Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Are the Truths in the Bible Already Complete?

Question 2: The truths in the Bible are already complete. In believing in God, we have the Bible, and that’s enough. We don’t need the new word at all.

 Answer: What the Bible records is limited. The Old Testament only records the work of Jehovah God, and the New Testament only records the work of the Lord Jesus. The Bible only prophesies God’s work in the last days, but doesn’t record the details, because in the last days God does the work of judgment, which is a new work outside the Bible. God is the expresser of the truth, and even more is the Ruler of all things. His richness is unfailing and inexhaustible, and He is unfathomable to any created being. So, the contents of the Bible alone can’t make clear all God’s deeds at all. Almighty God tells us, “All that is recorded within the Bible is limited and unable to represent all the work of God. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. These are but a few writings, yet man values them as treasures, even verifying the work of today against them.
They even believe that Jesus only did so much in the time after His birth. It is as if they believe God can only do this much, that there can be no further work. Is this not ludicrous?” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “No one knows the truth about the Bible. It is merely a historical record of God’s work, and a testimony to the first two stages of God’s work, and you cannot understand the purpose of God’s work from it. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it is an account of the two stages of work God did during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament of the Bible records the history of Israel and shows how Jehovah did His work from the creation of the world to the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul. Are these not all historical records? Anything that happened in the past is history today, no matter how true, how real; and history cannot address the present. For God does not look back! So if you understand only the Bible but not the work that God plans to do now, if you believe in God but do not seek out the work of the Holy Spirit, then you do not know what it means to seek after God. If you read the Bible in order to research the history of Israel and to learn how God created heaven and earth, then you do not believe in God. But since you believe in God now, since you seek after life, since you seek to know God rather than seek after the lifeless letters and doctrines or seek to know the history, then you must seek God’s will in the present day, the direction in which the Holy Spirit’s work is moving. If you are an archaeologist, you may read the Bible; but you are not an archaeologist, you are a believer in God, and you would be better off seeking out God’s will today” (“Concerning the Bible (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
From Almighty God’s words, we see that the Bible is only a historical record of God’s former work and it can’t save man. The Bible can by no means be compared with God. God is the spring of living water of life. His utterance is the fountain of living waters, and is immeasurable. However, the record of the Bible is very limited. This is a fact that no one can deny. Brothers and sisters, God is an ever-new and never-old God. In each age, He does a new work and expresses new words. Like in the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did a new work and expressed new words. But the Jewish priests and Pharisees of that time held on to the Old Testament. They not only rejected and condemned the Lord Jesus, but even nailed Him onto the cross, committing a monstrous sin. Today, Christ of the last days, Almighty God, expresses all the truths, which are not recorded in the Bible at all. Since there is no record, the Bible can’t substitute for God’s work and words in the last days. We can no longer hold on to the Bible. We should seek God’s present will and search for the work of the Holy Spirit. Only this is after God’s heart. Almighty God once said this. Let me read it for you, “If during the Age of Grace you were to eat and drink the Old Testament, practicing the requirements of the Old Testament age, then Jesus would forsake you, condemn you. If you had tried to impose the Old Testament on Jesus’ work, you would have been called a Pharisee. And so today, if you eat and drink and practice the Old and New Testaments, then the God of today will condemn you; you cannot keep pace with the work of the Holy Spirit today. If you eat the Old and New Testaments, then you are one outside the stream of the Holy Spirit” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Almighty God’s words tell us: If in the Age of Grace we still held on to the Old Testament, Jesus wouldn’t approve of us and we couldn’t receive the grace and redemption from God, much less receive the peace and joy after the forgiveness of sins. Similarly, Almighty God has come in the last days. If we still hold on to God’s work in the Age of Grace and the Bible, we won’t receive God’s approval, much less God’s salvation of the last days.

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