Why Study the Bible?

Why Study The Bible?

Questions that might come to mind are: Why study the Bible? What would its purpose be? What value do we give it? Is it hard? With these questions in mind let us examine ‘the Bible’.

The Bible has survived centuries of time. It was written by different men verying in race, color and creed. The record in the Bible starts at the beginning of man’s existance and takes on to the conclusion when God takes back His property that was lost in Genesis by Adam. Genesis 3:15 gives they very base for the past, present and future.

The Beginning: Genesis 3:15 (ESV) I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The End: Revelation 19:20 (ESV) And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

The Bible shows God’s purpose over and over again. However, only those with the guidance of the Holy Spirit can see it. The truth is not revealed to those that do not have the Holy Spirit that provides the understanding.

What is the purpose of the Bible?A one word answer is: “salvation”. The Bible describes God’s plan of salvation it shows the purpose to proclaim ‘God’s plan’ and His passion toward His children. Acts 13:47 (ESV) For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Man’s opportunity and responsibility is:Matthew 7:7 (ESV) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

As we open the Bible we need to first start with asking God for assistance in understanding His word. Colossians 1:9 (ESV) And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding , ( E S V )

Pray for His assistance because when we study we are learning God’s message.John 14:24 confirms that it is God’s Word the is in the Bible. John 14:24 (ESV) Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

The purpose to study God’s word is stated in 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

HOW?

Be practical with yourself. People are different. Don’t assign yourself large chunks of time reading as you start your learning progress. Instead do it in small chunks and it will expand? For some people just ten minutes is all they can do. Well fine, then do the ten minutes and there will be times you’ll find twenty minutes have zipped by. God did not give everything to the Israelites all in one time.

To stretch an illustration will review the feeding of the Israelites in the Wilderness. In the wilderness God gave them manna and told them to gather what was needed for one day only. If they did gather more, the portion unused was spoiled the next day. Only on Saturday (say 6 th day) would it last two days as they were told to take a double portion for those days to have the 7 th day as a rest day.

What a lesson provided for them.

# 1 –Manna has been a symbol of God’s Word. John 6:31 (ESV) Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Note reference by Kittel,GF.

From this source (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1995). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (563). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.) we read:

4. NT Views of Manna.

a. The manna motif occurs in Jn. 6:31, 49. The term alternates with “bread from heaven.” After the feeding of the 5,000, the Jews want Jesus to give a sign which will accredit him as the Messiah as manna accredited Moses. Jesus, in his reply, points out that the messianic age transcends the wilderness age. Moses could not give true bread from heaven, for the people who ate manna still died. In contrast, the bread that Jesus gives confers eternal life. Jesus himself is this living bread (6:35, 48).

b. Heb. 9:4 refers to the manna which is contained in a golden urn in the ark along with ?Aaron’s rod and the tables of the law. This agrees with rabbinic tradition, but cf. 1 Kgs. 8:9.

c. Rev. 2:17 also reflects rabbinic tradition with its promise of hidden manna to those who triumph (cf. also the living water of Rev. 7:17).

John 6:35 (ESV) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

#2 – They were to pick manna up each day. They had to work for their food/survival.

2. Manna in the OT . With water and quails, manna is part of God’s provision for Israel in the desert. In Ex. 16:4 it falls like dew, is a granular deposit like frost, resembles coriander seed, tastes like honey, and must be gathered each day. It may be baked after being ground down (Ex. 16; Num. 11), and becomes uneatable if kept (Ex. 16). (Kittel)

#3 – Miracles where consistently happening… God was active in their welfare. As mentioned that if they collected extra manna then the next day it was spoiled. However, between the 6 th and 7 th days it remained good the 2 nd day. What a display of God’s hand. Did God put a different property into the Manna that fell on the 6 th day so it would last an extra day? (This surely isn’t the first case of the use of a ‘preservative’ that today laces the food we eat.) No, but His power was active to proclaim His presence and their preserverence.

Going back to the verse: : Matthew 7:7 (ESV) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Being told to ‘knock’ would mean that one would have to move into the realm of ‘acting’. It is a positive active step necessary to start a process. Using the symbol today we might see this:

I go to someone’s house and knock at their door. What am I asking with the sound of the knuckles hitting the door? Wouldn’t one be asking: “May I come in?” or “How can I obey your wishes?” . The illustration sets up the attitude we need to have. THUS, a key to understanding the Bible is the attitude by which we look or read it.

Attitude is demonstrated as the first step when reviewing Matthew 5: 1-11

The Sermon on the Mount

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The first requirement is to be “poor in spirit” meaning we look upon ourselves as having a ‘need’.We seek God from a ‘humble’ position. To be poor is spirit is to recognize one’s spiritual poverty apart from God. Do we see ourselves as really lost, hopeless, helpless? Do we consider it important not to be apart from Jesus Christ? Do we understand that all of us are spiritually destitute without Christ in our lives? Are we aware of our total spiritual destitution and our complete dependence on God.

The above attitude is the starting place in our walk with God. That same attitude is the starting point as we study His Word. The Bible is our gift from God and only He can enlighten our minds.

THUS – the truly happy people are those that carefully study God’s perfect law. This law actually sets people free. We need to study the Bible to understand how ‘laws’ or ‘rules’ can be the very means of an unrestraint existence. This is contrary to the thinking of the world as Satan has done a good job of placing ‘idioms’ that the world proclaims as true and causes us to be slaves.

The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Mt 5:1–12). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

LDW