“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I Timothy 3:16-17
Today the Bible is under attack. Its critics claim this ancient book does not contain truth consistent with modern enlightened society. The Chinese have a ten year project to rewrite the Bible. They intend to replace the Ten Commandments with Xi Jinping quotes. “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” becomes “Resolutely guard against the infiltration of Western ideology.”
We must remember what God says about the Bible. Paul tells us ALL scripture is God-breathed. The Bible claims the very words of Scripture were given directly by God to mankind. (Critics say maybe some concepts presented are true but the words themselves are not
inspired or important.)
Peter affirms this truth in II Peter 1:21. “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit”. The words of scripture were given directly by the Holy Spirit to men of God who wrote down the words of God. The Lord knew this inspiration covered all of God’s word. He tells us in Matthew 5. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” The Lord tells us the smallest letters and punctuation (the jot and tittle) written in the Hebrew are divinely inspired and are true.
Because scripture comes directly from God we are to revere it as the word of God to us. Paul tells us to “rightly divide the word of God”. We are to let God speak the message He is sending to us, not substitute
our own message in place of God’s. Literally Paul is telling Timothy to “cut it straight” – do not veer off into areas that are not what God says. We are to carefully and rightly handle the word of God. We are to treat God’s word with the reverence it deserves for it tells us of God, the one we worship. This is the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11 who judged everything they were taught against the scriptures.
The dangers of attempting to change God’s word are spelled out clearly in Revelation 22:18-19. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City.” This is not a new commandment. Deuteronomy 4:2 says, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” God is very protective of His word to us.
Today the world we live in is using one of Satan’s oldest schemes. He used it in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve and he used it in the
wilderness to tempt the Lord to sin against God. In both those cases he alters the word of God to make it say something God did not say.
Today God’s word is under attack, its truth and veracity is denied, it is changed to mean something other than what God said.
Fewer people are willing to stand on God’s truth. Yet we are told “the word of God endures forever”. If you read of the men and
women in the Bible that God exalts you see all of them are ones who honored God’s word – David, Daniel. There is no more
important activity a believer can take than to daily study the word of God. Honor God’s word, seek His wisdom to understand (not change) what God has said. Remember we do not have to defend what God says. He will do that. All we have to do is to tell His truth – “Thus says the Lord”. But we can’t do that if we don’t know it says.