IT IS WRITTEN!

Time with Jesus - Saturday, 19 May 2012

Hi all,

Having God’s Word in written form is essential for us today. Very few men or women have cultivated their memories sufficiently to be able to memorise the entire Bible. In this respect the invention of the printing press has been a mixed blessing. It’s no longer necessary to memorise the Bible. Instead we have hundreds of Bibles. What a shame so few people even bother to read them.

Blessings

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Time with Jesus – Saturday, 19 May 2012
INTRODUCTION	DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	IT IS WRITTEN!
Most of us appear to have a “What if” mentality. For example, “What if Adam had not sinned?” There would have been major ramifications. Where would we be? What about Cain and Abel? Perhaps the Lord Jesus Christ would not have come? It’s a bit vague. We know Adam and Eve were put out of the garden. The details are sketchy but they are all we need to know. We know that there were fig trees in the garden. If not they wouldn’t have been able to sew them together. What they used for a needle and thread I’ll leave with the skilled seamstresses to advise me. The reason we know even the little we do, is because it was written down. Traditionally it is believed Moses did the writing. He is also thought to be the author of Genesis to Deuteronomy.  It’s a reasonable assumption with the exception of the last portion of Deuteronomy. These must have been inserted by Joshua – Moses was beyond writing, he was dead. The information recorded in Genesis 3 to 50 was probably handed down by the oral tradition. We don’t come across much of it these days. But back then it was the only way. Writing had not yet been invented. Furthermore since young Jewish boys learned the first five books (The Torah) off by heart, it’s not difficult to assume that the oral tradition functioned well in Moses’ day. Genesis 1 and 2 is a puzzle. The only way for Moses to get this information was directly from God. God may have dictated it for the oral tradition. It’s more likely that the Lord gave it directly to Moses. Moses, education must have included reading and writing so that would have been OK. Today we don’t have trained memories. We forget things. I tell people I don’t have a good memory. Instead I’ve got an excellent “forgetery”. So the only way for me to store information is to write it down somewhere. As a Rabbi, Jesus would have known the Scriptures “off by heart”. Since He was also the original “author”, He would have been able to quote Scripture instantly and accurately. So when Satan came to tempt Him in the wilderness, He would have been able to say, “It is written”. This was not just to defeat Satan, although that’s exactly what He did. He was also pointing out to future generations that the Word of God was in writing. I can’t fool you with so called Scripture quotations if it is written somewhere. You could easily say, “Show me”. Today we can say exactly the same thing. Certainly this is true for what was originally written. Those initial writings – the autographs - were copied by hand for posterity by scribes. These copies were in turn copied. This has happened all down through the centuries. Today the autographs have been lost. Probably they were so dog-eared by scribes they became illegible and were thrown away. The various schools of scribes demanded accuracy and rules were in place to prevent errors in transcription. So we are reasonably sure that what is available today is accurate. However, we know some men have changed the text to correspond with their own doctrines. Sad but true. They will be called to account. One day God will judge them.  He will deal with them very severely. No person has authority to change His Word. Jim and Phyllida Strickland	5 I can do this because of the partnership (fellowship) we've had with you in the Good News from the first day you believed until now. Philippians 1:5 GW 12 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts--limbs, organs, cells--but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. 13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain--his Spirit--where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves--labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free--are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 MSG 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. 1 John 1:3-4 NLT 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 NLT 1 After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so He can give glory back to You. John 17:1 NLT 20 "I'm not praying only for them. I'm also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. John 17:20-21 GW	I can’t remember all the things said to me by my dad, When I was busy growing up and was still just a lad. There’s lots of things he said to me concerning growing up; He laid the first foundation for my drinking from life’s cup. To me he was so special. The wisdom that he shared, Assisted me to know that I’d been properly prepared, To be the sort of father that Jesus Christ desired. And how to be a husband that my precious wife required! If I’d been really diligent, I’d have written in a book, Everything he said. Then I could always take a look, And know without a question, exactly what he said; Before my memory of things had vanished from my head. I should have kept a diary. I should have made a file, To keep all of his sayings in; to look back on and smile. The followers of Jesus, all heard the things He said. But in the course of history, they’d very soon be dead. Their first-hand information would have passed away and gone. They wondered how their followers could ever carry on. And so they started writing on some sort of ancient scroll, The things they could remember deep down within the soul! The task was rather daunting. They had to get it right. It needed to be accurate, so people wouldn’t fight, And say it never happened; or that it wasn’t true. So putting it on “parchment” was the proper thing to do. They had a secret helper who didn’t say a thing. The Holy Spirit prompted them, so that His Words would ring, Forever to His followers in future generations. They’d know they were not reading man’s vain imaginations. And so we have the things He said recorded in a form, That people kept and valued in a way that was the norm. We call it the “New Testament”. It speaks of Jesus’ day; And tells us just what happened as they walked along the way. And now this written record is the Word of God Most High. Nobody may alter it. They mustn’t even try, To change what has been written. To follow and obey, Their thinking of the things they feel that surely it should say! To do what Jesus taught us, will keep us in the light. It’s better to obey the Lord and get our thinking right. For no one has been authorised to change the Words He said. And everyone who does it will suffer when they’re dead. We cannot change the Scripture and think we’ll get away! To mess with what God’s written, will on the Judgement Day, Bring about a sentence too “bad” to think about! A place among the wicked. That’s sure; beyond a doubt. Jim Strickland – Written 19th May 2012