The Bible Does NOT Reveal Everything There Is to Know About God!

Unfortunately, for too many folks, the Bible has become an idol. It is regarded by them as the FINAL AUTHORITY in things Spiritual - the revelation of God and his will. Ironically, this attitude is contrary to what Scripture has to say about God and itself!

In this connection, please notice the following passages of Scripture:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV (here and throughout this post)

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! I Kings 8:27

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?" Isaiah 66:1

Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:24

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:24-25

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. I Corinthians 13:8-12

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:1-3

Hence, we must conclude that Scripture only provides us with a brief glimpse of the Divine majesty, mind, and character and its will! Indeed, as with Yeshua, there aren't enough books in the world to contain a complete account of God!

The Wise and the Foolish Builder

After finishing his famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ said: "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (Matthew 7:24-27, ESV) In the sermon which preceded these remarks, Jesus of Nazareth had reimagined Torah - the basis of the Old Covenant between God and Israel.

Indeed, Christ had declared: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18, ESV) Did you get that? Jesus said that he came to this earth to FULFILL/SATISFY/ACCOMPLISH/COMPLETE/REALIZE the Law and the Prophets. He went on to say that not even the stroke of a pen or a punctuation mark would pass from the Law until ALL of it had been accomplished! Did Christ complete that mission? Scripture predicted that he would (Isaiah 53), and the New Testament informs us that he did. (See John 19:30, II Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, I Peter 2:22) Later, in that same Gospel of Matthew, Christ also taught that TWO commandments fulfilled the entire Law of God - Wholehearted love for God, and love for each other. (Matthew 22:24-40) Then, after his resurrection and just before his ascension into heaven, we are informed by that Gospel that he commanded his disciples "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-10, ESV)

Jesus Christ is identified as the Rock over and over again in Scripture. (See Psalm 18:2, 62:2, 6-7, 118:22, I Corinthians 10:4, Matthew 16:18, Isaiah 26:4, 28:16, I Peter 2:6, Deuteronomy 32:4, II Samuel 22:47) He was that Rock referred to in the parable of the two builders. Moreover, he explicitly stated that the one "who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Is the house to be built on the commandments of Torah? OR Is the house to be built on Jesus Christ and what he taught? How say you? Remember, he was speaking to folks who were accustomed to observing the commandments of Torah, and he had explicitly taught his followers a new approach to righteousness - which would be found in and through him when he had completed his mission!

Paul told the Galatians that "We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:15-16, ESV) He went on to write that "all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.' But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" (Galatians 3:10-13, ESV) Paul also told the Colossians that the commandments of Torah were shadows of what was to come, but the reality which they represented was to be found in Jesus Christ! (Colossians 2:17)

Hence, in the light of these passages of Scripture, each of us must ask ourselves an important question. Have you built your house on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his teachings? OR Have you built your house on the foundation of the commandments of Torah? In other words, have you built your house on THE ROCK? OR Have you built your house on the sand? Moreover, for those who have built their houses on the sand, what do you think will happen to their houses when the fast-approaching storm engulfs them? What about you? Will your house stand or fall?

A Distorted Perspective on What's Good or Bad

Too many people evaluate themselves and each other based on their performance of a list of dos and don'ts. For these folks, a moral code is the only way to properly assess behavior - to judge whether they are good or bad. In other words, they would be lost without some well-defined standard with which to compare themselves and others. These folks must rely on their five senses (sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing) to process the way they and others perform in public. Unfortunately, they often do not trust their own consciences, feelings, or the leadership of God's Holy Spirit in evaluating their behavior. Of course, on some level, most of us understand that such evaluations can be very superficial and subjective; but many of us are simply too dependent on these standards and our own physical senses to imagine a better system of judging between good and bad!

In the Hebrew Bible, the Children of Israel were given a well-defined system of dos and don'ts that we call Torah. Within that body of writings, there are literally hundreds of individual commands and instructions related to moral conduct, worship rituals, civil laws, health guidelines, etc. Indeed, there are specific commandments to regulate virtually every area of the life circumstances of those ancient peoples (clothing, food, agriculture, commerce, marriage, etc.). For many of the folks we are talking about, there is no higher law than those contained in the Ten Commandments. For them, they constitute a universal moral code which can be applied to all people in all times - NOT just the ancient people of Israel! The problems with this reasoning, however, became very apparent over time; and, by the time that Christ walked this earth, the complete collapse of that system was at hand.

In those days, the members of the Jewish sect of the Pharisees were considered by most to be the ultimate proponents of the Hebrew written code known as Torah. Indeed, they were fastidious about their observance of circumcision of males, dietary laws, Sabbaths, fasting and prayer, sacrifices and other Temple rituals and traditions. In short, these folks held up the Torah as the ultimate standard of moral behavior - of what constituted "righteousness" in God's sight. Jesus of Nazareth, however, insisted that they really were NOT in a position to judge what was good and what was bad! In fact, Christ clearly condemned the way that they used the written code of Torah!

Jesus told the crowds that followed him that "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." He went on to tell them that it wasn't enough to simply refrain from murdering another human being, but that they shouldn't even allow anger and bitterness to take root in their hearts toward each other! He said that it wasn't enough to refrain from having sexual intercourse with someone who wasn't your spouse. Jesus told them that they shouldn't even allow themselves to harbor lustful thoughts in their minds about someone who wasn't their spouse! Moreover, Christ taught them that they should even love their enemies and treat them with kindness and respect!

Indeed, Christ went on to attack the very concept of judging public behavior as good or righteous! He said: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." He went on to say: "when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." In similar fashion, Jesus told them to disguise the fact that they were fasting - that the behavior should be directed at God, and NOT for public consumption! He also condemned their legalistic way of observing the Sabbath and suggested that it had been created to be enjoyed!

Jesus was so very clear about the legalism of the Pharisees that it is hard to understand how anyone could embrace their way of discerning what/who was good and what/who was bad! He said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." In the same vein, he went on to say: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." For Christ, scrupulously following a list of dos and don'ts simply wasn't enough. He insisted that the robotic performance of a program was NOT what God was looking for in his people!

On the contrary, Christ believed that TRUE goodness would result from judging all behaviors by the standard of LOVE: LOVE for God and each other! God wants folks who will not murder, because they recognize that that is inconsistent with love - NOT because there is a commandment written down forbidding it! Christ wants people to be faithful and honest with each other, because that reflects an attitude of love - of not wanting to hurt another's feelings or disrespect them in any way. In other words, Christ taught that real moral discernment MUST come from the heart of each and every one of us! Hence, reliance on a written code will only get you a distorted perception of what/who is good and what/who is bad! Christ and God look at what is in your heart. They don't rely on physical behaviors observed by physical senses! So, the question is: Are you relying on LOVE, and Christ's fulfillment of Torah? OR Are you relying on a list of do's and don'ts?