On a missionary trip to India several years ago, I was in a healing/evangelistic meeting as an altar worker (picture above). When the people were called up for prayer, a demon-possessed young man was brought up for deliverance. But before we could do anything, a couple of native, older women came up with huge Bibles and began pushing them into the face of the demon-possessed, as if the physical Bible itself had the power to cast out the evil spirits.
We might chuckle at that display of ignorance, but Jesus had to confront the Jews about a very similar misconception. In John 5:39 (NIV) He told them:
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."
The Jews thought that by carefully studying their Scriptures, that would somehow qualify them for heaven. But when Jesus showed up, who was “the Word made flesh” and the very author of life, they wanted nothing to do with Him. Their hope for eternal life was in the Scriptures alone. Yet the Scriptures by themselves are the letter of the law. And we know that “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6 NIV).
Recently the Holy Spirit quickened to me that much of the Christian church is in the same place today. Our hope and trust are in our Bibles as though they would grant us eternal life. You know, like the salvation Scriptures we quote all the time:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9 NIV)
If it is the gift of God, then we must come to God to receive it! The Bible does not bestow it—Jesus bestows it. (The Bible promises, but Jesus bestows.)
Jesus went on to say about the Scriptures: "These are the Scriptures that testify about me". The main purpose of the Scriptures is to be a huge flashing signpost with a thousand arrows all pointing to Jesus. And yet we think eternal life is in the signpost! "You think that by them you possess eternal life. "
Too many Christians, once they come to Jesus for salvation, are content to read their Bibles, say prayers, go to church—none of which impart life. Yet they won’t develop an ongoing relationship with Jesus: the Giver, the Creator of life.
2 Tim. 3:16-17 (NIV) says about the Scriptures:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Scriptures are God-breathed, and useful for many things. But by themselves they don't have the power to impart life. That power is reserved for the Godhead, as Jesus declared earlier, in John 5:21:
"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it."
What am I saying? Life comes through our relationship with Jesus, not from how diligently we study the Bible, memorize its verses, or even believe its promises. The Bible is a signpost, pointing us to Jesus. ("These are the Scriptures that testify about me") Yet we’re content to haul around our signposts, instead of going to the One they point to!
What is eternal life anyway? Most Christians look at it as an admittance ticket to heaven. Yet Jesus said:
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3 NIV)
Our “Free Admittance Ticket to Heaven” analogy for eternal life is flawed. A better analogy is the vine and the branches. As long and as deep as the branches are sunk in the vine, the more life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit will flow into them, imparting the same life Jesus has. It’s not a onetime deal—either one time when we’re born again, or one time at death—but an ongoing process like the golden pipes in the Old Testament constantly imparting oil to the candlestick which burned before the Lord (see Zech. 4). [“Salvation,” or being born again, is when those branches are first grafted into the vine. But they are to be continually flowing with sap as our love relationship with the Lord grows and deepens.]
We need to be continually coming to Jesus in prayer: not only making requests, but building relationship. After all, since we’re going to be His bride throughout eternity; shouldn’t we be getting to know Him now? Or putting it another way: how can we ever hope to be His bride throughout eternity if we're indifferent to Him now?
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