The Miracle Book

"The Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet.1.23

The Holy Scriptures have truly been described as a miracle of diversity in unity. The Bible is its own great evidence to its Divine origin and authority and we cannot consider these two great facts without being tremendously impressed with its diversity and its unity.

First there is the diversity of language; the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, a portion of it in Chaldean, while the New Testament was written in Greek. There is a diversity of authorship. These Scriptures were neither written by one man nor by a company of men collaborating with one another, but men with greatly diversified mental calibre, training and occupation were employed in writing them. Moses was a shepherd, Joshua a soldier, Samuel a seer, David a King, Solomon a philosopher, Amos a herdsman, Daniel a statesman, Ezra a scribe, Matthew a taxgatherer, Luke a doctor, John a fisherman, Paul a scholar. There is a further diversity of place in which these Scriptures were produced; they have come to us from the desert of Sinai, the wilderness of Judea, the banks of *Chebar, the city of Zion, the public prison of Rome, and the Isle of Patmos. There is no literary phenomenon in the world to be compared with this book, the Bible. Not only so, but there is diversity of form; in Genesis there are stories, in Leviticus ritual, in Deuteronomy oratory, in Ruth romance, in Samuel and Kings national history, in Job drama; the Psalms are sacred hymns, in Proverbs we have ethics, in Ecclesiastes philosophy, in the Canticles a love song, in Joel and Habakkuk rhapsody, in Isaiah and Jeremiah prophecy, in the Gospels biography, in Acts church history, in the Epistles doctrines, in Revelation the Apocalypse. All these forms of literature make up this great spiritual classic. From the standpoint of diversity of subject matter also, is there any other book in the world to be compared with it? In the Bible we read of God, of men, of angels and demons, of Jews and Gentiles, of Christians and pagans, of saints and sinners, of the church and the world, of peace and war, of friends and foes, of blessings and curses, of holiness and sin, of honour and shame, of faith and unbelief, of time and eternity, of life and death, of love and rage, of Heaven and Hades. These and countless other subjects are brought to our notice within the covers of this extraordinary volume.

We are not impressed, however, with any sense of incongruity; there is an eminent fitness in the relation of these tremendous themes to one another. Nor were these writings produced at any one time. They do not belong to any one age; they come to us as the growth of many centuries. Is there any other book in the world that can be compared with this as to its diversity? Were the number of subjects treated or their equivalent brought together in any other book no publisher would take the risk of publishing it and no purchaser would ever buy it, and yet the Bible is the most widely circulated book in all the world. Other books have a season, they have a run and then we hear of them no more, but this book lives on through the ages. It outlives all other literature and is the queen of all literature.

Notwithstanding all this diversity the Bible is nevertheless a sublime unity; every part is essential to the whole, and it all originates in the will and revelation of God. The two Testaments are essential to each other; they brood over the mercy seat as did the cherubim of gold of old, each answering to the other. "The New is in the Old contained, the Old is in the New explained." Genesis and Revelation are essential to each other; Genesis is the book of commencement, Revelation the book of consummation; Genesis anticipates Revelation and Revelation consummates Genesis. Each part is related to and corresponds with every other part. Genesis with Matthew, the two great beginnings. The books that introduce the two covenants, Leviticus and Hebrews‑Leviticus giving all that is essential to Judaism and Hebrews all that is essential to Christianity. Exodus with Acts‑Exodus telling of the nationalisation of the people of God and Acts of the beginning of the Christian Church and the first generation of her history. Joshua with Ephesians, telling of the inheritance of God's people. Daniel, the Old Testament Apocalypse with Revelation the New Testament Apocalypse, pointing beyond the rise and fall of the world's empires to the coming of Him who is King of kings and Lords of lords.

As an illustration of this correspondence, take the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three of Revelation and it will be found that each of these chapters treats the same subjects but in the reverse order. In Genesis 1 we have the first Heaven and Earth, in Revelation 22 the last Heaven and Earth. In Genesis 2 we have husband and wife. In Revelation 21 the Lamb and the Bride. In Genesis 3 the sentence is pronounced upon Satan, and in Revelation 20 the sentence is executed. It is little wonder that the Devil attempts to have us believe that the one book is all myth and the other is all mystery.

The Word of God is not a dead letter; Hebrews speaks of the Word of God as being alive, and Peter speaks of the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever. We can no more leave the Bible alone or leave it out of our reckoning than we can leave Christ alone. Christ does not derive His value from the Bible; the Bible derives its value from Christ. Only through the Bible can we get to Christ; our eternal knowledge of Christ comes through the Bible.

The Bible is built up in an extraordinary way, not to be accounted for by accident or chance and both Testaments we find in sequence. For instance, in the Old Testament from Genesis to Esther we have history and further back we cannot go; but begin that first verse of the first of Genesis, and interest is aroused and we are led on through all the books right to the sublime end in the Apocalypse of John. We are impressed as we read with this amazing diversity, yet it unfolds and presents itself as a sublime story. All these stories are one story, all these revelations are one revelation, and all these records are one record. Across the whole of the Old Testament you may write the word, "expectation," and across the whole of the New "realisation." In Genesis there are origins, in Revelation there are issues, and all the way between, from Exodus to Jude, there are processes leading from those origins to those issues. The revelation of God to man has been made in history and everywhere in Holy Scripture there is historical continuity and sequence. There is historical unity everywhere in Scripture; there is, further, prophetic unity. Here there is opportunity for the wildest confusion and multiplied contradiction, as witness modern prophecies, but, although there was not, and could not have been, any collusion among the writers of Holy Scripture, there is no contradiction. There are four great themes of prophecy‑the Messiah, the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church. Some treat of one, some of another and not a few touch upon them all, but there is an amazing harmony everywhere. There is no contradiction among the voices. In the Old Testament there are predictions, and in the New there are fulfilments. In the Old we get types, in the New antitypes. The whole of the Old is leading up to the First Advent and the whole of the New is leading up to the Second Advent. There is prophetic unity as well as structural unity, and historical unity everywhere in Scripture. We also have here doctrinal unity. Were men left to themselves, how utterly impossible it would be to have harmony of doctrine, but these many writers across the ages were not left to themselves.

Everywhere in Scripture Jehovah is God. We are told in some quarters that Jehovah was the tribal Deity of the Hebrews, but this is not so; He is declared the God of all the earth, the creator and sustainer of the universe. He is the God of all men, and the New Testament shows that He so loved‑not the Hebrews, nor the Church‑but the WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Everywhere in Scripture man is a sinner. The Old Testament does not present man as half a beast on his way up to morality and the New as a man made like God; both Testaments agree in saying that man has sinned and come short of the glory of God. Both Testaments teach that Christ is the one and only Redeemer and His Cross our only hope. Redemption, in the Old Testament anticipated, is in the New accomplished, and it is from the Acts to the Apocalypse applied. It is the one great theme which runs through all the Scriptures. It is the note that dominates in this orchestra from start to finish.

We also have spiritual unity. Think of the level of thought in the Bible. Think of its range, of its vision, of the sublimity of its themes. Think of the loftiness of its ideals, of the power of its appeals. The horizons of the Bible are infinitudes and immensities. The current coin of this realm is Faith, Love, and Hope. Think what the Bible has done for individuals. Think of the countless numbers who, were they with us still, would say, "this one thing I know‑that whereas I was blind, now I see." No man ever came to say that by studying philosophy or science, but many have done so through an acquaintance with the Word of God. Think of what the Bible has done for the Church of God and for national life; for where the Word of God is accepted and believed there is emancipation and deliverance from degradation and from cruelty.

It has turned the demons out of cruel hearts and made men sober and kind. If the Bible is to be judged by what it has accomplished, then verily it is the Book of Books and the Word of God. It could have no other origin than God Himself. It does not need our apology or our special pleading; give it a chance and it will demonstrate its own character and its own power.

The poet Dryden wrote:

Whence but from Heaven, could men unskilled in arts, In several ages born, in several parts, Weave such agreeing truths? Or how, or why, Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie? Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice, Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price. Then for the style; majestic and divine, It speaks no less than GOD in every line.

AOH