The Certainty of the Word
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
What do you believe concerning the Lord God and human responsibility to Him? What is the basis for your beliefs? What is the foundation for your beliefs? It is greatly to be feared that much of Christendom forms belief on the basis of hearsay, emotion, and even personal desire. Revelation is twisted into whatever shape is convenient to the individual; and having thus distorted His Word we think ourselves pleasing to God. Surely those who profess to speak in His Name must give an answer for the failure to confront the spirit of this age which has infiltrated His churches.
Is the Bible the Word of God? Were this one question to be answered in the affirmative, it would be difficult to imagine anyone who could easily reject the claim of Christ on life. Can I trust the claims the Word makes concerning itself? Without doubt this is a major battleground for many outside the Faith. Nor need we think these questions to be solely of recent origin. Since earliest days prophets and apostles found it necessary to address these very issues. These men of God consistently arrived at the singular conclusion that the Bible is the Word of God; and they accepted the corollary that the message it presents is reliable and trustworthy. Thus, they rested life and practise on this written revelation of the mind of God. We can do no better than to emulate their faith and accept the written Word of God as divine revelation.
One such spokesman for God who was compelled to address the verity of the Word was the Apostle Peter. Early in his second letter he spoke to the issue of the certainty of the Word. He spoke of the source of the Word, the uncertainty of trusting human experience, and the confidence we may have in obeying the Word. Though the text was explored recently, I invite you to join me once again in exploration of Peter’s presentation which assures us of the certainty of the Word.
The Word is Reliable and Accurate – We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Several questions quite naturally arise from this brief declaration of one who actually wrote portions of our Scriptures. Who is meant when Peter speaks of we, when he says we did not follow cleverly invented stories? What sort of cleverly invented stories might some imagine in place of the Bible? Why would anyone question the veracity and the verity of the Word? Such questions demand answers, which are carefully thought out while treating the questioner with respect.
While there are excellent commentators who consider that Peter is referring to the Apostles, or at the very least those who wrote under the tutelage of the Apostles, when he uses the first person plural pronoun, I believe it appropriate to understand that Peter speaks of Christians, and more especially those Christians to whom he writes. We who have believed in Christ are not followers of fairy tales and myths. Subsequent verses seem to make it clear that Peter is speaking in behalf of those who have received the Word as revelation from God. In short, the Word of God is reliable and accurate.
Far too many contemporary scholars are quick to relegate the Word of God to the category of quaint stories having no relevance to the world today. It is considered to be a collection of myths compiled by premodern men in an attempt to explain the spiritual dynamics of the world about them. Thus, such learned individuals consider the Word of God to be a relic of bygone days without notable function or importance in this modern, scientific age. We have grown beyond the Book, and we no longer need what it presents.
Isn’t it strange that in our world, more scientifically advanced than any generation to date and with greater understanding of the world about us, that strange cults multiply at such an alarming rate? Those consulting astrology charts on a regular basis number more than forty percent (40%) of our population according to one study recently conducted. Indeed, on one occasion I requested that an ad announcing a message which challenged the casting of a horoscope be placed in the paper next to the daily horoscope, but the editors declined because they feared such action would offend too many readers.
Listen to this exert from an article printed in a recent newsmagazine.
The believers are in the condo next door, the office down the hall. An insurance company administrator, a woman in her mid-40s with two children, believes that one night in the late 1970s, on a country road in southeastern Michigan, she witnessed the landing of a UFO. A 29-year-old law student, working at a public prosecutor’s office in Pennsylvania, believes the Native American medicine bag he wears around his neck will keep him safe and “always lead me back home.” A 57-year-old business consultant keeps crystals in his house.
According to the American Booksellers Association, the sale of New Age books jumped from 5.6 million copies in 1992 to 9.7 million in 1995. Close to $2 billion, according to Forbes magazine, is spent each year in the United States on aromatherapists, channelers, macrobiotic food vendors, and other aids to spiritual and physical well-being. And in a 1994 Roper poll, 45 percent of those who responded agreed that meditation had given them “a strong sense of being in the presence of something sacred.”[1]
So much of what we think to be so precise, so definite and so accurate, is mere speculation. I studied in the field of biochemistry for a number of years. Many of the “facts” which I learned as true and verified in the 1970s have been discarded today. Scientific knowledge which my parents received as accurate in the 1930s has been utterly discredited long before this day. Even histories are rewritten on a regular basis to meet the changing expectations and points of view held by contemporary scholars and those interested in matters of the past. Go into any used bookstore and you will find textbooks of recent vintage which have now been discarded and which now beg a home on some library shelf; but who wants a book which presents a view which is passé, trite or utterly discredited? The facts which are known and accepted at one point in time change and are mere footnotes of history at another point in time.
This is not the case for the Word of God, however. It is humbling to think that the same precepts which guided David guide those reading his Psalms today. The cosmology of Moses is as fresh today as when he inked those words at God’s direction. The need of mankind has not changed and the provision for salvation in Christ the Lord is the only permanent hope yet offered to mankind. In his previous letter, Peter wrote these words: you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands
forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you
[1 Peter 1:23-25]
Have you ever considered the fact that the whole of the Bible is a seamless garment? If one portion of the Word is in error, then all is in error. If God did not create all things by His Word, then man did not fall. If man did not fall, there is no need for regeneration or redemption; we can wait until the race has perfected itself through acquisition of knowledge or evolutionary advancement. If there is no need for regeneration or redemption, the death of Jesus was a farce and unnecessary. If the death of Jesus was not the sacrifice of the Lord God for sinful man, He could not have been demonstrated to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the grave. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we have believed a lie. If we have believed a lie, we are indeed to be pitied more than all men.
We are not permitted the luxury of picking and choosing which portions of the Word we will believe today. We witness an increasing number of scholars so-called who speak of the Bible as being errant; they imagine that they, with their great learning, are the only ones qualified to recognise truth and avoid error. What unmitigated arrogance! Either the Word is true or it is not. Either we who are believers in the Lord have received an anointing and do not need anyone to teach us, or we are utterly dependent upon arrogant professors of an errant Bible to tell us what is true and what is not.
While the Bible is not a science text, it must speak truthfully when it speaks of the natural world if it is the Word of the God of truth. Though the Bible is not primarily a textbook of history, it must be historically accurate when it provides recorded facts concerning events witnessed by the various writers. The Word of God is not an economics text, but when it provides instruction in the financial realm it must be reliable. I haven’t time to provide details verifying these various aspects of biblical teaching, but you may assure yourself that God has spoken and His Word is true.
The cosmology and the cosmogony of other religions are fantastic? To the Hindi mind the earth was a great ball situated on the back of an elephant which stood on the back of a great turtle which was constantly swimming through the universe. To the Egyptians the sun was a god consigned to move endlessly across the skies. To the Greeks, the sun was a fiery chariot which was driven across the sky each day. I would expect to find such cosmologies in the Word, if the Book were composed of myths and fables. Instead, I read in the Bible of the hydraulic cycle and of the movement of the stars and the planets and of the spherical shape of the earth.
The Bible states that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians [Acts 7:22]. According to the Egyptian cosmogony the world began with a great egg which flew around and around. When mitosis was completed, it burst open and the world was born. This was the wisdom of the Egyptians. I expect to find such an account of creation when I pick up the Bible, but instead, I read: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [Genesis 1:1]. That same Moses, educated in the contemporary cosmogony, wrote by inspiration precisely what God chose to reveal.
Were I to think in evolutionary terms, according to the anthropologic myths of the moment, I would be constrained to imagine multiple origins for the races of mankind. Logic would compel me to assign the different races to categories deemed more or less inferior since they arose at different times and would evidence greater or lesser suitability for the modern environment. Yet the Word teaches us that from one man [God] made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live [Acts 17:26].
If I follow the best thoughts of the greatest pagan minds to attempt to discover God, I will repeatedly find myself discouraged and disappointed. If God is infinite, how can the finite mind of man discover Him? If God is transcendent, how can man know Him except He should reveal Himself? God has revealed Himself through His Word! We know God through His revelation. If God has not revealed Himself in the Word, how shall we know Him? The Word of God is reliable and accurate since God, who cannot lie, has given us this Word that we may know Him.
The Word Demands Our Most Careful Attention – We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Not all the loonies are in our pockets; some are found on the world weird web. Our world has in recent years witnessed tragedies of disturbing, even illusion shattering proportions as apparently sane men and women deliberately took their own lives for religious reasons. In the village of St. Casimir, Quebec, five men and women took their own lives in the belief that through a fiery holocaust they would be transported to the star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, nine light-years from earth. Despite their apparently strong beliefs, they were willing to spare their children the same fate as they followed the same teachings which had led other followers of the Order of the Solar Temple to take their own lives in spectacular pyres in Switzerland and France.
In Rancho El Santa Fe, California, thirty-nine people spooned into their mouths Phenobarbital mixed into applesauce and followed with a vodka chaser. They then calmly placed plastic bags over their heads and lay down to die in the belief that they would proceed to the next level of evolutionary development by setting aside their bodies in this fashion. Though I am not a prophet, I suggest that the suicide of these thirty-nine people in Rancho El Santa Fe, and the suicides of the members of the Order of the Solar Temple, are but harbingers of tragedies yet to come as we near the advent of the third millennium. What is striking about the tragedy in Rancho El Santa Fe is the blatant appropriation of prophecies of the Word to mortals of less than godly stature.
Other articles on the Internet include the Neutopian gospel of the Gaia hypothesis. This web page, set up by the former Libby Hubbard, begins with this insightful message: “Dear Earthlings, I am Doctress Neutopia. My mission here is to herald in a Neu Age of love, peace, ecofeminism, communalism, solar energy, the end of poverty, and a planetary network of arcologies… We’re trying to grope with creating a new mythos. We’ve been in a racist, sexist, classist, patriarchal culture which has resulted in all these various problems that are coming to a head now. We need a new mythology that can lead us out of the ecological crisis we’re in.” She goes on to say that the Heaven’s Gate members probably meant well, but couldn’t find their “Gaia Messiah” that would help them find the answers.
The bright orange followers of the late Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh have set up shop as “The Friends of Osho.” This group has meditation centres in sixty-nine countries, including Croatia, Mauritius, and the Dominican Republic. Another unusual group is PreRapture International Message Exchange, which goes by the acronym PRIME. It is a computer bulletin board that promotes oneness pentecostalism. For several years Steve Winter, the man behind PRIME, has posted messages anywhere and everywhere attacking those “unrepentant dirt false christian scum” who believe in the Trinity. Of course, there is always the Metropolitan Church which promotes acceptance of homosexuality as a legitimate expression of love.
Each of these groups makes reference to the Bible. Perhaps they do this because they have lingering respect for the Word of truth; or more likely they recognise that if they can twist Scripture sufficiently they legitimatise their weird doctrines. Whatever else may be true, their Scripture twisting can deceive the unthinking. Dangerous though these outlandish cults may be, more dangerous still is the subtle insinuation of apparently genuine and sincere ministers who quietly distort the Word and deceive the unwary. Questions concerning the accuracy or the veracity of the Word are raised. Salvation by faith is explained away and followers are made dependent upon the erudite pronouncements of the kindly minister. Godliness is dismissed as outdated and tolerance is touted as the greatest evidence of righteousness.
Writing the young theologue, Timothy, Paul admonished him to be one who correctly handles the word of truth [2 Timothy 2:15]. This admonition holds especially true for one who claims to be set among the people of God as a teacher of the Word. It is an awesome responsibility to endeavour to teach the Word of truth, for should the teacher present error, the error will be multiplied by those listening if they fail to see the danger. Anyone who approaches the task of teaching the Word in a casual manner has not understood the awesome weight of the office. It is doubtful that such a person has truly experienced a call to fill that office.
Lynda and I shared a table with a group of ministers at a conference a couple of years past. As the conversation developed, we were horrified at the casual manner in which those ministers dismissed the responsibility to instruct the people in righteousness. To hear them talk, the ministry was a place to play, a place to treat holy subjects in a casual manner, a place to dismiss the great concerns of the people. Those ministers were affiliated with a denomination which has the reputation of being conservative, but which is making great strides in adopting the attitudes of this world. They certainly reflected the growing attitude of casualness toward God and His Word. May I say that such people have no business standing behind the pulpit; they have much for which they shall answer.
It is precisely because such spiritual predators have infiltrated the churches that it is the responsibility of each individual Christian to test what is said against God’s Word. I take most seriously my responsibility to teach the truth and not to deliver what I think the congregation might wish to hear. However, I am not infallible. God’s Word is infallible, and you are responsible to insure that what is taught is true to the Word of God. Oh, that each of us was as the Bereans in our response to the teaching of the Word! They were said to be of noble character because they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true [Acts 17:11].
Readers of Peter’s second missive are counselled to pay attention to the Word. It is not in merely knowing the words which are written that we progress in the Faith; it is in applying the truths presented in the Word that we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We do not memorise Scripture in this day as was true in an earlier day. In that earlier, simpler time, the verses from the 119th Psalm were often committed to memory. Among the verses which were frequently memorised are these.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
…
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you
[Psalm 119:9,11].
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path
[Psalm 119:105].
There is great power in remembering that we are each responsible to test the teachings presented in the Word of God. There is great power resident in that church that discovers that each member of the Body is a minister and a repository for God’s truth. Such a people can not be easily destroyed as they will always hold the truths of God in their own hearts. Though I may be deceived and deluded and fall, you will stand strong as you adhere to the Word. Though you may be persuaded to stray from the truth, your brother will stand strong since he holds firmly to the Word of truth. Such a people will not be easily moved from the truth of God.
The Word is Divinely Given – Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It should not need to be said, but for the record I am compelled to state the obvious. We hold the Bible to be God’s Word. This book does not contain the Word of God … it is the Word of God. Our Bible is a perfect treasure of truth without any admixture of error. Because it is God’s Word, it is to be received as authoritative for life and practise and as without error.
Such statements about the Word speak volumes concerning the God we worship. If God has given us His Word, He is approachable; we may know Him. He is neither distant nor unconcerned about His creation. He is evidently concerned that all people should both know His will and do His will. There remains no excuse for those who possess this Word to claim ignorance of God or His will for mankind.
Does it matter that God has given His Word? In the grander scheme of things, of course, it does matter. But does it matter to you as an individual that God has given us this Word, a revelation of His will and character? This question must be answered by each individual. If I should fail to read the Word, and even more importantly if I should fail to apply the Word in my own life, for all practical purposes I am declaring that it is of no consequence that this is the Word of God! Likewise, you, if you fail to read the Word or to apply the Word to your life, avow in a most practical manner that it is of absolutely no consequence that this is the Word of God.
When I pick up the Bible, I am reading a message given by God. I am seeing with my own eyes the words which God caused to be written down. It is as though I am reading a love letter from God. Such knowledge transforms the reading at that moment into an act with eternal consequences if I apply what I read. So very often we place ourselves under artificial restraints in the reading of the Word. We insist to ourselves that we must read so many chapters or verses each day, or that we must read for a certain period of time daily, or that we must read from a predetermined number of the books. It is more important that we read the Word, however, understanding what we read, regardless of the length of the passage and regardless of the length of time we may have invested in reading the Word. It is vital for me to determine that when I read the Word I will seek the will of God and endeavour to discover how to apply that will in my life.
If the Word is divinely given, then as a Christian I am responsible to insure that in the church it receives the place fitting for such a divine revelation. Churches are culturally conditioned to a greater degree than we would ever imagine or even confess. We make up our mind what we should do based upon the culture around us, and then to our amazement we find confirmation of our decision in the Word. We hold certain attitudes and even prejudices dear and are surprised that we discover what we seek in the Word. The thoughtful individual, of course, recognises that the Word does not pander to our biases or culturally conditioned points of view, but that we are quite capable of distorting that Word to suit our predetermined view.
I recommend that if we will honour God, we must come to His Word as it truly is – the Word of the Living God. The Bible is a revelation of the mind of God. As such, it is given to instruct us in those truths which God has chosen to reveal. We are to both read the Word and to apply the Word in our lives. We must hold our doctrine with humility. When our attitudes and our actions conflict with the teachings of thoughtful and godly saints of the past, we should challenge our own position to insure that we have not imposed our own cultural or world view on the Word. We must always be careful to submit our own views to the Word, for it is this Word alone which constitutes the standard by which every thought and every action must be judged. It is failure to do precisely this which has brought about the disgraceful situations prevailing among many of the churches of this day.
Some truths are not debatable. Among those truths are the fundamentals of the Faith: Jesus is God; He died a substitutionary death; He raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven from whence He shall return; salvation is obtained through faith in the Risen Son of God without appeal to any merit or work on our part; and the Word of God is reliable and authoritative. If the Word is neither reliable nor authoritative we could never know of God’s grace. But God has given us His revelation and we know His will in these great areas of life.
Have you heard this Word? Have you believed in Christ with the result of receiving forgiveness of sin? God offers through His Son life, together with peace and joy and access into His presence. This is the message of life which we proclaim. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].
Christian friend, how do you see the Word? Is this Word authoritative for your life? Do you submit even your attitudes and practises to this Word? Increasingly, as we draw ever nearer to the end of the age, we will be challenged to distinguish between good and evil. Increasingly, as the time of Christ’s Return draws near, we will be confronted with the requirement to live a life which differentiates us from the world. We shall be Christian only insofar as we adhere to the Word of God. If this Word is treated as less than the Word, we shall surely fail to please the Master. Let us, then, determine that we will be Christian in every respect, beginning with our treatment of God’s Word. Amen.
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[1] Erica Goode, The Eternal Quest for a New Age, U.S. News & World Report, April 7, 1997, pg. 32