Welcome to Bible clinic at Aquila. May the Lord bless you as you read through these pages and may the Holy Spirit give you the full understanding of Gods wonderful Word!
THE BIBLE : THE WORD OF GOD: THE FULL TRUTH:
The Bible is the Divine revelation of the character and mind of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), the sinful state of man, the only way of Salvation in Jesus Christ through grace, the Judgment and doom of sinners and the blessing and happiness for Faith and Obedience of all true believers.
It contains Light to direct me, Food to support me, Water to quench my thirst, Advice to comfort me and Grace and Strength to keep me eternally. The Bible is my map as a traveler, my staff as a pilgrim, my compass as a pilot, my sword as a soldier and my charter as a Christian.
It should deserve my full attention, fill my memory, rule my heart, guide my feet and protect my life. May I study it dedicatedly, frequently and prayerfully.
"For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe." (I Thessalonians 2:13)
IT IS GIVEN TO ME HERE AND NOW IN THIS LIFE, IT WILL BE OPENED AT THE JUDGMENT AND IS ESTABLISHED FOR EVER AND EVER.
THE SERIOUS GOSPEL CRISIS TODAY:
"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the HOLY SCRIPTURES, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work: (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
There is a growing confusion in Biblical and Evangelical theology which is pointing to a new and even more dangerous development namely the Evangelical embrace of post-modern false ideologies. If the WORD of GOD is not OBJECTIVELY TRUE, independent of our acknowledgement, and if GOD is not OBJECTIVELY REAL, independent of our knowledge of Him, then we are WITHOUT ANY HOPE!
If our Lord Jesus Christ did not die on the Cross of Calvary as our substitute and if He was not resurrected on the third day overcoming Satan, sin and death, then we are all DEAD IN OUR SINS! If we have not been justified by Faith and if His Righteousness and Holiness has not been imputed to us, then ALL IS HOPELESSLY IN VAIN! Christianity is predicated upon a claim to ABSOLUTE, OBJECTIVE TRUTH and immovably built on the basis of FAITH in JESUS CHRIST and the unique Divine inspiration, entire Trustworthiness and absolute Authority of the Bible!
SOLA SCRIPTURA :
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century began as a movement to purify the church of corrupt practices. The changes that resulted have forever altered the visible Christian community. At that time Martin Luther and the Protestant evangelicals believed that a few basic TRUTHS stood at the very center of their reforming effort and have faithfully stood at the center of Evangelicalism for centuries.
"Sola Scriptura" or SCRIPTURE ONLY was called the formal principle of the Reformation. This simply meant theat the church should not teach, preach, command or practice anything contrary to the written Scriptures of the Biblical canon. This affirms that the Bible is the only source and norm for all distinctly Christian knowledge! What does this mean?
1. SCRIPTURE IS FUNDAMENTALLY NECESSARY: This is true because God is Holy and all people are sinful. The blindness and corruption of the human mind and heart makes objective revelation essential. Without such a self-attesting, objective, final, written revelation from God, sinful human beings would pervert the Word of God over and over again. Humanity is unable to know God or to understand grace, forgiveness and redemption apart from the revelation of the Holy Scriptures.
2. SCRIPTURE IS SUFFICIENT: "..and UPHOLDING ALL THINGS by the WORD OF HIS POWER..." (Hebrews1:3) This point is still challenging the supplements that medieval theologians and the church seek to bring to the Word of God as in the time of the Reformation. Because the Holy Spirit is active in the revelation of the Word any teaching or preaching that goes beyond this Word must be rejected!
3. SCRIPTURE IS AUTHORITATIVE: This point is implicit in the previous two. Sinful people set up their own human authority and rules in the church. Only the Word of God as absolute authority can bring it down and exalt Jesus Christ to His proper place in the life and practice of the church. The Spirit of God does not lead men and women apart from the Word. The Bible and the Holy Spirit are inseparably joined. This is why, in every great Evangelical awakening and revival, like in the Reformation, the Word of God preached was fundamentally central.
4. SCRIPTURE IS PERSPICUOUS AND DISTINCT: The Reformers believed that the Bible was, and still is today, essentially clear and plain. Ecclesiastical experts were not needed for one to know God or to read His Word. This is still true today, and does not mean that there is no place for the true scholar or the pastor-theologian.
5. SCRIPTURE IS EVERLASTING AND UNCHANGEABLE: " ...having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever.. because all flesh is as grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." (I Peter 1:22-25)
THE DIFFERENT NAMES for THE SCRIPTURES:
1. The BOOK: "Then I said, 'Behold I come, In the scroll of the BOOK it is written of me." (Psalm 40:7; Revelation 22:19)
2. The BOOK of the LAW: " Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the BOOK of the LAW, to do them." ( Galatians 3:10; Nehemiah 8:3)
3. The BOOK of the LORD: "Search from the BOOK of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them" (Isaiah 34:16)
4. The HOLY SCRIPTURES: " And that from childhood you have known the HOLY SCRIPTURES, whiuch are able to make you wise for Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." II Timothy 3:15; Romans 1:2)
5. The LAW of the LORD: "But his delight is in the LAW of the LORD, and in His LAW he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:2; Isaiah 30:9)
6. The ORACLES of GOD: "Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the ORACLES of GOD." (Romans 3:2; I Peter 4:11)
7. The SCRIPTURES of TRUTH: "But I will tell tou what is noted in the SCRIPTURE of TRUTH." (Daniel 10:21)
8. The WORD: "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the WORD, that you may grow trereby." I Peter 2:2; James 1:21 -23)
9. The WORD of CHRIST: "Let the WORD of CHRIST dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16)
10. The WORD of GOD: "For the WORD of GOD is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12; Luke 11:28)
11. The WORD of TRUTH: "Of His own will He brought us forth by the WORD of TRUTH, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James1:18)
12. The SWORD of the SPIRIT: " And take the helmet of salvation, and the SWORD of the SPIRIT which is the WORD of GOD.: (Ephesians 6:17) "For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) This confirms that the WORD of GOD is:
(a) Quick, Energetic and Living in its nature and action.
(b) Dynamic, Powerful and Efficacious in its working and application.
(c) Divine, Perfect and Complete as the Holy Word of GOD.
(d) Penetrating, Keen and Piercing in its operation as the Sword of the Spirit.
(e) Accurate, Definite and Exact in its piercing and dividing.
(f) Specific and Critical in its analysis as a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
THE CHARACTER OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES:
1. God-breathed and God-inspired in its substance and essence.(II Timothy 3:16)
2. Supernatural and exalted in its origin. (II Timothy 3:15-17)
3. Complete and perfect in its structure. (Psalm 19:7-12)
4. Definite and accurate in its message. (I Corinth 15:3&4)
5. United and harmonious in its testimony. (Luke 24:27,44)
6. Infallible and accurate in its prophecies. (I Peter 1:10-12)
7. Unbreakable in its nature and design. (John 10:35)
8. Unique and precise in its details. (John 19:24-28,36-37)
9. Profitable in its out-working. (II Timothy 3:16)
10. Divine in its spirit and authorship. (II peter 1:19&20)
11. Inerrant in its contents. (Psalm 119:89&140)
12. Reliable and true in all its promises. (II Corinth 1:20)
13. Searching and critical in its discernment.(Hebrews 4:12)
14. Quickening and assuring in its message.( John 5:24; 20:31)
15. Christ-revealing in its witness. (Luke 24:27&32; John 5:39; 19:24&28)
16. Faith-begetting in its ministry and contents. (Romans 10:17)
17. Holy and blameless in its character. (II Timothy 3:16)
18. Living in its nature. (Hebrews 4:12; I Peter 1:23&25)
19. Complete and plenary inits revelation. (Hebrews 1:1-3)
20. God-magnified in its approbation. (Psalm 138:2)
THE FULLNES and DEITY of JESUS CHRIST as the WORD: (John 1:1-18)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In Him was LIFE, and the life was the LIGHT of men. and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it..."
"He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become CHILDREN OF GOD, to those who BELIEVE in His Name: who were born...of God."
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His GLORY, the GLORY as of the only begotten of the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH."
THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST:
The last Book in the Bible, Revelation, is first and foremost a revelation, disclosure or uncovering about the Lord Jesus Christ as confirmed in the introduction (Rev 1:1) and in harmony and accordance with the rest of the Bible. The Book describes Christ as:
1. The risen and glorified Son of God ministering among the churches. (Rev 1:10)
2. The faithful Witness, Firstborn from the dead and Ruler over the kings of the earth. (Rev 1:5)
3. The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. (Rev 1:8)
4. The Eternal God who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Rev 1:8)
5. The First and the Last.(Rev 1:11)
6. Christ is the Son of Man. (Rev 1:13)
7. The One who was dead but now is alive for evermore. (Rev 1:18)
8 Christ is the Son of God. (Rev 1:18)
9. He is the One who is Holy and True. (Rev 3:7)
10. The Amen, the Faithful and the True Witness. (Rev 3:14)
11. The Beginning of the creation of God. (Rev 3:14)
12. The Lion of the tribe of Judah. (Rev 5:5)
13. The Lamb in Heaven, with authority to open the title deed to the earth. (Rev 6:1)
14. The Lamb on the Throne .(Rev 7:17)
15. The Messiah who will reign forever. (Rev 11;15)
16. The Word of God. (Rev 19:13)
17. The Majestic King of kings and Lord of lords, returning in glorious spendor to conquer His foes. Rev 9:11)
18. The Root and the Offspring of David. (Rev 22:16)
19. The Bright and Morning Star. Rev 22:16)
20. The COMING ETERNAL KING. "He who testifies to these things says, 'surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20)
AM I PERSONALLY READY TO MEET HIM?