Have you grown up hearing that you need to know the Bible? Maybe you took it off the shelf to read or maybe not. Did you ever ask yourself…why? And was your conclusion ‘just because?’ Let’s see what the Bible itself has to say.
We Need to Know the Bible To Know God, the Creator
The Bible is our introduction to God as the Creator of the heavens, the earth, and all living things.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1:16
If you’ve ever wondered about the Creator, the Bible is the place to learn more. Recorded over the span of 1,600 years by around 35 people, some may say that makes the Bible unreliable and not divinely inspired. But in fact, it’s those exact qualities that make the Bible a reliable place to get information about God.
The content of the Bible is consistent from beginning to end despite the range of time, different writers, and even their differing geographical locations and languages. No person could make that happen. Only through God’s power could such a book come into existence. Therefore, the Bible is what God has given us so that we can know Him.
God’s History and Heart
When God created everything, what was His purpose in doing so? He built the earth and formed people with the intention of living with them forever. Not a sandcastle to be washed away by the tide, or a summer home to be in half the year – He was building something that would last forever. A home with all of us.
But within the words of the Bible are also engraved God’s heartbreaking past 6,000 years, His grievance, sorrow – His love. God entrusted all of His creation to Adam to oversee and care for. And that creation fell under Satan’s control when Adam sinned and chose to follow the devil’s words of deception (Genesis 3).
Because sin and corruption continued to increase on the earth, God was grieved that He made man, and He was forced to leave (Genesis 6). His holiness couldn’t and still cannot coexist with our sin. But His love is great and He still purposes to dwell with His creation. To reconnect. The plan to do this is 6,000 years in the making, and the devil has always been actively working against it.
We Need to Know the Bible to Know How to Reconnect to God Through Jesus
What is God’s plan to reconnect? He sent us Jesus. Why? Jesus was the promised Messiah, or Savior, who died on the cross so that through his blood, a way to forgiveness of our sins could be opened. Through Jesus, who describes himself as the way, truth, and life in John 14:6, we have an opportunity to reconnect with God.
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in the justification and life for all people.
Romans 5:18
The gospel that Jesus preached and the content of the New Testament also attests to this. The way to the Father is opened up to us only through Jesus. Through his death on the cross we can receive forgiveness for our sins and be restored to God. But the only way we can know about this plan is by knowing the Bible.
Why Should I Care?
You might think, “It’s all spirits fighting up there somewhere. Adam was 6,000 years ago and I have nothing to do with that. Why should I care about this?“
Because God wants you to know Him. God gives all people a chance to share in His joy, pain, and hope through the Bible. Imagine a father who can’t be with his children. Through no fault of his own, this father has been disconnected from his family, and is so far away to the point where his own children have forgotten about him.
Would a parent who loves their children give up on trying to get back to them? God hasn’t, and He is working to get our attention so that we can help restore the relationship with Him.
We Need to Know that God is Reaching Out to All
Whether you know Him personally yet or not, God’s intention is for all to know Him and receive the life that comes from Him.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
Whether we recognize it or not, we are in peril – on a road of sin where the final destination is death. After being cut off from God’s inherent life, the devil has been ruling over the world. And a world ruled by the devil is a world where sin and death reign. Because of Adam’s sin, we have been born into sin, are sinful ourselves and will eventually die.
But consider that this isn’t what God ever wanted. His original intent was for His creation to live forever with Him. So, the Bible teaches us exactly how God plans to take us off this road of destruction and help us onto the path of life.
But if we don’t know this Word, how can we know God’s plan? We can’t expect to be a part of something by default. “I go to church,” or “I believe in Jesus” – those are all good, but think about it like this:
You’re in a group chat with your friends. In the chat, everyone is discussing plans to celebrate a birthday. You can be in the chat, you can know that your friend’s birthday is coming up, but if you don’t read the content of the chat, will you be able to join the party? You’ll be left sitting at home alone while everyone else is celebrating together. The Bible is the same.
We Need to Know the Bible to Not Be Deceived by the Enemy
Another reason we need to know the Bible is so that we aren’t deceived by the enemy. First we have to realize that this entire world is a warzone. Not just a warzone filled with guns and bombs, but a war between spirits – God and Satan. And what are they fighting for? Us.
The Origin of the Enemy
Why is that? The devil, the enemy, wanted to take God’s place as ruler, as the true King, as God Himself. He deceived himself into thinking he could take that place. Before he became the devil, Satan was an archangel, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Literally perfect. But it took just one greedy, proud, and arrogant thought. Why shouldn’t I be God? So, he rose up against God to try to usurp His throne. (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-17)
But the lesson to learn from the devil’s mistake is that a creation can never overtake the Creator. Who was the one who created him to be full of wisdom and perfect in beauty? With all the power he has, it cannot compare to the unfathomable power of God.
When the devil failed to take God’s throne and was kicked out of heaven, he decided to be king over something else: mankind. Because unlike God, people could be deceived and overcome. The devil’s new target was the people that God created to dwell with – God’s precious possession. A people that, if they were harmed or taken away, it would hurt God more than anything else.
God, not intending to sit back and just let the devil reign, has been fighting in an all-out war to take back what is rightfully His. This is how much he cares for all people. Not wanting even one to suffer under the devil’s reign.
The Devil Fights Dirty
Since taking over by deceiving Adam and Eve and causing them to turn against God, the devil has continued to work to keep us away from God through deception. He doesn’t always feed us blatant lies, but also partial truths that look good for food and pleasing to the eye.
Something like this: You don’t have to know the Bible as long as you say Jesus is Lord. We like the sound of that. Going to heaven is easier than getting into an Ivy League university. But this isn’t what God tells us in the Bible.
We have to be able to distinguish the truth of God from the devil’s words of deception. Do you think you know the Bible better than the devil – the one who was once closest to God – the one who is full of wisdom and was a commander of God’s heavenly host? If we don’t know the Bible, we are easy targets – the devil doesn’t have to work hard to keep us deceived.
We Need to Know the Bible to Recognize Our Enemy
Know thy enemy, they say. This is what we must do first. We have to know his appearance, how he works, his tactics and tricks. In a war, if you know these things about your enemy you can guard yourself against them and ultimately, defeat them.
Whether you consider yourself a believer in God or not, we can all look at the world and see that things have gone wrong along the way. Well, who or what is responsible for that? The Bible offers an explanation for who the enemy is that made the world like it is now.
The Bible is our manual – it’s our military briefing detailing all the information about our enemy. We have to know it even better than our enemy does. But if we don’t make an effort to read and understand it, the devil will remain on top, evading our attempts to recognize and catch him. I’d rather be a fortified city that the devil attacks with countless bombs than someone who unknowingly greets him on the battlefield.
You Need to Know the Bible to Realize It’s All for You
In the end, the Bible comes down to God’s heart to save you. To know you. And for you to know Him. To live together in the world as God originally intended, not the world we see today, torn and scarred by 6,000 years of war.
While we may have misunderstandings about God and the Bible, God wishes to make those clear to us and share His side of the story, a story that has been disfigured and misconstrued by people and the devil these past 6,000 years. His truth.
Like the original sentence in a game of telephone is completely distorted by the end, making our own judgments about God based on what we hear from various sources will end in a flawed picture. So let’s go to the source and let God introduce Himself on His own terms. This is why we need to know the Bible.
Written by Samantha
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