The Word of God Part VII

“And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.”  Acts 8:30-31  

Phillip the Evangelist was told by the angel of God to “go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.” (Verse 26)  As he was traveling, he saw the treasurer of Ethiopia riding in a chariot reading aloud from the book of Isaiah.  When Phillip asked him if he understood it, he expressed his hunger and yet his inability to grasp what he was reading.  As we continue to read the story, we find Phillip expounding on the scripture and eventually the eunuch gave his heart to Christ and was immediately baptized.  The Bible says he “went on his way rejoicing.”  He then understood the message that he was trying to read which was in Isaiah 53:7-8 which caused him to rejoice.  

While the eunuch could understand some of the scripture he was reading, he could not grasp the full meaning until he became a child of God.  This is because the Bible is not like any other book in that it not only is read from a literal sense, but things contained in it also must be spiritually discerned.  “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14    There are many truths in the Word of God and they can only be discovered through God’s spirit.  One can read this book over and over and still not receive all that is in it.  I’ve read it through many times but still fail to grasp all of the truths and teachings hidden inside the pages of this great book.  

That is why Jesus said of those who talk of the Kingdom of Heaven, “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” Matthew 13:52   There are old truths that have been the foundation of our faith, yet we constantly discover new insights and teachings as well, like the scribe that Jesus was talking about.  

There is no piece of literature that compares to the Bible.  There is no one book that has as much merit as God’s Word.  It’s from this book that we’ll be judged.  The reason for the churches in the United States for drifting afar is because most have abandoned the Bible as the fundamental axiom for truth and doctrine.  We have been walking on the slippery slope of men’s opinions, the vote of the people, the swa of the world and have forgotten the very thing that can help us stand against the storms of the world.