WHY I LOVE THE BIBLE.
I love the Word of God, for it shows my Savior as supreme Lord, Redeemer and Friend in Old Testament and New Testament, from which I shall illustrate such majestic truths.
When my dear Mother returned from the funeral service of a beloved husband, her bible fell open at Romans 8:28 ‘For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God , to those who are called according to His purpose.’ I learned this invaluable truth from my boyhood. I was 18 months when God called my father to heaven. I saw the truth lived out in my beloved Mother‘s character.
In psalm 2 David wrote, ‘I have set my King above my holy hill of Zion. The Lord said to me , ‘You are my Son ( leaving us in no doubt ) today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I shall give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.’ v6,7. This foretelling was confirmed in Luke 1:32 ’HE shall be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.’ 1000 years from the prediction until its achievement. Two thousand years since the latter. My king is eternal.
Humanity’s rebellious plunge has the bright light shining through it ‘That I will put enmity between you and the woman; and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head
( Christ’s surpassing victory over satan on Calvary) and you shall bruise HIS heel ( satan’s venom poured out, on the incorruptible body of the Christ. Paul records the fulfillment in Galatians 4, ‘When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son b orn of a woman, born under the law. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons’. My dear Lord confined His eternal Self to 9 months in Mary’s womb, and then won the victory on the cross when he offered His body on Calvary. He is my God redeemer.
‘Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, saying in your seed all the nations of the world shall be blessed,because you have ob eyed My voice.’ Genesis 22: 15
‘By faith Abraham when he was tried, offered up Isaac, accounting that God was able to raise Him up , even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Hebrews 11: 19 This prefigured our dear Lord’s raising from the dead. HE is my resurrection- and life.
I watched my muscled blacksmith grandfather give a small gift to the Salvation Army, signing his name John 3:16. When asked its significance, he recited it so meaningfully. He was a role model.
Babylon’s prime minister received a vision of our Lord directly from the Holy Spirit.
‘I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man ( the incarnate Son ) coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of days and they brought Him near before Him.; then to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all peoples ,nations, and languages should serve Him‘. Daniel was advisor to succeeding kings of Babylon, so he appreciated what domination, grandeur and sovereignty meant. Daniel observed the dramatic passing of the Babylonian and he was superseded overnight by the Persian ruler. ‘His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.’ Daniel 9;24 My Saviour commanded with eternal authority.
Isaiah tells of God’s Son’s breath-taking humility in being conceived in the womb of a virgin, with all the snide comments deploring her unmarried pregnancy. ‘Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, ’Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and call His name Immanuel’. ‘7:14 The meaning of this God-designed word is ‘For God is with us’ 8:8,10 This passage is valuable to me for I prize the detailed, reproductive marvel of childbirth, all the fine details were ordained of My precious Lord. How He humbled himself, demeaning Himself to survive from the nutrition Mary supplied in her circulation. He the Creator, the Word, the Sustainer, by whom all things consist. This audacious truth is recorded delicately to the comfort of our hearts.
As a boy, I yearned for a match 11 football. My wise, loving grandmother, who had helped me in my boyhood, offered her week’s housekeeping money to purchase a ball. ‘One condition, my boy, you must learn one chapter of the bible’. She chose Isaiah 53, which I repeated to her, and to a Christian Endeavour rally, proudly and accurately. The godly influence of grandmothers! As a young man, I battled with the trust-worthiness of the bible. ‘Can I trust God? The Spirit of God reminded me of one chapter, which I read repeatedly. ‘He was wounded for our transgression; he was bruised for our iniquities.’ It all came back to me. I then knew God‘s Word was true. I welcomed the truth written 653 years B C. I have preached it annually for the last 70 years.
Our Lord Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit, thus prepared for centuries for the ministry that he began in His flesh life, which he maintains to the day of His rapturous coming. That’s why I love the living Word. Isaiah speaks in the first person, ( I and ME ) showing the Lord Jesus as the Object of his prophecy. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon ME; thus showing His dependence on the Spirit of God and His coexistence within the Trinity. The Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives; and the opening of the prison to them who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year; and the day of vengeance of our God, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ( a delightful exchange ) that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He ( notice the change from first Person ) may be glorified. ‘ Isaiah 61:1-3
The eleventh chapter speaks of the Holy Spirit only in the third Person, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.’ v1
This prophecy is reinforced by Luke in Acts 10:38, ‘ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy spirit and with power, Who went about doing good and healing all oppressed with the devil, for God was with Him. ‘Please notice that God the Father anointed our Lord Jesus in His human form (Jesus of Nazareth) : he invested Him with power, dunamis, (strength, power and ability ) while He invests us with His power exousia , including dominion, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right and strength. I understand the truth of dunamis ( our word dynamo comes from this). When our family visited the Snowy Mountains Electric Scheme, torrents of water cascaded hundreds of metres through the whirling generator, producing high voltage electricity. Our Lord was the force of living water, generating power that flowed from His eternal Person. He bestowed infinite power upon us, His saved people. The word of God presents Him faithfully.
God’s Word clarifies the Lord Jesus as both Deity and human, I shared this Deuteronomy 18 with followers of the false prophet, who almost tore the bible out of my hands. They had been taught falsely in University to attack this Scripture. ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like Me from their midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ He added, ‘Let me not hear the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire any more, lest I die. The eternal One will raise up a Person like to Himself, yet one of the people. 1600 years later. V15 The carpenter’s home of Joseph and Mary witnessed the development of the Life which Mary had carried., and was conceived by the Holy Spirit. I walked the rugged paths in Nazareth for six months during my hospital experience. Truly, He was raised in a common home background.
Then the added comment, I will raise up for them a Prophet like you (Moses-like ) from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command them. The prophet is not only eternal God but perfectly man. A unique person, never to be repeated as perfect man and sinless humanity. Deuteronomy 18:18 Accuracy marks God’s eternal Word, despite the passage 1,600 years BC. While unbelievers reject the truth, the sheer wonder of this prophecy builds up our faith. This compels my love for the Word of God.
Jerusalem is the great city of God, psalm 46:4 while in ( psalm 48:23 ) it is the city of the great King, the perfection of beauty ( Lamentations 2:15 )and the throne of the Lord. (Jeremiah 3:17 )
God’s infallible word describes the royal visitor from heaven to this great city; even to the retinue , His holy presence ( just and having salvation), and discarding the triumphal white horse of monarchs, but mounted on a humble donkey with its colt. All this was foretold in 520 BC. No wonder the Word is living; and heart-warming. Such momentous details build up our faith in the God of the Bible. ‘Rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion. Shout Oh daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. ’ (9:9) -
In early generations, we erred in flinching from the title of priest and priesthood. However our Lord Jesus is our great High Priest and was foretold as such. ‘The Lord has sworn, and will not relent. YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK. (psalm 110:4 ) We have majored on His saving, redeeming, overlooking the essential priestly office of our dear Lord. WE need Him at the Fathers throne, where He ever lives. He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since he ever lives to make intercession for them. It continues, ‘SUCH A HIGH PRIEST WAS FITTING FOR US, WHO IS HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED, SEPARATE FROM SINNERS, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people’s for this HE DID ONCE WHEN HE OFFERED UP HIMSELF.’ Hebrews 7:25-27. How priceless to possess a personal bodyguard, my own high priest.
Need of position after secondary school. Depression had passed.’ Only rich boys go to university‘. You most find a job! Savings Bank of SA first seeking clerks for 8 years. 300 applications. Eight chosen. God gave me an answer to prayer. The Lord helped me qualify as a banker, accountant, secretary, commence my economics at Adelaide University. Three years at Strathalbyn enabled teaching Sunday school, preaching, and captaining the town football team.
I needed a godly woman as a life partner. My first Easter camp, I met my dear wife Gwenda.
Faithful teaching of God’s word gripped me. At this camp, I grasped ‘That I might know HIM‘, which I explored.. The following year I learned ‘And the power of His resurrection.; I am still pursuing these truths. Gwenda has been my faithful, resourceful godly partner for 68 years.
Ken Cross, Strathalbyn, needed a godly wife. We discussed John 15:7, ’If you abide in me and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.’ He often reminds me
It seems that the casual reference in Exodus 12:46, ‘you shall not break one of its bones.’ is insignificant. Hundreds of years later David writes in psalm 34:20, ;he guarded all His bones, Not one of them is broken. It confirms that the Messiah will die a unique death, not the Hebrew stoning, which will fracture many superficial bones. It can only be explained by dying for our sins as Man pinioned to a wooden cross. Every bone will be disjointed as prophesied in the Scriptures, Herein is a stupendous truth, that our Lord’s 205 bones were all distorted as he hung on Calvary, with each bone out of joint. Even the Roman governor’s command that ‘They break the leg bones of the 3 men ‘crucified at Calvary was annulled.. They marveled that the Lord had already surrendered His life, so , risking death sentence from blatant disobedience of Pilate, the guard thrust his spear into the side of God’s dear One.
My faith in the Lord’s word is strengthened considering this significant truth.
How could the altogether-lovely One be despised and rejected of men.’ David cried, ‘Those who hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.’ Psalm 69:4 They are mighty who would destroy Me, being my enemies wrongfully; though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. Iaiah 49:7 states. ‘Thus saith the Lord, The Redeemer of Israel, their holy One, to Him whom man despises,( How can the creature scorn his Creator?) to Him whom the nation abhors ( no righteous nation can loathe its Originator? ) to the Servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise; princes shall also arise ansd worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He has chosen you.’
John casts an unusual light on this,’ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they had not had sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and my Father.’ He added, ‘That the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 15:25 The Bible tells me that God is love, my desperate, individual requirement.
Centuries before the Lord Jesus came to earth in human form, Isaiah foretold He would perform supernatural events. He actually foretold some of the marvelous achievements that Christ would perform, namely that the blind would receive sight. I was privileged in East Java to remove cataracts when patients could not contain their joy at the light bursting in . I was still dependent on His healing. However, our dear Lord healed those born blind; some with irremediable nerve lesions, scars from physical damage, infections like trachoma, some from clotting . This showed His eternal excellence. ‘The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped‘. 35:5,6 ‘Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.’
I read in WW11 Matthew 25, ’ Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.’ Bombing of Coventry. First time I had obeyed my Lord.
God’s conviction was so overwhelming, I enlisted without consulting my beloved or dear Mother.
Eluding U-boats we went from near the South Pole through the Indian Ocean to and returning from Middle East. The Perth was sunk .with 645 on board. Destroyers encircled our convoy Queen Mary 20,000 troops ( captured in Singapore ), New Zealand, Mauretania, New Hollandia, ‘When you pass through the waters I shall be with you: and the floods they shall not overflow you” when you pass through the fire you shall not be burnt. Isaiah 43. Preaching at Waitpinga I learned the name of the 4 th ship in convoy. ‘New Hollandia:. No , I was not in the convoy, I was 3 000 meters above you. The RAAF followed you from Fremantle to Middle East.’ I fought tears at hearing of God’s watchfulness. That has been my experience of my beloved Lord.
He is also the God of the natural world, crashing torrents from the heavens, transforming the desert as in Lake Eyre, where bird life speedily proliferated, colorful bushes and flowers sprang up, where fish colonies hatched after hibernating for years in the hard clay. ‘For waters shall burst out in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals where each lay, there shall b e grass with reeds and rushes.’ ‘Nothing is too hard for the Lord,’ prompting me to ask the humanly impossible.
Christ performed these miracles of bodily healing, transforming arid areas ; yet more far-reaching, He healed entire lives of those like the Nazarene demon -possessed , liberating and transforming the entire person. I love to read of His healing for I see this spiritual wonder in the lives of many reconstructed by His grace. FEBC claims that China’s redeemed number 200 million, whereas in 1949, when the Communists seized control, China had only one million believers.
In the Coral Sea battle. 22 Japanese ships sank: first Japanese sea reverse . Queensland was written off to Japanese forces. Why? Why?
Why have you spared my beloved wife and little daughter Ruth, my dear Mother and sisters?
God’s clear non-vocal answer indelibly called me for a reconstruction of life and calling from
banking, to medicine and missionary work. On my knees, I wrestled with God, ‘Medicine and Netherlands East Indies( later Indonesia ) . 10 years later we were in East Java. Faithful God.
The Word of God predicts the safeguarding of Israel as a nation, using men and women of God’s selection. Esther presents this unforeseeable preservation.. Mordecai, type of the Holy Spirit, schooled his niece, a beautiful young Jewish woman. When the King Ahasuerus banished his queen Vashti, this beautiful young woman, so naturally-endowed, was chosen from the entire Babylonian empire. Eventually, Esther delighted the king and became his bride. Esther made known, on Mordecai’s prompting, an assassination plot of the king., who forgetfully overlooked recognition of Mordecai. Eventually, the genocidal massacre scheme of the entire Hebrew nation was divulged under wicked Haman’s promotion. He was exposed by a fearless yet trembling Queen Esther, was justly hung on his own gallows, and God’s people preserved from liquidation. I marvel at the account. As I write, Iran’s ruler has threatened to eliminate the nation of Israel. Had he proposed in his nuclear ambition, raising up the gallows as Haman had? Watch- pray!
The prophetic precision of God’s Word excites me. Ponder the value that the traitor Judas
bargained with the chief priests for the prince of glory. Scripture tells how the ‘cattle on a thousand hills is His and the wealth in every mine‘. Consider the diamond mines, the gold mines in most nations, the uranium deposits in our soil, the titanium from Russia; deposits of millions of barrels of oil hidden in Middle east soil. Our Lord is the living Source of this wealth.
Who dared to value Christ as a slave. Zechariah 11 gripped me each time I read it; ‘ if it is agreeable to you, give Me my wages, and if not refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.’ Was the crucifixion night a slave market for the King of glory?
The chief priest would know the Scripture well, and to His dying day would guiltily know the damning fulfillment of the Zecharian prophecy. He should have stopped the whole devilish plan to execute the gracious Lord. Judas was so demonised that his judgment settled on a few measly pieces of coin. 11:12
The ensuing Scripture pre-empts the gospel account centuries later. ‘And the Lord said to me, ‘throw it to the potter- that princely price they set on Me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.’ v13 God’s elaborate detail .
The traitor Judas was overcome with grief when the Spirit of God got hold of him. He returned to the high priest the miserable price, he bargained for his Master. When refused by them he scattered the coins on the temple floor, necessitating one of the priests grovel on the floor for the filthy lucre. Judas in satan’s grip took his own life. The priesthood , unable to invest the funds for a holy purpose purchased real estate, the potter’s field- where the body of Judas rested until judgment day. It’s God’s live word.!
Only the living God can accurately predict centuries ahead such intricate detail. I love the Word.
Why does the scripture show the garments of our lord. Why is that preserved in sacred writ?
In Mark15 ‘They clothed Him with purple, and they twisted a crown of thorns , put it on His head. Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they (in mimic ) worshipped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to worship Him .Mark 15:20. Why! Why!
David had recorded ‘They parted My garments among them and for My vesture they cast lots.’ Psalm 22;18 Astounding! Surely. That the Holy Spirit would dare to include such detail, which affirms the truth of God’s Word.! The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus saw this prophecy achieved in unchallengeable detail, where the Roman soldiers, who had no knowledge of scripture, nor desire to fake its realization, actually disputed with dice, satisfying the detailed account.
The Lord descended into Hades, the place of departed spirits, and led captivity captive. He gathered the Old Testament saints after His glorious victory, and conducted them exultantly home to glory. The Father did not abandon His beloved Son in Hades. How could HE? then the amazing statement that you shall not leave the body of your Holy One ( the well-beloved Son ) to rot or putrefy, evidence of human depravity resulting from the fall into sin. So, after the three days, as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, so the Lord Jesus arose from the dead with a resurrection body, even the glowing scars of an unjust scourging and piercing with nails and spear, healed. How precious those healed scars! Every cell of His resurrection body functioned perfectly, attested by His disciples and more than 500 keyed-up witnesses in Galilee.
‘You shall not leave my soul in hades, nor will you allow your holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; for your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.’ Psalm 16:10 David was granted this staggering truth one thousand years before the death of our dear Redeemer.
The death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus are basic in our faith: so we anticipate it will dominate in the prophetic word; as indeed it has. He bore reproach; His rejection by His brethren; enduring the Jewish leaders’ hatred; and their ultimate rejection of their Messiah; the Jews combined with Roman Gentiles to crucify Him; His disciples forsook their treasured Lord; His intense sufferings; His silent patience under fierce testing; the Father’s abandonment of His treasured Son; being numbered with the transgressors; (ISAIAH 53:12 ); interceding for the Roman murderers; the eternal One dying on Calvary; Hs burial with the rich: all followed by His undeniable bodily resurrection. The Hebrew Old testament Scriptures are spiced with numerous references to these majestic truths. I was taught as a little child to trust the prophetic Word- for my suffering Savior, hence it deepened my love for the Word of the living God.
Isaiah 26 gives a clear resurrection assurance, ‘Your dead shall live; together with my dead body, they shall arise( this may refer to the Rapture when our ascended Lord returns for His church first ) Awake and sing you who dwell in the dust. For your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.’ v 19 The rising again of our dear Lord assures that death cannot hold those whose faith is in their Lord. Do you remember how Job cried, “I know my Redeemer lives and He shall stand at last on the earth and after my skin is destroyed this I know, that in my flesh shall I see God, Whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another. My heart yearns within me. ‘19:25 Dr Joe Devadatta, attended an evangelistic conference where the resurrection of our Lord was disputed. Having wrestled all night with this compelling Jobian expression, he persuaded the conference in an indelible defense. Precious memory.
God taught me as a child to trust his word. He confirmed this during my young manhood. The bible became more valuable sharing it with a beloved wife, who taught me invaluable truth.
We saw the impact on our children, and watched God at work in their lives. It brought comfort when opened to many patients. The Lord awakened some in bible study groups, observing their development in Christ. Oh, what eternal treasure in God’s eternal word. Let the lion loose!