If the God who made everything, who holds our lives in His hand, has truly spoken to us, it is of vital importance that we understand what He has to say to us. The One who made us knows best how we should live and how we should relate to our Maker. Just as an inventor knows everything about his invention and the manufacturer can tell us everything about his product in the manual.
But for humanity there seem to be thousands of manuals available, holy books that claim to contain the words and instructions of God. One book says it one way, another says it slightly differently. How then do we know which holy book to believe? And has God truly spoken to us?
All holy books seem to agree that there was a moment in history of special revelation. Jesus Christ. Some books teach that He was an enlightened Guru, others the Prophet with a pure spirit, or a wise Rabbi. But all of them admire Him.
Because all religions and holy books highlight Jesus, He is someone we should get to know. What makes Him so special?
The reliability of the Bible
Just as we can best evaluate historical events, or an accident in the neighbourhood, from the accounts of eyewitnesses, so the Bible primarily forms an important reference work for getting to know Jesus. Multiple eyewitnesses independently and from close proximity describe the life of Jesus without contradicting each other. They witnessed something they had already been expecting in the first part of the Bible.
And even His opponents confirm that He was different from all other people. That was precisely the reason they wanted to get rid of Him. The Roman records confirm His death on the cross while His Jewish opponents did not deny His supernatural power but attributed it to demons.
This is an important historical reason to get to know Jesus. And who can better tell what He said and did than those who stood close to Him?
Jesus is different from all others
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John independently and under pressure of severe persecution still give the same testimony of Jesus, so that we know that what they say is true. Just as witnesses of an accident complement each other with details that others did not see, so these eyewitnesses complement each other.
Those who had followed Jesus everywhere and had learned from Him testify that Jesus was more than the prophets who had come before Him. He was the climax that everything had been building towards. He is the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32-33), the One through whom all things were made and who became flesh (John 1:3,14). God Himself revealed Himself in history. The Inventor Himself enters His invention to make known the purpose, the value, and the restoration of His invention.
Not so much the Bible, but Jesus is the manual through which God wants to speak to us. He lived out God's manual and made known to us who God is: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son... (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Supernaturally confirmed
And everything Jesus said was confirmed by supernatural signs and wonders that only God could do (Hebrews 2:4).
Therefore the accounts of Jesus' eyewitnesses are reliable; God Himself confirmed them because things happened that people could not do. Jesus did things that people could not do and had never done.
He did no one any harm and helped the weak, the poor, and widows, yet He also possessed extraordinary power to heal the sick and more still, to forgive sins. Thus He proved to be stronger than anyone by perfectly upholding moral laws and almightily breaking natural laws. This is a supernatural reason to get to know Jesus.
Jesus wanted you to know Him
The accounts of Jesus' followers who witnessed His teaching and supernatural love and miracles show us who Jesus is, but how do we know that this is still relevant for us today? Was this not only meant for His first followers, or for the physical descendants of Abraham?
On the basis of the reliability of the accounts of Jesus' followers, those same accounts determine for whom they are meant and which accounts are further reliable. Thus Luke testifies that Jesus declared that His followers would be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The eyewitness account, everything Jesus had said and done, had to be proclaimed everywhere. It was Jesus' desire that everyone would get to know Him.
John says this about his eyewitness account: "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:30-31)
Jesus had you in mind
That it is Jesus' desire that the whole world gets to know Him is clear, but how do we know that what He says also applies to us? Was "that believing you may have life" only applicable to the Jews?
Those same accounts show how Jesus prayed for us: As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:18-21)
Jesus sent His first followers, who were eyewitnesses of Him, into the world, with the truth as their message, and it was His desire that everyone who believed their message would be one, just as He is one with the Father. The message for His first followers would be the message for all other followers who would later come to faith. Matthew, another eyewitness, adds: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19)
All nations, the whole world, Jesus had in mind when He gave His teaching, and His first followers had to pass this teaching on to new disciples who in turn would pass it on to others who believed through their word, until there would be followers of Jesus all over the world, among all nations, who would pass on that testimony.
It would become one flock with one Shepherd (John 10:16).
Paul explains that in Jesus two peoples, Jews (the first audience) and Gentiles (the audience that was added later), would be united to reconcile us in Him with God (Ephesians 2:15-16).
The message of Paul
Jesus' message in the Gospel, as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John described it, is for us today, far from Jerusalem and centuries later.
But in the Bible we also find the letters of Paul which we quoted above. Paul was someone who initially was not a follower of Jesus; he was rather an enemy of Jesus. He despised Jesus' followers and persecuted them. Why then does Paul have a place in the Bible and why should we accept his message?
In his letters Paul testifies how he was changed by Jesus Himself on his way to Damascus to take Jesus' followers captive (Galatians 1:10-24). But there are more people who claim they have had an encounter or a conversation with Jesus or with God Himself; should we believe all of them?
No, the only one who has authority on earth is Jesus, as He proved through His perfectly holy life and supernatural power. But those who witnessed His teaching and life confirm that Paul's testimony and letters are reliable. Thus Luke confirms the testimony of Paul in his book of Acts, in which he also reports on the execution of Jesus' command to witness by the power of the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Peter as well, who had lived close to Jesus, confirms Paul's message and calls him a beloved brother who, according to the wisdom given to him, has written many letters (2 Peter 3:15). What Paul teaches in his letters is confirmed by the eyewitnesses of Jesus and emphasises the truth that Jesus had made known to them.
Paul continues Jesus' command to bear witness of Him and His message, because he believed the word of those who were sent by Jesus (John 17:18-21). So Paul passes the message on to believers in Italian, Greek, and Turkish cities: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica, to specific followers Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, and probably to the believers from among the Jews in the letter to the Hebrews. Thus Paul teaches them, following Jesus' disciples, to observe all things that Jesus had commanded (Matthew 28:19).
The law and the prophets
Besides the letters of Paul, we also find in the Bible a large portion of ancient writings called the Law and the Prophets. What can we do with them and what does God want to teach us through them?
Jesus, who not only lived but also spoke as one who had authority, confirms these ancient writings: You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5:39)
Jesus was born of a woman from the line of Abraham. He was part of the people who claimed that God had spoken to them and would send them a Redeemer (Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 8:14, Isaiah 53:5). Everything we read in the first part of the Bible testifies of Him, points to Him, and finds its fulfilment in Jesus.
The law and the prophets testified, but Jesus revealed (Romans 3:21-22). The law and the prophets gave instructions and showed in rough forms a glimpse of reality; Jesus lived it out and brought everything to light (John 1:17-18, Hebrews 1:1). The law and the prophets gave the shadow; Jesus brought the reality (Hebrews 8:5-6, 10:1).
Peter also confirms the reliability of the first part of the Bible: For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)
And furthermore Paul shows Timothy (a follower who learned everything Paul had taught and in turn passed it on) that the entire first part of the Bible was given by God to instruct, to reprove, to correct, and to train in righteousness those who belong to God through faith, so that they may live as God, our Maker, intended (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
To Gentiles in Rome who believed the testimony of Jesus, Paul says that all those ancient writings were written to instruct, encourage, and comfort them as well: For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (Romans 15:4)
Because Jesus is our authority, the centre of history, we see what came before Him in the light of what He said and did, as well as what comes after Him. Nothing and no one before Him and nothing after Him can contradict Him.
Interpretation in Jesus' light
There was no one like Jesus and His message is totally different from all other human wisdom. He transcends everything. He overturns everything. He is no soft healer, but He warns, He is honest about our sin, He shows how great our misery is and how holy and righteous God is. But He is no harsh judge; He reveals God's love and He is willing to give His life, to bear the punishment so that everyone who, through the testimony of His followers, believes in Him will not perish but receive eternal life!
In His light, as the Light of the world, we read the Bible. This extensive evidence of the reliability of the books and letters that make up the Bible leads us to these (basic) principles when we read the Bible and determine how the message relates to us:
- All books and letters that make up the Bible complement each other and explain each other, with Jesus as the clearest expression.
- Jesus' message, visible in rough forms as a shadow in the Law and the Prophets, is directed at everyone who believes in Him through the word of His followers and thus is united with Him and with each other, as Paul also emphasises in Galatians 3:28-29, echoing Jesus' teaching in John 17:18-21.
- Jesus' message, explained in the letters of Paul, originally addressed to believers in cities such as Rome and Corinth, is directed at us because this is the message that the first followers passed on to the ends of the earth or until all nations had been reached.
- We read the letters of Paul in the light of Jesus' revelation and the testimony of His commissioned eyewitnesses.
- Jesus' message in the Gospels, originally directed at His first followers, is directed at us who believe in Him through their word.
- We read the first part of the Bible in the light of Jesus' revelation and the testimony of the eyewitnesses who were sent by Him.
- Jesus is different from all other people and proves, by perfectly keeping moral laws and almightily breaking natural laws, that He has the authority and power to reveal God.
The Bible is for you
The entire Bible was not primarily written to you; how we explain and apply specific parts we hope to address in a later article. But this is the foundation: the message of the Bible is directed at you and is passed on from disciple to disciple, from believer to believer. He had you in mind and He wanted you to know Him through the teaching He gave to Israel, through the eyewitness accounts and letters of His first followers, and through the letters of Paul which are confirmed by the eyewitnesses.
God wanted to make Himself known to you in the Lord Jesus and to reveal the only way to live and to die happily. As the great Inventor He wants to make known the purpose, value, and restoration of His invention. And even today He wants to confirm this not only historically or with logical arguments -- no, He also wants to confirm it supernaturally.
Again and again we read how the testimony of Jesus was confirmed with supernatural signs and wonders (Acts 14:3). Expect this today as well, and the most supernatural sign by which God still confirms the testimony of Jesus today is the change in the heart, when through His Holy Spirit we see His worth and believe His Word.
For the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14); it is foolishness to Greeks and a stumbling block to Jews (1 Corinthians 1:23), but it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
Receive this testimony in faith
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)
This word is directed at you. Receive it, trust in it, and follow it. It will change your life and you will see that it is reliable, that God's warnings are good and His promises become reality. Read your Bible, get to know God, through Jesus who lived Him out.
Teach me Your way, O Lord, teach me Your way. Grant me more of Your strength, teach me Your way. Keep me in balance, that before Your face, I walk in the full light, teach me Your way.
