Posted on 02/10/2021 3:44:06 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
BRING THE BOOK!
“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1).
“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel” (Nehemiah 8:1).
Whatever the people did here, they did it all together, "as one man." The phrase "all the people" is found eleven times in this short chapter. This shows that all the people wanted the Sacred Book and that it was not only for the priests. Ezra was a priest as well as a scribe, and he was asked by all the people to bring the book. This book was the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible.
All the people of God want the whole Word of God!
1. In the past; God's people have said, "Bring the book!"
During the reign of good King Josiah, about 630 B. C., while the temple was being repaired, Hilkiah the priest found a long-lost copy of the book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. It was read to "all the people, great and small" (2 Chronicles 34:30), and a glorious revival followed.
Now that Nehemiah has the people restored in their city, the walls repaired and the gates rehung, the next thing is to have the Law reread. The people had done the work of the Lord, and now they wanted the Word of the Lord. The two go together.
Every revival movement of Christian people has brought about more and more calls for the precious Bible.
"Bring the Book," Sir Walter Scott pleaded as he lay dying.
"What book?" said his servant "There is only one Book--the Bible," was the famous response.
Bring the Book! Schoolmen may scrutinize Plato, Spinoza, Schopenhauer and Dewey until their minds are dyspeptic with too much learning. but their starved souls will still need the Word of God with its infinite wisdom.
After multiplied ecumenical Bible conferences at Edinburgh, Stockholm, Madras, Amsterdam and other enticing tourist cities, advertised widely by ecclesiastical great men, there still remains only one Book.
2. All the people of God want His Word now.
We want the authority of the Lord God of hosts, and that is to be found only in our Sacred Scriptures. This is not bibliolatry, for our Bibles are not ends in themselves-they are means to an end. Our Bibles lead us to God by way of Jesus Christ, and we know nothing of Christ apart from our Bibles.
"Bring the Book!" say our waiting congregations. Only the Book can cleanse the mind, purify the soul, strengthen the heart, satisfy our deepest hunger, and bring us into harmonious adjustment with a loving Heavenly Father.
"Bring the Book!" say the men of God that wish for "a more sure word" for waiting congregations who are Bible hungry and sometimes Bible starved.
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?” (Luke 11:11). Neither may we give hungry Christians the stories of human philosophy when they are calling for the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven.
May we, the people, keep on calling for the Book until that all shall revolutionize Christendom as wonderfully as it changed Jerusalem's bewildered citizens into a people able to "make great mirth, because they understood the words that were declared unto them" (Nehemiah 8:12); The joy of the Lord with its strength is only if we know something of the word et the lord.
Reconstruction of personality, of soul, of family, of church and of nation is accomplished only by a genuine return to the Book of the Law of the Lord. Why? Because “the law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul." God made both soul and Bible. This is evident, because every godly soul loves the Bible.
3. All the people of God want the Book because It is God's Word.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). Bible conferences, great and many, testify of the Book. Thank God for the Book.
We believe that the Bible is God's word for many reasons. Among them are these.
The Bible has many unlikely prophecies which have been fulfilled. The Bible has accurately foretold the history of the Jews. The Old Testament prophesied the Christ who came just as He was foretold. The Bible makes men godly.
Evil men hate the Bible; good men love it. As good men become better, they love the Book more. The Holy Spirit of the Bible is actually experienced by godly men exactly as the Bible describes His gracious work.
The Bible is a unit; and that in spite of its forty or more authors who lived during a period of time spread over about 1,500 years. The Bible has survived many malignant attacks, yet It abides. No book has ever remotely approached it in depth of thought, holiness, influence, purity, sublimity, power for good and means to happiness.
For these reasons and more, we say that all the people of God want the word of God because it is the word of God
- Stanley Edwin Anderson
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