The Bible: God's Holy Word

1. Introduction.

The Bible is the revelation of God and His plan for the ages.

The Bible tells of God’s holiness, sovereignty, and love.

The Bible describes the Fall of Man, the Restoration of Man, and Satan’s attempts to usurp God’s authority on Earth and in Heaven.

The Bible concerns itself with three places geographically: Heaven, Earth, and Hell.

The Bible addresses three classes of people: Jews, Gentiles, and the Church.

The Bible was not given to one man in one sitting but to 40 men over roughly a period of 1,600 years from BC 1492 to 100 AD.

The Bible is supernatural. It can be translated into any language and not lose any of its life-giving power. The Bible is not a mystery as most of it is written in literal language meaning it is to be interpreted according to the customary rules of grammar. In other words, most of the Bible means exactly what it says.

When figurative language is used, the meaning of the language is made clear by the context. When symbolism is used, the meaning of the symbolism is found somewhere else in the Scripture. The Bible is not intended to be mysterious.

All of this leads to one great question.

Is the Bible God’s Book or man’s book?

It is clear from the character of the Bible that it is not the work of man. If the Bible is just a collection of the writings of man, it is no more reliable than the Koran or the Book of Mormon, but the Bible without a doubt is God’s Book, and the Bible itself tells us how and why it was written.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

The Bible was inspired by God and the reasons are for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction.

I would like for us to answer three questions about the Bible, especially since we have so many new Christians and members.

2. What does the Bible mean when it says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God?

All Scripture given by the inspiration of God means that God directed men, chosen by Himself, to write messages, laws, doctrines, historical facts, and revelations as He wished men to know. God had men write what man needed to know.

For example, take the historical facts of the Bible. Is there missing information concerning Creation and early history? Yes!

We do not know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. We do not know about all of the children of Adam and Eve. There is much we do not know.

Are those missing facts important? NO!!!!

Do you know the most important historical fact found in the Bible?

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

While speculating about the things that are not included in the Bible might be interesting, those things are irrelevant. God chose not to give us a complete history of Creation.

What that tells us is that what is missing from the Bible is not important. What is important is that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Let me give you another example.

We know some revelations have been hidden or kept from us.

Daniel 12:4 “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

Revelation 10:3–4 “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.”

Daniel and John received revelations that both were told to seal. Does it matter what was revealed to them? NO!!!! And I might add that it is useless and a sin to say that you know what was sealed.

Do you know what is important about what has been revealed to us? 1 John 5:13.

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Everything that has been revealed in Scripture has been revealed so that you can believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God so that you can have eternal life.

All Scripture given by inspiration of God literally means that God spoke or God breathed the Scriptures.

God Himself or through the Holy Spirit told men what to write. The Bible is the Word of God. God can both write and speak.

Daniel 5:5 “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”

Exodus 31:18 “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

God could have written the Bible Himself, but He moved upon 40 different men to write what He told them to write. It is called plenary inspiration.

God inspired the hearts and minds of those chosen to write, and I believe God sharpened and elevated their mental processes for the task taking advantage of the different personalities, skill sets, and literary styles reflected in the various books.

Daniel, Moses, and Paul could very well be three of the smartest men the world has ever known, and I believe their intelligence was directly related to their willingness to write and and say what God led them to write and to say.

All Scripture given by the inspiration of God literally means what it says. All Scripture came from God. There is a great verse that explains it. John 14:26.

John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

3. Does the inspiration of the Bible extend to every part of the Bible?

YES!!!!

Everything from the genealogies to the words of God in Exodus through Christ. Everything in the Bible is inspired by God, and I believe that extends to sentence structure, word choice, and punctuation.

Matthew 5:17–18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

“Jot” refers to the smallest letter, and “tittle” refers to the smallest mark of the Hebrew language indication that even those were inspired by God.

You will hear this question from time-to-time.

What about the words of Satan? Are they inspired? What about the account of the Fall of Man, the Flood, and other historical portions of the Bible? Are those inspired too?

YES!

Those were inspired too as the writers were told what to include and what to omit.

The perfect example of this is found in the Book of Isaiah as the words of Satan before Satan’s fall are recorded which obviously took place many years before Isaiah was even born.

Isaiah 14:12–13 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:”

Isaiah 14:14–15 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

If you have ever read the Old Testament and have studied ancient world history, it is abundantly clear that the writers of the Old Testament were divinely inspired to write only those things that would shed light or illuminate God’s plans and purposes.

How many of you have ever wondered when and Satan was allowed into the Garden? It does not matter. The only thing that matters is that he was there. Man sinned, and God had a plan to cover man’s sin.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

4. How were these men inspired to write the Scriptures?

Were the writers of the Bible thrown into some kind of trance, or did God through the Holy Spirit dictate to them the exact words to use?

I think you know the answer.

God dictated the exact words for them to use, and you can absolutely confident in that because God gives some serious warnings about changing or privately interpreting what He inspired to be written.

2 Peter 1:20–21 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Revelation 22:18–19 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

God’s Word says what God wants it to say, and I believe that the warning in Revelation is given to us specifically so that we can easily identify false teachers.

It ought to cause an alarm to go off in our brains when someone adds to, subtracts from, or privately interprets God’s Word to the point that the person makes it say something that it does not say.

God dictated His Word to men who were so receptive to God that those men wrote what He said.

Exodus 4:10–12 “And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.”

Jeremiah 1:7–9 “But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”

God revealed to men what to write and what to say, and He will give you the words to say if you are receptive to the Holy Spirit when you share the Gospel.

Matthew 10:19–20 “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”

The Bible is God’s revelation to men things that they otherwise could never know. How did Moses write about Creation? How did Jude write about Enoch? How did Daniel write about Alexander the Great and the Antichrist? They could write about those things because they were revealed to them by God, and God revealed those things because they are important to His plans and purposes for the ages.

5. Conclusion

I want to conclude by saying this. The Bible is God’s Word. It is completely inspired by God who moved upon 40 men to write exactly what He told them to write, but there is no more divine revelation.

Divine revelation ceased when the Apostle John put down his pen. There is no new revelation. If you hear someone say he or she has received a new revelation from God, remember the warnings from Peter and John about private interpretation and adding to or subtracting from God’s completely revealed Word.

Now, you might and will receive spiritual illumination.

Spiritual illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Spiritual illumination takes place when you receive a spiritual understanding of a particular Scripture.

You read something in the Bible, and, suddenly, out of the blue, you understand it, or you gain a deeper understanding of it. This is spiritual illumination. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life.

John 16:12–13 “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

As you mature in the faith and as you study God’s Word more and more, you will become more illuminated as to what God is saying, but that is not new revelation. When one speaks of new revelation, I am telling you that you need to put an X on that joker.

God’s Word is complete. It tells you all you need to know about God and His plans.