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You're listening to Tim Bulkeley's 5 minute Bible
I was talking to a friend on Facebook recently
some of her family have got her all uptight about the end of the world which
is apparently coming
very soon, Ohit's not the end of the world itself that worries her
she's cool with that, its
all the wars and troubles they say are coming first
and she worried about her children. This sort of misuse of Scripture
really gets my goat! That got me thinking that there are
two ways to missuse Scripture that really get me annoyed
I'm going to deal with the one
that I'm NOT tempted by first, and then I'll deal with the one I'm tempted by
you see it's all this
"prophecy" stuff, the thought that Scripture
is a coded message that needs a special key to get unlocked and that
only the people who understand prophecy
right have got that key, there's usually wars and rumors of wars
days of stuff for sale and
just occasionally when there's nothing for sale 'all' they demand is your life
just think of the poor characters that believed this guy with this advert in
the New Zealand Herald just before we came to New Zealand
I bet they went through the nineties looking pretty stupid
it all founded on the use a scripture
the claims that only particular, annointed teachers, can really understand Scripture
that grabs verses out of context and uses them to *** their opponents over the
head with and that assumes that scripture is all about us
it's arrogant and it's selfish
and it really annoys me What did Jesus say about it?
"but about that day and hour no one knows
neither the angels of heaven, not Son but only the Father
[some more stuff and then] keep awake therefore
for you do not now on what day your Lord is coming
So, the one thing we do know about the day is that Jesus said
we wouldn't know! And anyone who claims that they know is claiming to be
better than Jesus. Or again in Acts just before the Ascension
"It's not for you to know the times or epochs which
the father has fixed by his own authority."
How arrogant! And it's all confirmed in Rrevelation by the
risen Christ: "Remember therefore
what you've received and heard and keep it and repent
if therefore you will not wake up
I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come
upon you
you won't know
So, the claim that scripture is a coded message gets my goat
its arrogant and it's selfish but
there are also the scholars who mystify scripture
they also get me really going
back in the Middle Ages it made kinda sense
when only scholars had access to read scripture
let alone read books about Scripture but the Reformation and the
invention of printing especially the invention of printing changed all that
but today there are scholars
wh are onnce again mystifying scripture: "You can't
really understand this," they say, "unless you learn..."
whatever it is I'm teaching, it's also
incredibly arrogant. What did Jesus say?
Matthew 11 this time: "At that time
Jesus answered and said "I praise Thee O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that thou
didst
hide these things from the wise and intelligent and distribute them to babes
yes, father, for thus it was well pleasing in thy sight
all things have been handed over to me but my father
and no one knows the Son except the father nor does anyone know the Father
except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. Come to me all you who are
weary and heavy laden
and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me
for am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy and my load is light!" yep
that saying about Jesus' yoke being easy
isn't about us having an easy time here on earth about
our workload being light its
that our study will be light our study of Scripture especially
is comparing his yoke with the yoke of the Pharisees
they made studying the Bible difficult Jesus makes it easy
you see the core message or messages scripture plain and clear
and you can't miss them: there is one God
God loves us we're rebellious and broken
God is dying to fix us one day
it will all end well. That stuff is clear
obvious and you can't miss it, for the rest?
well just ignore the arrogant selfish interpreters of the Bible
real Bible interpreters are humble not arrogant and they're
selfless not selfish
God bless