The scriptures truly are a miraculous thing the Lord has provided for His people. Yet at the same time, because they speak of spiritual things, they can be both a blessing and a cursing depending on how they are used.
The Lord has revealed some truths to me about this subject and I believe He would have me share little about it. He might use it for confirmation to those that He has been leading in the same way; I pray it will be a blessing to them.
I wrote a little about this subject in the article "Following Christ unto Salvation".
Here is an excerpt from it:
The Lord has revealed some truths to me about this subject and I believe He would have me share little about it. He might use it for confirmation to those that He has been leading in the same way; I pray it will be a blessing to them.
I wrote a little about this subject in the article "Following Christ unto Salvation".
Here is an excerpt from it:
The Pharisees could not accept who Jesus was even though they had memorized and knew the scriptures because they could not hear the voice of the Father in their spirits speaking to them of His Son. Read what Jesus said to them:"And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." (John 5:37-40)The scriptures are meant to point us to CHRIST to be led of HIM. Scriptures are a witness of Christ just as WE should be a witness of Christ, but WE are NOT the Christ and neither are the scriptures. Apart from Christ neither we, nor the scriptures can pierce the hearts of men nor can we or the scriptures discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, ONLY CHRIST the Living Word can do this. We and the scriptures are a dead word without Christ.
Christ has to be HEARD in the hearts of men. He wants a relationship with His people that will hear his voice, recognize it and follow Him; this is how he will lead His own to become the Sons of God that He desires them to be. This has been His plan since before the foundation of the world.
It is true that there are many reasons why Satan would want us to follow the "letter" of the scriptures rather than being led of the Spirit. If he can keep the people using their own understanding of scriptures, following men and their theologians, with their doctrines and traditions, they will be just as Paul had been, with scales on their eyes so they cannot see the truth that is able to set them free. Thereby he can keep them in bondage.
Any time we depend on the temporal realm for things...things that we can see, touch and understand with our mind, we have substituted our dependence on Christ for the carnal temporal things.
The scriptures are part of that temporal realm, they are a written record on paper of The Living Word of God as He moved on men to write them, but The Living Word of God, who is Christ, is Spirit and He shall never pass away or become void. Christ speaks spirit and they cannot be contained on mere paper but can be alive in our born again spirits. (1Cr 2:14) These words that are spoken must be spiritually understood.
Let us pray that we can "receive the love of the truth" no matter what that truth might cost us, so we will not be deceived and believe the lie. (2 Th 2:10-11)
So then, what are the scriptures and how are they to be used? What do the scriptures say about the scriptures? The scriptures do not point you to the scriptures to be led by them, but rather they point to Christ and to be led by His Spirit. (Rom 8:14) Jesus didn't point His disciples to the scriptures to teach them the "many things" they were not able to bear yet, but this is what He said to them:
Any time we depend on the temporal realm for things...things that we can see, touch and understand with our mind, we have substituted our dependence on Christ for the carnal temporal things.
The scriptures are part of that temporal realm, they are a written record on paper of The Living Word of God as He moved on men to write them, but The Living Word of God, who is Christ, is Spirit and He shall never pass away or become void. Christ speaks spirit and they cannot be contained on mere paper but can be alive in our born again spirits. (1Cr 2:14) These words that are spoken must be spiritually understood.
Let us pray that we can "receive the love of the truth" no matter what that truth might cost us, so we will not be deceived and believe the lie. (2 Th 2:10-11)
So then, what are the scriptures and how are they to be used? What do the scriptures say about the scriptures? The scriptures do not point you to the scriptures to be led by them, but rather they point to Christ and to be led by His Spirit. (Rom 8:14) Jesus didn't point His disciples to the scriptures to teach them the "many things" they were not able to bear yet, but this is what He said to them:
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." - (John 16:12-15)
The Old Testament is "a shadow" of spiritual things to come (Col. 2:17) and it takes the Spirit to reveal its truths to us, only Spirit can comprehend Spirit. (1 Cr 2:10-16)
The Lord can use the Old Testament scriptures to show us the deep truths about "salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" as Paul told Timothy. These Old Testament scriptures, as they are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Truth), can open up our understanding that would lead us to Christ if we would have ears to hear. The scriptures "point the way" to be led of Christ and in that they are "...profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Tim 3) as the Spirit of Truth reveals them to us.
And in the New Testament, we have been given by God a record of Jesus' coming. We have His teachings and it tells us about His death and resurrection. In them we also have a record of when the Spirit of Truth came in Acts chapter 2 and began to teach the disciples and the apostles. He gave them a completely different view and understanding of the Old Testament scriptures than they had ever seen before. All the "learned" men of their time, with all their wisdom, did not understand the scriptures the way the Holy Spirit showed them to the apostles. The scales on their eyes had been lifted off and they were able to receive the truth. The Spirit of Truth transformed everything they "thought" they had known before about the scriptures and showed them Christ in those scriptures (Act 18:28, Rom 1:2-3, Mat 12:40,). We have examples of how the Holy Spirit led them two thousand years ago and we can see them growing in the knowledge of Him in the recorded writings of the New Testament. We are so blessed to have this testimony today.
It could be very difficult for us without this witness of both the Old and New Testaments, but nothing is impossible with God. The scriptures are a tool that the Spirit of Truth uses to teach us just as He did the apostles in the first century. And just as they were then, today they are still not the "only final authority to be followed" that some claim they are. Only Christ, the Spirit of Truth is that "authority" and only He can bring us to the truth even if the scriptures were not available to us.
Today, without the Holy Spirit, we won't understand the New Testament any more than the apostles understood the Old Testament before the Spirit of Truth started revealing it to them. Without the Holy Spirit, we too, cannot "bear the truth". (John 16) Two thousand years after the New Testament was written, God has allowed a "veiling" of the truth in the scriptures so that it forces us to depend on Him. It keeps us from having any other "guide" besides Christ, the Spirit of Truth. Those that do not have the faith to trust in the Holy Spirit to lead them in this way, but would rather look to the scriptures only as their final authority and guide, will not be able to understand the deep spiritual truths that would lead them into the Kingdom of God, where the rivers of living water never run dry, where there is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is where the fruit of the Spirit is always manifesting in them.
A strange thing has happened in the last few hundred years. Religion has elevated the scriptures themselves in a place that only Christ Himself should be. They have come to worship them as if the written word was actually Christ, the Living Word. This has led to much deception and has contributed to bringing about the "falling away" Paul prophesied about in 2 Thessalonians 2. Because the carnal man (human reasoning) cannot understand the things of the Spirit, the scriptures have become a stumbling block that SHOULD have led them to Christ, to get their "doctrine" from Him as He opened their understanding. Instead, over 30,000 different ideas of what the scriptures say have produced as many different "Christian" sects and denominations. God will not be mocked and He will not have any other God before Him.
The Lord can use the Old Testament scriptures to show us the deep truths about "salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" as Paul told Timothy. These Old Testament scriptures, as they are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Truth), can open up our understanding that would lead us to Christ if we would have ears to hear. The scriptures "point the way" to be led of Christ and in that they are "...profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" (2 Tim 3) as the Spirit of Truth reveals them to us.
And in the New Testament, we have been given by God a record of Jesus' coming. We have His teachings and it tells us about His death and resurrection. In them we also have a record of when the Spirit of Truth came in Acts chapter 2 and began to teach the disciples and the apostles. He gave them a completely different view and understanding of the Old Testament scriptures than they had ever seen before. All the "learned" men of their time, with all their wisdom, did not understand the scriptures the way the Holy Spirit showed them to the apostles. The scales on their eyes had been lifted off and they were able to receive the truth. The Spirit of Truth transformed everything they "thought" they had known before about the scriptures and showed them Christ in those scriptures (Act 18:28, Rom 1:2-3, Mat 12:40,). We have examples of how the Holy Spirit led them two thousand years ago and we can see them growing in the knowledge of Him in the recorded writings of the New Testament. We are so blessed to have this testimony today.
It could be very difficult for us without this witness of both the Old and New Testaments, but nothing is impossible with God. The scriptures are a tool that the Spirit of Truth uses to teach us just as He did the apostles in the first century. And just as they were then, today they are still not the "only final authority to be followed" that some claim they are. Only Christ, the Spirit of Truth is that "authority" and only He can bring us to the truth even if the scriptures were not available to us.
Today, without the Holy Spirit, we won't understand the New Testament any more than the apostles understood the Old Testament before the Spirit of Truth started revealing it to them. Without the Holy Spirit, we too, cannot "bear the truth". (John 16) Two thousand years after the New Testament was written, God has allowed a "veiling" of the truth in the scriptures so that it forces us to depend on Him. It keeps us from having any other "guide" besides Christ, the Spirit of Truth. Those that do not have the faith to trust in the Holy Spirit to lead them in this way, but would rather look to the scriptures only as their final authority and guide, will not be able to understand the deep spiritual truths that would lead them into the Kingdom of God, where the rivers of living water never run dry, where there is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is where the fruit of the Spirit is always manifesting in them.
A strange thing has happened in the last few hundred years. Religion has elevated the scriptures themselves in a place that only Christ Himself should be. They have come to worship them as if the written word was actually Christ, the Living Word. This has led to much deception and has contributed to bringing about the "falling away" Paul prophesied about in 2 Thessalonians 2. Because the carnal man (human reasoning) cannot understand the things of the Spirit, the scriptures have become a stumbling block that SHOULD have led them to Christ, to get their "doctrine" from Him as He opened their understanding. Instead, over 30,000 different ideas of what the scriptures say have produced as many different "Christian" sects and denominations. God will not be mocked and He will not have any other God before Him.
An excerpt from the article "Sola Scriptura":
Those that would stand on scripture alone would rather follow a set of laws found in them rather than submitting their lives and their wills to the Lord to be led by Him, in this way it is easier, it doesn't cost them as much. They cannot hear a clear word from the Lord because their own fleshly/carnal life drowns out the voice of the Lord. To be led by the Spirit, one must be willing to die to their fleshly/carnal life submitting their own will to the Lord with its wants and desires, leaning not on their own understanding any more but trusting only in the Lord for His guidance. Then He is able to reveal truth to them by His Spirit and open up the scriptures to them and He will lead them in His paths.
The scriptures are not be handled "deceitfully" or any other way, than by the Spirit of Truth. (2Cr 2:17, 4:2)
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