When we consider to study through the whole Bible, we must try to look into the heart of God, and keep this well-known verse in mind: “God so loved the world that He gave His Son, that whoever believes in Him should never perish” (John 3:16).
The primary purpose with which God gave us the Scriptures was that all people might know that He loves them so intensely that He sent His Son to save them from the grip of sin and bring them into fellowship with Him. In God’s heart there is a great desire that no one should be ruined by sin and perish.
Let us keep that in mind as we study God’s Word. Even if there are matters in the Word that we cannot fully understand, let us pray, “Lord, I want to understand Your heart, even if I don’t understand the meaning of everything in Your Word”.
Let us keep that in mind as we study God’s Word. Even if there are matters in the Word that we cannot fully understand, let us pray, “Lord, I want to understand Your heart, even if I don’t understand the meaning of everything in Your Word”.
We must pray as we study the Scriptures that we will understand what is in the heart of God. We can get so taken up with little details as we study, that we miss seeing the heart of God. God reveals His heart in His word.
But God’s purpose does not stop there—just like the construction of a building does not stop with laying the foundation. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 God breathed into this book, exactly as He breathed into Adam. If God had not breathed into Adam, Adam would have been just a pile of dust; and any book that God has not breathed into is also a pile of dust.
God’s Word has been given to us:
- To teach us, to show us the right path.
- To reprove us and rebuke us. We need strong rebukes to be preserved in the pathway of godliness.
- To correct us when we go astray, to direct us into the right path.
- To train us in righteousness. It is a training manual.
So we see that God’s Word has been given to us to change our character, so that we can become godly men and women.
The ultimate goal is “that the man of God may be adequate”—perfect and complete. Like a glass of water filled to the brim, our character is to be rounded off, balanced and complete. We are to be anointed and equipped to serve God, so that we can do every good work that God has planned for us. That is the purpose of Scripture.
So if you study the Bible, you must study it for these reasons.
The Holy Spirit alone can teach us God’s Word. The same Holy Spirit Who taught the apostles in the 1st century, seeks to teach us in the 21st century too. That is how we must study the Scriptures. We don’t need to attend a Bible-school or Bible-college. The Holy Spirit can teach us God’s Word, if we are willing to study it with an open mind and a soft heart—to obey it. When the Lord Jesus walked with two disciples to Emmaus, He “opened the Scriptures to them”. That is what He wants to do for us today, as we walk with Him. Those disciples found that their “hearts burned within them when the Lord opened the Scriptures to them” ( Luke 24:32 ). That is what will happen to our hearts too, when the Holy Spirit opens the Scriptures to us today.
The Holy Spirit alone can teach us God’s Word. The same Holy Spirit Who taught the apostles in the 1st century, seeks to teach us in the 21st century too. That is how we must study the Scriptures. We don’t need to attend a Bible-school or Bible-college. The Holy Spirit can teach us God’s Word, if we are willing to study it with an open mind and a soft heart—to obey it. When the Lord Jesus walked with two disciples to Emmaus, He “opened the Scriptures to them”. That is what He wants to do for us today, as we walk with Him. Those disciples found that their “hearts burned within them when the Lord opened the Scriptures to them” ( Luke 24:32 ). That is what will happen to our hearts too, when the Holy Spirit opens the Scriptures to us today.
The truths that God reveals in His Word can never be boring, because the Lord Jesus is never boring. If we walk with our Lord and listen to Him, our hearts will burn within us—because we will see the glory of Christ in the Word.
Under the Old Covenant, people meditated on God’s written Word. But now we meditate on the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ (John1:14). Now we see the glory of the Lord Jesus as we meditate on the Scriptures (2 Corinthians 3:18). A person who looks at that Glory constantly will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and will always be fruitful. Even in old age, he/she will bring forth fruit (Psalm 1:3; 92:14). That is the will of God for each one of us.
Proverbs 25:2 says,“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out”. Gold and diamonds are found deep down, many thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface. It is the same with the Scriptures—its riches are concealed deep within. We are kings and queens in Christ, and our glory is to find those hidden treasures in God’s Word.
The Lord Jesus once said, “I thank You Father that You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to babes” (Matthew 11:25). We don’t have to be clever to understand the Scriptures, but we must have clean, humble, trusting hearts, like an infant. It’s our heart condition and not our intelligence that determines whether we understand God’s Word or not.
God’s Word gives us promises to believe and commands to obey. It has words to rebuke us, and words to comfort us as well.
Unless we make the Bible our final authority in all matters relating to our faith and life, we will be tossed about here and there, until our faith itself is lost.
We are told by the psalmist that God has magnified His Word above all His Name (Psalm 138:2). To reject or ignore it therefore, or to treat it lightly, is to end up with immeasurable loss. But to reverence it is to discover a door into untold riches.
So with those words as an introduction, let us begin our study of the Word of God.
