John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me
I recently heard a podcast of three very intelligent men discussing the church. Their contention was that the church had lost so much of what makes the church unique, namely a sense of the transcendent, of something more, bigger, and larger than the gathering of people we would call a church. These men thought that the church had made their music less transcendent and more approachable, but they had missed something of the greatness of God in doing so. The interesting thing about this discussion is that I don’t believe any of these men are believers. Indeed, one of them goes to church because he senses a need for the transcendence of that which is bigger and greater than mere mankind, but he himself for many years was an atheist and may be that today.
The bottom line is that the church has lost the sense of the supernatural and the greatness of God. This man who sought something beyond himself is missing it if he thinks that he can go to church and feel good because there are large things that are addressed, but doesn’t know a personal God through His Son, the Lord Jesus.
In John 5, Jesus is talking to people who knew the Scriptures and religion, but did not know Him. For a while they were willing to listen, but they had not accepted the Lord Jesus for Who He is. In John 5:39 Jesus says, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” In other words, God’s Word is a Person, not merely a thing. Now, I don’t completely understand all that means, but I do know that is what the Bible teaches.
The very first verse of the book of John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So, God’s Word is not merely a book; it is a Person. It is God’s truth embodied in the pages of a book and embodied in the Son, Jesus. Jesus later says in verse 45, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust.” Now, by Moses He meant the law, the part of the Scriptures they would have had at the time, what Moses had written. He continues, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” So, God’s truth is found both in His Words in the Bible and His Word in His Son.
God’s Word is not a cause. If someone goes to church and they don’t really believe in a literal God and transcendent truths, they are relegated to merely trying to make things better right here, right now. I’m all for feeding the poor, helping the needy, and giving comfort to those who need it. All of us are in all of those positions at various times in our lives. The point is, if I help someone financially but I don’t help them to know the God Who made them, they will die fed, clothed, and bathed, but without Jesus. The physical things don’t really make a difference in the eternal scheme of things. So, God’s Word is not merely a cause.
God’s Word is not merely academic. There are a number of people who know the Bible and even teach the Bible but do not know the God of the Bible. Here is a man writing a biography that is seven hundred pages long. He knows his subject well and has done a lot of study, but he will not know his subject nearly as well as the subject’s own granddaughter. Now the granddaughter may not know every fact about her granddad, but she knows him far better because he is a person. It is personal to her. So, God’s Word is not merely academic.
One of my dad’s cousins once told him, “Bill, the easiest place to backslide is in a Christian college.” By that she meant that you go to church services all the time at a Christian college, you study the Bible all the time at a Christian college, and you do good things, but if you are just doing things and have divorced them from a Person, then you are missing out. God’s Word is a Person and not just a thing.
God’s Word is not a validation of your opinions. A God who would never disagree with you is not God. It is simply you with a cape, a super version of you. A God Who would never disagree with me is not worthy of the name. The bottom line is that when you read God’s Word, do not read it alone. God’s Word is not merely the book in your lap; it is the Son that God has sent, the living Word. My daily prayer when I read my Bible is, “Dear God, please help me to see what I need to see this morning. Give me something today. Help me to comprehend what you are saying.”
In short, we need to read Jesus in the Word and we need to read Jesus with the Word. The Word is not merely facts, some cause, or a validation of my own biases, but a living Person Who is revealed in a living book, God’s Word.