We say that Jesus preached the gospel, but he did more. He came that there might be a gospel to preach.
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in Him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:18-20
Oh beloved, it is true.
It is all true. The entire Gospel. The whole thing. Suddenly we understand.
For years, many of us tried to categorize and understand our theology as though it were some sort of treasure, forgetting that the doctrine is only the map to the Treasure we seek. We dig. And this is good.
However, we think (wrongly) that we have found the whole thing once we get a good system worked out for interpreting the words of the Word He has written in the Bible. And this is bad. For, in building our own systems, they leak like the broken cisterns the prophet speaks of in Jeremiah 2.
And we finally come to the end of our ability to come up with any sort of way to understand the complexities of the Holy Scriptures. We are just about to give up. But something within us prompts us to ask Him for help. And so we do.
And He says, “Come closer child.”
“Look closer.”
“Listen.”
And we squeal, “But! It’s too hard!!!”
“Sshhh child. Just wait.”
“Listen. Watch. Come closer beloved.”
And just for a moment… “What – wait… no WHO – was that?!?!”
“Almost there child. Oh, how I love you.”
And suddenly we whisper, “are you talking to me?!?!”
And He just smiles, “now you’re getting in beloved.”
In Him illuminating our understanding of the Scriptures, the scales fall off of our crusty old eyes. And as our vision clears, the beautiful patterns we saw, at first from a distance, coalesce into a mosaic of His beautiful face. And as we move closer to the words of His Word, we begin to sense who He is as a Person.
And then we see it. The Word is not just His words to us. They are Him. Jesus is The Gospel. He is The Way. He is The Truth. He is The Life.
Wow, what a clarifying moment… It is Him speaking of rest and relationship with Himself. And in finally understanding this we are plunged into a torrent of His goodness. Then, as we speed with increasing depth and velocity through the Scriptures (now in a concert of mind and body and spirit with Him), we watch this incredible fullness emerge. His Word is so cohesive, so real, so unbroken, so healing… so Him. Words do not yet avail themselves to this writer’s ability to describe what happens. Perhaps this is to begin to see what the beloved disciple, John, said: He is The Word.
Oh beloved. He is so real. Will you let Him show you tonight?
