LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

The Word of God – the Bible – is the full and complete revelation of what God wants mankind to know about Himself. Written by over 40 different authors under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit over a period of 1500 years, it remains the one and only source of absolute spiritual truth in written form. Yet so many people reject it.

2 Peter 1:20-21  “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 people reject is the truth about Jesus Christ. Not because there is reasonable doubt, but because they choose to remain comfortable in their sin. People love the darkness rather than the light. So they must reject the Light to enjoy their darkness.

In Peter’s day, not unlike our own time, there was serious doubt in the religious community about the identity of Jesus. Was He the promised Messiah? Is He THE one and only Christ, the Son of the living God?

Peter offered some simple yet profound proofs that Jesus is the Promised Redeemer.

Peter was one of many eyewitnesses of the life, death, and life again of Jesus.

Peter wrote down what He saw, as did other eyewitnesses.  (NOTE: Time is used by doubters as the enemy of fact. The Holocaust is questioned more and more as fewer and fewer survivors remain. The great stories of American History are subverted in modern day textbooks for purposes of cultural and political gain. Doubt is cast upon the credibility of written records by the so-called discovery of other records. HOWEVER, no such credible contradiction to the record of Holy Scripture exists. Time cannot change the written testimony of the eyewitnesses because they were writing under the inspiration of One who cannot lie.)

What they wrote down is also credible because it completely and absolutely matches what was recognized as written truth in their day – the Old Testament prophets. Remember what Peter said, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain.”

Every prophecy in the Old Testament about Jesus Christ has been fulfilled except for those relating to a time yet to come. That’s an amazing fact, considering that out of the 30 authors of the Old Testament, only a few knew each other and had any contact with one another. 1400 years of writing by 30 different people who didn’t read each other’s books and yet every statement about the promised Messiah came true in one man, Jesus Christ.

No group of men could contrive such a literary marvel. No group of individuals, writing by their own authority and knowledge, could unanimously agree in every detail when separated by such vast periods of time unless one thing was true – Someone else, namely the Holy Spirit of God, gave them the very words to write.

The Bible is the error-free, fully inspired revelation of God and His Redeemer.  Read it. Study it. Find the fullness of understanding the life and ministry of Jesus in it. Every part of it supports and enhances every other part. It all fits. Trust the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. Commit yourself to reading God’s revelation of Himself to you. It’s the only way you can really grow in your knowledge of God.

“A real book is not one that we read, but one that reads us.”  W. H. Auden (1907–1973)

“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”   Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)

“All things desirable to men are contained in the Bible.”  Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

Pastor John