John 5:39, 40 - The Written Word + The Living Word = Colossians 1:27b.
John 5:39, 40 - The Written Word + The Living Word = Colossians
1:27b.
John 5:39, 40 (NLT) You search the Scriptures because you
believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet
you refuse to come to me so that I can give you this eternal life.
It is possible for men to be very studious in the letter of the
scripture, and yet to be strangers to the power and influence of it.
[Matthew Henry Commentary]
The religious leaders knew what the Bible said but failed to
apply its words to their lives. They knew the teachings of the
Scriptures but failed to see the Messiah to whom the Scriptures pointed.
They knew the rules but missed the Savior. Entrenched in their own
religious system, they refused to let the Son of God change their lives.
Don't become so involved in "religion" that you miss Christ. [Life
Application SB]
Study of Scripture does not lead to eternal life unless it leads
to Jesus. . . .Jesus is the greatest revelation of God, revealed in
Scripture and manifested in the flesh (Jn 1). Some who claimed to seek and
follow God refused to see and believe Jesus. Diligent study of
Scripture is fruitless if it does not lead to faith in Christ. Faith, not
facts, is the ultimate purpose of Scripture study. [Disciple SB]
Studying the Bible or knowing its contents backward and forward
does not earn anyone eternal life. What the Scriptures do is point
individuals to Jesus. [Victor Teacher's Commentary]
The Jews searched the Law and yet failed to recognize Christ
when he came. What was wrong? The best Bible students in the world,
people who meticulously and continuously read scripture, rejected
Jesus. How could that happen? One thing is clear--they read scripture
in the wrong way. They read it with a shut mind. They read it not
to search for God but to find arguments to support their own
positions. They did not really love God; they loved their own ideas about
him. Water has as much chance of getting into concrete as the word of
God had of getting into their minds. They did not humbly learn a
theology from scripture; they used scripture to defend a theology which
they themselves had produced. There is still danger that we should
use the Bible to prove our beliefs and not to test them. . . The
function of the scriptures is not to give life, but to point to Him who
can. [Barclay Commentary]
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega of the Bible. He is the
constant theme of its sacred pages; from first to last they testify of
him. At the creation we at once discern him as one of the sacred
Trinity; we catch a glimpse of him in the promise of the woman's seed; we
see him typified in the ark of Noah; we walk with Abraham, as he
sees Messiah's day; we dwell in the tents of Isaac and Jacob, feeding
upon the gracious promise; we hear the venerable Israel talking of
Shiloh; and in the numerous types of the law, we find the Redeemer
abundantly foreshadowed. Prophets and kings, priests and preachers, all
look one way--they all stand as the cherubs did over the ark, desiring
to look within, and to read the mystery of God's great
propitiation. Still more manifestly in the New Testament we find our Lord the
one pervading subject. It is not an ingot here and there, or dust of
gold thinly scattered, but here you stand upon a solid floor of gold;
for the whole substance of the New Testament is Jesus crucified, and
even its closing sentence is bejewelled with the Redeemer's name. We
should always read Scripture in this light; we should consider the word
to be as a mirror into which Christ looks down from heaven; and
then we, looking into it, see his face reflected as in a
glass--darkly, it is true, but still in such a way as to be a blessed
preparation for seeing him as we shall see him face to face. This volume
contains Jesus Christ's letters to us, perfumed by his love. These pages
are the garments of our King, and they all smell of myrrh, and
aloes, and cassia. Scripture is the royal chariot in which Jesus rides,
and it is paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. The
Scriptures are the swaddling bands of the holy child Jesus; unroll them and
you find your Saviour. The quintessence of the word of God is
Christ. [Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon]
Christ is the treasure hid in the field of the scriptures, the
water in those wells, the milk in those breasts. [Matthew Henry
Commentary]
Jesus said of the Old Testament Scriptures,--and how much more
is it true of the New,--"They are they which testify of Me," the
Redeemer, Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. John 5:39.
Yes, the whole Bible tells of Christ. From the first record of
creation--for "without Him was not anything made that was made"--to the
closing promise, "Behold, I come quickly," we are reading of His works
and listening to His voice. John 1:3; Revelation 22:12. If you would
become acquainted with the Saviour, study the Holy Scriptures.
Fill the whole heart with the words of God. They are the living
water, quenching your burning thirst. They are the living bread from
heaven. Jesus declares, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink His blood, ye have no life in you." And He explains Himself by
saying, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life." John 6:53, 63. Our bodies are built up from what we eat and
drink; and as in the natural economy, so in the spiritual economy: it
is what we meditate upon that will give tone and strength to our
spiritual nature. SC88
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can
build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are
sanctified. Acts 20:32 (NIV)
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