It’s obvious, but please bear with me as I say it anyway. If God doesn’t reveal Himself to us, we don’t know Him and we don’t even really know about Him. He is beyond human comprehension. Scripture is one of God’s gracious provisions to us that reveals Him. So, what does scripture, our Bible, say about Him—and itself?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4
Jesus is the personified Word of God, and he has been since the beginning of creation. He is the source of all created things, including scripture. All scripture bears his stamp of authorship.
All Scripture is breathed out by God…. 2 Timothy 3:16
There is a life in scripture, and it is the life of Christ. The human spirit, too, is breathed out by God (Genesis 2:7). According to Job 32:8, “it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.” The God-breathed scripture and the God-breathed human spirit can work together with the Holy Spirit to produce in us something called understanding—a greater measure of the indwelling life of Christ.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 5:39-40
These are the words of Jesus, addressed to religious people who were intimately familiar with the scriptures of their day. Despite their knowledge of those scriptures most of them failed to recognize Jesus as the Promised One, the one who has the exclusive right to confer eternal life. They missed seeing him because they had been blinded by their traditions and prejudices to the point where they were informing the scripture rather than allowing the scripture to inform them. All scripture bears witness to him. However, if we approach it with the wrong attitude, we will not see him in it. May we set our hearts on having a more intimate walk with Jesus, yielding ourselves to him! He will show us the causes of our own blindness and give us opportunities to discard them. Then we can come to scripture with an open mind. Then the scripture will inform us about the life of this astonishing Christ.
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:27
The two followers of Jesus who walked the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus encountered the risen Christ but did not recognize him. He interpreted the scripture to them, things concerning himself that were to be found throughout all the scriptures. All scripture directs our attention to Jesus. And he is for us the interpreter of all scripture, so that God’s purpose in giving scripture to us can be fulfilled.
&&&