Daily Devotionals

Music For the Soul

Devotional: September 18th

THE INCOMPLETENESS OF SCRIPTURE

There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. - John 21:25

Christ, the Son of God, is the Centre of Scripture; and the Book - whatever be the historical facts about its origin, its authorship, and the date of the several portions of which it is composed - the Book is a unity, because there is driven right through it, like a core of gold, either in the way of prophecy and onward-looking anticipation, or in the way of history and grateful retrospect, the reference to the one "Name that is above every name," the name of the Christ, the Son of God.

" They that went before, and they that followed after, cried, "Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord." That Christ towers up above the history of the world and the process of revelation, like Mount Everest among the Himalayas. To that great peak all the country on the one side runs upwards, and from it all the valleys on the other descend; and the springs are born there which carry verdure and life over the world.

And all the incompleteness of Scripture, its fragmentariness, its carelessness about persons, are intended, as are the slight parts in a skillful painter’s handiwork, to emphasize the beauty and the sovereignty of that one central Figure on which all the lights are concentrated, and on which he has lavished all the resources of his art. So God - for God is the Author of the Bible - on this great canvas has painted much in sketching outline, and left much unfilled in, that every eye may be fixed on the central Figure, the Christ of God, on whose head comes down the dove, and round whom echoes the Divine declaration: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

But it is not merely in order to represent Jesus as the Christ of God that these are written, but it is that that representation may become the object of our faith. If the intention of Scripture had been simply to establish the fact that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, it might have been done in a very different fashion. A theological treatise would have been enough to do that. But, if the object be that men should not only accept with their understandings the truth concerning Christ’s office and nature, but that their hearts should go out to Him, and that they should rest their sinful souls upon Him as the Son of God and the Christ, then there is no other way to accomplish that but by the history of His life and the manifestation of His heart. If the object were simply to make us know about Christ, we do not need a Book like this; but if the object is to lead us to put our faith in Him, then we must have what we have here, the infinitely touching and tender figure of Jesus Christ Himself set forth before us in all its sweetness and beauty, as He lived and moved and died for us.

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Do you trust your soul to Him in these characters? If you do, I think we can shake hands. If you do not. Scripture has failed to do its work on you, and you have not reached the point which all God’s lavish revelation has been expended on the world that you and all men might attain.