The Scriptures and GOD
Arthur Pink, 1932
The Holy Scriptures are wholly supernatural. They are a Divine revelation. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). It is not merely that God elevated the minds of the Scripture writers, but that He directed their thoughts. It is not simply that He communicated concepts to them, but that He dictated the very words they used. "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Any "theory" which denies the verbal inspiration of Scripture is a device of Satan's—an attack upon God's truth. The Divine image is stamped upon every page. Writings so holy, so heavenly, so awe-producing, could not have been created by man.
PART A.
1. The Scriptures make known a supernatural God. That may be a very trite remark, yet today it needs making. The "God" which is believed in by many professing Christians is becoming more and more paganized. The prominent place which "sports" now has in the nation's life, the excessive love of pleasure, the breaking down of home-life, the brazen immodesty of women, are so many symptoms of the same disease which brought about the downfall and death of the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. And the twentieth-century idea of God which is entertained by the majority of people in nominally "Christian" lands is rapidly approximating to the character ascribed to the gods of the ancients. In sharp contrast therewith, the God of Holy Writ is clothed with such perfections and vested with such attributes that no mere human intellect could possibly have invented them.
2. God can only be known by means of a supernatural revelation of Himself. Apart from the Scriptures, even a theoretical acquaintance with Him is impossible. It still holds true that "the world by its wisdom knew not God" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Where the Scriptures are ignored, God is "the unknown God" (Acts 17:23). But something more than the Scriptures is required before the soul can know God—know Him in a real, personal, vital way. This seems to be recognized by few today.
The prevailing practice assumes that a knowledge of God can be obtained through studying the Word, in the same way as a knowledge of chemistry may be secured by mastering its textbooks. An intellectual knowledge of God perhaps—not so a spiritual one. A supernatural God can only be known supernaturally (that is, known in a manner above that which mere nature can acquire), by a supernatural revelation of Himself to the heart. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).
3. God can only be known through a supernatural faculty. Christ made this clear when He said, "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). The unregenerate have no spiritual knowledge of God. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Water, of itself, never rises above its own level. Just so, the natural man is incapable of perceiving that which transcends mere nature. "This is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God" (John 17:3). Eternal life must be imparted before the "true God" can be known. Plainly is this affirmed in 1 John 5:20, "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true." Yes, an "understanding," a spiritual understanding, by new creation, must be given before God can be known in a spiritual way.
4. A supernatural knowledge of God produces a supernatural experience, and this is something to which multitudes of church members are total strangers. Most of the "religion" of the day is but a touching up of "old Adam." It is merely a garnishing of sepulchers full of corruption. It is an outward "form." Even where there is a sound creed, only too often it is a dead orthodoxy. Nor should this be wondered at. It has ever been thus. It was so when Christ was here upon earth. The Jews were very orthodox. At that time they were free from idolatry. The temple stood at Jerusalem, the Law was expounded, and Jehovah was worshiped.
And yet Christ said to them, "He who sent Me is true, whom you know not." (John 7:28). "You neither know Me, nor My Father; if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also" (John 8:19). "It is my Father who honors Me; of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him" (John 8:54,55). And mark it well, this is said to a people who had the Scriptures, searched them diligently, and venerated them as God's Word! They were well acquainted with God theoretically, but they had not a spiritual knowledge of Him.
As it was in the Jewish world, so it is in Christendom. Multitudes who "believe" in the Holy Trinity are completely devoid of a supernatural or spiritual knowledge of God. How are we so sure of this? In this way: the character of the fruit reveals the character of the tree that bears it; the nature of the waters makes known the nature of the fountain from which they flow.
5. A supernatural knowledge of God produces a supernatural experience, and a supernatural experience results in supernatural fruit. God actually dwelling in the heart, revolutionizes and transforms the life. There is that brought forth which mere nature cannot produce, yes, that which is directly contrary thereto. And this is noticeably absent from the lives of perhaps ninety-five out of every hundred now professing to be God's children. There is nothing in the life of the average professing Christian except what can be accounted for on natural grounds. But in the genuine child of God it is far otherwise. He is, in truth, a miracle of grace; he is a "new creature in Christ Jesus" (2 Corinthians 5:17). His experience, his life, is supernatural.
6. The supernatural experience of the Christian is seen in his attitude toward God. Having within him the life of God, having been made a "partaker of the Divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4)—he necessarily loves God, loves the things of God, loves what God loves; and, contrariwise, he hates what God hates.
This supernatural experience is wrought in him by the Spirit of God, and by means of the Word of God. The Spirit never works apart from the Word. By that Word He quickens. By that Word He produces conviction of sin. By that Word He sanctifies. By that Word He gives assurance. By that Word He makes the saint to grow. Thus each one of us may ascertain the extent to which we are profiting from our reading and studying of the Scriptures by the effects which they are, through the Spirit's application of them, producing in us. Let us enter now into details.
PART B.
1. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a greater submission to God's claims. The great controversy between the Creator and the creature has been whether He or they should be God, whether His wisdom or theirs should be the guiding principle of their actions, whether His will or theirs should be supreme. That which brought about the fall of Lucifer was his resentment at being in subjection to his Maker: "You have said in your heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God . . . I will be like the most High" (Isaiah 14:13, 14).
The lie of the serpent which lured our first parents to their destruction was, "You shall be as gods" (Genesis 3:5). And ever since then the heart-sentiment of the natural man has been, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?" (Job 21:14,15). "Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us?" (Psalm 12:4). "We are lords; we will come no more unto You" (Jeremiah 2:31).
Sin has alienated man from God (Ephesians 4:18). His heart is averse to Him, his will is opposed to God's will, his mind is at enmity against Him. Contrariwise, salvation means being restored to God: "For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Legally that has already been done; experimentally it is in the process of accomplishment.
Salvation means being reconciled to God; and that involves and includes sin's dominion over us being broken, enmity within us being slain, the heart being won to God. This is what true conversion is: it is a tearing down of every idol, a renouncing of the empty vanities of a cheating world, and taking God for our portion, our ruler, our all in all. Of the Corinthians we read that they "first gave their own selves unto the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:5). The desire and determination of those truly converted is that they "should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15).
God's claims are now recognized, His rightful dominion over us is acknowledged, and He is owned as God. The converted yield themselves "unto God, as those that are alive from the dead," and their members as "instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13). This is the demand which He makes upon us: to be our God, to be served as such by us; for us to be and do, absolutely and without reserve, whatever He demands, surrendering ourselves fully to Him (see Luke 14:26,27,33). It belongs to God as God—to legislate, prescribe, and determine for us. It belongs to us as a bounded duty—to be ruled, governed, and disposed of by Him at His pleasure.
To own God as our God, is to give Him the throne of our hearts. It is to say in the language of Isaiah 26:13, "O LORD, our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us, but Your name alone do we honor." It is to declare with the Psalmist, not hypocritically, but sincerely, "O God, You are my God; early will I seek You" (Psalm 63:1).
Now it is in proportion as this becomes our actual experience, that we profit from the Scriptures. It is in them, and in them alone, that the claims of God are revealed and enforced, and just so far as we are obtaining clearer and fuller views of God's rights, and are yielding ourselves thereto—are we really being blessed.
2. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a greater fear of God's majesty. "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him" (Psalm 33:8). God is so high above us that the thought of His majesty should make us tremble. His power is so great that the realization of it ought to terrify us. He is so ineffably holy, and His abhorrence of sin is so infinite, that the very thought of wrongdoing ought to fill us with horror. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence by those who are about Him" (Psalm 89:7).
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), and "wisdom" is a right use of knowledge. Just so far as God is truly known, will He be duly feared. Of the wicked it is written, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18). They have. . .
no realization of His majesty,
no concern for His authority,
no respect for His commandments,
no alarm that He shall judge them.But concerning His Covenant people God has promised, "I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me" (Jeremiah 32:40). Therefore do they tremble at His Word (Isaiah 66:5), and walk softly before Him.
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:13). And again, "By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). The man who lives in the fear of God is conscious that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3), therefore is he conscientious about his private conduct as well as his public conduct. The one who is deterred from committing certain sins because the eyes of men are upon him, and who hesitates not to commit them when alone, is destitute of the fear of God. So too the man who watches his language when Christians are about him, but does not so at other times—is devoid of God's fear. He has no awe-inspiring consciousness that God sees and hears him at all times. The truly regenerate soul is afraid of disobeying and defying God. Nor does he want to. No, his real and deepest desire is to please Him in all things, at all times, and in all places. His earnest prayer is "Teach me Your way, O LORD, and I will walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name." (Psalm 86:11).
Now even the saint has to be taught the fear of God (Psalm 34:11). And here, as ever, it is through the Scriptures that this teaching is given us (Proverbs 2:5). It is through them we learn that God's eye is ever upon us, marking our actions, weighing our motives. As the Holy Spirit applies the Scriptures to our hearts, we give increasing heed to that command, "Live in the fear of the Lord always" (Proverbs 23:17).
Thus, just so far as we are awed by God's solemn majesty, live in the awareness of God's omniscience, and work out our salvation with "fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12)—are we truly profited from our reading and study of the Bible.
3. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a deeper reverence for God's commandments. Sin entered this world by Adam's breaking of God's law, and all his fallen children are begotten in his depraved likeness (Genesis 5:3). Sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). Sin is a species of high treason; it is spiritual anarchy. It is the repudiation of God's dominion, the setting aside of His authority, and rebellion against His will. Sin is having our own way.
Salvation is deliverance from sin—from its guilt, from its power as well as its penalty. The same Spirit who convicts of the need of God's grace for salvation, also convicts of the need of God's government to rule us. God's promise to His Covenant people is, "I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people." (Hebrews 8:10).
A spirit of obedience is communicated to every regenerated soul. Said Christ, "If any man loves Me, he will obey My words" (John 14:23). Here is the test, "By this we know that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments." (1 John 2:3). None of us keeps them perfectly, yet every real Christian both desires and strives to do so. He says with Paul, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" (Romans 7:22). He says with the Psalmist, "I have chosen the way of truth." "Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long." (Psalm 119:30,97). Christ has saved them from the wrath of God, but not from His government. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart" never has been and never will be repealed.
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2:6). And how did Christ "walk"? In perfect obedience to God; in complete subjection to His law, honoring and obeying it in thought and word and deed. And our love for Him is expressed, not in pleasing emotions or beautiful words—but in keeping His commandments (John 14:15), and the commandments of Christ are the commandments of God (cf. Exodus 20:6). The earnest prayer of the real Christian is, "Make me to walk in the path of your commandments; for therein do I delight" (Psalm 119:35).
Just so far as our reading and study of Scripture is, by the Spirit's application, begetting within us a greater love and a deeper respect for and a more punctual keeping of God's commandments—are we really profiting thereby.
4. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a firmer trust in God's sufficiency. Whatever or whoever a man most trusts in, is his "God." Some trust in health, others in wealth; some in self, others in their friends. That which characterizes all the unregenerate is that they lean upon an arm of flesh. But true believers have their hearts drawn from all creature supports, to rest upon the living God. God's people are the children of faith. The language of their hearts is, "O my God, I trust in You: let me not be ashamed" (Psalm 25:2). And again, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job 13:15). They rely upon God to provide, protect and bless them. They . . .
look to an unseen resource,
count upon an invisible God,
and lean upon a hidden arm.True, there are times when their faith wavers, but though they fall they are not utterly cast down. Though it is not be their uniform experience, yet Psalm 56:11 expresses the general state of their souls: "In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." Their earnest prayer is, "Lord, increase our faith." "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17).
Thus, as the Scriptures are pondered—their promises received in the mind, faith is strengthened, confidence in God is increased, and assurance is deepened. By this we may discover whether or not we are profiting from our study of the Bible.
5. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a fuller delight in God's perfections. That in which a man most delights is his "God." The poor worldling seeks satisfaction in his pursuits, pleasures and possessions. Ignoring the substance, he vainly pursues the shadows. But the Christian delights in the wondrous perfections of God. Really to own God as our God is not only to submit to His scepter, but is to love Him more than the world, to value Him above everything and everyone else. It is to have with the Psalmist an experiential realization that "all my springs are in you" (Psalm 87:7). The redeemed have not only received a joy from God such as this poor world cannot impart, but they "rejoice in God" (Romans 5:11); and of this the poor worldling knows nothing. The language of the true believer is, "the Lord is my portion!" (Lamentations 3:24).
Spiritual exercises are irksome to the flesh. But the real Christian says, "It is good for me to draw near to God" (Psalm 73:28). The carnal man has many worldly cravings and ambitions; but the regenerate soul declares, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after—that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord" (Psalm 27:4). And why? Because the true sentiment of his heart is, "Whom have I in Heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever!" (Psalm 73:25,26). Ah, my reader, if your heart has not been drawn out to love and delight in God, then it is still dead toward Him.
The language of the saints is, "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty—yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!" (Habakkuk 3:17,18).
Ah, that is a supernatural experience indeed! Yes, the Christian can rejoice when all his worldly possessions are taken from him (see Hebrews 10:34). When he lies in a dungeon with his back bleeding, he can still sing praises to God (see Acts 16:25).
Thus, to the extent that you are being weaned from the empty pleasures of this world, are learning that there is no blessing outside of God, are discovering that He is the source and sum of all excellency, and your heart is being drawn out to Him, your mind stayed on Him, your soul finding its joy and satisfaction in Him—are you really profiting from the Scriptures.
6. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have a larger submission to God's providences. It is natural to murmur when things go wrong, it is supernatural not to complain: "I was silent; I would not open my mouth—for You are the one who has done this." (Psalm 39:9) It is natural to be disappointed when our plans miscarry, it is supernatural to bow to His appointments. It is natural to want our own way, it is supernatural to say, "Not my will, but may Your will be done." It is natural to rebel when a loved one is taken from us by death, it is supernatural to say from the heart, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).
As God is truly made our portion, we learn to admire His wisdom, and to know that He does all things well. Thus the heart is kept in "perfect peace" as the mind is stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3).
Here, then, is another sure test: if your Bible study is teaching you that God's way is best, if it is causing you to submit unrepiningly to all His dispensations, if you are enabled to give thanks for all things (Ephesians 5:20)—then are you profiting indeed.
7. We profit from our study of the Scriptures, when we have greater fervent praise for God's goodness. Praise is the outflow of a heart which finds its satisfaction in God. The language of such a one is, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1). What abundant cause have God's people for praising Him! Loved with an everlasting love, made sons and heirs, all things working together for their good, their every need supplied, an eternity of bliss assured to them—their harps of gladness ought never to be silent. Nor will they be, while they enjoy fellowship with Him who is "altogether lovely." The more we are increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10), the more shall we adore Him. But it is only as the Word dwells in us richly, that we are filled with spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16) and make melody in our hearts to the Lord.
The more our souls are drawn out in true worship, the more we are found thanking and praising our great God—the clearer evidence we give that our study of His word is profiting us.