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Original Christian artwork: Illustration of a man being
filled with the supernatural light of God's Word as he reads the
Bible.
The above graphic is not symbolic, it is a true representation
of what occurs in the spiritual realm as a person spends time
alone with God's Word. The power of Holy Scripture is the
power of God Himself, at work in the unfolding of His truth to
human minds by the action of the Holy Spirit.
Even a casual reading of the Word rattles the human mind and
heart. At once we realize that there is something powerful
in the words and message of Holy Scripture. The carnal
mind and heart (see 1 Corinthians, chapter 2) cannot fully grasp
the meaning of the Bible, but is still able to sense that
something more is there. The spiritual person, on the
other hand, is fed inwardly by the awesome light and power of
the living Word of God.
Sometimes well-meaning people will argue that Jesus Himself is
the living Word of God. Certainly the Bible itself
supports this argument. We know that He is the eternal
Logos, the Word that was God and that has always been with God
in eternity past. Jesus Himself pointed out that the
Scriptures cannot, in themselves, give us eternal life.
Yet it is they, He said, that point us to Him.
The apostle Paul writes, by the Spirit, that all Scripture is
inspired of God. Unbelievers and mere academics tell us
that we are fools to accept the Bible's own argument for being
inspired as evidence of its inspiration or infallibility.
What they do not understand is that we who know Jesus Christ
also have the Holy Spirit within. It is that living Spirit
of God that bears faithful witness, not only to Jesus alone as
the Messiah and Savior, but also to the Holy Bible as God's
written Word.
We do not serve a dead or dying God. Our God is not a weak
or stumbling Creator who once involved Himself in the daily
affairs of human beings, but who is now unable to interact or
speak. Our God lives. And we have the legacy of His
written Word, recorded and kept as a faithful record of what He
would have all people to know. We know with certainty that
He created all things, and that He Himself formed human beings
from the dust of the ground (we did not evolve from some other
creature). We know that sin entered the world by Adam and
Eve, when they chose to believe a lie and to disobey God.
We know with certainty that the Lord spoke with Noah and Abraham
and Moses. We know what God said those long centuries ago
because He caused the words to be written and kept. We
know that He raised up men like Gideon, women like Deborah,
children like Samuel, and kings like David. We know
because we have a faithful and dependable record in the Holy
Scriptures.
Likewise, we know that prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and
Ezekiel were called of God to speak and write down their visions
and messages from God. We know that Jonah was a man
swallowed by the large fish, and that he later preached to
Nineveh and that the entire city humbled itself and repented,
being spared by God. And we know, by the faithful record
of God's Word in Scripture, that a man named John was born to a
woman named Elisabeth, and that he was called of God to bear
witness to Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world.
We know that Jesus was born of a virgin, just as the prophets
had foretold, that He lived a sinless life, according to the
Scriptures, that He suffered and died for our sins, just as the
Scriptures had promised, and that He also rose again, as both
the Old Testament prophets and He Himself had predicted.
We know these things are true because the Bible says so.
God reveals eternal truths in Scripture. That's a good
thing because the world, in all its rigorous attempts at wisdom,
never gets beyond the delusions of its own dark collective mind.
The Bible plainly says that the wisdom of this world never leads
to a genuine knowledge of God. God has chosen the
seemingly weak and foolish things to confound the wise and
arrogant.
God does not attempt to prove anything about Himself, nor does
He try to prove that His Word is true. Time itself proves
all things. The truth of God and the reality of His
majestic power are demonstrated in the unfolding of human
history. Whatever God says is always proven true.
Whatever He says He will do is always accomplished in time.
What we have in Scripture, then, is more than a mere promise, as
we might tend to think of promises. We have specific facts
of history and human destiny laid out for us. Some of
these facts pertain to past events. Some of them point
ahead to things not yet seen with human eyes. And they are
all true and dependable. We can know with certainty that
every statement in the Bible is true. And if we know
the Lord Jesus, we have already experienced the divine power of
that truth.
In the Bible, God reveals the truth about Himself. In the
Bible, He also shows us the terrible truth about human sin and
its consequences. And in the Bible, God tells us about the
wonderful Savior He prepared for us in Jesus Christ. We
know that God exists because the universe itself is here,
overflowing with evidence of His amazing design and awesome
handiwork. We know that what Scripture says about sin is
true because the whole world is a testimony to the fact of evil.
And we know that Jesus is the Son of God who came to save us
because everyone who calls on the Name of Lord is rescued by
Christ.
We can also know, then, that the future will also be exactly
what God says it will be. Evil minds will become darker
and darker. Unbelievers will continue to rage against God
and against anyone who trusts in Jesus. And even the
religions of the world will eventually unite together in their
rejection of Jesus Christ and in their acceptance of the
antichrist. They will lend their support to both the false
prophet and the Beast. Amazingly, the book of the
Revelation, so strange in its figures and horrifying in its
portents, is being fulfilled right before our very eyes.
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
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