Day #6 The Holy Spirit, using people, wrote the Bible. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will of man, but prophets, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). Jesus had the same view of Scripture that Paul and Peter held to, namely, that the Holy Spirit wrote the Old Testament. Jesus asked the Pharisees (a question they could not answer), “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him [Christ] ‘Lord’? For he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” (Matt. 22:43–45, emphasis added). My point is, Jesus said that David was able to write as he did because the Holy Spirit—in 1,000 BC—enabled him to do so. And, as we also saw earlier, it was the testimony of the early church. When being persecuted, they turned to the Lord and said, “You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?’” (Acts 4:25, emphasis added). One more thing in this connection. The canon of Holy Scripture is closed. It is final. Absolute. Incontrovertible. It is God’s complete and final revelation. No word that will come in the future will be equal to the Bible in level of inspiration. This means that any leading, prophetic word, word of knowledge, or vision one may have today must cohere with Holy Scripture. If it doesn’t, it must be rejected. The main reason that King Saul became yesterday’s man and rejected by God was because he thought he was above the Word of God. When he offered the burnt offerings, he knew he was going right against Moses’s mandate that only the person called of God could offer burnt offerings. And yet he claimed to have been “compelled” to do it (1 Sam. 13:12). Whenever a person claims to speak for God, claiming “The Lord told me”—and it goes against Scripture, you may safely, comfortably, and most assuredly reject that person’s word, no matter how credible that person may seem! The Holy Spirit takes the responsibility for the authorship of the Bible. He used people of course. But the buck stops with the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit may speak today at various levels. But no level of inspiration will equal the inspiration of the Bible—ever. Kendall, R.T. (2014-01-07). Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirits Work in Our Lives (Kindle Locations 690-701). Charisma House. Kindle Edition.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 18:57:11 +0000