THE CHARACTER OF ITS
TEACHINGS EVIDENCES THE
DIVINE AUTHORSHIP OF THE BIBLE
Take its teachings about God
Himself. What does the Bible teach us about God? It declares that He is Eternal:
“Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou are God” (Psalm 90:2).
It reveals the fact that He is Infinite:
“But will God indeed dwell on
the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain Thee” (1 Kings 8:27).
Vast as we know the universe to
be, it has its bounds; but we must go beyond them to conceive of God—
“Canst thou by searching find
out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as
heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea” (Job 11:7-9).
It makes mention of His Sovereignty:
“Remember the former things of
old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
It affirms that He is Omnipotent:
“Behold I am the Lord, the God
of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).
It intimates that He is Omniscient:
“Great is our Lord, and of
great power: His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5).
It teaches that He is Omnipresent:
“Can any hide himself in
secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven
and earth? saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24).
It declares that He is Immutable:
“The same yesterday, and
today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
“is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
It reveals that He is
“The Judge of all the
earth” (Genesis 18:25)
and that every one shall yet
have to “give an account of himself to God”(Romans 14:12). It announces that He
is inflexibly just in all His dealings so that He can by “no means clear
the guilty” (Numbers 14:18); that all will be judged
“according to their works” (Revelation 20:12), and that they shall reap
whatsoever they have sown (Galatians 6:7). It reveals the fact that He is absolutely
holy, dwelling in light inaccessible. So holy that even the seraphim have
to veil their faces in His presence (Isaiah 6:2). So holy that the heavens are
not clean in His sight (Job 15:15). So holy that the best of men when face to
face with their Maker, have to cry, “I abhor myself” (Job 42:6); “Woe is me!
For I am undone” (Isaiah 6:5). Such a delineation of Deity
is as far beyond man’s conception as the heavens are above the earth. No man,
and no number of men, ever invented such a God as this. Ransack the libraries
of the ancient, examine the musings of the mystics, study the religions of the
heathen and nothing will be found which can for a moment be compared with the
sublime and exalted description of God’s character which is furnished by the
Bible.
The teachings of the Bible about
man are unique. Unlike all other books in the world, the Bible condemns
man and all his doings. It never eulogizes his wisdom, nor praises his
achievements. On the contrary, it declares that “every man at his best state is
altogether vanity” (Psalm 39:5). Instead of teaching that man is a noble character, evolving heavenwards, it tells him that all his
righteousnesses (his best works) are as “filthy rags,” that he is a lost
sinner, incapable of bettering his condition; that he is deserving only of
Hell.
The picture which the Scriptures
give of man is deeply humiliating and entirely different from all which are
drawn by human pencils. The Word of God describes the state
of the natural man in the following language:
“There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps
is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet
are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way
of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes”
(Romans 3:10-18).
Instead of making Satan the
source of all the black crimes of which we are guilty, the
Bible declares,
“For from within, out of
the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from
within and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).
Such a conception of man—so
different from man’s own ideas, and so humiliating to his proud heart—never
could have emanated from man himself.
“The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9)
is a concept that never
originated in any human mind.
The teachings of the Bible about
the world are unique. In nothing perhaps are the teachings of Scripture
and the writings of man at such variance as they are at
this point. Using the term as meaning the world-system in contradistinction to
the earth, what is the direction of man’s thoughts concerning the same? Man
thinks highly of the world, for he regards it as his world. It is that
which his labors have produced and he looks upon it with satisfaction and
pride. He boasts that “the world is growing better.” He declares that the world
is becoming more civilized and more humanized. Man’s thoughts upon this subject have been well summarized by the poet in the
familiar language—“God is in heaven: All’s well with the world.” But what saith
the Scriptures? Upon this subject, too, we discover that God’s thoughts are
very different from ours. The Bible uniformly condemns the world and
speaks of it as a thing of evil. We shall not attempt to quote every passage
which does this, but shall merely single out a few specimen Scriptures.
“If the world hate you, ye
know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18-19).
This passage teaches that the
world hates both Christ and His followers.
“The wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
Certainly no uninspired pen
wrote these words.
“Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James
4:4).
Here again we learn that the
world is an evil thing, condemned by God, and to be shunned by His children.
“Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world” (1 John
Here we have a definition of
the world: it is all that is opposed to the Father—opposed in its principles
and philosophy, its maxims and methods, its aims and ambitions, its trend and
its end “And the whole world lieth in the Evil One” (1 John 5:19, R.V.).
Here we learn why it is that the world hates Christ and His followers; why its wisdom is foolishness with God; why it is condemned
by God and must be shunned by His children—it is under the dominion of that old
serpent, the devil, whom Scripture specifically denominates “The prince of this
world.”
The teachings of the Bible about
sin is unique. Man regards sin as a misfortune and ever seeks to minimize its
enormity. In these days, sin is referred to as ignorance,
as a necessary stage in man’s development. By others, sin is looked upon as a
mere negation, the opposite of good; while Mrs. Eddy and her followers went so
far as to deny its existence altogether. But the Bible, unlike every other
book, strips man of all excuse and emphasizes his culpability. In the Bible sin
is never palliated or extenuated, but from first to last the Holy Scriptures
insist upon its enormity and heinousness. The Word of God declares
that “sin is very grievous” (Genesis 18:20) and that our sins provoke God to
anger (1 Kings 16:2). It speaks of the “deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13)
and insists that sin is “exceedingly sinful” (Romans 7:13). It declares that
all sin is sin against God (Psalm 51:4) and against His Christ (1 Corinthians
8:12). It regards our sins as being “as scarlet” and “red like crimson” (Isaiah
1:18). It declares that sin is more than an act, it is an attitude. It affirms
that sin is more than a non-compliance with God’s law—it is
rebellion against the One who gave the law. It teaches that “sin is
lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, R.V.), which means that sin is spiritual anarchy,
open defiance against the Almighty. Moreover, it singles out no particular
class; it condemns all alike. It announces that “all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God,” that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3).
Did man ever write such an indictment against himself? What human
mind ever invented such a description of sin as that discovered in the Bible?
Whoever would have imagined that sin was such a vile and dreadful thing in the
sight of God that nothing but the precious blood of His own beloved Son could
make an atonement for it!
The teaching of the Bible about the
punishment of sin is unique. A defective view of sin
necessarily leads to an inadequate conception of what is due sin. Minimize the
gravity and enormity of sin and you must proportionately reduce the sentence
which it deserves. Many are crying out today against the justice of the eternal
punishment of sin. They complain that the penalty does not fit the crime. They
argue that it is unrighteous for a sinner to suffer eternally in consequence of
a short life span of wrong-doing. But even in this world it
is not the length of time which it takes to commit the crime which determines
the severity of the sentence. Many a man has suffered a life term of
imprisonment for a crime which required only a few minutes for its
perpetration. Apart, however, from this consideration, eternal punishment
is just if sin be looked at from God’s viewpoint. But this is just what
the majority of men refuse to do. They look at sin and its deserts solely from
the human side. One reason why the Bible was written was to
correct our ideas and views about sin, to teach us what an unspeakably awful
and vile thing it is, to show us sin as God sees it. For one single sin
Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. For one single sin Canaan and all his
posterity were cursed. For a single sin Korah and his company went down alive
into the pit. For one single sin Moses was debarred from entering the Promised
Land. For a single sin Achan and his family were stoned to
death. For a single sin Elisha’s servant was smitten with leprosy. For a single
sin Ananias and Sapphira were cut off out of the land of the living. Why? To
teach us what an infinite evil it is to revolt against the thrice holy God. We
repeat, that did men but see the terribleness of sin—did they but see that it was
sin that put to a shameful death the Lord of Glory—then they would realize that
nothing short of eternal punishment would meet the demands which justice has upon sinners.
But the great majority of men do
not see the meetness or justice of eternal punishment; on the contrary, they
cry out against it. In lands which were not illumined by the Old Testament
Scriptures, where there existed any belief in a future life, it was held that
at death the wicked either passed through some temporary suffering
for remedial and purifying purposes or else they were annihilated. Even in
Christendom, where the Word of God has held a prominent and public place for
centuries, the great bulk of the people do not believe in eternal punishment.
They argue that God is too merciful and kind to ban one of His own creatures to
endless misery. Yea, not a few of the Lord’s own people are afraid to take the
solemn teachings of the Scriptures on this subject at their face value. It is
therefore evident that had the Bible been written by
uninspired men; had it been a mere human composition, it certainly would not
have taught the eternal and conscious torment of all who die out of Christ. The
fact that the Bible does so teach is conclusive proof that it was written by
men who spake not of themselves, but as they were “moved by the Holy Spirit.”
The teachings of God’s Word upon
eternal punishment are as clear and explicit as they are solemn and awful. They
declare that the doom of the Christ rejector is a conscious, never-ending,
indescribable torment. The Bible depicts the place of punishment as a realm
where the “worm dieth not” and “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). It
speaks of it as a lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10), where even a drop of water is denied the agonized sufferer (Luke
16:24). It declares that
“the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night”
(Revelation 14:11).
It represents the world of the
lost as a scene into which penetrates no light—“the blackness of darkness for
ever” (Jude 1:13) —a doom alleviated by no ray of hope. In short, the portion
of the lost will be unbearable, yet it will have to be borne, and borne for
ever. What mortal mind conceived of such a fate? Such a conception is too
repugnant and repulsive to the human heart to have had its birth on the
earth. The teachings
of the Bible about Salvation from Sin is unique. Man’s thoughts about
salvation, like every other subject which engages his mind are defective and
deficient. Hence the force of the admonition—
“Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts” (Isaiah 55:7).
In the first place, left to
himself, man fails to realize his need of salvation. In the pride of his heart he imagines that
he is sufficient in himself, and through the darkening of his understanding by
sin he fails to comprehend his ruined and lost condition. Like the
self-righteous Pharisee, he thanks God that he is not as other men, that he is
morally the superior of the savage or the criminal, and refuses to believe that
so far as his standing before God is concerned there is “no
difference.” It is not until the Holy Spirit deals with him that man is
constrained to cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
In the second place man is
ignorant of the way of salvation. Even when man has been brought to the
place where he recognizes that he is not prepared to meet
God, and that if he died in his present state he would be eternally lost; even
then he has no right conception of the remedy. Being ignorant of God’s
righteousness he goes about to establish his own righteousness. He supposes
that he must make some personal reparation for his past wrong-doings, that he
must work for his salvation, do something to merit the esteem of God, and thus
win heaven as a reward. The highest concept of man’s mind
is that of merit. To him salvation is a wage to be earned, a crown to be
coveted, a prize to be won. The proof of this is to be seen in the fact that
even when pardon and life are presented as a free gift, the universal tendency,
at first, is to regard it as being “too good to be true.” Yet, such is the
plain teaching of God’s Word—
“For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: not of works; lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
And again—
“Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”
(Titus 3:5).
If it is true that man left to
himself would never have fully realized his need of salvation, and would never
have discovered that it was by grace through faith and not of works, how much
less would the human mind have been capable of rising to
the level of what God’s Word teaches about the nature of salvation and
the glorious and marvelous destiny of the saved! Who would have thought
that the Maker and Ruler of the universe should lay hold of poor, fallen,
depraved men and women and lifting them out of the miry clay should make them
His own sons and daughters, and should seat them at His own table! Who would
ever have suggested that those who deserve naught but everlasting shame and contempt, should be made “heirs of God and joint-heirs
with Christ”! Who would have dreamed that beggars should be lifted from the
dunghill of sin and made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places! Who
would have imagined that the corrupted offspring of disobedient Adam should be
exalted to a position higher than that occupied by the unfallen angels! Who
would have dared to affirm that one day we shall be “made like Christ” and “be
for ever with the Lord”! Such concepts were as far beyond
the reach of the highest human intellect as they were of the rudest savage.
“But as it is written, eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).
Again we ask, what human
intellect could have devised a means whereby God could be just and yet
merciful, merciful and yet just? What mortal mind would ever have dreamed of a
free and full salvation, bestowed on hell-deserving
sinners, “without money and without price”! And what flight of carnal imagination
would ever have conceived of the Son of God Himself being “made sin” for us and
dying the Just for the unjust?
The teaching of the Bible
concerning the Saviour of sinners is unique. The description which the
Scriptures furnish of the Person, the Character, and the
Work of the Lord Jesus Christ is without anything that approaches a parallel in
the whole realm of literature. It is easier to suppose that man could create a
world than to believe he invented the character of our adorable
Redeemer. Given a piece of machinery that is delicate, complex, exact in all
its movements, and we know it must be the product of a competent mechanic.
Given a work of art that is beautiful, symmetrical, original, and we know it
must be the product of a master artist. None but an Angelo
could have designed Saint Peter’s; none but a Raphael could have painted the
“transfiguration;” none but a Milton could have written a “Paradise Lost.” And,
none but the Holy Spirit could have produced the peerless portrait of the Lord
Jesus which we find in the Gospels. In Christ all excellencies combine.
Here is one of the many respects in which He differs from all other Bible
characters. In each of the great heroes of Scripture some
trait stands out with peculiar distinctness—Noah, faithful testimony; Abraham,
faith in God; Isaac, submission to his father; Joseph, love for his brethren;
Moses, unselfishness and meekness; Joshua, courage and leadership; Job,
fortitude and patience; Daniel, fidelity to God; Paul, zeal in service; John,
spiritual discernment—but in the Lord Jesus every grace is found.
Moreover, in Him all these perfections were properly poised and balanced. He
was meek yet regal; He was gentle yet fearless; He was
compassionate yet just; He was submissive yet authoritative; He was Divine yet
human; add to these, the fact that He was absolutely “without sin” and His
uniqueness becomes apparent. Nowhere in all the writings of antiquity is there
to be found the presentation of such a peerless and wondrous character.
Not only is the portrayal of
Christ’s character without any rival, but the
teaching of the Bible concerning His Person and Work is also utterly incredible
on any other basis save that they are part of a Divine revelation. Who would
have dared to imagine the Creator and Upholder of the universe taking upon
Himself the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men? Who would
have conceived the idea of the Lord of Glory being born in a manger? Who would
have dreamed of the Object of angelic worship becoming so
poor that he had not where to lay His head? Who would have declared that the
One before whom the seraphim veil their faces should be led as a lamb to the
slaughter, should have suffered His own blessed face to be defiled with the
vile spittle of man, and should permit the creatures of His hand to scourge and
buffet Him? Whoever would have conceived of Emmanuel becoming obedient unto
death, even the death of the Cross!
Here then is an argument which the simplest can grasp. The Scriptures contain their own evidence that they are Divinely inspired. Every page of Holy Writ is stamped with Jehovah’s autograph. The uniqueness of its teachings demonstrates the uniqueness of its Source. The teachings of the Scriptures about God Himself, about man, about the world, about sin, about eternal punishment, about salvation, about the Lord Jesus Christ, are proof that the Bible is not the product of any man or any number of men, but is in truth a revelation from God.