The Word of God in Christian preaching is the divinely inspired Scripture that guides, corrects, and sustains believers in their spiritual journey (2 Timothy 3:16). It is often pictured as a powerful hammer, a piercing laser, or a foundational nail, emphasizing its authority, effectiveness, and unchanging truth (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible is portrayed as essential nourishment, a reliable compass, and a source of comfort and strength for righteous living.
God's Word sets the true standard for life, helping us detect falsehood around us.
Some years ago, musicians noted that errand boys in a certain part of London all whistled out of tune as they went about their work. It was talked about and someone suggested that it was because the bells of Westminster were slightly out of tune. Something had gone wrong with the chimes and they were discordant. The boys did not know there was anything wrong with the peals, and quite unconsciously they had copied their pitch.
So we tend to copy the people with whom we associate; we borrow thoughts from the books we read and the programs to which we listen, almost without knowing it.
God has given us His Word which is the absolute pitch of life and living. If we learn to sing by it, we shall easily detect the false in all of the music of the world.
God's Word pierces hearts and reveals thoughts, discerning attitudes and intentions.
Scientists have discovered a variety of uses for the laser beam. We once thought it a design of science fiction. Now lasers are used for many industrial, medical, navigational and communicative purposes.
The difference between lasers and a light from an ordinary bulb is direction. A regular bulb diffuses light in all directions. A laser sends powerful parallel beams.
God's Word is like a laser. It can pierce into the very heart and soul of everyone on earth. It can separate the soul from the spirit. It can discern the highest and lowest thoughts. It can speak to our attitudes and intentions.
Are you allowing God's laser, His Word, to work in you? A Touch of His Presence
It is said that the Eastern shepherd, as he brings his sheep back to the fold each night, stands at the door and counts each one. As he does so, he puts his hand on the head of each animal. He makes a habit of touching each one of them. If he were to grow careless and neglect to habitually touch his sheep, it would soon turn its head away when it heard his voice! This, of course, could be very serious, for with such a broken habit would follow the animal's actually ignoring the warning shout from the shepherd and subsequently could be disastrous for the sheep.
If we are experiencing the Shepherd's touch daily in our lives, then we will recognize His voice when He warns of impending danger. This will mean "practicing His presence" daily. It we do not practice His presence then we have probably been practicing the presence of our enemy. Our Lord awaits the moment to "touch" our day with His presence.
The New Testament invites all people to come to Christ in clear, common language.
A little boy who for the first time saw the sign "Common," in Boston at the entrance of the great park known as Boston Common, called out joyfully, "It doesn't say, 'Keep Off the Grass'; it says, 'Comm on'!"
The New Testament was written in the common language of the people so that everybody could understand that the great sign reads, "Come on!" Did the Jews Make a Mistake?
A Hyde Park orator was denouncing the feeble efforts of the Jews to resist the Roman oppression in the first century of the Christian era, and suggested that if they had appealed more to the sword and less to the sacred writings, they might have fared much better.
One in the crowd asked, "But where are the Romans today?"
"Nowhere," was the quick answer.
"And where are the Jews today?"
"Everywhere," was the sarcastic but true reply-to the evident appreciation of the hearers.
We must actively search Scripture to uncover the deep treasures of God's revelation.
The Gospel hidden in mystery should arouse our best and most active faculties. That is why we are commanded to search the Scripture, not simply to read it. It is the great repository of all the truths and mysteries of our faith. It is a rich mine that we ought to dig into and shall never exhaust. Just as gold and diamonds and most other precious stones and metals lie concealed in the depths of the earth, so the most valued things of revelation are concealed by the great Creator and Redeemer from the common view of the world. Only as this mystery stimulates us to dig into the Word shall we unearth the treasures that God has there for us. The Truthful Barometer
A young farmer in North Dakota brought home a fancy barometer for which he paid $24.65. In the following days he watched it avidly as it predicted the weather. On one of the walls of his home it hung in an honored place. But the day came when for three days it predicted "storm" while the sky was turquoise and clear. So he took it off the wall and back to town where he demanded his money back. Returning home, he and his wife became alarmed when they saw evidence of a storm ten miles out. When they turned in their yard, their home had blown away. The furniture was up in the apple trees, and the bathtub three blocks away in a pasture. But the grandmother had believed the barometer, and when a dark cloud appeared she took the two small children and went to the shelter in the old storm cellar, long unused, and they were saved.
God's Word acts like a spiritual ophthalmoscope, revealing and correcting our inner condition.
By the aid of that most perfect scientific instrument, the ophthalmoscope, with its condensing mirror and myriad of little lenses, the ophthalmologist can look into a person's eye and not only determine approximately the necessary strength of glass required to give perfect vision, but also the existence of tumors pressing on the brain tissue, the condition of the general nervous system, the presence of disease in various organs, and the richness of the blood current as they are clearly traced on the sensitive plate of nature's camera.
What the ophthalmoscope is to the ophthalmologist, revelation from Scripture is to our higher nature-a test and criticism of supreme value. One of the ways by which we can prevent the darkening of our spiritual eyesight is to look daily at the Word of God so that the Word may become the mirror to which we are exposed. "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). If we wish to see clearly, we must test and purge our vision. Here is the radical cure for spiritual cataracts and color blindness. To see truly we must see life in God's light. After the dust and fog and mirage of a day that we have lived in our town or city, it is a wonderful restorative to cleanse the eyes with the eye salve of the Word of God.
Jesus Christ is God's chosen means to communicate with humanity.
An unbeliever once asked a preacher why John called Jesus Christ "the Word." It seemed a strange appellation to him. The preacher answered, "It seems to me that as our words are the means that permit us to communicate with others, John used it to show that Jesus Christ is the only means whereby God chose to communicate with man." Jesus Christ, then, is God's speech or discourse to man.
The Bible reveals our true selves and convicts us of our sin and need for change.
“If any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” James 1:23-24
I ran across an illustration the other day that I think pictures this admirably. An elderly gentleman, who was very nearsighted, prided himself on his ability as an art critic. On one occasion he was accompanying some friends through a large gallery and was seeking to display his real or fancied knowledge of pictures to these friends. He had left his glasses at home and was not able to see things very clearly. Standing before a large frame, he began to point out the inartistic features of the picture there revealed. “The frame,” he said, “is altogether out of keeping with the subject and as for the subject itself (it was that of a man) it is altogether too homely, in fact, too ugly, ever to make a good picture. It is a great mistake for any artist to choose so homely a subject for a picture if he expects it to be a masterpiece.”
The old gentleman was going on like this when his wife managed to get near enough to interrupt. She exclaimed, “My dear, you are looking into a mirror.” He was quite taken back to realize that he had been criticizing his own face.
Now the Word of God is such a mirror. It does not hide our deformities. It shows us up just as we are. But we are not to be occupied with our old selves. The Spirit of God would turn us away from self altogether to occupation with the risen Christ, and as we are taken up with Him, we are kept from sin. It is when we get our eyes off Christ and become self-occupied or taken up with the world around us that we fail. And who of us does not so fail? We all have to confess our failures from day to day, but our ever living Saviour is not only our High Priest to minister all needed grace and help, but even when we fail to avail ourselves of that as we should, He is our Advocate still and the moment we fail, He takes up our case with the Father. Mark, it does not say, “If any man confess his sin, we have an advocate,” but rather, “If any man sin, we have an advocate.” The moment we fail He is in the Father’s presence about us, and as a result of His gracious advocacy, the Spirit continues His work in our hearts, bringing us to repentance and confession, and “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The Bible always contains more to nourish and refresh the soul, never exhausted.
“The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.” 1 Kings 17:16
In this, the barrel and the cruse were like the Word of God itself, whether we think of the Scriptures as a whole, or any separate passage or text. No matter how often we may have read it, nor how many sermons we may have heard upon it, there is always more to be discovered, as we ponder it anew under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Evangelist Gibbud, the New York missioner of some fifty years ago, used to like to tell of the uncouth lad who attended a school in the lower east side district of that great metropolis. He was very fond of his teacher because of the kindly interest she had taken in him. One day he approached her desk, after school was in session, holding out a very dilapidated-looking orange in his dirty, grimy, little hand. “Here, teacher,” he said, “is an orange I’ve brung yer. It’s been squz some, but there’s lots in it yet!”
So it is with every portion of the Bible. No one has been able to exhaust the priceless treasure it contains. There is always more to be obtained from it for the refreshment of the soul.
Repeated Bible reading reveals Christ's image more clearly, like multiple printing stones.
When I went to Boston, I went into Mr. Prang's chromo establishment. I wanted to know how the work was done. He took me to a stone several feet square, where he took the first impression, but when he took the paper off the stone I could see no sign of a man's face there. "Wait a little," he said. He took me to another stone, but when the paper was lifted I couldn't see any impression yet. He took me up, up to eight, nine, ten stones, and then I could see just the faintest outlines of a man's face. He went on till he got up to about the twentieth stone, and I could see the impression of a face, but he said it was not very correct yet. Well, he went on till he got up, I think, to the twenty-eighth stone, and a perfect face appeared, and it looked as if all it had to do was to speak and it would be human. If you read a chapter of the Bible and don't see anything in it, read it a second time, and if you cannot see anything in it read it a third time. Dig deep. Read it again and again, and even if you have to read it twenty-eight times do so, and you will see the Man Christ Jesus, for He is in every page of the Word.
The Holy Spirit uses God's Word as the primary means to convict and comfort believers.
"The Spirit of God rides most triumphantly in his own chariot": that is to say, he is best pleased to convey conviction and comfort by means of his own word. God's word, not man's comment on God's word, is the most usual means of conversion. This is done to put honour upon the divine revelation, and to make us prize it with all our hearts. Our Lord said not only, "Sanctify them," but, "sanctify them through thy truth"; and then he added, "thy word is truth." Our author does well to liken the Scriptures to a chariot, because they are the ordinary means by which the Holy Ghost comes to us, but they are only the chariot, and without the quickening Spirit they bring us no good. The Scriptures do not make our hearts burn till the Spirit kindles them into flames, and then we say, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures." Let us reverence Holy Scripture because the Holy Ghost is its author, expositor, preserver, and applier. We cannot too often use the weapon which the Spirit himself calls his sword.
ILLUSTRATIONS AND MEDITATIONS.. 23
The Bible reveals past, present, and future events as God's perfect portrait.
In the fabulous records of pagan antiquity, we read of a mirror endowed with properties so rare, that, by looking into it, its possessor could discover any object which he wished to see, however remote; and discover with equal ease persons and things above, below, behind, and before him. Such a mirror, but infinitely more valuable than this fictitious glass, do we possess in the Bible: by employing it in a proper manner, we may discern objects and events, past, present, and to come. Here we may contemplate the all-enfolding circle of the eternal Mind, and behold a perfect portrait of Him whom no mortal eye hath seen, drawn by his own unerring hand. Dr. Payson.
The Bible is a vital guide and measure for the Christian life and actions.
The Bible is a rock of diamonds, a chain of pearls, the sword of the Spirit; a chart by which the Christian sails to eternity; the map by which he daily walks; the sun-dial by which he sets his life; the balance in which he weighs his actions. T. Watson.
Even old age Bible reading can bring fresh, life-giving spiritual insight.
The learned Dr. Charles Elliott was through a long life a close Bible student. When in his seventy-seventh year, and just a month before his death, he read the Old Testament through in three weeks. His daughter asked him what he was reading. He replied, "I'm reading news."
The Bible guides, convicts, comforts, and assures believers throughout life and death.
"Thank God. I have a Bible!" said a poor old woman in London. "What should I do without my Bible? It was the guide of my youth, and it is the staff of my age. It wounded me, and it healed me; it condemned me, and it acquitted me. It showed me I was a sinner, and it led me to the Saviour. It has given me comfort through life, and I trust it will give me hope in death."
Scripture is the light that enables us to understand spiritual truths in creation.
It is said of Archbishop Usher, when he grew old, and spectacles could not help his failing sight, that a book was dark except beneath the strongest light of the windows. And the aged man would sit against the easement, with his outspread volume before him, till the sunshine flitted to another opening, when he would change his place, and put himself again under the brilliant rays; and so he would move about with the light till the day was done, and his studies ended. And truly we may say, that our weak eyes will not suffice to make out the inscription on the page of nature, unless we get near the window of Scripture, where God pours in the radiance of his Spirit. And wherever it shines, let us follow it, knowing that nowhere but in its illumination can we study the spiritual meanings of nature so well.
— Rev. J. Stoughton
The Bible is not just a weapon but a temple inspiring awe and devotion to God.
I use the Scriptures, not as an arsenal to be resorted to only for arms and weapons, but as a matchless temple, where I delight to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the structure, and to increase my awe and excite my devotion to the Deity there preached and adored. R. Boyle.
Lack of biblical knowledge leads to confusion between unrelated scriptural events.
A Cambridge student, when examined upon the inspiration of the Bible, was asked "what connections he remembered between the Old and New Testament." He answered, "that only one then came to his recollection, and that was the fact that Peter cut off the ear of the prophet Malachi." He had an indistinct recollection of Malchus, the servant of the high priest, whose ear Peter cut off with his sword.
A printing error in the Bible drastically changed meaning, showing the importance of accuracy.
In 1632, Baker and Lucas published an edition termed since "The wicked Bible" because the little word not was omitted in the seventh commandment. The printers were heavily fined by the High Commission, and the whole edition destroyed.
The Bible uses nature's imagery to reveal God's glory and point to Christ's sacrifice.
It has pressed into its service the animals of the forest, the flowers of the field, the stars of heaven, all the elements of nature. The lion spurning the sands of the desert, the wild roe leaping over the mountains, the lamb led in silence to the slaughter, the goat speeding to the wilderness, the rose blossoming in Sharon, the lily drooping in the valley, the apple-tree bowing under its fruit, the great rock shadowing a weary land, the river gladdening the dry place, the moon and the morning star, Carmel by the sea, and Tabor among the mountains, the dew from the womb of the morning, the rain upon the mown grass, the rainbow encompassing the landscape; the light, God's shadow; the thunder, his voice; the wind and the earthquake, his footsteps; all such varied objects are made as if naturally designed from their creation to represent him to whom the book and all its emblems point. Thus the quick spirit of the book has ransacked creation to lay its treasures on Jehovah's altar, united the innumerable rays of a far-streaming glory on the little hill Calvary, and woven a garland for the bleeding brow of Immanuel, the flowers of which have been culled from the garden of a universe. G. Gilfillan.
Lifelong Bible reading deepens love and devotion rather than causing boredom.
A little girl, hearing one day of a very aged woman, who for the last many years had "done nothing but read her Bible," exclaimed, "How tired she must be of it! Do ask her if she is not very tired of it!" The old woman, being told of the child's inquiry, replied, "Tell her that I love it more and more."
Ancient philosophy and poetry were inspired and surpassed by the revelation from Israel's God.
As the profoundest philosophy of ancient Rome and Greece lighted her taper at Israel's altar, so the sweetest strains of the pagan muse were swept from harps attuned on Zion's hill.
— Bishop Thomson
The Bible is often rejected or misused by those who fail to appreciate its true value.
How wretched a spectacle is a garden into which cloven-footed beasts have entered! That which yesterday was fragrant, and shone all over with crowded beauty, is to-day rooted, despoiled, trampled, and utterly devoured; and all over the ground you shall find but the rejected cuds of flowers and leaves and forms that have been champed for their juices and then rejected. Such to me is the Bible, when the pragmatic prophecy-monger and the swinish utilitarian have toothed its fruits and crammed its blossoms. Beecher.
The Bible uniquely offers joy in sorrow, strength in weakness, and hope beyond death.
No Better. No matter how infidel philosophers may regard the Bible: they may say that Genesis is awry, and that the Psalms are more than half bitter imprecations, and the Prophecies only the fantasies of brain-bewildered men, and the Gospels weak laudations of an impostor, and the Epistles but the letters of a mad Jew, and that the whole book has had its day, I shall cling to it until they show me a better revelation. The Bible emptied, offete, worn out! If all the wisest men of the world were placed man to man, they could not sound the shallowest depth of the Gospel of John. O philosophers! break the shell, and fly out, and let me hear how you can sing,—not of passion, I know that already; not of worldly power, I hear that everywhere: but teach me, through your song, how to find joy in sorrow, strength in weakness, and light in darkest days; how to bear buffeting and scorn; how to welcome death, and to pass, through its ministration, into the sphere of life; and this, not for me only, but for the whole world that groans and travails in pain. And, until you can do this, speak not to me of a better revelation. Beecher.
The Bible's poetic and spiritual power has profoundly influenced art, literature, and culture.
The poetry of the Bible has been the forming power of the greatest modern poems; for Tasso, Milton, and Cowper present in high relief the features of its moving hand. And its high and aspiring spirit, its heavenward tendencies, its ethereal sanctities, its judicial grandeur, have given birth to those sublime creations in architecture and painting which are seen in the works of Michael Angelo, and may be designated the school of Christian art. Nor is there any department of human thought or effort that biblically educated men have not enriched or adorned. Dr. Beard.
The Bible provides a firm foundation and ladder for understanding scientific study.
I have always found in my scientific studies, that, when I could get the Bible to say any thing upon the subject, it afforded me a firm platform to stand upon, and a round in the ladder by which I could safely ascend.
— Lieut. Maury
The Bible surpasses all other books in beauty, morality, history, and poetry.
I am of opinion that the Bible contains more true sensibility, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and cloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may be written.
— Sir William Jones
Scriptures surpass all songs, speeches, and politics in wisdom and truth.
There are no songs comparable to the songs of Zion, no orations equal to those of the prophets, and no politics like those which the
Scriptures teach.
— Mikon
Biblical truths are timeless treasures often rediscovered but never new.
The truths of the
Bible are like gold in the soil. Whole generations walk over it, and know not what treasures are hidden beneath. So centuries of men pass over the Scriptures, and know not what riches lie under the feet of their interpretation. Sometimes, when they discover them, they call them new truths. One might as well call gold newly dug new gold.
— Beecher
Both Old and New Testament Scriptures are necessary and useful for guidance.
It is perilous to tamper with a chart. Those parts which may be of little importance to one captain may be of the highest importance to another. The Chart of the New Dispensation does not render unnecessary that of the Old. A chart of the Atlantic will not indeed suffice him who is threading the coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean. The authorized chart for those seas must be consulted; but the former chart, in some of its bearings, may be of some use under circumstances; nor will he presume to spread a sail upon the former ocean, in coasting especially, without the chart which belongs to it.
— Caughey
The Bible is the most valuable book, surpassing all others in worth.
I have many books that I cannot sit down to read: they are indeed good and sound, but, like half-pence, there goes a great quantity to a small amount. There are silver books, and a very few golden books; but I have one book worth them all, called the Bible. J. Newton.
The Bible reveals new wonders and solid truths even after many readings.
If you ever tried it, you must have been struck with the few solid thoughts, the few suggestive ideas, which survive the perusal of the most brilliant of human books. Few of them can stand three readings; and of the memorabilia which you have marked in your first reading, on reverting to them, you find many of those were not so striking or weighty or original as you thought. But the Word of God is solid: it will stand a thousand readings; and the man who has gone over it the most frequently and carefully is the surest of finding new wonders there. Rec. James Hamilton.
Devout Christians memorized Scripture deeply, finding joy and strength in God's Word.
It is said of Tertullian, that he devoted his nights and days to the Scriptures, and got much of them by heart so exactly, that he knew the very punctuation of them. St. Austin tells us, that, after his conversion, the Scriptures were the matter of his chief joy. Theodosius the younger could repeat any part of the Scriptures exactly, and could discourse with the bishops at court, as if he himself had been a bishop. It is said of Origen, that he never went to neals but he had some portion of Scripture read, nor to sleep without observance of the same practice. Eusebius says, that he heard one who had his eyes burnt out during the Dioclesian persecution repeat from memory the Scriptures in a large assembly. It is said of another, that he had read the Scriptures until he had made his soul a library for Christ. Beza could repeat them in Greek at fourscore years of age. Crammer and Ridley learnt the New Testament by heart, — the one in his journey to Rome, and the other in the walks of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge. Bennett.
Scripture perfectly addresses every human experience and expresses the deepest feelings of the soul.
How marvellous is the adaptation of Scripture for the race for whom it was revealed! In its pages every conceivable condition of human experience is reflected as in a mirror. In its words, every struggle of the heart can find appropriate and forceful expression. It is absolutely inexhaustible in its resources for the conveyance of the deepest feelings of the soul. It puts music into the speech of the tuneless one, and rounds the periods of the unlettered into an eloquence which no orator can rival. It has martial odes to brace the warrior's courage, and gainful proverbs to teach the merchant wisdom: all mental moods can represent themselves in its amplitude of words. It can translate the doubt of the perplexed; it can articulate the cry of the contrite; it fills the tongue of the joyous with carols of thankful gladness; and it gives sorrow words, lest grief, that does not speak, should whisper to the heart, and bid it break. Happy we, my friends, who, in all the varieties of our religious life, have this copious manual divinely provided to our hand. W. M. Punshon.
Scripture is likened to many spiritual aids revealing God's truth and guiding believers' lives.
A letter from the "Father of mercies" to his children at school; a banquet where all are bidden, "come and welcome;" a book in cipher, which none but believers can decipher; a prism, which only glistens when held to the light; a portrait, from which the eye of some dear, entreating friend seems to follow us whichever way we turn; the magazine and storehouse of the Christian soldier, wherefrom he must gather all his weapons; the spiritual barometer to discern the heart's true state; the telescope, revealing the glories of the upper world; the map and chart of the celestial city. Bowes.
Historical Christians memorized Scripture deeply, making it central to their spiritual life and conversation.
Jerome says of Nepotian, that, by reading and meditation, he had made his soul a library of Christ. Theodosius the Younger was so familiar with the word of God, that he made it a subject of conversation with the old bishops as if he had been one of them. Augustine says, that, after his conversion, he ceased to relish even Cicero, his former favorite author, and that the Scriptures were his pure delight. Tertullian spent a greater part of his time in reading the Scriptures, and committed large portions of them to memory. In his youth, Beza learned all Paul's Epistles in Greek so thoroughly, that, when he was eighty years old, he could repeat them in that language. Cramer is said to have been able to repeat the New Testament from memory. Luther was one of the most indefatigable students of the Bible that the world has ever seen. Ridley said, "The walls and trees of my orchard, could they speak, would bear witness that there I learned by heart almost all the Epistles." Dr. Plummer.
Waiting expectantly on God's word brings blessing like waiting by Bethesda's pool.
I might pause over every verse of the Scriptures, and say, "Such a verse was blessed to so many souls; then why not to me? I am at least in the pool of Bethesda; I am walking amongst its porches; and who can tell but that the angel will stir the pool of the word whilst I lie helplessly by the side of it, waiting for the blessing?" Spurgeon.
Searching Scripture guides believers safely through life's dangers like a ship's captain.
There is a ship at sea. A heavy fog has come on: there is nothing to be seen all round about; the very stars are shut out of view, and no longer serve to guide the vessel's course; and as the man at the masthead hoarsely cries out, "Breakers ahead!" and the crew furl the rails, and the helmsman turns the wheel, what is the captain about, old sailor as he is, now poring over his charts, and now glancing at the compass, and now loudly giving his orders? What can he mean by looking so often and so eagerly at that map-looking thing of his? That is his chart by which his course is guided; and he is searching it to find where he is, and how he may steer his ship in safety, to keep clear of a rock here, and a shallow there, and make a good passage through the channel, and save his crew and his cargo, and at length gain the harbor. So says the Great Teacher, "Search the Scriptures." J. H. Wilson.
The more we study God's word, the more life and power it yields to us.
The word of God is the water of life; the more ye lave it forth, the fresher it runneth: it is the fire of God's glory; the more ye blow it, the clearer it burneth: it is the corn of the Lord's field; the better ye grind it, the more it yieldeth: it is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth: it is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth. Bp. Jewel.
Scripture reveals heavenly majesty and God's glory beyond all earthly knowledge.
All other sciences are but poor and beggarly elements if compared with this. What doth the naturalist, but only busy himself in digging a little drossy knowledge out of the entrails of the earth? The astronomer who ascends highest mounts no higher than the celestial bodies, — the stars and planets, which are but the outworks of heaven. But the Scripture pierceth much farther, and lets us into heaven itself: there it discovers the majesty and the glory of God upon his throne; the eternal Son of God sitting at his right hand, making a prevailing and authoritative intercession for us; the glittering train of cherubim and seraphim, an innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect: so that, indeed, when you have this book laid open before you, you have heaven itself, and all the inconceivable glories of it, laid open to your view.
— Bp. Hopkins
God's word is a rare treasure requiring skill and determination to fully grasp.
SCRIPTURE, Treasures of Pebbles in great abundance may be found along the highway, or on the shores of the ocean; but diamonds and pearls are a rarity. They are only reached by skilful and determined divers, who, at the hazard of their lives, struggle to the bottom of the deep sea, and grasp for the shells in which the beautiful gems are deposited.
— Caughey
Believers should anchor their souls to God's word and hope to remain stable in trials.
As we tie a tender tree to some other tree that it may not be broken by the winds, and cast anchor in a storm to fix the ship that it may not be driven by the tempest; so ought we to join and apply our weak and faint hearts to the firm pillar of God's word, and fix the ship of our souls by the anchor of hope, that it sink not. John Arndt.
