Over the course of one’s Christian life, we will be asked by others, or by our own curious minds, ‘how we know what we know about truth, God, or ultimate reality? How do we justify things that we say we believe?’ These types of questions point to an activity that we all do everyday; seeking a justification for what we think, believe, and do. The pursuit of answering these type of questions is an area of study called Epistemology. For example, we make use of various means to develop a sense of certainty in our hearts and minds; things like news/media, science, discussions with peers, rumors at work or within the family, video evidence, and most prevalent, the use of our reason.
This scenario unexpectedly happened to me while I was sharing my faith with a couple on a beach in San Diego, California in 1989. In the midst of explaining the gospel, the thought popped up out of nowhere, ‘how do we know any of this is true?’ I would be lying to you if I said that I was not distracted from my task at hand. In fact, the thought was so disturbing that I had to embarrassingly end the conversation. It was like I was living through a spiritual earthquake; trying to make sense of the world as it was being shaken to core. Thankfully, the Lord provided me with viable and suitable answers via my spiritual leaders to meet the historical and philosophical concerns I had about my faith. But most importantly, the crucial anchor for my soul at that time was being shown the reliability of the Bible; that the Church/Christians has/have a trusted source in God’s Word.
The last two weeks we have examined aspects of the Scriptures reliability in our sermon series. We have seen that:
Language starts in the Godhead; the Trinity has been in conversation within itself for all eternity.
God’s voice has been interrupted by the serpent and Man.
Gods voice has been restored by the Word of God; namely, Jesus, as the Logos.
That Jesus’ Word has been spread by the Breath of God in the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit.
And finally, this past week Pastor Hace helped us see that no matter where we go or when we go, God’s presence and voice are made available to his people.
This last point is significant, because God‘s voice has not only been manifested over significant periods of time, but His track record to fulfill His promises serves to further anchor us in the trustworthiness of God and His Word. God’s word is consistent. Through every era of redemptive history the patterns that we see in each period reveal the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God’s dealings with His people. Studying the various patterns of teaching we find in the Bible over each period of the biblical story is called biblical theology. This discipline allows us to see that the Lord is true to Himself and His plans for the world over a long period of time. Therefore, we can have great hope knowing that His future plans for the world and His people are are more than likely to play out.
The writer of Hebrews alludes to this phenomenon this way: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Heb 1:1–2
And following in this example of Scripture, the Westminster Standards puts it this way:
“Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation: therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.” WCF 1.1
An image that helps me grasp how the Lord has been progressively leading and speaking to His people over the centuries is the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. As the Triune God leads His people through life’s twists and turns, He has graciously left us ‘bread crumbs’ or markers in the Scriptures to let us know that He has been with us throughout the generations and that He will lead us through all of the challenges that our worlds can put before us moving forward. As we find ourselves moving in and out of ever changing cultural and philosophical climates, we can rest assured that His Word will not only help us navigate them, but he gives us a glorious picture of how the journey will end. Unlike Hansel and Gretel, we do not have to hope to be found and rescued from some terrible danger, but we can move with confidence that our leader and King has already blazed the path forward, while at the same time leaving His markers of direction for us in His Word.
Therefore, be encouraged by the redemptive patterns throughout biblical history that have shown both the Lord’s faithfulness and the hope that He will lead us all into a better and greater story to come.