Search the Scriptures

What is the purpose of the Holy Scripture? Was it left behind as a road map to finding riches and health? Was God’s motivation for His Spirit speaking through men to give a code of living that would bring His blessings? Why did God leave a record of Himself to the world?

We do not need to speculate about why we have a Bible. We find in these words why we have the Bible:

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)

The Bible’s purpose is to testify of Jesus. The Scriptures exist to reveal God’s love demonstrated by the death of Jesus so humanity would overcome the sentence of death that sin had placed on His creation. 

As followers of Jesus, we are encouraged to read the Bible. The Apostle Paul told his son in the Lord, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God…” (2 Ti 2:15) Take note he did not say to study the Bible to be approved by God. If you study the Bible seeking information that will allow you to be approved by God you will fail and fail miserably.

When you study scripture without seeking or knowing the revelation of God about the work of the Saviour, you will live in fear trying to keep God’s commandments or in frustration when you fail to keep them. People who are struggling with guilt and the shame of sin when they read the Bible will not find the blessing of God’s approval in His word. We experience the approval of God and His blessings not because we work but because Jesus completed our salvation. 

Until we search the scriptures to find Jesus, we find God’s message to the world a burden of rules and regulations placed on us by a distinct far-away God. When the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus in the scriptures, we are no longer burdened with rules and regulations - we are set free!

We find God’s word for the sinner seeking Jesus and a follower of Jesus seeking their actions and thoughts to be approved by God in this verse:

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto 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 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”(2 Ti 3:15-17)

Paul told Timothy that the scripture he learned as a child made him “wise” regarding the Saviour’s offer of grace, which was available by faith. To the lost soul, the scripture “speaks” of Jesus and the favor of God on all who will believe. Paul continued to explain the purpose that the scripture had for Timothy, as a follower of Jesus, was to equip him for living a life of victory in Jesus.

God’s word for you, as a born-again follower of Jesus, now reveals the grace of God and provides guidance that makes us “furnished unto all good works.” The Bible gives us teachings that correct our path when we stumble and reveals God’s righteousness to us so we can be in fellowship with both God and man. 

When you read the Bible are you finding Jesus? Are you studying the scripture with “Jesus glasses?” When the Bible is read with Jesus as the filter, used to ingest God’s word, you will see what has been called the “scarlet thread” that God has woven through the Bible. This “scarlet thread” is the blood of Jesus that would be and was the payment offered for the wages of sin that are deposited into our personal eternal account. Are you reading the Bible? Read it with the intent of finding Jesus in each verse you read.