The Scriptures: No. 1

2 Timothy 3:16‑17  •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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By “the scriptures” we understand sacred writings, they are a most gracious gift. That they should ever have been recorded is very marvelous; but that they should have been preserved for us, amidst all the superstition and infidelity of the dark ages, is a standing witness of the goodness and power of God! We can thus, at this remote period, with the volume of inspiration before us, and the teaching of the Holy Ghost within us, receive the doctrines of the apostles in all their primitive purity, through their Epistles; we can be in company with the Son of God, and catch the inimitable utterances which fell from His gracious lips, in all their fervor and freshness; we are also enabled to enter into the divine ways as revealed in past ages, and receive instruction as it were from the mouth of God. So wonderful is the reality of possessing the infallible word of the living God.
Blessed be God, He hath spoken, and inspired His chosen servants to write the revelation of His own mind, so that we may read it again and again. In this sacred service He has been pleased to employ a variety of instruments, and at different times, extending over a period of perhaps seventeen or eighteen hundred years. Persons too in very different positions in this life were called, and qualified, thus to set before us the mind of God. Sometimes learned men, and, at other times, ignorant and unlearned. On some occasions, kings were used in this blessed service, and at other times a herdsman, or a fisherman. In many parts, by different instruments, at various times, and in many ways, God has graciously revealed His mind in writing, though always by the same Spirit, and all most manifestly setting forth one harmonious whole. However diversified and infinite its depth and range, yet all the parts so fit in with each other, that we could not be without any portion of the inspired writings without serious loss. The “words” too have been given, not according to those taught by human wisdom, but in those which the Holy Ghost teacheth. (1 Cor. 2:13.) It is comforting to note that all is given for our profit and blessing. “All [or every] scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God maybe perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17.)
Moses was commanded of God to write (Exod. 34:27; Deut. 27:3), and we are told that “Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah.” Jesus said, “Moses wrote of me.” Again, we read that Moses wrote this song according to the commandment of Jehovah, and taught it the children of Israel, and that “he wrote their goings out according to their journeyings by the commandment of Jehovah.” (See Deut. 31:19-22; Numb. 33:1.) Again, after the smiting of the rock on Horeb in order that the people might have water to drink, “The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.” (Exod. 17:13.)
Moreover, it is clear that Moses was conscious that the word he gave to Israel had divine authority. He said, “It shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all the commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth.” His writings, therefore, are called “the book of this law,” and “the covenant,” and “the statutes which are written in this book of the law.” “And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests.” (Deut. 18:1, 1; 29:21; 30:10; 31:9.) These were some of the beginnings of holy scripture.
Joshua, who was Moses’ successor, was solemnly charged by Jehovah to observe and do according to all the law which Moses commanded. It was also said, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” (Josh. 1:6-8.)