FINDING GOLD IN GOD’S WORD

“And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” – Luke 24:45

FINDING GOLD IN GOD’S WORD is manifestation of supernatural favour: “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” This was after the resurrection. Earlier, the disciples had proved too foolish and slow to comprehend Scripture (v.25). But by divine intervention, the light dawned!  Seeing the divine glories that are in Scripture is always a miracle. Finding Gold in God’s Word means being able to read the Scriptures in such a way as to get out of it what God, the Ultimate Author, and the inspired writers intended. Reading the God-breathed Bible does not mean looking at biblical words and then thinking our own thoughts, feeling our own feelings or doing our own thing. Many read the Scriptures, but fail to find Gold in the Word.

For example, when the Pharisees saw Jesus and his disciples on the Sabbath casually picking grain to eat as they walked through the fields, they accused them of lawbreaking (Mt.12:2) Jesus replied that they sounded like they’ve never read the Bible: “HAVE OU NOT READ what David did…?...Or HAVE YOU NOT READ in the law…? (vv. 3, 5). He then cited Hosea 6:6, “But If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (v.7). As far as Jesus was concerned, they were acting like they had not even read it. Something was amiss with the reading of the Bible among these leaders. They were the “experts” in reading their sacred texts. And yet Jesus treated them as if they had never read the Scriptures.

In Matthew 19 the Pharisees asked if it’s lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause. Again Jesus said, “HAVE YOU NOT READ that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’ (Mt.19:4-6). He was referring to Genesis 1:27 and 2:24.  In Matthew 21: 15-16, the Scribes complained that the children are shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Jesus again replied, “Yes, HAVE YOU NEVER READ, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” He simply quoted Psalm 8:2. Some verses further, Jesus told these Jewish leaders the parable of the tenants who killed the son of the owner to get the farm for themselves, and again, asked: “HAVE YOU NEVER READ in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’?” (Mt.21:42). Here, He quoted Psalm 118: 22-23.

When the Sadducees tried to make a mockery out of the resurrection, Jesus replied: “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Mt.22:29). He wondered:  “HAVE YOU NOT READ what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?” (Mt.22:31-32a). Here, He was quoting Exodus 3:6. Jesus connected these leaders’ inability to find Gold in His Word with their inability to see what’s in Him: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (Jh.5:39). They were deaf, dumb, and blind to Jesus! They were experts at using their mental faculties to make weather reports but not for spiritual purposes (Mt.16:3).

The apostle John said, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jh.1:14b). He was looking at the same Jesus the Pharisees were, but they could not see the glory, because they loved money, power, and the praise of men. And so it is with the Scriptures. The things that blind people to the glory of Christ, blind them to the glories revealed in Scripture. A money-loving, power-loving, reputation-currying person cannot mine gold from the Word. One whose real love is for the world and its passing stuff cannot keep sharpened spiritual faculties to see the truth, beauty, and worth of Scripture (1Jh.2: 15-17).