If we don't understand the main point we won't understand anything else. It's a bit like playing baseball and not understanding that you have to cross home plate in order to score runs and win. Likewise, if we don't understand the main point of the Bible none of it will make any sense.
"Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:44-48)
In order for our minds to be opened to understand Scripture we have to understand that Jesus is the central focus - "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). It's vitally important that we understand who He is and what His plan really is.
Traditionally it has been taught that God is angry with mankind because of the original sin and that He intends to consign wicked humanity to endless torment in a place called hell. According to tradition, Jesus came into the world to save a remnant who would be whisked away to heaven at death and spared the fate of the unrepentant.
That tradition misinterprets what Scripture truly reveals about the plan and person of Jesus. When we see that God is actively working to reclaim lost people for His kingdom through the person and work of Jesus His Son, and that He has enlisted those of us who are responsive to participate in this plan together with Jesus, our minds are truly opened to understand Scripture.
The enlightenment we have received must never be the source of intellectual arrogance, but rather the motivating energy for active participation in the kingdom plan. The clarity of the vision is the basis for mission.
May the central focus and purpose of Scripture cause our hearts to burn within us (Luke 24:32) and provide powerful impetus for mission and ministry today.
Steve
"Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:44-48)
In order for our minds to be opened to understand Scripture we have to understand that Jesus is the central focus - "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27). It's vitally important that we understand who He is and what His plan really is.
Traditionally it has been taught that God is angry with mankind because of the original sin and that He intends to consign wicked humanity to endless torment in a place called hell. According to tradition, Jesus came into the world to save a remnant who would be whisked away to heaven at death and spared the fate of the unrepentant.
That tradition misinterprets what Scripture truly reveals about the plan and person of Jesus. When we see that God is actively working to reclaim lost people for His kingdom through the person and work of Jesus His Son, and that He has enlisted those of us who are responsive to participate in this plan together with Jesus, our minds are truly opened to understand Scripture.
The enlightenment we have received must never be the source of intellectual arrogance, but rather the motivating energy for active participation in the kingdom plan. The clarity of the vision is the basis for mission.
May the central focus and purpose of Scripture cause our hearts to burn within us (Luke 24:32) and provide powerful impetus for mission and ministry today.
Steve
posted by steve @ 9:48 AM
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