The text of the Bible and Bible history spans roughly 4,000 years. The earth was created approximately 4,000 years before the birth of Christ and all the Bible authors passed away before 100 AD. With that in mind one might reasonably ask whether the Bible contains all the information God wants humanity to have. The perspective here presented says no. In this article I support the idea that it is God's desire and intent to communicate much more than is contained in the finite scope of the Bible canon. One reason I suggest this can be stated thusly: It is wrong to think we know better than God. It is simple human hubris to think that God's communcation is limited to the finite contents of the canon of the Bible.
The Bible is authoritive but within itself it divulges and illustrates a progression of knowledge and detail that teaches something. It teaches that God adds detail and explanations that expand on what has gone before, historically. It does this without changing the messages God desires to communicate. It does this without contradiction of anything stated earlier in the historical timeline. This progression must be consistent with Bible truth meaning that at each point everything is properly understood.
Also, since all this comes under the umbrella of Bible truth, we accept the necessary role of the Holy Spirit. The role and function of God in the person of the Holy Spirit must be acknowledged and taken into account. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:13, 14) Finally, these thoughts reflect a historical view in that when an event takes place in time is important. The time is as important as the event itself. Stated differently, the time of the occurance is as important as the meaning or message in the words.
Just as Moses assembled the people and reviewed with them their past, present and future, we would do well to repeat the exercise and do the same. Deuteronomy 8:2 for example says you shall remember all the way which the Lord thy God has led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to test thee, to know what was in your heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or not, etc.
Often mentioned is the promise that a Son of man would come to resolve the problem of sin and bring justice to the earth, Genesis 3:15. Animal sacrifice, life and death, and blood for blood are introduced in Genesis 3:21. Many other ideas, thoughts and words are introduced in the story of creation, Adam and Eve and the fall, also known as the first sin. The notion of a trade, and exchange, a swap or substitution is introduced early in history by God as recorded by Moses. Salvation, the role and work of Christ, and the divine solution to the sin problem are all introduced in the first three chapters of Genesis. The implication is this explanation was sufficient to give Adam and Eve hope of life and hope of release from the death penalty or decree.
God's initiative and actions in the face of the sinful, disobedient behavior of humankind is expanded in the story of the flood. God gave instructions and Noah worked to build the ark. Adam and Eve built an altar and had a role in offering the sacrificial lamb on an altar. Noah did all that and also built the ark which God then used to save him and his family, Genesis 7:23. The notion of sin and the consequences first referenced in the story of Adam and Eve was expanded and elaborated in the story of the flood. The deluge was explicitly described as God's reaction to the sins of the antedeluvians, Genesis 6:7.
Also, God's covenant is first introduced and connected specifically to the ark, Genesis 6:18. God's covenant is connected to God providing an ark to save Noah and his family from the flood. Also, the concepts and notions concerning life and death are made clearer. The concepts and notions are elaborated, explained, illustrated and further developed. The idea that something that cannot be touched, the rainbow, can be used by God as a sign or symbol is introduced. God made the rainbow a sign or token of His promise and His covenant. Gen. 9:13. The covenant was between two groups or parties. On the one side was God and on the other sides was the earth, the animals and the descendants of Noah. This expands on God's revelation of Himself.
In addition to details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
Not to be forgotten is the closing of the door of the ark. This was an act of God. An angel closed the door. God's patience is measured and not indefinite. There will be a time when probation is closed.
The Bible account expands on the simple ideas of cause and effect, sin and the consequences of sin with a longer story, the story of the life of Abraham. Compare this rendition with the stories of Adam and Eve and Noah which are told in a mere handful of chapters. This particular account is covered in chapters 12 to 24 which is thirteen chapters. In these chapters Abraham interacts with God in one on one conversation. This is similar to how God talks to Adam and Eve and Noah but this changes as history continues. This is direct communication needs to be explained since we don't experience that every day in the world we live in. Becuase of that we can't really relate to these stories directly. Taken historically we can perceive a need for what God actually does in the Bible. God explains more and more as we work our way through Bible history.
The story of Abraham in particular elaborates on the ideas of faith and obedience. In particular, what does God expect of us when we seem to be given two commands that are in opposition? This also introduces ideas concerning the trustworthiness of God. It begins to explore notions of the nature of God and the nature of man.
Not to be forgotten is the notion of pregression or growth in knowledge of God. In the case of Abraham this growth continued over his entire lifetime of 175 years.
The Bible continues to add instances and examples of God's faithfulness. What this means is that God is acting in a way that is trustworthy. God does what He says He will do within a framework of give and take, action and consequence, cause and effect. In the case of Joseph, at least, God speaks to Joseph more indirectly, through dreams. Joseph gives credit to God but we don't see the face to face conversations.
Isaac trusts Abraham and does not resist when Abraham is about to kill him. Jacob deceives Isaac and flees from Esau. Jacob shows favoritism, first to Rachel and then to Joseph. What do these stories tell us abouy God? Is God like these patriarchs? These stories, this history, expands what we already see in Bible history. In particular these stories begin to help us understand the relationship between us and God, between spiritual matters and temporal or physical matters.
An important lesson to be learned in these chapters is that we must be patient and trust God. These Bible personalities had to endure much uncertainty and trouble.
With the life of Moses we have a mixture of God speaking to Moses in words he can hear and understand and Moses acting on his own and making a number of mistakes. Where Abraham questions God from time to time, Moses really asks a lot of questions and acts on his own in terms of complaining or taking the complaints of the people to God. Moses gets the law of God written down on stone.
We also see introduced some of the problems of not having the written word of God. For at least 2,000 years God's laws were not written down but were passed along from the fathers and mothers by word of mouth.
Important for this article is the number of pages spent on the life of Moses and what happened during and immediately after the exodus from Egypt. This part of Bible history is told in four books as compared to one for all history up to the time of Moses. Through several cycles God provides miracles followed by the people complaining, rebelling or otherwise acting in opposition to God. We have more illustrations of God's patience and love and more illustrations of humanities proclivity to sin and rebel.
The significant parable or illustration of the plan of salvation, returned to over and over again, is the sanctuary in all its detail and the rituals to be performed by the priest and people. This is a major expansion on the plan of salvation revealed up to this point but is not fully explained until later in the Bible text.
Under Joshua the Israelites wiped out most of the people in Canaan in obedience to God's direction. Joshua had direct messages from God. Obedience, trust and failures such as the defeat at Ai taught what it means to obey and disobey as a tribe or organization or individual.
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
The stories of Joshua, Jericho, Rahab and other details seem to be aimed at leaders that take over or follow in the steps of major figures such as Moses. It seems that Joshua represents good leaders that have learned well the lessons learned from those that mentored them.
Still learning to operate as a nation, Gideon clearly showed that God gave the victory on His terms. Samson is an example of how God uses fallible human beings to accomplish His purposes.
Gideon, also known as Jurubbaal, seems to be an example of someone with poor sense of purpose, low self image and a tendency to speak before thinking. He suffers many trial because of his frailties.
Samson seems to be opposite in some ways. He exhibits no lack of self confidence and ability to take action. His actions were sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes questionable. He also suffers trials because of his misadventures including having his eyes gouged out.
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded in the book of Judges.
Teachings about authority, rulers, relation to governments. God's view of organizations and heirarchys.
The life of Samuel is mostly a good example of listening to God and doing what God wanted him to do. He had to deliver a message to Eli that was a critical rebuke from God to Eli. He also had to deal with Saul and David.
Saul is an example of one that apparently followed God for a time but then went in the wrong way. The lessons to be learned expand and amplify how God deals justly with bad behavior.
The ups and downs of the life of David and Solomon reveal even more about the character of God. God is patient and forgiving when David and Solomon repent. Many examples of forgiveness and God's mercy can be found here among many other lessons of truth, law and justice.
Chronologically, Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes belong with Samuel, David and Solomon. A rich trove of lessons can be found here and all this text expands and amplifies on the preceeding history.
More lessons of a corporate nature, God overrules the kingly behavior of rulers.
Although we cannot all identify with Solomon, David and other major leaders in the Bible we can learn many personal lessons from these stories. The later historical material covering the history between the death of Solomon and the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar's troops seem to be aimed as much at the individual as at the kings and other leaders. This is a story of good kings and bad kings and the people that followed the examples of the kings or not as the case may be.
As often as not it was the prophets that spoke for God and acted according to what God wanted them to do. The average citizen, so to speak, seemed to be swayed this way and that. This puts a strong point on the need for personal, individual responsibility.
Although this is not the last word on the subject a solid foundation regarding the nature of man and the nature of God is firmly laid in this history.
Jehoiachin, Jehoikin, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel all lived at about the same time. This corresponds with the destruction of Solomon's temple, the exile in Babylon and return to Jerusalem after the captivity. The exile basically lasted 70 years.
Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel were, of course, the major prophets. The idea or existence of prophets that conveyed message from God and foretold the future extended back to Genesis but at this point in history prophetic words or writings take on a more significant place in the progression of history.
It deserves notice that the craft of government had been growing over time. The Bible history had noted indirectly the governments of Nimrod, Ur, Egypt, Syria and Babylon. Nimrod founded Babel and built the tower of Babel. Syria or Assyria repeatedly attacked Israel, etc. Statecraft was presumably well developed in Egypt, etc. Yet, all these were accepted to be kingdoms as opposed to operating with legisative and deliberative bodies such as the Sanhedrin or a Senate.
It is at least worth mentioning that the development of more advanced statecraft happened at roughly the same time that the major prophets were deliverying prophecies about these major non-Jewish governments.
The Bible history keeps up with the times. God reveals more details about His master plan and the plan of salvation. These details historically were right on time. This, of course, reveals additional details about God and His knowledge and wisdom that exist outside of and above human wisdom and ability to foretell the future.
The minor prophets teach lessons of personal responsibility. Jonah himself, a prophets rebels against God. Hosea illustrated personal issues of morality and God's love. Malachi talks about money issues, etc.
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
The prime example of moral behavior and revealer of God's character is Christ Himself. His love for humanity, healing diseases, socializing and communicating with the disciples, face to face and one on one. All in the context of what had gone before without contradiction but expanding and explaining issues on multiple levels.
The epitomy of Jewish prejudice against all challenges was Paul. He was extraordinary in education and persecution. Paul broke things down using the Jews own logic and heritage. Even Peter was intimidated by Paul. Even with all Paul's education and written teachings many false ideas were apparently widespread. More and more detail and explanations yet without contradicting what had gone before. Abraham was not criticised, Moses was not criticied. Read Hebrews 11. Paul was thouroughly Jewish and thouroughly Christian. Paul suffered much perseccution 2 Cor 11: 23-25
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
The symbols in Revelation were clouded in mystery for centuries. The academics and intellectuals were seemingly in agreement that the beasts of Revelation were beyond explanation.
The notion of overcomers, as in "he that overcometh" in Revelation is not used a lot in English translations, it only appears about 30 times in the whole Bible. It is used more than twice as much in the New Testament as in the Old Testament. And, the apostle John used it three times as often as the other New Testament writers do combined. So, it seems that being an overcomer is more and more a focus as we move along in time. John in Revelation challenges us to be overcomers. Lest we miss an important point, the overcomers overcame the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, Revelation 12:11.
How are the three angels of Revelation 14:6-12 to be understood? The were certainly not well understood before 1844. The reason and logic that unpacked the meaning came slowly and with great effort. This illustrates again how knowledge and detail are added over time even after the composition of the Bible was decided.
The total accumulation of history and documents, religious and secular, continued but was distributed around the world after the destruction of the library in Alexandria. Before the invention and development of the printing press copies of documents were produced at great cost and few copies were available. Very few people in a very limited number of places had access.
The time of Luther, Tyndale, and so many other reformers and agitators was enabled by the printing press. This was critical. It was a critical development so Christ's prophecy could be fulfilled.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
Our place in history, our situation, our relationship with God
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
Details of the plan of salvation, the role of obedience and faith, personal accountability, corporate accountability, the future, God's character and the solution to the problem of sin were progressively elaborated and expanded.
Do not neglect the lesson being taught by this experience.