Revival and Bible from 13.10.16
Personal Matters
The savage decline in Bible knowledge is a common feature of Western Christianity. Even for older believers, including me, God isn’t experienced as near as he used to be in the reading of his Word. I feel we have lost the reality of God’s glory imparted through reading/hearing/praying scripture. In exploring what is behind this malaise Psalm 119 came to us as a key reference point; “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path….I am afflicted very much; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word.” (105, 107). If like me you are looking for personal restoration then it must come through fresh scriptural revelation.
God’s Word for the Gods
In disputing with the Pharisees over his claim to equality with God Jesus quotes from the Psalms; “““Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came…”” (John 10:33-35; Ps 82:6). The word of God naturally comes to humans as god-like creatures called to be the LORD’s agents of rule in the world. This is why the first human people naturally had the power to hear God’s command to have dominion over the earth (Gen 1:26-28). To believe in the Word was the fundamental “work” of Adam and Eve which would empower them to rule over all creation (cf. John 6:28-29). This is exactly what Satan attacked in Eden. Deceived by the devil’s murderous word, they believed that their work of taking from the tree would deliver them from the need to believe in God’s Word (Gen 3:1-6; John 8:44). Working together in unbelief of God’s Word they believed they could receive from one another the glory of becoming “like gods” with power over death (Gen 3:5 KJV; John 5:44). Tricked by the very being they should have ruled, Adam and Eve found themselves naked and ashamed they now found themselves placed under the tyranny of the voice of their own guilty consciences (Gen 3:7a, 11). Such is the judgement on all who refuse to be “enslaved” to the rule of the Word (John 8:33). Self-convicted they refused to appeal to their Creator for mercy and turned to their own ingenuity. The invention of sewing enabled these sinners to cover themselves, not as an act of ruling the world befitting “gods” but in fear and hiding from God (Gen 3:7b). Social and technological advances have always been polluted by an attempt to escape from the conviction of the Word of God. The failure of men and women are to work with God is a sure sign of their rejection of submission to the Word of God. Even when we claim to “hear the word” we are certainly not “doers of the word”. Like those who glance in the mirror and turn away we soon lose sight of what it means to be in the image and likeness of God (James 1:22-25). But those who do God’s work to “visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” are true hearers of his Word (James 1:27). Thankfully, Jesus is the Word of God who has lived out the work of God on our behalf.
The Word the Doer
God the Word’s greatest act of doing was not creation but to become flesh (John 1:14). The goal of Christ’s own obedience to the scriptures was “the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11; Matt 4:1-11). As a man without shame or guilt Jesus never read the Bible with the thought, “how is this going to help my interests?” Instead, he looked to the scriptures to guide him in doing the works of God in all things. Through these works lost people could see the true image and likeness lost in Eden and turn to the Father; “believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”” (John 10:38). Because the Bible-readers of Jesus’ day, the Pharisees, did not understand the union between the Word and his works they tried to kill him; “The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”” (John 10:33). In their biblical worldview the sheer impossibility of Messiah dying a shameful death on a cross justified their conviction that they and not Jesus were the true interpreters of scripture (Mark 15:32; 1 Cor 1:23). In contrast to the sentence of these scripture scholars, the resurrection of the Word is the final vindication of Christ’s identity as the Son of the Father (Rom 1:4). The death-and-resurrection of Jesus remains the centrepiece of scripture and the pattern of the work of the Church for the salvation of the world.
The Pattern of Revival
Many pray for revival but few understand that it can only come through a renewed revelation of the Word (Ps 119:105). This is the problem of the ages. The Rabbis could not be revived for their interpretation of scripture was their distinctive identity and glory and they refused to bring it to the cross. The medieval Church elevated itself as the infallible interpreter of scripture and so was bypassed by the Spirit’s work of Reformation. Later Evangelicals, convinced their interpretation of the Word on the Spirit was final could not participate in the Pentecostal revival. The modern pragmatic Church seeking a “how to” message to intensify life’s enjoyments cannot receive the Word of resurrection through death to self. The idea of reading the Bible for the sake of others, for the glory of the Father and Son in the salvation and healing of the world is utterly foreign to the self-centred spirituality of most contemporary Christians. Whether in the realm of marketplace or Church recourse to the Bible for help has become the standard means of building personal kingdoms. The dominance of patterns like these the above explains why revival never begins in the mainstream Church. Whether conservative or liberal, mainstream holds onto an interpretation of scripture as its identity and glory to which it will not die. It is only to those for whom the Bible has become dry and who know from past experience that this is the opposite of their true nature that the renewing of the Spirit in the Word will come (Hos 6:1-3; Hab 3:2; Heb 4:2-13).
Conclusion
The Bible is the means by which the Word of God becomes real and actual for others through our godly works. Scripture is inspired so that “the man of God may be equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). Since “man of God” characteristically refers to Moses and the prophets this means Bible reading has a specific prophetic purpose (Deut 33:1; 1 Ki 13:1; 1 Sam 9:6 etc.). That through living a lifestyle of generous sacrifice men and women might receive a revelation of the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is the “burden of the Word of the LORD” we as the Western church are refusing to receive today (Hab 1:1; Zech 9:1; Mal 1:1). Like the Israelites of old we presume that the Lord wants to confirm us in peace and prosperity; so in judgement he is not speaking to us in radical life-transforming ways through scripture (Jer 23:33-40). When we have a heart to do the works of the kingdom of God then the Spirit of God will visit us through the Word of God and the world will believe once again the message of the Bible about a new creation (Acts 2:4, 11, 42-47).
I have lost a sense of the glory of God I once received through reading/hearing/praying scripture and so stand in need of a radical refreshing and renewal in the Spirit in order to do the good works of the Lord (Tit 3:1, 4-6). Who amongst us stands in a different place today?? let us not however be despondent; “I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His Holy Word” (John Robinson). May the Spirit through the Word blow us to where he wills, whatever the cost.