“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Or, “Search the scriptures … they are they which testify of me (Jesus).” John 5:39
Let’s look at verses 39 and 40 together:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40
The Holy Scriptures have as their Grand Subject the Son of God. Like the pharisees, the religionist of His day, those who hear it and don’t repent, coming to Jesus, forfeit the blessing of His salvation.
Here the Son of God is correcting the Jewish leaders of His day. The religious people Jesus was speaking to here knew the law/Word of God, yet vainly thought they could mentally assent to and keep the letter of the law of God without coming to know the living LORD Himself – the Person. To this type of heart, He will never reveal himself. They were hardened in heart and didn’t want to repent of their sinfulness which would be a prerequisite for knowing God, who is holy (Mark 7:1-23; John 15:22, etc.).
A wise man once stated; It is one thing to know the Word of God, it is another thing to know the God of the Word.
God gave to us His Word as a window through which we see Him (Luke 24:27, 44-45). He is integrally involved in opening our understanding that we might know Him more intimately:
“Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at *Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:25-27
“And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” Luke 24:44-45
“Moses,” “the prophets,” and the “Psalms” always refer to the written Word of God, namely the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 24:14; 26:22; Ephesians 2:20, etc.).
When the Scriptures are opened, Christ is revealed – brought forth into focus on the center stage of our hearts. God is all about opening to us His Word that we might behold a glimpse of Jesus Christ.
Several verses in the New Testament Scriptures reveal that Jesus Christ is the “Word” of God (John 1:1, 14; 1:2; Rev. 19:13). Jesus is the divine Person who is revealed in all the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. He is the central Theme of all of Scripture.
Jesus Christ is the revelation of God – the Word of God, that is, God’s expression to man (John 1:1, 14:9; Heb. 1:1-3). The personhood and nature of God is clearly revealed to us in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” (Hebrews 1:3) He chose to reveal Himself to us through words. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word of Life, and has given to us His eternal Word, is the perfect and permanent portrait of God.
“…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father…” John 14:9
May God open our hearts through His Word and by His Spirit, that we might know and love Him supremely. The Psalmist prayed and we should also pray this; “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalms 119:18)
**THERE ARE so many who claim to have a revelation or a word from God. God gave us HIS revelation, tangible to us, in HIS WORD – the 66 glorious books in the blessed, divinely inspired canon of His written Word! His written Word is final divine authority, period! He says His written Word is even more authoritatively divinely authenticated than is His own audible voice speaking to us from Heaven. Am I making this up?
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:19-21
The reason we read, study, and meditate upon the words of God is to see Jesus more and more.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
—— OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS LIMITED TO OUR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WORD AND YET, KNOWING THE LETTER OF HIS WORD DOES NOT GUARANTEE OUR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. THE AFFECTIONS OF OUR HEARTS MUST OF NECESSITY BE ENGAGED (PSALMS 27:4, 8; JEREMIAH 30:21; COLOSSIANS 3:1-3; PHILIPPIANS 3:10, ETC.). “THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY” IS ONLY POSSIBLE BY THE INITIATING GRACE OF GOD AND OUR VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION WITH CHRIST – BEING DEAD AND BURIED WITH HIM AND RAISED UP BY HIM (PROVERBS 9:10; 30:3; ROMANS 6:3-4; PHILIPPIANS 3:7-10; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:10-12; 1 JOHN 4:9-10, 19, ETC.). KNOWING THE LORD IS TO BE MUCH MORE THAN INITIAL SALVATION. IT INVOLVES A “DAILY” SETTING ASIDE OF SELF AND TAKING UP THE CROSS TO WALK WITH JESUS, WORSHIPING HIM BOTH “IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH” – THAT IS, KNOWING HE WHO “IS A SPIRIT” IN THE SPIRIT AND ACCORDING TO HIS HOLY TRUTH – WORD (JOHN 4:23-24). PLEASE SHARE.
God’s purpose for giving us His written Word is manifold, beginning with the transmission of divine information to us, so we can know Him and His ways and will etc.
Jesus IS the Word and how does Scripture tell us He chose to reveal Himself to us?
He reveals Himself to us through His Word and Spirit. That’s who we know about Him and can know Him.
What do you know about Jesus and how did you find those things out about Him? In what book is John 3:16 found? The koran? WHY did Jesus give us the parable of the Word, the seed, the heart soil if hearing the Word to know Him isn’t important and isn’t the way He reveals Himself to us? What are the 4 pillar purposes God gave us His Word?
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
For a topical study of deeper proportions on this subject, see The Blood of Jesus. Christology – The Study of Christ!
If you truly desire to know more about how to really know the LORD, go here okay: Born Again: What is It?
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Chapter 8 from the book Raised Up (narration)
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
The Down and Up Principle of God’s Kingdom
“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root DOWNWARD, and bear fruit UPWARD.” Isaiah 37:31
The Scriptures follow a pattern of death and resurrection, a downward death and upward life. See if you can observe such a truth in the following verses:
“The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth UP all those that be bowed DOWN.” Psalms 145:14
Do you possess the blessed desire to be raised up by the Almighty? According to His divine wisdom given us in His precious Precepts, in order to be “raised up” we must first be “bowed down.” The LORD will not raise up any person who is still alive in his own power – He only raises up “those that be bowed down” in sincere humility before His majesty (Ps. 145:14; Jn. 12:23-25; Rom. 8:11).
“Those that be bowed down” will “take root downward” and be raised up in blessed fruitfulness (Isa. 37:31).
In order to “bear fruit upward,” one must first be planted in the house (kingdom) of the LORD and “take root downward” in the rich soil of His truth. The resurrection life of Jesus and ample fruitfulness will be the result.
Going deeper in God necessitates going down deeper into death and burial with Christ! Read Romans 6. There are no shortcuts (Galatians 5:24). Christ’s kingdom is a cross economy – one of utter humility and death to self that He might reign (John 12:23-25; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3, etc.).
“And whosoever shall exalt himself (upward) shall be abased (humbled); and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:12
“He must INCREASE, but I must DECREASE.” John 3:30
“And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat FALL INTO THE GROUND (downward) and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit (upward). He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life (downward) in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (upward).” John 12:23-25
“Humble yourselves (downward heart posture) in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10
The life of Christ will raise a man upward and this is after that man bows down his life or humbles himself under the mighty hand of God – first at initial salvation then in the consecrated life that brings God glory. Blessed resurrection life is the upward result of the life planted downward and this is the place from which ministry springs. Look at what the apostle Paul wrote in this regard:
“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12
Jesus declared to us that He came to make captives free from sin and Satan – “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Lk. 4:18; Jn. 8:31-32, 36).There is chain-shattering, freeing power (liberty) in the redeeming blood of Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost (Lk. 4:18; Jn. 8:36; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 12:11). The divine promise is that when one bows down before the LORD, every yoke shall be broken by Him who is above all (Isa. 58). No stronghold or bond of Satan has power when Christ’s blood is applied in sincere repentance and by the power of the Holy Ghost! The saint who is raised up after being bowed down, will glorify God in rich fruitfulness being “changed into the same image (Christ’s) from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
It is the divine Person of the Holy Ghost who raised up the LORD who was bowed down before His Father in death in order to purchase His Church with His own sinless blood (Acts 20:28). In like manner, it is the Holy Spirit with His resurrection power who raises up those who be bowed down before His throne of grace.
“And he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God… And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.” Luke 13:10-13, 16-17
There can be no resurrection until there is first a death. A seed is dead or dormant then is planted and then germinates and brings forth bud, then a stalk and ultimately fruit – but first it must be buried downward in order to bear life-giving fruit upward. The life buried with Christ will be lifted up by divine power and bear much fruit to God’s glory (Jn. 15:8).
“But if the Spirit of him that raised UP Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised UP Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive upward) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11
Our LORD had to first die and be buried “downward” in order to be raised “upward” by the Father in resurrection life to raise up and justify all those who would call upon Him in repentance (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; 10:13). In order for fruit to be borne “upward,” the disciple must first be planted “downward” in “the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Isa. 37:31; Phil. 3:10).
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Romans 6:3-5
“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12
He created man with a choice (Josh. 24:15). In the end there will be “the resurrection of life” and also “the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:28-29). Each of us will be in one of these resurrections – either everlasting life or eternal death (conscience separation from God in hell). The entrance into Heaven or termination into hell will hinge upon whom we served – God or self (Rom. 6:16).
Real promotion comes only from the Giver and Sustainer of all life – from the north (Heaven).
“For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Psalms 75:6-7
That person who freely chooses to believe God, taking Christ at His Word, bowing under His infinite Majestic glory, will be raised up both now and forever and eternally glorified with the Alpha and Omega (Phil. 2:5-11; 2 Thess. 2:13-14).
“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.” Psalms 92:12-14
PRAYER: Please draw me deeper into You LORD Jesus. Father in Heaven, You sent Your only begotten Son to die for me in order that I might be raised up in new life in this brief life and eternally. I love You Jesus and ask You to lead me to that crucified life that you lived when here on earth and as You gave Your life blood on the cross to save Your people. Please quicken me by Your Holy Spirit and fill me afresh O LORD, that this life You gave might be fully one with You and fruitful and pleasing to Thee. Lord, I am watching and praying in light of Your soon return. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
If you truly desire to know more about how to really know the LORD, go here okay: Born Again: What is It?
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