The Saving Knowledge of God (2)

Q. What is the second book?

A. It is the book of conscience. No person is without this, no matter how abominable he may be.

Q. What is the conscience?

A. It is the vicegerent, the lamp of the Lord which is within us, having knowledge of all our commissions and omissions. It is our heart, our reins, being acquainted with all our actions. It is the light and the power cast into our souls which tells us, “This is good, and this is evil.” There is something in us which troubles and condemns us when we have done something wrong, and when we have done something good, it justifies us and gives us freedom, saying, “You have done well.” It is something within us which, after we have committed evil, says to us, “You may try to silence me now, but the Lord will one day give me the opportunity to speak; you may now cause me to be quiet, but I will summon you to judgment.”

1. It recognizes good and evil.

2. It becomes an examiner of what we have done, whether it has been good or evil.

3. It becomes a witness and says, “I testify that this is good, but that is not good.”

4. if what we have done is wrong, it makes us dejected.

5. if what we have done is good, it says, “I have peace.”

6. It says, “You will not permit me to speak now, but it will be very bitter for you when I speak in judgment.”

7. It says, “I summon you to judgment; here you were not willing to listen to me and caused me to remain silent.”

If the conscience is awakened or let loose on one's deathbed, then he lies terror stricken, as was Belshazzar, the joints of whose loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. He shall be as a troubled fountain, crying out and making all kinds of promises of reformation. Oh, there is not a single person, whether Jew or Gentile, Turk or barbarian, the most savage or more refined, who has not this conscience. It is his unceasing Bible, his minister, who is saying, “It shall go ill with you if you do not do well; you know how to oppose me and to silence me, but if I depart from you, know that for all these things you will be brought into judgment.”

Q. What else does this book teach us about God?

A. First, that there is a God. Second, that He is omniscient. Third, that this God is Judge, and that He, as a righteous and holy Judge, will judge according to truth. Fourth, that He has made the conscience. Fifth, that He judges by this conscience.

Man does not learn this from creatures or from the book of nature. If it pleases God to open the conscience, we will be terror stricken! How Cain cried out, “Every one that findeth me shall slay me!” How agitated Judas was when he said, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” and he went to the halter. What happened to King Saul? He fell upon his own sword. It is recorded: “So Saul died for his transgression.” How this can also trouble a child of God, even the best of them! There are times they scarcely permit the conscience to speak, and then it is silent for a long time, but afterwards God lets it speak loudly.

We see this in Joseph's brothers when Simeon was bound. As they spoke about Joseph, they said, “God requires the blood of our brother.” God's children must also say at times that God seeks out this and that sin. At times the conscience does its work immediately. We see this with David when he had numbered the people; immediately his heart smote him. At other times it takes place a little later; for example, in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah, it took at least eight months before his conscience spoke. However, it does not take place without some knocking before it has the desired effect, as with Peter, who then went out and wept bitterly. It is the reins which instruct (Job 19:27). For those who cast it behind their backs and will not listen to it, terror stands at the door.

Q. What is the third book?

A. It is 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! I f we do not hold fast to this truth, then our salvation is nothing, but if we hold fast to this truth, our salvation is very glorious.

Q. How do we prove that the Bible is God's Word?

A. From the testimony of Scripture itself; for example: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), and “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). They continually said, “These are not our words; they are not cunningly devised fables, but they are of God the Lord, of whom they speak.”

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

A. In the first place, we prove it by the fact that we find in God's Word the way unto 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. There is no man, though he be ever so wise, who knows this other than by the Bible. I f we ask them of this, they will be as the blind; and the way which they will point out, without the Bible, will be altogether wrong.

Second, we find in the Bible truths such that we would do violence to our consciences if we did not accept them as truths. The laws and commands contained in it are so exceedingly divine, and the law in it is so perfectly conformable to the innate law which each of us has within himself. Every person is comprehended under the law which is in the Word; it is above every human law.

Third, we find in the Bible hidden mysteries which no person can understand, such as election and reprobation; the incarnation of Christ; the Lord's revelation that there is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that these three are One; and that God so loved man that He spared not His only begotten Son to save sinners. Neither angels nor men could ever comprehend this, but must cry out, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” and say as Agur, “I have not the understanding of a man.”

Fourth, we also prove that the Bible is God's Word by the prophecies which are in it and have been precisely fulfilled long afterwards. The Messiah was already promised in Genesis 3; in Daniel 9 God set the time to be within 490 years, and this was also fulfilled on time. God said to Abraham when he was still without a child, “I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven,” and they were to go into Egypt and be afflicted 430 years, after which He would bring them out. This, too, was fulfilled. Consider also 1 Kings 13, where the prophet said against the altar, “Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee.” Because he prophesied this, the king said, “Lay hold on him,” and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up. Then the king said, “Entreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me.” The prophet was again so good, and he did so, and the king's hand was restored. In 2 Kings 23:15- 18, four hundred years after this happened, King Josiah asked, “Whose sepulchres are these?” and they said, “Those of the priests of Baal.” He therefore took their bones and burned them upon the altar. Then he saw another grave and asked, “What title is that that I see?” and they said, “It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which proclaimed these things that thou hast done.” The king then said, “Let him alone!” Now take the prophecies regarding Jesus, where He was to be born. They have all been fulfilled exactly. When the wise men came to worship Him and asked where He was born, they were told, “In Bethlehem,” quoting the Scriptures in Micah 5.

Fifth, it is for that reason that God says to idolaters, “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 the things of the past. The world existed two thousand years before the time of Moses, and He informed Moses of every event so he could write them.

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

— from Smytegelt's Monday Catechism

— to be continued —

God's Word

Quick and powerful is the Word,
Sharper than a two-edged sword:
In the Lord Jehovah's hand
Nothing can its force withstand.

How its power was felt of old,
They who felt its power have told;
Many were the wonders wrought,
Multitudes were fed and taught.

Mighty God! whose Word it is,
Hear our prayer and grant us this:
What Thy power has done before
Now descend and do once more.

— Young People's Hymnal

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