A woman shopping for jewelry told the counter clerk she was interested in buying a crucifix. The clerk reached into the case, retrieved a small golden one, and handed it to her.
The woman asked the clerk, “Can I get one of these with the little man on it?”
When I heard about the odd question, John 4:22 came to my mind, where Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “You worship that which you do not know.”
This is a great problem even today. After the tiring influence of political bandwagons, the worst sort of social experiments, and crass consumerism, we’re left worshiping a little man we can wear around our neck.
Is it any wonder so many of us are perpetually underwhelmed by our own faith?
This is where the Scriptures come in as a game changer. They describe the God who exists, and do so in a substantially detailed way.
Consider John 1:1–“In the beginning was the word.” What is a word? It’s the verbal expression of a person’s invisible interior. Word makes known what is inside.
The Greek word for “Word” is logos. It’s where we get our English word logo. Like when a company selects a graphic, hoping that when you look at it, you’ll think about a certain theme. For instance, the “swoop” on the side of a tennis shoe expresses the idea that it will cause you to overcome gravity. Golden arches communicate the tasty treat of a french fry. A good logo is all about expression.
How well does the logos of John 1:1 express God? The verse says, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Put another way, the Word expressed God so perfectly, that it was God. It expressed Him to perfection.
Now take a look at John 1:14. It says the same word that was in eternity with God “became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
This Word caused us to see God’s glory, God’s grace, and God’s truth. Where we for so long had only witnessed corruption, this Word gave us a view of Glory. In a world full of revenge, ill-will, and dark intentions, the Word was full of grace. And in a environment submerged in lies and spin of every kind, this Word was full of truth.
Now, going a little further, when God breathed out this Word into specially prepared human writers, who then wrote it down, it became what we call Scripture. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is breathed out by God.” If in eternity, and as a man on earth, the Word perfectly expressed the glory, the grace, and the truth of God, when it has been breathed onto paper, it will do the same. It’s going to express, describe God to us. That’s why the scriptures are “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Whenever we pick up the Bible, we’re expecting the Scriptures to describe God to us in such a way that it will teach us. It will banish our ignorance of spiritual things. It will also reprove and correct us, which may not be as gratifying as teaching, but it is necessary because of the way we go astray so habitually. Even more, Scripture will train us in righteousness.
In all these ways, when God self-describes, there’s a lot at stake for us.
That’s why in the very next chapter—2 Timothy 4:3-4—Paul warned us that, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching.” It will be (and is), as though the teaching of Scripture will cause them to respond with revulsion. The description of God will become like Kryptonite to them. It will trigger and anger them, and they will not be able to hear it.
They will do something, though. “Having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” They don’t have a hunger for grace and truth and glory, but have a boundless appetite for gurus who will validate their lustful drives. The result? “They will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” Once the ear is no longer cultivated for truth, by default, it will always resonate with lies.
Healthy Christians don’t turn away from Scripture. They turn to it, and soak in the description of God they find there. It’s kind of like one of those grow-in-water toys. The little girl in the graphic started off with the small rubber alligator, and then after soaking it in water for about six hours, it became a large one. It’s sort of what we hope will happen to our faith if we regularly soak in the description of God.
Let’s talk about how this looks for you in actual experience. What if you decide to read through your Bible from cover to cover? What description will you encounter as you go along? What sights will you see?
First of all you will begin in the Book of Genesis and read through to Deuteronomy—five books we call the Mosaic law. In case you don’t like the word “law” because it sounds like rules, well, for sure, in this section of the Bible, the Scriptures are describing God in the legal, and righteous sense. This is foundational to our understanding of Him. All the other books of the Bible rest upon it. You can’t skip, much less reject the law of God, and yet claim to have a healthy concept of God, or of sin, or even of human morality.
Okay, you’ve made it all the way to the book of Joshua. If you read from Joshua to the Book of Esther, you’ve completed a section of the Bible called history. Our experience of world history has often been one of memorizing dates on index cards, and trying to keep track of who did what to whom. But biblical history is redemptive. It is a special history focused on how God interacts with His people in real time, and amidst actual events. Here, Scripture describes to you how that looks, and the potentials and possibilities for your own life.
Once you’ve made it through the historical section, you’ll arrive at the wisdom books. These–Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes–don’t line up back-to-back, but they are all classified as wisdom. Scriptures in the wisdom genre describe God’s mind concerning how to navigate life here on the ground. Though some of these will include helpful principles with desirable outcomes, at times wisdom is needed just as much when nothing happens as it ought. In fact, you will encounter a lot of questions in those pages that you yourself have asked during seasons of intense frustration.
Once you’ve finished the wisdom books, it’s time for Psalms, and the Song of Solomon. These are classified as poetry according to Hebrew structure, and rhythm. Poetry might not sound appealing to some because of its emphasis on metaphor and sentiments. But even if you’re not particularly feeling- oriented, you are still an emotional being. In these books, the scriptures describe God from within emotions of joy and sorrow, anger, desperation, disappointment, outrage, depression, and elation–conditions of the heart that affect how we live.
Now you’ve come to the book of Isaiah, and if you keep reading all the way to Malachi, then you will finish a section of books labeled as prophetic. There, the Scriptures describe and open God’s heart, His feelings about the current attitudes and actions of His people, and His fearful judgments and glorious intentions for the future. The prophets exemplify a kind of spiritual “live stream” where the rest of the Word finds constant application and relevance to life.
At this point the Old Testament description of God is finished. You’ve received a foundational, moral, spiritual, practical basis for thinking about God. It’s impressive, but still incomplete.
You’ll need to continue into the Gospels and Acts. That’s where the scriptures describe God as the Word coming down to earth in the flesh—Jesus Christ—who demonstrates the redemptive love of God by dying on the cross and resurrecting from the dead. The attached book of Acts will then describe God’s mission to reach people with the news of that crucifixion and resurrection. This section constitutes the super dense core of the Christian faith. It presents the Lord Jesus as the centrality of Scripture itself, and the object of our faith.
Now you’re in the Book of Romans. If you read all the way through to the book of Jude, you will have completed a section of the Bible called the Epistles, or, letters. Here, the Scriptures describe God through explicit, detailed teachings—everything you need to know about the work of the Divine Trinity inside of people who have believed in Jesus. What is God up to these days? It’s all here.
Next, and last of all, comes Revelation, a special book of prophecy that describes the God who completes His eternal intention. God doesn’t just start things. He finishes them regardless of the opposition. The description of God begun in Genesis comes together in this last book with all prophecies fulfilled, and all promises kept. Christ is all in all.
When you pick up your Bible, you’re holding in your hands the unique, substantial description of God. It is how He describes Himself in words, according to His proper dimensions, and in the right way. Yes, we often respond by complaining we don’t understand so much of what we read. For sure, the Bible isn’t easy. It is more than some kind of religious storybook we can master. After all, it describes the reality of a Person who is beyond this world.
You may wonder if the scriptures are worth your time.
Well, ask yourself, “Do I want to know what I worship?”
