PREPARATORY INSTRUCTION

The saving knowledge of God.

Q. What is the third book?

A. The Scripture, the Word of the living God, the Bible, all the books of the Old and New Testaments. This is the rule of our life.

Q. Is it truly God’s Word?

A. Yes! If we do not hold fast to this, then our blessedness is nothing, but if we hold fast to it, then it is beautiful.

Q. How can we prove that the Bible is God’s Word?

A. From the witness of Scripture itself, for instance, from Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;” and II Peter, “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” They continually said, “They are not our words; we have not followed cunningly devised fables; it speaks of God the Lord.”

Q. But seeing that there are many people, as atheists, who do not want to believe, we must have arguments. What are they?

A. 1. We prove it hereby, because we find in God’s Word the way to eternal salvation and how God desires to become the God of lost sinners. No man or angel ever knew this; flesh and blood has not revealed how God can reconcile the world to Himself by Jesus Christ. No man knows this except from the Bible even though he be ever so wise. Ask them, they will be as blind and the way which they will show outside of the Bible will be altogether wrong.

2. Hereby we prove it, that we find therein such truths that if we do not want to accept them as truths, we would have to do violence to our conscience. The laws and commands which are found therein are Divine, and the law contained therein conforms with the innate law which each of us has within ourselves. Every person is comprehended under the law which is in the Word; this law is above every human law.

3. We find hidden mysteries therein which no person can understand, such as, election and rejection; the incarnation of Christ and the Lord’s revelation that there is Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that these Three are One; and that God loved man so greatly that He spared not His only begotten Son to save sinners. Angels or people could never comprehend this. Of this we must cry out, “Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” and say as Solomon, “1 have not the understanding of a man.”

4. It is also proven that the Bible is God’s Word from the prophecies contained therein, which have been exactly fulfilled long thereafter. The Messiah was already promised in Gen. 3:15. In Daniel God fixes the time to be within 490 years, which also was fulfilled on time. God said to Abraham when he was still without a child, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, as the stars of heaven, and it shall go into Egypt and be afflicted 430 years, after which I will bring them out.” This also was fulfilled. Also consider I Kings 13. There the prophet says, “Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall burn the bones of Baal’s priests upon this altar.” Upon this the king said, “Lay hold on him because he prophesies this,” and when he put forth his hand it became stiff. The king said, “Intreat the face of the Lord.” The prophet was so good and he did so; then his hand was restored. In II Kings 23:15-18, which was 400 years after this happened, King Josiah said, “Whose sepulchres are these?” They answered, “Of the priests of Baal,” and he burned the bones of them upon that altar. He then saw another grave and said, “Whose grave is this?” and they said, “It is the sepulchre of the man of God who prophesied the thingc which you are now doing.” He then said, “Let him alone!” Now take the prophesy regarding Jesus, where He was to be born. It has been exactly fulfilled. When the wise men came to worship Him and asked, where He would be born, they said, “In Bethlehem,” and they quoted the scripture in Micah 5.

5. For that reason God says to the idolators, “Let your gods tell us of things to come and show us things of the past; if they are gods they should be able to do so.” In this way the Lord ridicules them. To foretell events is the prerogative of our God. He also makes known things of the past. The world existed two thousand years before the time of Moses and the Lord knew how to inform Moses of every event, so he could write it.

6. The experience of God’s children corresponds exactly with this Word. Because the Spirit works in a person, he is drawn to this Word. The less God’s Spirit operates in the soul, the less she has a desire for this Word.

Q. What is the 7th argument?

A. If the Bible is not of God, then it must be from good or evil angels, or from good or evil people. But the Bible is not from good angels; they themselves were desirous to see how God was willing, in His Son, to become the God of sinners and how He could reconcile the world to Himself; but they were not able; neither can they call themselves, “Lord, Lord of hosts!” Neither is it of the devil; he only shoots arrows against it; all his efforts are to get rid of the Bible. Neither is it of good people; they heartily admit that they have not made it, but that they have written it only because they were moved thereto by God’s Spirit, II Peter 1:20, 21, and they can not call themselves Lord and God as we continually hear the Author of the Bible call Himself. Neither did evil people make it; they are pictured therein very ugly and would want it out of the way too. Thus, no one remains but God. We all ought to firmly hold fast to these seven arguments and say, “I accept your testimony and will live according to this Word.” They who do this most simply, do it the best.

Would you like another argument? The Bible wants to bring sinners to God and the Saviour in the right way. It comforts the perplexed and strengthens the faint-hearted. The Word says, “You will have peace if you walk according to its precepts.” It is true, whosoever does this by grace has liberty and quietness and whosoever does it not, has no liberty. Do you want to add another argument? Just see what power has gone out with and by that Word, not as wtih the Turks and Roman Catholics who, with the sword and persection, push their religion forward. We used nothing else but the Word and everyone can see that it is powerful; every one must bow before it, even the most daring. When the apostles were sent out to preach, how much power accompanied the Word. How great a multitude was converted, which cried out, “Lord, what must we do to be saved?” And even if there were no other example, the more we shall live according to this Word, the safer we shall be. The wicked think that they have peace, but it is not true; at the end it will be bitter.

To be continued

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