I was 19 years old when I opened up the Word of God for the first time.
It was no big deal - nothing jumped out to bite me like I might have supposed. No trumpet sounds or angels appearing in the sky. It was a rather normal experience...or so I thought. But this book was far from being the normal, tame collection of writings that I took it to be. It is the very revelation of God.
Words have always been important to God. In the beginning, he created the world through words. He spoke into nothing and creation came to be. He spoke to Adam and Eve and they came to know their creator. He spoke to Noah, and Abraham. He spoke the law to Moses so the nation of Israel would know the character and will of God. He spoke through the prophets, to warn the people of God. Over and over again, God revealed himself through words.
And then comes Jesus. John's Gospel declares Jesus to be the very Word of God - the perfect revelation of all God's perfections. He is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises; in fact, all of the Old Testament was actually about Jesus (Luke 24).
Yet Jesus lived in time and space. He was only able to directly affect a relatively small number of people during his short ministry. As he ascends to heaven, he leaves behind the truth of his gospel in the form of the written word. It is the continued revelation of God for all to know and obey.
That's what 2 Timothy 3:15 makes clear: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."
Therefore, the Bible is like no other book that has ever been written. It's God speaking to us the truth of his good news. Apart from God speaking and revealing this to us, we would never come to know salvation in Christ. His Word is truth itself and we receive "everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us." (2 Peter 1:3)
The foundation of Grace Church is the immovable, divinely inspired Word of God. It's through this infallible book that we understand the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, who suffered under the wrath of God as he hung on the cross, and who rose again in victory on the third day. May the Word of God be known, memorized, cherished and spoken as we build this new church!
