4:56 PM Concerning the Bible (4) |
Many people believe that if you understand the Bible and can interpret it, then you have found the true way. But is it really that simple? No one knows the truth about the Bible. It is merely a historical record of God’s work, and a testimony to the first two stages of God’s work, and you cannot understand the purpose of God’s work from it. Everyone who has read the Bibleknows that it is an account of the two stages of work God did during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament of the Bible records the history of Israel and shows how Jehovah did His work from the creation of the world to the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul. Are these not all historical records? Anything that happened in the past is history today, no matter how true, how real; and history cannot address the present. For God does not look back! So if you understand only the Bible but not the work that God plans to do now, if you believe in God but do not seek out the work of the Holy Spirit, then you do not know what it means to seek after God. If you read the Bible in order to research the history of Israel and to learn how God created heaven and earth, then you do not believe in God. But since you believe in God now, since you seek after life, since you seek to know God rather than seek after the lifeless letters and doctrines or seek to know the history, then you must seek God’s will in the present day, the direction in which the Holy Spirit’s work is moving. If you are an archaeologist, you may read the Bible; but you are not an archaeologist, you are a believer in God, and you would be better off seeking out God’s will today. At most, the Bible can teach you a bit about the history of Israel, about the lives of Abraham, David, and Moses and how they revered Jehovah, about how Jehovah burned those who resisted Him and gave instructions to mankind in that era; from the Bible, you can only learn about God’s work in the past. The bible records how in those days the Israelites revered God and lived their lives under the guidance of Jehovah. Because the Israelites were God’s chosen people, the Old Testament tells of the Israelite people’s loyalty to Jehovah, how all those who submitted to Him were taken care of and blessed by Him. It tells how when God did His work in Israel, He was full of compassion and love, and also possessed of the burning fire, how all the Israelites, from the lowly to the mighty, revered Jehovah, and how the whole nation was thus blessed by God. This is the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament.
The Bible is a historical record of God’s work in Israel, including many of the words of the ancient prophets and some of the words that Jehovah spoke when He performed His work. So everyone sees it as a holy book (because God is great and holy). Of course, this arises from man’s reverence for Jehovah and his adoration of God. Man calls the Bible a holy book, simply because he, a created being, is filled with reverence and adoration for the Creator, and some even call it a heavenly book. In truth, the Bible is only a record written by man, was not named by Jehovah Himself or produced under His direction; that is to say, the Bible’s author is not God, but man. It is called the Holy Bible, which is only a respectful title man gives to it. Jesus and Jehovah did not confer with each other and then decide to call it that; the idea came just from man. For it was not written by Jehovah, much less by Jesus, but rather by many prophets of old, apostles, and foretellers, whose writings were compiled by later generations into a book; it was an ancient book that was seen as very holy, and as containing many unfathomable and profound mysteries to be unraveled by generations to come. So people came to further regardthe Bible as a heavenly book, and with the Four Gospels and the Revelation of the New Testament added in, people began to see it, to an even greater degree, as a book different from any other. Thus no one dared dissect this heavenly book because it was too holy.
Why are people able to find proper ways of practice from reading the Bible? Why are they able to learn many things that they did not understand? By dissecting the Bible in this manner today, I am not saying that I despise it, or deny its value as a reference; rather, I am clarifying its origins and its original value so that you do not remain forever in the dark. For people hold so many opinions about the Bible, most of which are incorrect, and reading the Bible in this way not only prevents people from getting the things they need, but more importantly, it impedes the work that I am going to do. It is a massive disruption to My future work, bringing no good, only harm. So all I want is for you to understand the Bible’s substance and the true story behind it; I am not forbidding you to read the Bible or asking that you decry it as a worthless book. Rather, I am trying to give you a correct understanding of the Bible, an accurate view. Don’t be too one-sided! Although the Bible is a history book written by human beings, it records the principles by which many of the ancient saints and prophets served God, as well as the apostles’ experiences of serving Him in more recent times, which are real seeing and knowledge that can serve as a reference for people seeking the true way in the present age. So, one can find many ways of life in the Bible that cannot be found in other books. Because they are all the ways of life given to generations of prophets and apostles through their experience of the Holy Spirit’s work, and because much of this language is of great value to people and gives them necessary sustenance, it is a book that everyone is eager to read. And because there are so many secrets hidden in the Bible, people regard it differently than they do any other writing by great spiritual men. By recording the experiences and knowledge of those who served Jehovah and Jesus in the old and new ages, the Bible has given much enlightenment, illumination, and many ways of practice to later generations. The reason that the Bible surpasses the writings of other great spiritual men is that their writings all draw their material from the Bible, and their experiences all stem from the Bible and are directed toward interpreting it. So even though people could draw sustenance from the books of any great spiritual man, they still worship the Bible, for they regard it as ever so lofty and profound. Some books of the Bible, like the letters of Peter and Paul, carry the word of life and can be a source of help and sustenance. But nevertheless they are out of date; they are writings of a past age. No matter how good they are, they are applicable only to one period of time, and will not last forever. For God’s work is always moving forward, it is not frozen in time at the age of Paul and Peter, will not remain forever fixed at the Age of Grace in which Jesus was crucified. So, these books are applicable only to the Age of Grace, not to the final Age of Kingdom; they were able to provide sustenance only to believers in the Age of Grace, and cannot do the same for the saints of the Age of Kingdom. No matter how good these books may be, they are obsolete now. It is the same with Jehovah’s creation of the world and His work in Israel; no matter how good the work was, there would come a time when it was no longer applicable, when it became a thing of the past. It is also the same with God’s work; no matter how good it is, it will eventually come to an end, and cannot remain frozen forever at His creation or His crucifixion. No matter how persuasive His crucifixion was, no matter how effective it was at defeating Satan, work is work, and the times are the times; the work must progress past its foundation, and times must change. For just as surely as the world was created, it will come to an end—this is inevitable. So taken in the context of today, the word of life contained in the New Testament—the Four Gospels and the Letters of the Apostles—is just a history book, a stack of yellowed pages. How can a stack of yellowed pages lead mankind into a new era? No matter how able they were to give life, no matter how able they were to bring mankind before the cross, are they not still a thing of the past? Are they not worthless today, then? So I say to you, you must no longer put blind faith in yellowed pages—they are too old, they cannot lead you into the new work, they will only be an encumbrance to you. Not only will they not bring you into the new work, into the new entering, but they will lead you back into the old religious temple. For you who believe in God, is this not a step backward?
What is recorded in the Bible are the affairs of ancient Israel, the things that the chosen people of Israel did, the things that Jehovah did. And so later the Holy Spirit didn’t disapprove of this. Even though some of them were put into the Bible, and some omitted, the Holy Spirit did not commend it, but did not condemn it either. The Bible consists purely of the history of Israel, the history of God’s work, and the people, events, and things it describes are for the most part real people, real events, and real things, not foreshadowings of things to come—except the prophecies of Isaiah and Daniel, of course, or the visions of John. The Israelites then were a very cultured and knowledgeable people, with a highly developed ancient civilization, and so what they wrote surpasses the words of people today. It is not astonishing that they were able to write these books, for Jehovah performed much work among them and they saw so much. David witnessed the deeds of Jehovah with his own eyes, experienced them personally and saw many signs and wonders, which is why he wrote so many psalms praising the deeds of Jehovah. They were able to write these books because the conditions were right, not because men were so prodigiously talented. They could praise Jehovah because they had seen Him; if you have never seen Jehovah, if you have no idea of His existence, how can you praise Him? If you have not seen Jehovah, you will not know to praise Him, not know to worship Him, much less be able to write any word in His praise. You cannot invent deeds like Jehovah’s even if you try. The reason that you are able to praise God and love Him today is that you have seen Him, you have experienced His work. When you have become a more cultured person, will you not be able to write poetry praising God, just like David did?
You cannot merely understand the Bible and history but not understand what the Holy Spirit is doing today! If you have a stellar grasp of history but no understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work today, won’t you be silly? People ask you, “What is God doing right now? What should you enter? Where do you stand in your pursuit of life? Do you know God’s will?” You have no answer to these questions. “So what do you know, then?” You say, “I know to rebel against the flesh and to know myself.” They ask, “What else do you know?” You say, “I know to submit to all of God’s plans, and I know a bit about biblical history. Besides that, I know nothing.” You’ve believed in God for years and that’s all you’ve gained? If that’s all you know, then there is so much you lack! So in your current stature, you are not at all up to the things I ask of you. Your power of discernment, and your grasp of the truth, are too little—in other words, your faith is too shallow. In order to spread the gospel, you must be equipped with more truth, must know more and see more—for this is the thing you ought to achieve.
from The Word Appears in the Flesh Bible study topics such as the rapture and eternal life resolve your confusion on your path of belief in God and help you grow spiritually.
|
|
|
| Total comments: 0 | |