CHAPTER FOUR: THE CHARACTER OF ITS TEACHINGS EVIDENCES THE DIVINE AUTHORSHIP OF THE BIBLE
Take its teachings about God Himself. What
does the Bible teach us about God? It declares that He is Eternal:
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth
and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou are God" (Ps. 90:2).
It reveals the fact that He is Infinite: "But will God indeed dwell on
the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee" (I
Kings 8:27). Vast as we know the universe to be, it has its bounds; but we must
go beyond them to conceive of God - "Canst thou by searching find out God?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what
canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is
longer than the earth, and broader than the sea" (Job 11:7-9). It makes mention
of His Sovereignty: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God,
and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end
from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Is. 46: 9-10).
It affirms that He is Omnipotent: "Behold I am the Lord, the God of all
flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jer. 32:27). It intimates that He
is Omniscient: "Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding
is infinite" (Ps. 147:5). It teaches that He is Omnipresent: "Can any
hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not
I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord" (Jer. 23:24). It declares that He is
Immutable: "The same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8).
Yea, that with Him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James
1:17). It reveals that He is "The Judge of all the earth" (Gen. 18:25)
and that every one shall yet have to "give an account of himself to God" (Rom.
14:12). It announces that He is inflexibly just in all His dealings so
that He can by "no means clear the guilty" (Num. 14:18); that all will be
judged "according to their works" (Rev. 20:12), and that they shall reap
whatsoever they have sown (Gal 6:7). It reveals the fact that He is
absolutely holy, dwelling in light inaccessible. So holy that even the
seraphim have to veil their faces in His presence (Is. 6:2). So holy that the
heavens are not clean in His sight (Job 15:15). So holy that the best of men
when face to face with their Maker, have to cry, "I abhor myself" (Job 42:6);
"Woe is me! For I am undone" (Is. 6:5). Such a delineation of Deity is as far
beyond man's conception as the heavens are above the earth. No man, and no
number of men, ever invented such a God as this. Ransack the libraries of the
ancient, examine the musings of the mystics, study the religions of the heathen
and nothing will be found which can for a moment be compared with the sublime
and exalted description of God's character which is furnished by the Bible.
The teachings of the Bible about man are unique.
Unlike all other books in the world, the Bible condemns man and all his doings.
It never eulogizes his wisdom, nor praises his achievements. On the contrary,
it declares that "every man at his best state is altogether vanity" (Ps 39:5).
Instead of teaching that man is a noble character, evolving heavenwards, it
tells him that all his righteousnesses (his best works) are as "filthy rags,"
that he is a lost sinner, incapable of bettering his condition; that he is
deserving only of Hell.
The picture which the Scriptures give of man is
deeply humiliating and entirely different from all which are drawn by human
pencils. The Word of God describes the state of the natural man in the
following language: - "There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have
used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and
misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known. There is no
fear of God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:10-18).
Instead of making Satan the source of all the
black crimes of which we are guilty, the Bible declares, "For from within,
out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil
things come from within and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23). Such a
conception of man - so different from man's own ideas, and so humilitating to
his proud heart - never could have emanated from man himself. "The heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9) is a concept
that never originated in any human mind.
The teachings of the Bible about the world
are unique. In nothing perhaps are the teachings of Scripture and the writings
of man at such variance as they are at this point. Using the term as meaning
the world-system in contradistinction to the earth, what is the direction of
man's thoughts concerning the same? Man thinks highly of the world, for he
regards it as his world. It is that which his labors have produced and he looks
upon it with satisfaction and pride. He boasts that "the world is growing
better." He declares that the world is becoming more civilized and more
humanized. Man's thoughts upon this subject have been well summarized by the
poet in the familiar language - "God is in heaven: All's well with the world."
But what saith the Scriptures? Upon this subject, too, we discover that God's
thoughts are very different from ours. The Bible uniformly condemns the
world and speaks of it as a thing of evil. We shall not attempt to quote every
passage which does this, but shall merely single out a few specimen
Scriptures.
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me
before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:18-19). This passage teaches that the
world hates both Christ and His followers. "The wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God" (I Cor 3:19). Certainly no uninspired pen wrote these
words. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God" (James 4:4). Here again we learn that the world is an evil
thing, condemned by God, and to be shunned by His children. "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world" (I John 2:15-16). Here we have a definition of the
world: it is all that is opposed to the Father - opposed in its principles and
philosophy, its maxims and methods, its aims and ambitions, its trend and its
end "And the whole world lieth in the Evil One" (I John 5:19,
R.V.). Here we learn why it is that the world hates Christ and His followers;
why its wisdom is foolishness with God; why it is condemned by God and must be
shunned by His children - it is under the dominion of that old serpent, the
devil, whom Scripture specifically denominates "The prince of this world."
The teachings of the Bible about sin is unique.
Man regards sin as a misfortune and ever seeks to minimize its enormity. In
these days, sin is referred to as ignorance, as a necessary stage in man's
development. By others, sin is looked upon as a mere negation, the opposite of
good; while Mrs. Eddy and her followers went so far as to deny its existence
altogether. But the Bible, unlike every other book, strips man of all excuse
and emphasizes his culpability. In the Bible sin is never palliated or
extenuated, but from first to last the Holy Scriptures insist upon its enormity
and heinousness. The Word of God declares that "sin is very grievous" (Gen
18:20) and that our sins provoke God to anger (I Kings 16:2). It speaks of the
"deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:13) and insists that sin is "exceedingly sinful"
(Rom 7:13). It declares that all sin is sin against God (Ps. 51:4) and against
His Christ (I Cor. 8:12). It regards our sins as being "as scarlet" and "red
like crimson" (Is. 1:18). It declares that sin is more than an act, it is an
attitude. It affirms that sin is more than a non-compliance with God's law - it
is rebellion against the One who gave the law . It teaches that "sin is
lawlessness" (I John 3:4, R.V.), which means that sin is spiritual anarchy,
open defiance against the Almighty. Moreover, it singles out no particular
class; it condemns all alike. It announces that "all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God," that "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3). Did
man ever write such an indictment against himself? What human mind ever
invented such a description of sin as that discovered in the Bible? Whoever
would have imagined that sin was such a vile and dreadful thing in the sight of
God that nothing but the precious blood of His own beloved Son could make an
atonement for it!
The teaching of the Bible about the punishment
of sin is unique. A defective view of sin necessarily leads to an
inadequate conception of what is due sin. Minimize the gravity and enormity of
sin and you must proportion- ately reduce the sentence which it deserves. Many
are crying out today against the justice of the eternal punishment of sin. They
complain that the penalty does not fit the crime. They argue that it is
unrighteous for a sinner to suffer eternally in consequence of a short life
span of wrong-doing. But even in this world it is not the length of time which
it takes to commit the crime which determines the severity of the sentence.
Many a man has suffered a life term of imprisonment for a crime which required
only a few minutes for its perpetration. Apart, however, from this
consideration, eternal punishment is just if sin be looked at from
God's viewpoint. But this is just what the majority of men refuse to do.
They look at sin and its deserts solely from the human side. One reason why the
Bible was written was to correct our ideas and views about sin, to teach us
what an unspeakably awful and vile thing it is, to show us sin as God sees it.
For one single sin Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. For one single sin
Canaan and all his posterity were cursed. For a single sin Korah and his
company went down alive into the pit. For one single sin Moses was debarred
from entering the Promised Land. For a single sin Achan and his family were
stoned to death. For a single sin Elisha's servant was smitten with leprosy.
For a single sin Ananias and Sapphira were cut off out of the land of the
living. Why? To teach us what an infinite evil it is to revolt against the
thrice holy God. We repeat, that did men but see the terribleness of sin - did
they but see that it was sin that put to a shameful death the Lord of Glory -
then they would realize that nothing short of eternal punishment would
meet the demands which justice has upon sinners.
But the great majority of men do not see the
meetness or justice of eternal punishment; on the contrary, they cry out
against it. In lands which were not illumined by the Old Testament Scriptures,
where there existed any belief in a future life, it was held that at death the
wicked either passed thro' some temporary suffering for remedial and purifying
purposes or else they were annihilated. Even in Christendom, where the Word of
God has held a prominent and public place for centuries, the great bulk of the
people do not believe in eternal punishment. They argue that God is too
merciful and kind to ban one of His own creatures to endless misery. Yea, not a
few of the Lord's own people are afraid to take the solemn teachings of the
Scriptures on this subject at their face value. It is therefore evident that
had the Bible been written by uninspired men; had it been a mere human
composition, it certainly would not have taught the eternal and
conscious torment of all who die out of Christ. The fact that the Bible
does so teach is conclusive proof that it was written by men who spake
not of themselves, but as they were "moved by the Holy Spirit."
The teachings of God's Word upon eternal
punishment are as clear and explicit as they are solemn and awful. They declare
that the doom of the Christ rejector is a conscious, never-ending,
indescribable torment. The Bible depicts the place of punishment as a realm
where the "worm dieth not" and "the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:48). It
speaks of it as a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10), where even a drop of
water is denied the agonized sufferer (Luke 16:24). It declares that "the smoke
of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor
night" (Rev. 14:11). It represents the world of the lost as a scene into which
penetrates no light - "the blackness of darkness for ever" (Jude 1: 13) - a
doom alleviated by no ray of hope. In short, the portion of the lost will be
unbearable, yet it will have to be borne, and borne for ever. What mortal mind
conceived of such a fate? Such a conception is too repugnant and repulsive to
the human heart to have had its birth on the earth.
The teachings of the Bible about Salvation
from Sin is unique. Man's thoughts about salvation, like every other
subject which engages his mind are defective and deficient. Hence the force of
the admonition - "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts" (Is. 55:7). In the first place, left to himself, man fails to
realize his need of salvation. In the pride of his heart he imagines that he is
sufficient in himself, and thro' the darkening of his understanding by sin he
fails to comprehend his ruined and lost condition. Like the self-righteous
Pharisee, he thanks God that he is not as other men, that he is morally the
superior of the savage or the criminal, and refuses to believe that so far as
his standing before God is concerned there is "no difference." It is not until
the Holy Spirit deals with him that man is constrained to cry, "God be merciful
to me a sinner."
In the second place man is ignorant of the
way of salvation. Even when man has been brought to the place where he
recognizes that he is not prepared to meet God, and that if he died in his
present state he would be eternally lost; even then he has no right conception
of the remedy. Being ignorant of God's righteousness he goes about to establish
his own righteousness. He supposes that he must make some personal reparation
for his past wrong-doings, that he must work for his salvation, do something to
merit the esteem of God, and thus win heaven as a reward. The highest concept
of man's mind is that of merit. To him salvation is a wage to be earned,
a crown to be coveted, a prize to be won. The proof of this is to be seen in
the fact that even when pardon and life are presented as a free gift,
the universal tendency, at first, is to regard it as being "too good to be
true." Yet, such is the plain teaching of God's Word - "For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of
works; lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). And again - "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us"
(Titus 3:5).
If it is true that man left to himself would
never have fully realized his need of salvation, and would never have
discovered that it was by grace thro' faith and not of works, how much less
would the human mind have been capable of rising to the level of what God's
Word teaches about the nature of salvation and the glorious and
marvelous destiny of the saved! Who would have thought that the Maker
and Ruler of the universe should lay hold of poor, fallen, depraved men and
women and lifting them out of the miry clay should make them His own sons and
daughters, and should seat them at His own table! Who would ever have suggested
that those who deserve naught but everlasting shame and contempt, should be
made "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ"! Who would have dreamed that
beggars should be lifted from the dunghill of sin and made to sit together with
Christ in heavenly places! Who would have imagined that the corrupted offspring
of disobedient Adam should be exalted to a position higher than that occupied
by the unfallen angels! Who would have dared to affirm that one day we shall be
"made like Christ" and "be for ever with the Lord"! Such concepts were as far
beyond the reach of the highest human intellect as they were of the rudest
savage. "But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (I Cor.
2:9-10).
Again we ask, what human intellect could have
devised a means whereby God could be just and yet merciful, merciful and yet
just? What mortal mind would ever have dreamed of a free and full salvation,
bestowed on hell-deserving sinners, "without money and without price"! And what
flight of carnal imagination would ever have conceived of the Son of God
Himself being "made sin" for us and dying the Just for the unjust?
The teaching of the Bible concerning the
Saviour of sinners is unique. The description which the Scriptures
furnish of the Person, the Character, and the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ is
without anything that approaches a parallel in the whole realm of literature.
It is easier to suppose that man could create a world than to believe he
invented the character of our adorable Redeemer. Given a piece of machinery
that is delicate, complex, exact in all its movements, and we know it must be
the product of a competent mechanic. Given a work of art that is beautiful,
symmetrical, original, and we know it must be the product of a master artist.
None but an Angelo could have designed Saint Peter's; none but a Raphael could
have painted the "transfiguration;" none but a Milton could have written a
"Paradise Lost." And, none but the Holy Spirit could have produced the peerless
portrait of the Lord Jesus which we find in the Gospels. In Christ all
excellencies combine. Here is one of the many respects in which He differs
from all other Bible characters. In each of the great heroes of Scripture some
trait stands out with peculiar distinctness - Noah, faithful testimony;
Abraham, faith in God; Isaac, submission to his father; Joseph, love for his
brethren; Moses, unselfishness and meekness; Joshua, courage and leadership;
Job, fortitude and patience; Daniel, fidelity to God; Paul, zeal in service;
John, spiritual discernment - but in the Lord Jesus every grace is
found. Moreover, in Him all these perfections were properly poised and
balanced. He was meek yet regal; He was gentle yet fearless; He was
compassionate yet just; He was submissive yet authoritative; He was Divine yet
human; add to these, the fact that He was absolutely "without sin" and His
uniqueness becomes apparent. Nowhere in all the writings of antiquity is there
to be found the presentation of such a peerless and wondrous character.
Not only is the portrayal of Christ's
character without any rival, but the teaching of the Bible concerning
His Person and Work is also utterly incredible on any other basis save that
they are part of a Divine revelation. Who would have dared to imagine
the Creator and Upholder of the universe taking upon Himself the form of a
servant and being made in the likeness of men? Who would have conceived the
idea of the Lord of Glory being born in a manger? Who would have dreamed of the
Object of angelic worship becoming so poor that he had not where to lay His
head? Who would have declared that the One before whom the seraphim veil their
faces should be led as a lamb to the slaughter, should have suffered His own
blessed face to be defiled with the vile spittle of man, and should permit the
creatures of His hand to scourge and buffet Him? Whoever would have conceived
of Emmanuel becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross!
Here then is an argument which the simplest can
grasp. The Scriptures contain their own evidence that they are Divinely
inspired. Every page of Holy Writ is stamped with Jehovah's autograph. The
uniqueness of its teachings demonstrates the uniqueness of its Source. The
teachings of the Scriptures about God Himself, about man, about the world,
about sin, about eternal punishment, about salvation, about the Lord Jesus
Christ, are proof that the Bible is not the product of any man or any number of
men, but is in truth a revelation from God.