|
These modern days and times have brought about so many changes that it
seems impossible to innumerate them or keep up with them. People are
clamoring for, and expect to have new and updated facilities to
accompany their day by day living. Things are made to grow old and wear
out, so they me replaced with the new and the modern. All of the
inventions of men are cataloged into this category. The products of
human invention are expected to be replaced frequently because they
become outdated, and because man never makes anything that is lasting.
We simply realize this as a true fact of life and expect it.
It is also a true fact that things of God's making are eternal even as
he is eternal. "Lord, thou lest been our dwelling place in all
generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast
formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God" (Psalms 90:1-2). But a sad day has dawned upon us, a day
when man has gone beyond the rational in his thinking, to the foolish
thoughts and ways of a perishing people. The institutions of "higher
learning" and education in general are largely responsible for this
foolishness. Yearly, they all graduating atheists, infidels, and
agnostics by the thousands who advocate the "there is no God theory"
with a rash boldness that would make heaven shudder.
There is an attack being made on the Bible, the Word of God, in about
every category that can he named. It is true that for centuries on end
people have rejected the message of the BIBLE, but an enlightened
society was very cautious when it came to profaning the Word of God. In
religious circles and fellowships it is not uncommon to hear people
refer to the Bible as an "antiquated book". According to human wisdom
it no longer meets the needs of mankind, therefore it must be referred
to as a "dead letter" ...without life, substance, or power to guide or
sustain us in this life or point us unto an eternal life beyond death.
The question before the world is this; "Is it a dead letter and
powerless, or is it what it claims to be, the eternal truth of God?"
As far as its power is concerned the inspired men of God who gave it to
us proclaimed, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Is this word
capable, with sufficient strength, to accomplish what it claims? James
wrote, "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls" (James 1:21).
I maintain that the Bible is all that it claims to be and do. Paul by
inspiration said it best; "All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus
said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life"
(John 6:63). A person must be "born again" in order to "see" or to
"enter" the kingdom of God, so said Jesus to Nicodemas in John 3:3,5.
Peter said that the new birth was accomplished by the word of God.
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter 1:23). "Seeing
ye have purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently" (1 Peter 1:22). "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy
word is truth" (John17:17).
The prophet Jeremiah called upon all the earth to hear the word of the
Lord, and men and women who are wise will heed and obey that
instruction. Jesus said, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his
house upon a rock" (Matthew 7:24). Jesus also said, "Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
Peter said, "But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:25). It will
not do for mankind to discredit the word of God, and try to avoid its
enduring precepts. Such an attitude will not change the true fact that
we will have to face it in the judgment day when Jesus comes to judge
the world in righteousness. The Father has appointed that day for the
Son to judge the world: "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). And the word of the Lord will
be the standard used. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words,
hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, shall judge him
in the last day" (John 12:48). "And, behold, I come quickly; and my
reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last"
(Revelation 22:12,13).
The word of God is not a dead letter today, nor shall it ever be. It
has met, and will continue to meet the needs of mankind in the physical
and the spiritual realms of his life, even as long as man shall exist.
"The great and precious promises" that are revealed unto us in the Bible
shall be kept by him who promised. Never doubt it, they shall be
fulfilled. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men
count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night..." (2 Peter 3:9).
Centuries have passed, critics and skeptics, agnostics, infidels,
atheists, and every known opposer of the word have assailed it through
the years, but it still remains the unadulterated, comforting, saving,
eternal truth of God. May we never lose our confidence in it, and may we
hear well the words of Paul when he declared, "Holding forth the word of
life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in
vain, neither laboured in vain" (Philippians 1:16).
|
