The Bible is God’s word. The Bible is a book from heaven. The Bible is different than any other book on planet Earth. It is literally a manifestation of God on the Earth.
We can use words so flippantly without at times pausing to come to a complete understanding of what we actually mean. What is the Bible? What is God’s word?
God’s word is God speaking. If Jesus walked through the wall of your room right now and began speaking to you, the words he spoke to you would be God’s word. And yet, Jesus himself is God’s word. Scripture is God’s word in written form. And more than anything else, God’s word is Jesus.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God (John 1:1). And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory (John 1:14).
I saw a rider on a horse, and his name was the word of God (Revelation 19:13 – “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”).
In humanity, we have a tendency to confuse God speaking, with the means and methods through which he chooses to speak. Imagine if Jesus were to appear to you right now and stood before you; perhaps you would be shaking and terrified with the glory of God upon him. Imagine Jesus spoke to you and told you that he loved you immensely. What a glorious experience! Would that experience have any more truth or validity than you simply opening the Bible and reading the words that Jesus loves you (John 3:16)?
In reality, the methods God chooses to speak through are completely irrelevant compared with the fact that it is actually God speaking. God can speak through a myriad of different ways and means. Some of these can seem dramatic and out of the ordinary to us, while others can seem quite normative and mundane. The key issue is always whether it is God speaking.
I love the story of the German missionary evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, who, in his younger days, was at a large healing campaign in Africa with a famous evangelist. On the night of the event, the evangelist sent Reinhard Bonnke a message, saying that God had told him to go home and that Bonnke should preach that night. With fear and trepidation, Bonnke preached a salvation message, after which he called forward all those who needed healing. As Bonnke stood before a large crowd of sick people, God spoke these words into his heart: “My words in your mouth are just as powerful as my words in my mouth.”
At first, Reinhard Bonnke thought that this must be blasphemous, wondering if Satan was putting thoughts in his mind. Yet, as he thought over that phrase, he came to the realization of the power and truth of those words. The power was not in the mouth, but in the word, the word of God. Bonnke did not need to look at the delivery system, but rather the word of God which was delivered.
With an increasing sense of boldness, Reinhard Bonnke asked how many people were blind in that crowd; over 20 people responded. Bonnke did not pray for the people. He simply asked them to put their hands on their own eyes and let out a cry of “blind eyes, open.” People began letting out cries of joy, exclaiming, “I can see! I can see!”
God’s word in your mouth is just as powerful as God’s word in his mouth.
The writer to the Hebrews begins his epistle with these words: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
God spoke the universe into existence at the beginning of time. God spoke through an audible voice (Exodus 3:4-6). God spoke through prophets (2 Kings 17:13). God spoke through a donkey (Numbers 22:28-30). God spoke through nature (Psalm 19:1). God spoke by writing on the wall in Babylon (Daniel 5:5), and God spoke through his written word (Psalm 119:105).
The writer of Hebrews says that in these last days, God has chosen to speak to us by his son: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
I love the fact that every time a prophet would speak to the people of Israel, he would preface his words with “Thus says the Lord.” It is interesting that Jesus never once used this phrase when speaking to the people of Israel. Jesus would not say, “Thus says the Lord,” but rather we see Jesus again and again saying, “Verily, verily, I say to you” (John 5:24, John 6:47, etc.), indicating that he himself is the Lord, the word of God spoken to you.
Jesus is the living word. The Bible is the written word. The Bible is God’s word. The Bible is God speaking to us. The Bible is God. This might seem incredible to grasp, and yet I passionately believe that the Bible contains just as much power as Jesus does.
In Romans, chapter 10, Paul draws this analogy: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Instead, he says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Romans 10:6-8).
In fact, Paul is saying to his readers that we do not need Jesus to step down from the throne of God and come and visit us on the Earth. Rather, when we have the word of God in our heart and in our mouth, it is just as powerful as having Jesus present in our midst. God’s word is not distant and far away, and we do not need to wait for some future visitation. God’s word is clearly available to any believer who will place their faith in it.
The Bible contains the knowledge of God, and yet it is so much more. The very life and essence of God is contained within his word. The Bible is not a book of information; rather, the Bible is a book of life.
Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
Throughout the entire Bible, we read about experiences that men and women had with the living God. These stories are examples for our benefit (1 Corinthians 10:11). The goal of these stories is not merely for us to marvel at the wonderful experiences others have had, but to realize that the same experiences are available to us today.
The Bible is a book of experience, but it is also a book of life. The Bible is a book of knowledge, but it is also a book of invitation.
When you go into a restaurant and sit down, a menu will be presented to you. That menu will usually contain photographs, titles, and descriptions of various dishes which the restaurant can make and offers to you. There is a simple truth many Western evangelicals have missed: we cannot eat the menu. The menu speaks of a greater reality that exists in the kitchen. The goal of a restaurant is not that we would enter, read the menu, and go away hungry, yet with an increased knowledge of the chef’s possibilities.
Rather, the goal of the restaurant is that we would come in, be informed about the possibilities that exist within the kitchen, and then put a demand upon that information to produce a meal that will satisfy us.
The goal of biblical knowledge is not simply biblical knowledge. The goal of biblical knowledge is biblical experience.
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39).
The Bible is the wardrobe through which we can continually access a glorious realm from another dimension, much like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. On a very real level, we will receive from God’s word what we expect to receive. If we come seeking knowledge, we will find the knowledge we seek. If we come seeking instruction, teaching, or admonition, we will find them in the Bible and benefit from them. If we come to the Bible for an encounter with the Zoe life of God, we will find that within its pages. If we come to God’s word looking for immutable promises that can never fail, then we will find them there. Selah.
In Western evangelical circles, the church often struggles with the tension between knowledge and experience. In America, where I am based, many traditional churches proudly proclaim themselves to be Bible-believing churches. They sincerely believe that their version of Christianity is anchored in, and upon, the knowledge of God contained in the Scriptures. With one eye closed, they are correct. The challenge is that those very scriptures, on which they claim to build their foundation, command us to draw upon that knowledge and step into the experience of that understanding. It is not enough to have an awareness of salvation. The comprehension of salvation will not save you. The goal of the insight into salvation is that we would encounter Jesus the Savior!
Many years ago, my wife and I knew a wonderful man who had taught in a well-known Scottish university as a theological lecturer. For many years, this man taught high-level theology to students. He knew the scriptures inside out and back to front in Greek and Hebrew; there was only one problem. He did not yet know Jesus. Once, this man went camping with his wife in the south of England. As the normal campsite was closed, they ended up camping in a facility where a large Christian charismatic event was taking place. They went there to avoid all of the “crazy charismatics” and simply enjoy their holiday. One evening, they ran out of milk. The man went to the campsite store to buy a pint of milk. On his way back, he walked past a tent where a children’s meeting was taking place and was drawn to listen. That evening, somebody was teaching the children about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. At the end of this teaching, the speaker invited children to come forward, accept Jesus as Savior, and be filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Without knowing what was happening, this great and knowledgeable man walked forward, surrounded by young children. That evening, he gave his life to Jesus. That evening, he stepped into the experience described in Acts 2:4: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Three hours later, he came back to his tent, and his wife exclaimed, “Where have you been?” When he opened his mouth to respond, he began speaking in tongues, and the power of God fell upon his wife. Knowledge became experience.
After that summer vacation, this man returned to his university in Scotland. At the beginning of September, he taught the same course, based upon the same notes, that he had taught every year for the last 20 years. This year, however, as he taught, the power of God began to fall in the lecture hall. Students began falling to their knees in repentance; people began weeping and crying out to God. It was not the knowledge that was causing this; he had taught the same thing year after year. Rather, this year, knowledge had encountered experience.
There is an equally significant danger in seeking experience outside of knowledge. Many people in my stream of Christianity (the charismatic movement) highly value spiritual and revival experiences. I love this, I am proud of this, and I believe this is completely valid. In spite of that, there can be a danger when our experience exceeds our biblical knowledge. Sooner or later, people will begin to have experiences which are not biblical or valid. There is an equal danger of people basing their beliefs on an experience. If you have many experiences that you believe are important and valid, after a while, you will tend to place trust in those experiences. God’s word should produce experience, and yet, it is also vital that every experience leads us back to God’s word.
Every revival movement in history has contained two important components. Usually, in these movements, there has been a great and glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Believers have experienced God in a way that was beyond the ordinary and their expectations. Nearly every revival movement has also birthed fresh understanding and revelation of the Scriptures. I do not mean to imply that God has said something new in a season of revival; rather, during a season when the church experiences an awakening and visitation of God’s spirit, our eyes are opened to see truth that was always contained in God’s word, but our religious traditions had blinded us from perceiving these truths.
The sad reality is that in nearly every revival in church history, we see the same pattern emerge. There is an outbreak of experience of the Holy Spirit, and glorious truths are restored to the church from God’s word. The church begins to fall in love with its new doctrine and builds walls around it, and over time, loses the experience that matched the doctrine.
Nearly every denomination, at least in Western Christianity, was born in the fires of revival. All of these denominations brought important truths back into the body of Christ:
- Lutheran movement — justification by faith.
- Anabaptist movement — water baptism.
- Wesleyans and Methodist revival — repentance and discipleship.
- Holiness movements — restoration of personal sanctification and holiness.
- Pentecostal revival — the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit.
All of these movements brought both great experiences and truths back into the body of Christ, and yet, over time, the experiences in these movements became shadows of their former selves. To some degree, they all still teach the knowledge they acquired during the experience of revival, but each of these movements has lost the fire and experience of that revival.
I believe that one of the foundational keys to moving into the fullness of the spirit is to be a people who both embrace the truth of God’s word and then put a demand on the Holy Spirit to produce biblical experiences that mirror and match the promises of the word. We need to be a people full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit, and it is not a legitimate choice to suggest that we can have one above the other.
Stephen was a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5).
