which He has inspired for all generations, and keep out other books that are not inspired.  God did the impossible by taking a people, humanity, who could not agree on anything and made them agree on which books were the Canon of Scripture. Second, He has worked to preserve copies of the original texts of His Word.  Therefore when other translators set out to translate the Word of God into other languages, we had copies of the original text that would allow us to know if they mistranslated a text or added anything to the text.  By preserving a multitude of copies of the originals, God has ensured that no matter what the world does in order to destroy the Bible, God's Word stands.  So God has worked powerfully and decisively in history to preserve for us the Bible.  In Revelation we find this warning, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book " (Revelation 22:18-19 ESV).  God's Word stands complete.  When Jesus came as the definitive Word of God, He came as the last of the prophets.  There is no more revelation of God to be seen this side of Christ's life.  Although we still receive direction from the Lord to do His will, His revelation of Himself is complete. The Bible reveals that God's eternal plan, in His Word, is a faithful record for all generations.

7.    Bible Under Attack:  The Scientific Assault on the Bible.

Although the Bible can be clearly seen as a faithful record of who God is and what He has done, skeptics scoff over the very first sentence of the Bible.  "In the beginning, God Created the heavens and the earth " (Genesis 1.1 ESV).  From the very first sentence of Genesis, the Bible is at war with every false philosophy, every wrong opinion, every counterfeit religion, and every incorrect scientific observation. The opening sentence refutes (1) atheism,because the universe was created by God.  It refutes (2) pantheism, for God is transcendent to that which He created.  It refutes (3) polytheism, for one God created all things.  It refutes (4) materialism, for matter had a beginning.  It refutes (5) dualism, for God was alone when He created.  It refutes (6) humanism, for God, not man, is the ultimate reality.  It refutes (7) evolution, because God created all things (Morris, Henry.  The Genesis Record.  Baker, 1976:  38).  At the heart of their hatred of the Bible, is their hatred of God Himself.  To hate God's revelation of Himself is to hate the God revealed.  Therefore, no matter how much scripture may be useful in regards to its testimony of scientific truth, human nature, and other facts, the Bible's most important topic is "Who will you worship?"  So for instance, when liberals reject the existence of miracles in history, they are in fact rejecting the God who can make miracles.  As we started off by looking at, if man is the measure of all things, then miracles are impossible.  But if we believe in the God who can create the universe with a Word, can we not believe He has the power to raise the dead? The Bible reveals that though men may rage against His authority and power, He has fixed a day when all scientists shall bow their knee to the God of the Bible.



2006.07.27