Within the human heart there is a strange hunger for horror which the Hollywood movie industry is very adept at satisfying. Films featuring fear and suspense fill the cinemas and almost always they usher viewers into the presence of forces of evil. Addiction to this genre of entertainment tends to create an air of trepidation that prevails in everyday life manifesting itself in a queasiness that robs the mind of the security and serenity found through faith in God. The source of the fear that is felt is derived from a focus on an agent of malevolence and that influence stimulates a lingering sense of danger and destruction. This craving for the artificially induced thrill of terror is a perverse substitute for the fear of God which is now largely absent from human consciousness, and is an element that is absolutely essential in true piety. Contemporary Christianity has become so anodyne, and the concept of God so innocuous, that neither the majority of believers, nor the masses of unbelievers tremble at his name and stand in awe of him. The omission of deference is due to ignorance. God’s greatness is not diminished, but man is deprived of an appreciation of God that exhilarates the spirit, intensifies joy in the Lord, and affords confidence in the indestructibility of the believer’s hope. God cannot be overcome by any opposing power (Romans8: 37-39). His holiness, majesty, power, what is summed up as his “overwhelmingness”, should make his creatures fear and sinners terrified at his righteous indignation.

We rightly enjoin reverence for God but that does not sum up the content of the fear we should feel before him. His grandeur, his sovereignty, his unlimited capacities, his unerring judgments, his invincible purposes, amaze us. Just as we harness electricity, or use fire, for our comfort and convenience, yet approach them with caution, so too we approach the Lord mingling confidence with caution knowing that we come to the Infinite and Incomprehensible. We dare not presume nor offend. His “hugeness” is humbling, his loftiness lowers us, his determinations direct our destinies. We are midgets before his might, and it is not simply a question of dimensions, it is a recognition of quality. The Lord inherently possesses “extreme” excellence, a magnificence that terrifies us and fascinates us concurrently. There are no words adequate to describe him, but the submissive reader of Holy Scripture knows instinctively that God is to be feared in his “exaltedness, terribleness, and majesty”. There can be no way in which we approach him in an air of cockiness, casualness or chumminess. “That God is felt to be not simply the loving Father, not even simply as the Judge of sin, but by his nature a power before whom the creature cannot stand, by whom man must be annihilated, confirms the eternal reality of ‘that sense of God, characteristic of a Luther or a Pascal, which struggles on the edge of an abyss of despair’. A Christianity which had ceased to be aware of this ultimate fact of the opposition between God and his creatures, would have lost that note of absolute urgency without which the Gospel entrusted to it can never be other than unthinking and superficial” (Walther Eichrodt). Our generation, and several before it, has lost this necessary estimation of God. We trivialize everything to do with him and magnify ourselves, presenting ourselves to him with a sense of importance and entitlement and this attitude of the Church emboldens the unbelieving and blasphemous.

There is no doubt that the believer is to fear God in the usual and ordinary sense of the word, just as we fear any danger or threat of destruction. “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (Luke 12:5). We are afraid of any harm to the body, or any injury that may be fatal. We are as ever watchful as we can be for our self preservation. To lose life is our greatest fear. But there is a greater fear to be aware of and that is to be cast into hell by he who has charge of our souls. It is with real fear that we are to regard God. But the fear of God constitutes our greatest consolation. In fearing him we need fear no other, however menacing, and in knowing him we enjoy the delectable love of the Almighty – the greatest Power that is, in whose embrace we are utterly safe. The dread is delightful because the One who is terrible in his being has declared himself for us in the doom of his Son upon the cross; we, who place ourselves in the care of the One who inspires total awe and deigns to receive us, wretched as we are, in the Beloved.  Now this is grace! And it eliminates hopelessness. The One we fear announces himself as our friend. Accordingly, love and fear co-exist and we know the infinite value of mercy.

This fear removes the need for the manufactured fear of human invention or of Satanic suggestion. We fear One whom we may honour and trust, and worship the One who is worthy, for even base or misplaced fear is a kind of worship and the evil one is totally unworthy of any tribute. We fear the One who may cast into hell, but has sovereignly claimed us for heaven. We tremble at his majesty and are touched at his mercy, the perfect blend for authentic piety. We do not take him lightly or regard his benefits as cheap. To sentimentalize our faith is to create a fake. The incense of our adoration nowadays is sickly cinnamon. How effete Evangelicalism has become. Even too polite to counter error or name the false prophet. We’ve lost our nerve, our realism, and robustness in defending the cause of the Gospel, whilst permitting millions to be deceived.

The deceivers are preaching peace where there is no peace. They perpetrate a message of self esteem, denying the need for atonement and repentance, and propagating a false security in the fiction of Universalism. They ally themselves with a spirituality alien to Holy Scripture, and many openly deny its teaching (heed the warnings of Warren Smith a former “new ageist”). They do not warn their hearers that there is a possibility that they might perish and that their only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. How often the word “perish” is overlooked in John 3:16.

We do not require artificially produced horror when we have the human heart and plight to consider. Is the language of Anselm the language of our day? “My soul, my soul of lead, soul of a wretched homunculus (a small ill-formed person), throw off your torpor, lay bare your sin, stir up your mind. Take to heart the enormity of your sin, and roar with anguish. Miserable man, weigh the horror of your evil, roar out your horrified terror and your terrified anguish”.  No wonder the one time Archbishop of Canterbury concentrated so heavily and relied so entirely on the fact of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice, our only antidote to the fear engendered by our sin and the purity and punishments of God.  Our neglect of the atonement, our spiritual complacency, is due to the absence of a healthy fear that drives us to complete dependence upon the undeserved, freely offered, compassion of God. Wisdom in the need and way of salvation begins with fear that curbs pride and procrastination. The essence of genuine godliness is granted by grace: That it may please thee to give us an heart to love and dread thee, and diligently to live after thy commandments. The Litany (1662).

Jesus was the carpenter without a college degree and yet his learning astounded the experts. Years before, when he was a mere lad of twelve, he amazed the eminent theologians of the temple and those visiting from the provinces with his understanding and answers. Jesus exhibited supremacy in the knowledge and exposition of the Scriptures that awed the professionals and drove them to fury. He didn’t quote the masters of Israel for his teaching. He proved himself the Master. He did not pass through the rabbinical schools for an A plus, yet he was the very greatest Old Testament specialist ever, irrefutable in his statements and the disputes with the religious elite. They may have hated him for his adroitness but his wisdom baffled them and beat them in arguments consistently. They posed many trick questions to him. Slyly they tried to corner him and humiliate him but they never caught him out. The big question debated among themselves was: “How did this man get such learning without formal studies?” They were deeply riled at his superior expertise. He was irregular, outside the system, but he was always right. Heinz Cassirer translates their question in this way: “How is it that there is so much learning in this man who has never studied?”

The clue is in the preposition “in”. The truth of God was in Jesus – resident in him from eternity and absorbed into his humanity. It constituted his fellowship with the Father, a oneness in mind. The Lord Jesus held all the truth of God in his heart. He was the vessel of truth. He contained it, revealed it, and explained it. He derived it from his Father’s heart. “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me” (V16). Jesus was the Truth that sprang from the Father’s bosom, the root of good tidings from heaven. “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1: 18). Cassirer brings out the true meaning of the text best of all. “No one has ever seen God. It is his only Son, who rests on the breast of his Father, who has made him known”. Jesus says it over and over again in various ways: I and the Father are one. I am in him and he is in me. Jesus knows the heart of the Father. He is in full accord with the Father. Therefore he can declare “such learning” as he has gained from the Father. Hence he is the “Word” – the Father’s self-expression, self-disclosure, to the world. His teaching is not human opinion or the wisdom of an eminent man. His teaching is the Word and Wisdom of God. His speech and action, gestures and facial expressions, conveyed the mind and mien of God at any given moment. His character and behaviour were unfailingly in harmony with the One who sent him. He was our way of hearing and seeing the Lord. Our point of contact.

Jesus’ utterances were given and prompted by the Father and communicated infallibly to us because he was “thrust” from the bosom of God – sent from the divine heart to disclose its unsearchable secrets otherwise unavailable to men. Jesus’ sayings are divine (John 3:31-36). Jesus shows the Father (John 14: 9-11). Jesus’ status is divine. He is the ultimate and only authority in the true knowledge of God. That is why he was independent of the rabbinical schools and their endless quotations from the writings of previous scholars. That is why he countered their frequent mis-readings of Scripture. He was supremely original and convincing compared to official teachers of Israel because the Old Testament was his Book. It was about him in its prophecies and by him through his Spirit. The Old Testament is Jesus’ home-ground. He knows it exhaustively. He is its content. Its composition is his. It comes from his heart, speaks his heart, and he taught it with all his heart – not as dusty, discarded documents, but as the declaration of God’s gracious rescue plan for fallen men. The truth was in him and issues from him. Howbeit, he did study.

Jesus pored over Scripture and it inundated his soul, filling him with a perfect familiarity with the intent of the Father, and informing him of the purpose for which he came. He could deduce every step of the assignment entrusted to him from the former Testament. He was its dedicated scholar, not from an abstract perspective, but in intimate connection. It was his brief and biography, his “vade-mecum” and preparation for life, death, suffering, and glory. In Scripture he read his identity in confirmation of his inner consciousness. Armed with his “double focus”, human and divine, Scripture was his constant reference. He authored and echoed its speech articulated in the prophets and psalms, he presented its message in a beguiling and poignant way. Jesus knew the Scriptures by heart. They filled his mind and facilitated his conversation, preaching, and teaching. He was the Living Word. His vast and infinite knowledge of the truth came from human study and the divine Spirit.

All this is to say that Jesus is our Teacher par excellence. There is none better nor anyone comparable. Jesus was deemed uneducated by the proud scholars of Israel. He is the great Educator of men in the ways and knowledge of God that lead to true life here and through eternity. His disciples were deemed uneducated by the same Jerusalem authorities who became their accusers and persecutors (Acts 4:13). The vicious mindset of the leaders of the nation remained unaltered. But the Apostles had been with Jesus and had gained an understanding beyond the range of mere human study and acumen.

The Apostle John shows us from where sound, solid, life-giving learning may be obtained. At the Last Supper he reclined on the Saviour’s breast and heard the beat of his heart as he spoke to his dearest companions (excepting Judas). John’s profound Gospel confirms all that he had learned from the One sent forth from the bosom of the Father. John brings to us Jesus in such a deep and intimate way that we can almost monitor his breathing as he addresses our inner ear.

Each Evangelist and biblical witness to our Redeemer portrays him through divine inspiration but also in an individual style that registers personal relationship and unique insight. Jesus in approaching men and women matches himself to their character and condition, ministering to their inmost and essential self with his effectual goodness, targeting their need and deficiency, rendering them healed and whole through the encounter. The Apostolic authors are testifying, “This is how Jesus touched me”. Their pens and voices are directed by the impression Jesus left upon them from the total influence of his Person, his pronouncements, and his performance. Without holding a pen Jesus, in multiple ways, produced the Apostolic documents. The Spirit ensures that the record is accurate and he tenderizes the heart to receive it in humility and trust.

The disciples learned from the Lord and agreed there was no trustworthy alternative to their instructor and friend, Jesus Christ (John 6:67-69).  We also turn to him for safe, certain, and saving knowledge (John 17: 1-8). What he teaches to his folk stays with them. It is indelibly inscribed upon the heart and indescribably delightful. Each session in communion with him leaves us eager for more. His students are fully satisfied and yet always seeking for more. May we be found, often, leaning upon the Saviour’s breast.

The most rewarding and enjoyable exercise for the Christian is the reading (or receiving) of Holy Scripture. It is the transmission of truth from the mind of God to the mind of the believer. It is divine speech that penetrates to the heart disclosing God’s wonderful wisdom in tones of righteousness, trustworthiness, and love. The mind is informed, the understanding illuminated, and the spirit entranced. The Bible is utterly captivating as it reveals God and interprets the self as it is seen by him. Our sin and separation from him are discerned with convicting clarity and the solution to the profound disorder of our nature is presented alluringly in the description and narrative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never are two entities so well met as the soul of man and the Spirit of God in the message of Scripture. The cleansing, cravings, and completion of the human soul are accomplished in union with him. He is the consummation of our best desires bestowed to us through inward grace. Nothing can equal the encounter and communion with Christ facilitated by the Word of God.  Those who discard or deride Scripture have never felt the presence and the power of the Saviour disclosed in the meditation and exposition of the Bible. They may stare at and study its print, but to the proud and rebellious the inner voice has never spoken. The meaning of the Holy Book has never been sensed. The sighs of the Beloved over the souls of the elect have never been heard. The cross has never denounced their sin nor delighted their heart with the pulse of the divine love that endured so much for the restoration of beings to reunion with him. The pages that tell us so much of the God who is alive are dead to them and confirmatory of their ultimate death should they fail to repent. Scripture throbs with life. Its words are electrifying. Its tidings both alarm and attract. We begin with a sample of its content and are satiated with its generous supply of food for the soul. The veracity and sufficiency of Scripture have to be proven through personal experience that is granted by God. The non-participant in grace can never grasp by reason or rumination the grip of the Bible upon the mind of the regenerate. Until seized by grace Scripture to the natural man is a foreign language from a faraway world of which he has no conception. He may lift the cover and look over the leaves of the Book of God but the grammar of grace will elude him until heaven’s unbidden mercy makes him teachable. Scholarship alone cannot search out the truth of Scripture, no, not until it is united with sanctity that is granted to the humble (1 Corinthians chs 1&2). The eyes of education and human acumen fail to see what is in the Bible until the Spirit moistens the eyes of the soul and opens them to the light (John 9:6). The truth then leaps out to teach the mind and charm the imagination with treasures of wisdom too sublime to relate with adequate eloquence. The beauty of redeeming love is too infinite and intricate to describe. We stammer and stumble over the things of God and merely distribute disjointed clues the Spirit enables the chosen to gather to the good of their souls.

The Bible is to be read intelligently, attentively, and prayerfully with total dependence upon the Holy Spirit for understanding. Because the Spirit speaks personally to the believer the word from history is also contemporary. The past illuminates the present because the salvific promises and deeds recorded in Scripture are repeated in fresh ways in every generation, addressing the needs, crises, and cries of the people of God. They are paradigmatic of the continuous involvement of God in the welfare of those who trust in him. God’s ongoing acts of mercy, not necessarily identical to foregoing instances of deliverance, are indicative of his faithfulness and commitment to his own. They create confidence and expectancy. They are the vital themes of our conversations with God and give shape and orthodoxy to our requests. Our talks with and petitions to the Lord arise from Scripture as we match it to our circumstances and desires, and our growing knowledge of Scripture acquaints us with the usage of the language of heaven. The Bible trains the mind to think in God’s terms. The volume of unchangeable truth becomes the flexible medium of communication with God as Scripture is adapted to spiritual maturity and a realization of the possibilities open to us. What God has done for others he may do for us. We negotiate, argue, advance his God-given grounds for prayers of faith, and patiently await the outworking of his sovereign will, for he invites us “to reason together”. With perceptions he may also grant promptings and influences that open us to his “present” word of grace and guidance. Over-rigid rules of interpretation are set aside. The Bible is not a static word, a mere text book communicating cerebral knowledge alone, but a message he breathes into us as a friend beside us, as a witness inside us.

Some of the freshness of the divine word has been stultified by the rigidity of the artificial rules of Biblical science, more commonly known as Biblical Criticism.  Academic aids to the understanding of the Bible are very useful and corrective of harmful subjectivity. We have to pay heed as much as possible to historical context, cultural background, and issues or provenance. We need to be aware of literary genres within the sacred text whilst always acknowledging that the overriding purpose of Scripture is to awaken us to our lost condition in sin, and to acquaint us with the Saviour. But Biblical science is of two kinds according to two approaches – reverent or rebellious – and there is a variety of Biblical scholarship that is disbelieving, unwarrantably subjective, and dangerous. It advances a mood of scepticism that pious and thorough Biblical investigation renders indefensible. It usually crops up as a challenging new discovery but proves to be recycled error refuted over and over again by the faithful theologians and teachers of the church dating back to the Fathers who successfully dealt with so called “modern” questions and difficulties in their own time. Whilst much contemporary study deals with the origin, authorship, and character of “units” of Scripture, the Spirit (Author of Scripture) gives us liberty to sweep over, and plumb, the depths of the entirety of God’s revelation relating the parts of Scripture to the overall whole in accord with the intent of the ultimate Mind who composed it. Because God is effecting a plan that is consistent and which culminates in Christ Jesus there is a measure of allegory (spiritual application once outlawed) permitted, avoiding excess, that sweetens the word with intimations of Jesus and his saving activity, and this brings his touch to the individual soul in its personal devotions. Jesus whispers his love to the reader with pertinency, as well as proclaiming the facts of his compassionate assignment on our behalf. The trip-wires in Bible study that ought to sound an alarm to us are scepticism and superstition. The unbelief that isolates us from God and which diminishes his greatness and goodness, and repudiates the truth of his revelation, will fatally wound the soul. The superstition that recites the Scripture mantra-like as if it were a magical charm or always confirmatory of personal impulse and volition is a selfish domination of the word that closes access to its true meaning and holy power. The Bible affords deliverance from self, its rebellion, egotism, and illusions. The Bible comforts and corrects. We do not depart from the inspired word, its sensible meaning, and the word is to dwell in us richly.