The Bible Reveals God To You

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.— 2 Timothy 3:16

The Bible is the story of God’s promise of redemption for His people. The Old Testament points to the coming Messiah and our need for a savior. The New Testament announces Jesus’ arrival and recounts the story of his sacrificial death and resurrection.

Both contain promises to believers, prophecies Jesus has and will fulfill, and God’s plan for the redemption and sanctification of His people.

I utilize study material from The Daily Grace Co. from time to time, as their material is theologically sound (and beautifully designed!), and one of my favorite lines from their James study is as follows:

What a gift it is to grow in the Word day by day. To observe the character of God and allow Him to transform us into His image. This is the life of sanctification.

Scripture in itself is beautiful. It contains an in-depth look at behavioral patterns, archetypes that point to Jesus, and different genres of literature. There’s history and poetry and everything in between — how could we possibly get bored?!

Yet when we read it with ourselves in mind, we cheapen it. We take God’s words and contort them to fit our dating relationships and job situations. We take verses like “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” and quote them before football games and company launches as a good-luck charm, rather than realizing the life-giving words they are.

Let’s look at a few examples from the article.

Noah — a story about grief?

First up is Noah, where the author explains that it relates to us because we all experience disaster, grief, loss, and chaos.

It’s true, the story of Noah does cover those topics, and we know that God is with us through them. However, it’s not what the story is about. Noah is an archetype.

Noah points to Jesus!

• Noah was a righteous man; Jesus is righteousness incarnate.
• Noah walked with God; Jesus is God and is in constant fellowship with the Trinity.
• Noah built a boat to save his family; Jesus offers salvation to the world.
• Those on the boat were saved from God’s judgment on sin; Jesus saves believers by taking on the judgment for their sin.
• Those outside the boat perished; those who do not accept Jesus will perish.
• The ark was safe by God’s grace; Jesus secures our salvation by God’s grace.

Do you see how much we cheapen the story when we read Scripture to find ourselves?

Let’s look at another example.

It doesn’t matter if Peter walked on water.

The author went on to state that whether Peter’s feat actually happened didn’t matter, because either way, we see that humans can be courageous and fearful at the same time.

Can we be both of those things at once? Yes. Was Peter both of those things at once? Very much, yes. But there’s more to it.

The account of Jesus and Peter walking on water is found in all of the gospels except Luke. However, Matthew is the only writer who recorded Peter’s stroll on the sea. Mark and John record only Jesus walking on water.

Why? Because the story isn’t about Peter’s courage in the face of difficulty.

It’s about the deity of Christ.

The Jewish people would have known that only Yahweh could walk on water, so seeing Jesus perform this feat would have undoubtedly caused his disciples to start piecing together who he really was.

He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. — Job 9:8

Furthermore, before Jesus came, no one had direct access to God. The people had to go through the priest for forgiveness, rather than encountering God face-to-face.

When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him. — Job 9:11

If the disciples had fully realized in that moment that Jesus was God, they’d have been understandably terrified and confused. However, Jesus was revealing his nature to them, whether they realized it or not.

Peter walking on water was a result of Jesus calling him out onto the waves. He stepped into the sea by Jesus’ power and authority, not because he was more courageous than anyone else.

When Peter took his eyes off Jesus and relied on his own courage, he sank. It was only when he cried out to Jesus that he was

saved

.

Immediately before this, the disciples saw someone walking on the water and called out to ask if it was Jesus. He responded with:

Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid. — Matthew 14:27

The “it is I” statement is the same phrase God used with Moses at the burning bush when he said, “I AM.” Again, this was about Jesus revealing his identity to the disciples and Peter placing his faith in him for salvation.

This story is a model of how God reveals Himself to us and how we receive salvation.

It’s not about Peter’s (or our) courage.

Le pièce de résistance — Patterns

The final claim in this piece was that the Bible reveals something about us; the people and stories within it are simply mirrors that reflect the struggles of human life.

Don’t be deceived, my dear friends... This is just not true.

Absolutely, we will see patterns of our own lives reflected in Scripture, because “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). We will inevitably relate to a character because they went through a similar trial or hardship we did.

But when we sit down to read the Word of God, we have to read it with God in mind. If we read it only to see how it could mirror our life, we’re going to be dangerously deceived.

The way we read Scripture shapes our theology. It determines how we view God.

My challenge to you is to look for our Creator every single time you read a passage. Set your life and circumstances aside, and see what you can pull out from the text that reveals more about who God is. Your life and Bible study will be deeply enriched by it.