Chapter 1
The first thing one should understand
about the Bible is that it is perfectly sensible. It is a large
book
with deep and profound meanings which people can spend a lifetime analyzing, but
in our enthusiasm
for discerning mysteries, we tend to overlook the simple and basic principles
upon which
everything
is based.
Jesus demonstrated that the
basic meaning of scripture was reasonable and understandable,
simply
by asking people for their own judgment. He
asked one for his judgment when He told the
story
of the good Samaritan; who was the good neighbor?
He asked another for his judgment when
He
told the story of the two sons who were sent to work in the vineyard; which
obeyed his father?
Many
times He answered questions by pointing out that the basic ideas were simple
enough for
people
to answer themselves.
When the religious leaders
added their imaginations to the scriptures and overlooked the true
meaning,
Jesus frequently pointed out their error by asking questions: Who doesn't lead
his ox to
water
on the Sabbath? Who wouldn't pull
his ox out of a pit? And He
admonished them to judge
right
judgment.
The basics of the Bible are
simple enough for children to understand; these things are revealed to
babes.
It is the proud and the wise who twist the Word out of proportion while
failing to grasp the simplicity
of Christ. And whoever is as humble
as a child is greatest in the kingdom.
Anyone should be able to understand
these things:
Don't take a gift?
Our own profit creates a conflict of interest which makes our judgment
biased
and
self-serving.
"Who knows His will and doesn't
do it, for him it is sin." If
we know, we should obey; if we
don't
know, how are we held accountable?
Paul received mercy because he
was ignorant. Any child can tell
you, they aren't guilty if they
didn't
know they weren't supposed to do "that."
Sin is not imputed without law.
Paul spoke about eating meat in the
idol's temple. If you know idols
are nothing, then that meat
is
no more than a hunk of beef. If
you are hungry, why shouldn't you eat?
How will you judge angels if you can't
judge the smallest matters? If we
judge rightly, our
judgment
should be sufficient to discern between right and wrong and we should be able to
understand
the basics of the Word of God. But
that is the basics. Once we
understand the
elementary
things, we should start to see that there are further implications:
Jesus asked who wouldn't lead
his ox to water on the Sabbath, or who wouldn't pull his ox out
of
the pit on the Sabbath. His
questions demonstrated simple principles of right and wrong, but if we
consider
the Sabbath to be the seventh millennia and His ox to be Israel, the meaning
becomes much
more
profound.
In the story of the good Samaritan, if
we consider Christ to be the one who binds our wounds, the
story takes on much more meaning.
All things worldly or
heavenly are based on simple principles of right and wrong which we should
all be able to understand. But,
once we grasp the principles, much more understanding can be built
on that foundation.
Here are a couple of questions
for examples, and I chose two questions which are related: First, why
can't God lie? Second, where did the devil get the gall to oppose God?
If God is all powerful,
then
to rebel against Him must seem irrational to anyone with a sense of self
preservation. In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. He did
this simply by saying the words.
He
said, let there be this and let there be that, and it was so; He simply uttered
the words. The
heavens
were made by the Word of God; He spoke and it was, (Psalms 33:6-11).
The Word of God
is
eternal for all things obey Him.
This is a fair definition of
what it means to be God: He is the one who has power and authority
over
all things, such that all things must obey Him.
If God said, "The moon is made of green
cheese,"
the moon would obey Him and it would be "green cheese."
So the principle then is very
basic. If all things are under the
authority of God, then all things
must
obey Him and anything He says is automatically true for it will surely come to
pass. Therefore,
without
question, God can't lie.
But there is a distinction.
We know this because, in one place, God told Moses He was going to
destroy
the people for their sin; but, after Moses pleaded for them, God relented.
Of course we don't
call
this sort of thing a lie. If one
says, "I'm going to the movies," and ten minutes later he says,
"No,
I
won't go after all," no one is going to say he lied.
He simply changed his mind and we don't have a
problem
with that. However, in another place, it
says the Lord has sworn and will not repent.
The, "has sworn," is
the
distinction that makes the difference. If
God swears an oath, He cannot lie, (Hebrews 6:15-19).
You
will not find any circumstance where God violates His oath.
As anyone can swear an oath and is
bound
to keep it, how much more the Word of God?
We find the figure of this
principle demonstrated in the law of the Meads and Persians. My
favorite
example is in the book of Esther:
King Ahasuerus ruled over 127
provinces. The Persian kings set up
rulers to govern, or
removed
them, as they saw fit. But these provinces were kingdoms in their own right,
which had
become
subject to the empire. So one could
say that Ahasuerus was literally a king of kings.
If you
want
to make an analogy to draw a comparison, you might compare him with the King of
kings.
There is a prideful, crafty
character named Haaman in this story, and he manages to get all the Lord's
people condemned to death. It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who you might
want
to compare him to. And the reason
he is able to accomplish this is because of that peculiarity of
the
law of the Meads and Persians; once the law is written and sealed with the
king's signet, it can
never
be changed and not even the king can violate the law.
It's the same with the Word of God
except,
where the Persians sealed their law with a signet, God seals His Word with an
oath.
Consider this: If the law of
God says the wages of sin is death, and God can't lie; and if,
knowing
the love of God, that God is positively not willing to destroy us, Satan has
tricked us all into sin;
then what we have is the ultimate hostage situation.
Is this not where the devil got the gall, that
he
thought he could trap the Lord in His words and use the very power of God
against Him. Notice how His enemies tried to
oppose Him, when Jesus taught on earth. We see expressions
like:
"They tried to catch Him in His words."
"They tried to find something in His words they could
take
hold of." "They tried to tangle Him in His words."
Because telling a lie is the only thing God
can't
do, the very power of God is the point where the opposing thought to be a
vulnerability.
So it must be that Satan was
thinking something along these lines: The only way God can save
His
people is if His Word fails and His Word can't fail as long as He has power and
authority over all
things.
Therefore He can only save His people by giving up His authority which makes His
Word
automatically
come to pass. And, if that were the
case, guess who was standing by, waiting to take
over.
Of course, after the
crucifixion, we know that God had a plan all along and the devil was duped
from
the beginning. God always keeps His oath but He cannot be trapped in His
words.
This reasoning is based upon
elementary principles; likewise are all the deep and profound
things
of the Bible understood. The Bible
interprets the Bible and, with nothing but the reasonings
which
we are born with, we should see that the Word of God is sensible (even on our
level of
understanding)--simply
believe what He says.
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