SCRIPTURE AND THE AUTHOR OF THE SCRIPTURES ARE INSEPRABLE

If we are Christians, we want to be like Jesus. However, many of us fail to see how the Scriptures are essential to the process (Romans 12:2; 2 Peter 1:2-4), through which the Holy Spirit applies them to our heart and mind.

The Jews had the Hebrew Scriptures, but they were not able to benefit from them because of their spiritual blindness:

·       But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18 ESV)

In contrast to the Jews, the Spirit has removed the veil from our faces so that we can now see and appreciate the things of our Lord. As a result of this, the Spirit is transforming us as we “behold the glory of the Lord” through the Scriptures. How do we behold this glory? In the following several verses, Paul explained:

·       And even if our gospel is veiled [as the Scriptures have been veiled for the Jews], it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

Strangely, it is the “knowledge of the glory of God” that transforms. If God’s Word had called creation into existence, God’s Word can also transform us to make us more Christ-like.

As Jesus had taught, we are being transformed by God’s truths:

·       So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

It is through His Word that He calls us. Why do we believe? Because our Lord has opened our heart to “hear” His voice:

·       My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

When our Lord gives us a new heart, He also gives us a taste for the Good News, His Word. If we are drawn to the Lord, we are drawn also to His Word, as Jesus often proclaimed:

·       “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (John 8:47; 10:16; 18:37; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 John 4:6)

According to Jesus, if we refuse His teachings, the Gospel, we also refuse the salvation of Jesus. These words might sound harsh and even judgmental. However, if we are being drawn, and if we are really open to the truth, we will be stung by these words and cry out to the Lord. He will then open our eyes to the truths of His teachings found in the Scriptures.

This might sound overly supernatural, and perhaps it is. However, the Lord works a miracle each time He saves someone, because no one will come into the light unless he is irresistibly drawn (John 6:44;). Ordinarily, we love the darkness and the lie instead (John 3:19-20).

I had to be irresistibly drawn. I had hated everything about Jesus. However, I had a horrible chainsaw injury, which left me in a pool of blood, bleeding to death. It was then that God revealed Himself to me in a glorious and undeniable manner. This led me to search for the truth about God and brought me unwillingly to the Gospel of Jesus.

Subsequently, He has delivered me from many pains, fears, and torments, but it was only through His Word. In a sense, I needed to “see” God, or at least the grand landscape of His eternal plan to lift me out of my doldrums. This is exactly what He gives us through His Word:

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.