The Beauty of Jesus (12)
Dear Phyllis,
This is the 12th
and the last of our thesis in considering the Beauty of Jesus. The
final feature that the Bride of Christ has selected to share with us of
the marvels, the uniqueness,
and the beauty of her Beloved was His mouth. HIS MOUTH IS MOST SWEET (S of S 5:16).
In one sense this is going to be a tough one. We have already considered
His lips (5:13) and now we have His mouth (5:16). As we
have previously said, one of the basic rules exegesis is to try to find
the verb or noun that goes with the noun. (Head – think; eyes – see,
hands – hold, feet – walk, etc). Lips and mouth
are pretty close. If there is a difference, we usually think of speech
with lips and words with mouth. The expression, “the Words of My mouth”
is one of the most common in scripture. We don't say the words of my
lips.
In
Greek we have two different words that both are translated WORD in our
English Bible. But in Greek they have two distinctly different meanings.
The best known is
LOGOS, which means the written Word, and the other is REHMA, which is
the spoken Word. Logos can be read and taught. Rehma can only be heard.
When you write it down,or talk about it rehma becomes logos.
Let me be honest. I'm going to take off my cap and gown off and sit down.
I don't know what this verse means and I am going to quit before I start. I can't comment on this verse, but, like the man who wanted to talk about Texas, I would like to talk about the Word of God.
To
the natural man, the claim that the Bible is the infallible Word of God
seems utterly outlandish. Both Christianity and Islam make that claim
about their Book. I have never read the Quran but what I know about it is ridiculous. If anyone want to say the
same thing about the Bible, I wouldn't blame them. Before I was saved I
thought anyone who believed the Bible was nuts. As a natural man it is
an unbelievable stretch to make such a ridiculous
claim. But as a spiritual man I believe the Bible is the most amazing,
unique, mystical document ever published on this planet.
Chuck
Missler says the claim that the Bible cannot be scientifically proven
and, must be accepted by faith, is false. He has a message where he
empirically proves that the Bible is the Word
of God. There is no comeback. We know that both Hebrew and Greek are a
numerical languages. Their alphabet are numbers. If you write the Bible
as numbers rather that letters, there are some weird phenomenon that
simply cannot be explained. The first verse
of John 1 is the golden number phi (3.141592654) and the first
word in Genesis is a basic number used in calculus. By using the Bible
code there have been many historical facts written that are utterly
impossible to duplicate with any other writing.
Mathematically speaking, there simply is no other possible explanation
than the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Missler is right. To deny
that the Bible is an absolutely unique, inspired book, is to deny
reality.
Don
Chitic was one of the top Christian scientist in America of the later
half of the past century. He was a PHD nuclear physicist. I met him in
1965 in Tacoma. He said as a young Christian
his faith was challenge by what he was being taught in science class,
but he determined, regardless of what the professors taught, he was
standing with the Word of God. Later he had a standing offer to anyone
on his college campus who wanted to challenge him;
to come for supper, and then go in his study to talk about their
subject. He told me that, without exception, everyone who accepted the
challenge, after two hours, they had to admit what they were teaching as
facts was patently impossible. Then he said, “If
you know what you are teaching is impossible, why do you teach it as
fact?” The answer has always been, “Because we have no other
explanation.” From a purely scientific stand point, if anyone is honest,
it is undeniable that the Bible must be the God given,
inspired, inerrant, Word of God.
But
there is another mystical argument for the authenticity of the
Scripture. From purely a spiritual perspective, there is no other
possible explanation for the centrality of the Bible in
the Body of Christ. Obviously, there is an undeniable rift in
Christianity between liberals and conservatives. Unquestionably
the water shed between these two positions is the Word of God.
Any born-again Christian will firmly claim, “Yes, I believe the Bible”.
And for those who deny that the Bible is the infallible Word of God,
they just plain ain't saved. I came from a strong
liberal background. Up until the time I was saved I strongly believed
the argument for the Scripture was stupid and offensive. The only reason
I started reading the Bible after I accepted Jesus (or rather He
accepted me), was because I knew it was a Christian
tradition. But I hadn't been saved long before the Bible came alive.
After following Jesus for 63 years I cannot be more adamant in my
conviction that the Bible is a mystical, unique, gift that God has left
on this earth to tell us about Himself and His ways.
The Body of Christ is mystical. It is a spiritual body. You can't
examine the Body of Christ by any natural means. But the Body of Christ
is just as real as hot dogs at a football game. When you touch a genuine
member of that Body you know it. There is a broad
area where you can't be too dogmatic. But the one way I will use to
judge a person is by where they stand towards the Word of God. In a
bipolar world, any strong, born-again, conservative will stand for the
Word of God, and any committed liberal will be clear
in their rejection. I'll let the Lord make the call on those in
between. Having lived in the Orient for over six decades and fellow-shipped with people of over two or three dozen nationalities and
ethnic backgrounds, it is utterly inexplicable how there could
be one Book that has been translated in over 2,000 languages, and,
wherever you go, the effect of the Bible and Christian's attitude
towards the Bible is identical. I can pretty much look at any man's
Bible and accurately tell you what that man is like. That
is undeniable. There is no other possible explanation than the Bible is
just what it claims to be about itself.
All
of this are just arguments for the authenticity of the Scripture. But
there is another feature that is more personal. That is
what the Bible means to anyone who loves Jesus. It is my
inexpressible, undeserving, privilege to be able to say I am a member of
that family. We know God as our Father. Oh, what a privilege to say
Jesus is our Brother (Jn. 20:17). And anyone who has
been born-again of the Spirit of Christ has within them the witness of
the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. To anyone of this Family,
the Bible has an inexpressible personal meaning. When we read the sacred
pages, something burns in our heart. Suddenly
words on those pages becomes personally alive and tears course down our
cheeks.
I
don't care what it is,. logos or rehma, both are wonderful. The logos,
printed Word of God, is precious. I have seen this when I have handed a
Bible to a persecuted Christian in Vietnam,
Laos, and several other countries. These Christians will die for the
Bible. But the rehma, the spoken Word of God – how can you explain it? -
when God speaks to you personally through His Word. Paul explained this
best in his message in the synagogue in Antioch
when he said: (the rulers killed Jesus) “because they knew Him not, nor
yet the voices of the prophets,
which are read every sabboth”. They read the logos but never heard the rehma,
The Scripture never spoke to them.
I don't know. The Bride says
the mouth of Jesus is most sweet. I can't explain that verse, but
I do know the Words that have come out of His mouth, to me, are more
wonderful than I can tell. Oh, Lord Jesus, thank You, thank You, thank
You for those wonderful Words, and what they
mean to me. bill
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