The Scriptures: Part 1

 •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 10
 
Number 1
By "Scriptures" we mean sacred writings. They are a most gracious gift and that they should ever have been recorded is very marvelous. 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, at this remote point in time, with the volume of inspiration before us and the teaching of the Holy Spirit 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 able to enter into the divine ways as revealed in past ages and receive instruction, as it were, from the mouth of God. Such is the wonderful reality of possessing the infallible word of the living God.
Blessed be God, He has 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 at different times extending over a period of perhaps seventeen or eighteen hundred years. Persons in very different positions in this life were called and prepared to set before us the mind of God. Sometimes learned men and at other times ignorant and unlearned men were His instruments; on some occasions kings were used in this blessed service and at other times a herdsman or a fisherman.
In many parts and by different instruments, at various times and in many ways, God has graciously revealed His mind in writing. By the Spirit He has manifestly set 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 Spirit teaches. (1 Cor. 2:1313Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 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 may be perfect [complete], thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:16, 1716All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16‑17).
Moses was commanded of God to write (Ex. 34:2727And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. (Exodus 34:27); Deut. 27:33And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. (Deuteronomy 27:3)), and the Lord said, "Moses... wrote of Me." John 5:4646For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. (John 5:46). Again we read that Moses wrote a song according to the commandment of Jehovah and taught it to the children of Israel. "Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord." Num. 33:22And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. (Numbers 33:2). (See also Deut. 31:19-2219Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. 20For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. 21And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 31:19‑22).) After the smiting of the rock on Horeb, in order that the people might have water to drink, the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." Ex. 17:1414And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. (Exodus 17:14).
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 His 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 words of this law," "the covenant,”
Joshua, who was Moses's 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. 1:88This 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. (Joshua 1:8). C.H. Mackintosh
The Day of Glory
The day of glory bearing
Its brightness far and near,
The day of Christ's appearing
We now no longer fear.
He once a spotless victim
For us on Calvary bled;
Jehovah did afflict Him,
And bruised Him in our stead.
To Him by grace united,
We joy in Him alone;
And now by faith delighted,
Behold Him on the throne.
Then let Him come in glory,
Who comes His saints to raise!
To perfect all the story
Of wonder, love, and praise.