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The Bible—God’s Word to You, February 7
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are
they which testify of me.
John 5:39
.
“Search the scriptures.” This is the word which comes to us from Christ. If it
had been essential for us to search the [church] Fathers, Christ would have told
us so. But the Fathers do not all speak the same thing. Which of them shall we
choose as a guide? There is no need for us to trust to uncertainty. We pass by the
Fathers to learn of God out of His Word. This is life eternal, to know God. Oh,
how thankful we should be that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Holy men
of old wrote this Word as they were moved by the Spirit. God did not leave His
Word to be preserved in the memories of men and handed down from generation
to generation by oral transmission and traditional unfolding. Had He done this,
the Word would gradually have been added to by men. We would have been asked
to receive that which is not inspired. Let us thank God for His written word.
The commentaries written about the Word do not all agree. Often they come
into collision with one another. God does not ask us to be guided by them. It is
His Word with which we have to deal. All can search this Word for themselves.
And they may know that the teaching of this precious book is unchangeable. The
opinions of human beings differ, but the Bible always says the same thing. The
Word of God is from everlasting to everlasting.
The Bible was not given only for ministers and learned men. Every man,
woman, and child should read the Scriptures for himself or herself. Do not depend
on the minister to read it for you. The Bible is God’s word to
you
. The poor
man needs it as much as the rich man, the unlearned as much the learned. And
Christ has made this Word so plain that in reading it no one need stumble. Let the
humble cottager read and understand the Word given by the wisest Teacher the
world has ever known, and among kings, governors, statesmen, and the world’s
most highly educated men there is none greater than He....
To search means to look diligently for something which has been lost. Search
yourself for the hidden treasure. Do not leave this work to the minister. You
cannot afford to be ignorant of the Word of God. Study the difficult passages,
comparing verse with verse, and you will find that Scripture is the key which
unlocks Scripture. Those who prayerfully study the Scriptures go from their study
wiser than when they opened the Bible.—
Manuscript 12, February 7, 1901
, “The
Living Water.”
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