The Bible at Large
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8 NASB
Word – Western paradigms focus on answers. Experience is reduced to principles in order that we may predict and control. In fact, the entire enterprise of science, a principal characteristic of the Western mind, is an effort to categorize reality in ways that can be managed and manipulated to achieve desired ends. There is nothing essentially wrong about this enterprise. After all, it has produced enormous results including substantial improvements in health, economics and living conditions. But this Western view of the world is not the only view of reality. Cultures that do not share this view are not necessarily “primitive” simply because they do not embrace Western science. One of those alternative cultures is the Hebraic culture of the Bible. In other words, the Bible is not a Western scientific book. Its categories of reality are not the categories of our scientific perspective. Its view of life is not the compartmentalized packaging of research. It does not seek to predict and control.
“The categories of the Bible are not principles to be comprehended but events to be continued. The life of him who joins the covenant of Abraham continues the life of Abraham. Abraham endures forever. We are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.”[1]
Heschel’s insight should cause us to reconsider how we regard the Bible. In the West we are likely to view the Bible as a sourcebook for spiritual insights or a jumbled systematic theology or a God-inspired Boy Scout handbook of answers to life’s perplexing questions. What we usually do not think about the Bible is that it is simply a record of God’s encounters with Israel. We don’t see the Bible as a story, a recollection of the emotional involvement of God and men. We think of the Bible as a book of spiritual information rather than a history of divine encounters. Heschel is right. If we think of the Bible from a Western point of view, we will look for the “21 irrefutable principles” rather than recognizing the emotional reaction of awe. We will read the Bible as if it were Fodor’s guidebook to life on earth rather than reading it as the expressions of men and women who discovered God’s presence along the way.
When Isaiah says that the “word of our God” stands forever, does he mean that all those theological categories, divine attributes, creedal answers and holy platitudes are eternal? Or does he mean that the experience of God found in prophetic revelation is always life transforming? Is Isaiah writing about Messianic prophecies or is he describing what it means to be overwhelmed by God’s holiness? If “word” debar is the speaking of God (not the written words in our biblical texts), then the record we have is not the same as hearing God’s word. The record is second-hand information; the voice is the direct encounter with majesty. Perhaps the Bible is what’s left over after God reveals Himself.
Topical Index: Bible, word, debar, Isaiah 40:8
[1] Abraham Heschel, Man’s Quest for God, p.88
“Perhaps the Bible is what’s left over after God reveals Himself.”
Like.
We are living epistles, living stones; we ARE the Body of Yeshua, of that Word. Perhaps someday, when I have been completely consumed on the altar of sacrifice, then what you see of me will be nothing but what is left over after He reveals Himself in me! And at that point, ‘I’ won’t care! Halleluah!
We as part of the western culture focus on the narrative of the encounter, rather than the encounter itself. Too much focus on the narrative can become idolatry of the encounter. Idolatry is simply idolatry. We need to focus on the encounters and seek them for ourselve.
Seeking wisdom in the narrative without acknowledging His presence in worship is directly correlated to original sin…wanting to know in order to control ourlives and surroundings.
Only recognizing this wickedness in our human hearts comes from seeking Him in utter surrender.
Surely He is a pure and holy God who requires the same in His children.
I’m blessed because He reveals Himself with true intimacy of knowing Him.
Pray for the body ……we are in a heavy battle and must not go alone without His call… But by His Spirit .