Time with Jesus - Sunday, 19 May 2013
Hi all,
Those of us who love the Word of
God, seldom ask ourselves how we got it in our hands. We look at the Old and
New Testaments. The thought hardly ever occurs to us, how it came to be. I
don’t want to go into all the details of the transmission of God’s Word from
the very beginning. I can’t do that anyway. I simply don’t know enough. But
this morning, let’s focus on one particular aspect; the actual writing of the
“books” which constitute the Canon of Scripture.
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| Adam and Eve in Eden |
In my young days and when I
committed my life to Jesus Christ, I made a foolish assumption. I thought that
God had written it down in some form. Then someone “found” the writing,
recognised the writing or the “paper” on which it was written. Thus we acquired
the Old and New Testaments. It was, I suppose, the naivety of youth. There it
was laid out on extraordinarily thin paper and wrapped in a beautiful leather
cover. In some instances, the words, “The Holy Bible”, were etched onto the
front in what appeared to be gold!
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| How to Sew Fig Leaves |
For me, it was exactly what I would have expected
from a loving and astronomically wealthy God. The fact that they were printed
on that beautifully thin and high quality paper was not even “on my radar”.
After all, back then there were more urgent matters to think about. These were
“maidens and moola”. (girls & money - What else?) Finally, sanity prevailed
and the question of how we came to get the Bible, nudged its way into my
thinking process.
Having ploughed through some or
the Old and New Testament books, I realised that, except for one or two passages,
they were written by men. Genesis 1 and much of 2 for example could not have
originated from man. There were not around then. I also noticed that the style
of the books were different. The only way to account for this was that
different people had done the actual writing. But if men had written it, how
dare we call it the Word of God? It was a “canackler”.
Finally, I was introduced to the
following verses written by the apostle Peter. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own
interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy
never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from
God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21 TNIV
When I learned that the word “Prophecy”
referred primarily to the Jews and meant the written word of God, the “penny
dropped”. Men had written the Scripture. They did so as they were “carried
along by the Holy Spirit”.
I can confirm this from personal experience. I make
no claims to have written anything that we could call “God’s Word”. But on
occasions, Phyllida and I have looked at something I’ve written and we’ve asked
ourselves, “Where on earth did that come from?” Neither of us had any idea. All
we knew is that there in front of us was something which had been in some way
inspired by the Holy Spirit. That’s when we realised that if the Lord could
prompt me to write anything, how much more could He inspire others to write
what we now call the Word of God?
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| Moses is given the 10 Living Words Carved on Stone |
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| Scripture Writers |
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| Not a Scripture Writer |
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 19 May 2013
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Matt
10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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IT
IS WRITTEN!
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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 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 5 books (The Torah) by heart, it’s not difficult to assume
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 &
Phyllida
Strickland
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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
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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, 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
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