God Said to You
Posted by: ba <ba@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Final Phase
God Said to You
by J. Randal Matheny
People who tell us we can't all understand the
Bible alike often have an agenda to push or a
doctrine to promote. They like to create a chasm
between the original readers and us today. We are
so far removed from that original setting and
situation, they say, that we can't be totally sure
that what is being taught therein is applicable
today. By doing so, they purport to muddy the
waters and cast doubt on the ability to comprehend
and apply what the Scriptures say.
Jesus himself shows that no such chasm exists.
Much time had elapsed between the day God appeared
to Moses in a burning bush and 30 A.D. or so, when
the Saducees plied our Lord with a question about
the resurrection. In spite of a time span of more
than 1,500 years, Jesus cites a phrase from Exodus
3 to demonstrate the existence of life after death
and the resurrection.
Before doing so, he says, "And as for the
resurrection of the dead, have you not read what
was said to you by God, ..." (Matthew 22:31,
NRSV).
Jesus affirmed that in the Exodus passage, God was
talking to the Saducees. "Said to you by God."
They should have read it and understood that it
taught the resurrection of the dead. They were
therefore culpable of teaching there was no
resurrection. It mattered not at all that so much
time has passed, nor that they were not present to
understand fully what was taking place on that
lonely mountainside.
Yes, the truth was there to be read and
understood. But they had been influenced by
philosophies and teachings of men. So they read
over that verse and kept right on going, happy in
their self-imposed ignorance.
Jesus told them, however, that God was talking to
them through that passage. God was communicating
important truths in something he had said more
than 1,500 years earlier. Only their political and
social agenda kept them from admitting it.
Be sure that when people today cast aspersions on
the ability to understand the message of the Bible
and come to a right conclusion about what it
teaches, Jesus doesn't share their opinion.
We can know what God is saying to us about the
nature of salvation, the proper human response to
the gospel, the right way to worship the Lord, how
to conduct ourselves in this evil world. We can
know and we can fulfill God's detailed will for
our lives.
Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
For God's talking to us today. Will we hear,
understand, and obey?
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