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Understanding Scripture |
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We Friends who wait on the Lord for love and divine guidance understand that God reveals Truth through His revelations in scripture. Jesus opens us to the true knowledge of the Bible. His eternal Light that overcomes our natural darkness. Because the Biblical scribes discerned God's proclamation to His people, they revealed that God provided Light that pervades our souls. This light is not a natural light but as the apostle John enunciates the Light is the Word of God. "THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT" which give light to every man (woman) coming into the world (John 1:9). Likewise in Genesis, the Biblical scribes heard the Lord proclaim that the seed of the woman would crush Satan. This confirms our knowledge through the power of Christ, that we require Jesus's intervention to overcome the evil one. Because we can be influenced by Satan to perform evil works, God requires us to wait on His Son to overcome the baneful evil of Satan. Yes, Christ overcomes Satan. We can and should thank the Biblical writers for revealing God's Word on the perniciousness of His adversary. Likewise we should be thankful to Jeremiah for revealing that God has written His laws inwardly. Yet we must pray for the insight God provides in sending His commands into our souls. Jeremiah's discernment leads us to wait on the Lord for his inward law. Before Jeremiah heard God's Truth, Moses wrote and revealed that God would send His covenant people a prophet like Himself whom we must hear and obey. This prophet's Kingdom would and does include all people willing to listen and obey the Holy One. And indeed, as the New Testament writers proclaim Christ Jesus has come to teach us. Through the writings of John, we understand that we who refer to ourselves as Jesus's followers must love each other in the same way that Jesus loves us. Christ moves us to read that scriptural passage over and over again for our edification, if not for our love. There are many more scriptural passages that illuminate the loving power of God. But what I need to say that Jesus reveals not only in our hearts but through His biblical writers who waited on the Lord. That is why the Bible is so important for my spiritual welfare. And that is why I would urge Friends to pursue Bible study in the name of our gracious Lord.
Arthur Berk |