If a friend handed to us a ponderous volume, consisting of sixty-six books, written by between thirty and forty persons, and at different times, extending over fifteen hundred years, and said, Notwithstanding all their differences, there is a remarkable unity throughout, should we not be astonished? As a matter of fact, there is no such book as the Bible in this respect; nor could there be, unless all the writings it contained had been under the guidance of One mind, and its communications throughout given by the One Spirit.
One thing which would be likely to strike some persons in considering the principle of unity in a book, would be to compare the end with the beginning, and see if there be any connection as to similarity or contrast. In the Bible it is written, “Known unto God are all His works, from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). Let us turn and examine a few scriptures as to this.
The first words we find in the Bible are, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1), and, as a matter of fact, much of the Bible is about God’s heavenly and earthly people; also as to things in connection with the present heaven and earth; and in the end of the book we read of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).
In the beginning of the book it is said, “Let there be light, and there was light”; afterward we are told that Christ is “the light of the world”; and in the end of the book we read, that “the Lamb is the light thereof.”
In the beginning, we read of a tree of life in the garden of Eden, from which man was afterward excluded through his sin; in the end we find “the tree of life” with its many fruits, and are taught that the faithful will eat of “the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:2).
A river, too, was in Eden, and at the end of Revelation we read of “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Gen. 2:10; Rev. 22:1).
In Genesis 2 we see the first man (figure of Him that was to come) and his help-meet, of whom he could say, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”; and in Revelation 21 we have presented to us “the bride, the Lamb’s wife....having the glory of God”; of whom it had been said, that He “nourisheth and cherisheth it,” and that “we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Rev. 21:9,11; Eph. 5:29-30).
In the earthly paradise man was in dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every creeping thing, and the name he gave to every living creature that was the name thereof; but toward the end of the book, the Lord Jesus, the last Adam, will bring this groaning creation into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, and have His rightful place as “Lord of all,” having subdued all things unto Himself (Gen. 1:28; 2:19; Psa. 8; Phil. 2:10-11; Phil. 3:21). In the beginning we have Satan tempting; then sin, and the curse; and in the end, we see Satan in the lake of fire, sin taken away, righteousness dwelling, and no more curse. In the beginning sorrow and death; in the end, “no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away” (Gen. 3; Rev. 20:10; 2 Peter 3:13; 1 John 3:5; Rev. 21:1-4).
Surely, then, we find a remarkable unity of thought in the beginning and ending of the Bible, though the contrasts are most striking; because the Son of God had come meanwhile to accomplish redemption, destroy the works of the devil, take away sins, make good the promises, vindicate God in all His ways, honor Him in perfect obedience as Man, and glorify Him in clearing us from all iniquity, and bringing us to God, to share the inheritance with Him who is Heir of all things.
Another mark of unity is found in the truth it sets forth throughout. If early in the Old Testament it is said of man, that “the imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” it is said in the New Testament that “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 8:7). If a prophet in olden time said, “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field....the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of our God shall stand forever”; an apostle, seven hundred years after, writes the same, only adding to “the Word of the Lord endureth forever,” “And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (Isa. 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24-25). If the Psalmist exclaimed, “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven,” our Lord said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Psa. 119:89; Matt. 24:35). If the testimony of a prophet was, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts,” an apostle informs us, that “the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (Zech. 4:6; 1 Cor. 2:11). If Moses was inspired to write, “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul,” we read in Hebrews, that “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22). If an Old Testament writer warned the people not to “add unto the word” which he commanded them, “neither shall ye diminish ought from it,” the ancient writings are not closed without enforcing the exhortation by saying, “Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar”; nor can the canon of Scripture be concluded without the last of Revelation giving us the most solemn warning concerning it. (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19).
Take another subject. All through the entire volume, from Genesis to Revelation, we find since man became a sinner, that he has been accounted righteous before God on the principle of faith, and never on the principle of works; a fundamental truth of vital importance. We read, that God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skins; that is, their nakedness could only be truly covered up from the eye of God through the benefit derived from the death of a sacrifice. Abel’s offering shows out the same. Also in Genesis 15; we read, “Abram believed in Jehovah and He counted it to him for righteousness”; and David, who lived nine hundred years after, describeth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works, saying, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Rom. 4:6-8). These scriptures are quoted by the Apostle Paul to make clear to us, that the principle on which all are justified from all things, is that of faith, without the deeds of the law. Hence, “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22,28).
The typical instruction in the Old Testament having its accomplishment in the New Testament, gives a remarkable complexion of unity to the whole Bible. Take, for instance, Abraham offering up his loved and only son, Isaac; what an accurate fulfillment of the type we have in God’s delivering up His only-begotten Son as a sacrifice for us! In this one instance we have shadowed forth divine love and grace in laying our iniquity on Him; divine righteousness in judging unsparingly our sins on Him instead of on us; and divine power to usward in raising Him up from the dead, and giving us risen life in association with Him.
(To be Continued).