Jesus is Essential
John 20:8–10: Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.
John tells us something strange. These men had not understood even though Jesus had told them repeatedly that He would rise from the dead, and even though the Old Testament spoke of this. Even today we need the New Testament as sort of a flashlight to go back and interpret the Old Testament. I believe that one of the reasons the Old Testament is not popular is because we do not sufficiently use the New Testament to interpret it. There are a great many of us today who read the Bible but still do not know certain Scriptures.
I believe there are two reasons for this. One is that we may read a passage many times and each time see things in the passage that we have never seen before. The Holy Spirit gives us further light as we study and read the passages over and over again. Also I believe that we must experience some of the scriptures to understand their meaning. The trials and sufferings and experiences of life explain their meaning to us. For example, when David wrote that the Lord was his Shepherd, he knew from experience the shepherd–care of God. 1
Walking with Jesus
It is not what I do not know about the Bible that troubles me, it is what I do know but don’t obey that troubles me the most. What keeps us from obeying His Word? What are the consequence for being stubborn and wanting our own way, more the His way? What is keeping you and me from repenting right now?
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. Psalm 16:10 (NKJV)
To be partially obedient is to be fully disobedient.
Praying
Lord, thank You for revealing all we need to know about life and eternity in Your Word.
1. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (John 11-21) (electronic ed., Vol. 39). Nashville.
