9:05 PM God’s Word “Concerning the Bible (2)” |
The Bible is also known as the Old and New Testament. Bible13Do you know what “testament” means? The Old Testament is called “testament” because of the covenant that Jehovah established with the Israelites when He struck down the Egyptians and liberated the Israelites from Pharaoh of Egypt. Of course, “the lamb’s blood” that the Israelites smeared on their lintels was evidence of the covenant, according to which any household marked with the lamb’s blood on their doorframes belonged to the Israelites, God’s chosen people, whom Jehovah would spare (for He was then about to strike down all the firstborn sons and cattle of Egypt). The meaning of this “covenant” was twofold. Jehovah would not save any of the Egyptians or their livestock, and smite all of their firstborn sons and cattle. Thus many of the books of prophecy foretold that the Egyptians would be chastised severely, because of Jehovah’s covenant. This is the first meaning. By smiting all the firstborn of the Egyptians and of their livestock and sparing all the Israelites, Jehovah showed that He valued all the people of the land of Israel. He spared all of them because He planned to do a long-term work on them, and He established His covenant with them by “the lamb’s blood.” From then on Jehovah promised not to strike down the Israelites, and He said that the Israelites would be His chosen people forever. He would carry out His entire work in the Age of Law among the twelve tribes of Israel, revealing all of His laws to the Israelites and choosing prophets and judges from among them; they would be the core of His work. By His covenant with them, Jehovah would not work among other peoples, unless a new era had begun. Jehovah’s covenant would never change, because it was a compact sworn by blood with His chosen people. Moreover, He limited His entire work in that age to a people and place suitable to it. So for all the people, this covenant was extremely important. This is the second meaning of the “covenant.” Except for Genesis, which describes events that took place before the covenant was established, all the other books in the Old Testament record God’s work among the Israelites after He made this covenant with them. Of course, these books occasionally mention things that happened among other peoples, but for the most part the entire Old Testament concerns God’s work in Israel. Because of the covenant Jehovah made with the Israelites, all of the books written during the Age of Law are called the Old Testament; it is taken after Jehovah’s covenant with the Israelites.
The New Testament takes its name from the blood shed by Jesus on the cross and the covenant thereby established between Him and all His believers. Jesus’ covenant was that anyone who believed in Him would be forgiven of their sins by His blood, would thus be saved, reborn through Him, no longer be a sinner. Anyone who believed in Jesus could receive His grace, and after death they would not taste the bitter suffering of hell. All the books of the Age of Grace were written after this covenant was established and describe the works and words involved in the covenant; they concern only the salvation offered by Jesus on the cross and His covenant, and were all recorded by those brothers in Christ who had experience. And so they are named for this covenant, and together are known as the New Testament. The two testaments cover only two ages, the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. They bear no relation to the final age. So for people today, in the last days, they are not particularly useful. In a pinch they can serve as a reference, no more; they have almost no practical value. But the religious people treasure them like nothing else. They do not understand the Bible, only try to explain it, know nothing of its origin. The attitude that they take toward the Bible is that it is completely correct, that it is infallible. Then they start to study it, and because they have decided in advance that the Bible is correct and infallible, they become fascinated with it as they pore over its pages. This stage of work of today was not prophesied in the Bible. To do the conquering work in the darkest of places—this was never mentioned because it is completely new. This is the age of a different work, and even Jesus Himself did not know that this stage of work would unfold in the last days. So how could people, who live in the last days, find evidence of it?
People who attempt to explain the Bible do so, for the most part, by means of logical inference. They know nothing of its actual background, but rather use logic to parse it from various angles. For years no one has dared dissect the Bible, no one has dared utter the word “no,” because it is a “holy book” and people worship it as if it were God. This situation has persisted down through thousands of years, without God paying it any heed and without anyone finding out the true story of the Bible. We say that adoring the Bible is a form of idolatry; but no devout believer will dare take this view, and he will admonish you, “Brother, don’t say that, that’s terrible! How could you blaspheme God?” With a stricken expression on his face, he will go on: “Oh, merciful Savior Jesus, I beg You to forgive his sin, for You are the loving Lord of mankind, and we are all sinners. I beg You, take great pity on us, amen….” You see how devout they are; how could they accept the truth? If you say this to them, it will frighten them deeply. No one dares imagine that the Bible is adulterated by human will and notions. No one sees the chink in the armor. Some of the Bible comes from the experiences and knowledge of individuals, some of it from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and some of it is mixed with human intellect. God will never intervene in these things, though there is a limit, which is that they cannot exceed the bounds of normal human thought. If they do, then it disturbs and disrupts God’s work and is Satan’s doing, because this is not man’s place, but rather is the work of Satan, done at Satan’s behest, which the Holy Spirit will not suffer you to do. Sometimes a brother or sister will ask Me, “Can I do such and such a thing?” Observing his or her stature, I say, “Yes!” Someone else will say, “If I do such and such a thing, is it a normal state?” And I say, “Yes, very normal!” Then another person will say, “Can I do such and such a thing?” And I say, “No!” He will say, “Why can he do that, and I cannot?” And I say, “Because when you do it, it comes from Satan, and stirs up trouble. Your intentions are rooted in the wrong place.” Sometimes the work has not yet reached a certain stage, and the brothers and sisters do not know it. One of them asks Me if he can do such and such a thing, and seeing that it would not interfere with the coming work, I say, “Yes.” The Holy Spirit’s work gives man a set of parameters; it is not that man must absolutely adhere to the Holy Spirit’s original intentions, for man has normal human thoughts and normal human weaknesses, certain needs of the flesh and certain practical problems, and man gets certain ideas that he has no control over. Everything I ask of man has a limit, and some people think I am being ambiguous in saying, “Yes, you can do this, and you can also do that,” because they [a] do not understand that My requirements for man are always governed by a set of reasonable parameters. If I were to do as you imagine, asking the same thing of all people, demanding that everyone achieve the same stature, it would not work—that would be asking for the unachievable. Man works by such principle, not God. God’s work accords with man’s practical circumstances and differs according to each man’s actual qualities. This is equally true of spreading the gospel: You must go slowly, letting things take their natural course. Only when the truth becomes evident to a man will he be willing to accept it and lay aside the Bible. If God were not doing this stage of work, who could break with established practice? Who could undertake a new work? Who could find a new way outside of the Bible? People are too mired in traditional notions and feudal ethics; they cannot break free of them, and moreover they do not have the courage to break free. What’s more, their minds are held tight in the grip of old, dead biblical phrases. So how could they possibly give up the Bible? How could they easily accept a way that lies outside of the Bible? That is why it is imperative that you make clear to them the truth about the Bible and the principles of the Holy Spirit’s work, causing all of them to be sincerely convinced. For people in religion all exalt the Bible and worship it as if it were God; they are trying to shackle God with the Bible, and they even will not rest until they have crucified Him again.
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