The Bible

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

What about the Bible’s standard of truth? What makes the Bible pertinent to today’s society? People tend to think that the things they are going through are SO different than what people went through 40 years ago. What about 200 years ago or 2,000 years ago? Why does society believe that our Bible is outdated and impertinent today? Because Satan has convinced us that it is outdated and invaluable to us. He understands that God’s Truth is pertinent for yesterday, today, and forever.

God understands humans because He created us in His own image. He knows us from the inside out. Why would He give us instructions for an obsolete model of human? He would not. Has our capacity for human emotions changed? Do we experience a different type of love, hate, fear, awe, animosity, lust, pride, courage? Or are these the same emotions that people have experienced since the Garden of Eden? Do we honestly believe that we are different in a human capacity than those men and women who lived 2,000 years ago? They committed the same sins as our society today like adultery, being prideful, having family disagreements, trying to cheat each other out of money, and on and on.

We somehow think that just because Jesus didn’t walk around with an iPhone and a blackberry strapped to his waist running a corporation from his laptop on board his jet that he did not experience any of the things that people today experience. He still had temptations from Satan (Matthew 4), love for his family and friends (John 19:26), compassion for people (Luke 19:41-42), a desire to be what God intended him to be (Luke 22:42), the stress of knowing there were people out there who wanted to kill him (Mark 14:34) and animosity for those who were using God’s commandments to judge others and abuse their positions of authority (Mark 7:13). In fact, He probably experienced human emotion far more completely than most of us do today. Hebrews 4:15 says “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” How many of us have ever truly had to fear for our lives? Jesus knew he was going to die by the hands of men. He also had to fight the temptation from Satan to use his power as God’s own Son for selfish ambition and human comfort. How many people do you believe would go to the desert and fast for 40 days, only then to refuse to be tempted to use holy power to draw up some food and water for themselves? He could have been prideful and shown the world He was the Messiah by coming down off the cross with a multitude of angels at his beckon, but He didn’t. He stayed up there and died for each and every sinful and worthless soul on earth before, during, and after his death so that we may have eternal life.

We must understand that Christ’s sacrifice is what makes us good. Without Jesus in us, there is nothing but the sinful nature of our human flesh. So for those who say that the Bible no longer has anything to teach us, I say that is a bunch of garbage. The Bible teaches us everything we need to know about how to treat other people, ourselves, and our Creator. Just because Satan has convinced many people of this world that their sins are no longer sinful doesn’t mean that it makes them alright. Our standard of truth is not our laws and society, but God’s Holy Word. It is the only standard by which we will be judged in the final days (Revelation 22:18-19).