Here is a great example of the vast difference between the Bible and every other book. These words are part of a statement made by Paul, a revelation made through him to mankind, a part of the word of God. The whole passage is in Phil. 2:6-11. With a slight change in the form of one word the last verse reads, "Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This is a prophecy of what is to come, of something that every human being shall have part in.
No other book but the Bible could say such words. They foretell what is sure to come. Of no other person who has ever lived, or ever will live, could such words be written. Jesus Christ was here on earth. Men saw Him, heard Him, were blessed or cursed by Him. He spoke with authority. He boldly made claim to "all authority in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18). And this was after He had been crucified, buried, sealed into the tomb, but had come forth from it, and made His living presence known to His people.
Men have tried, and are trying, in every way to account for Christ while they reject Him as Lord. But that is one truth concerning Christ, the truth in Scripture, the truth in Phil. 2:5-11, which men must be made to confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord means that He is God, as Thomas declared, "My Lord and my God." Jesus' answer was, "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed:blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:26-29). Multitudes in Christendom are rejecting Him both as Lord and God, but this does not in the least invalidate His position. The knees of every present rejecter of Christ will sometime bow to Him. It matters not how many now join their number; rejection does not hinder in the least His being the almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth.
Scripture declares that "being in the form of God, [He] thought it not robbery to be equal with God." How infinitely wide and deep is the truth expressed by those words,-"equal with god!" This is what Jesus Christ is. The mass of false teachings which have been built up concerning Jesus Christ are swept away by these three words. The falsity of the christ of Modernism, of Christian Science, of Millennial Dawnism, of every other attempted degradation of Jesus Christ, stands revealed in the light of these three words.
He is "equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took the form of a servant, and was made [having become] in the likeness of men:and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8). Christ was God, eternally God; He became man, that which He was not before, but ever will be hereafter. This is what every tongue will confess; the truth that every knee shall bow to. But this is the teaching that the natural heart of mankind hates and rejects. Men hate the truth that they must acknowledge this crucified Jewish peasant as Lord and God. The form this hatred will finally take is shown in Rev. 19:19; and its futility is also there displayed (Rev. 19:11-21).
There is scarcely a greater contrast in Scripture than that between this passage and the first part of Rev. 19. The closest relation among human beings is used to symbolize the relation between Jesus Christ and those who are by faith clothed in Christ's righteousness, who here by repentance and faith acknowledge Him as their Lord and God. They are scattered over the earth. Wherever the Scriptures have gone, there will they be found. The more Bibles there are, the more saved ones there are. The vast company that makes up the bride of Christ is being increased daily by those who turn from sin and that which God hates, to Christ and what He loves.
They have taken Christ as their Lord and God; they receive the blessing of those who have not seen, and yet have believed. They have seen Him with the "eyes of the heart" (Eph. 1:18 should be "heart," not "understanding"). For those who truly say, "My Lord and my God" to Christ, love Him above all else. They are learning to trust in Him, to rest upon His promises, to walk in His light and presence.
How wonderful it is to have Christ as Lord; to count upon Him in every time of need, to lift up the heart to Him in prayer at any time, in any place. Daily need comes to every follower of the risen Lord, and many times he must ask Him to guide and keep. Stubborn wills rebel, stubborn hearts cling to that which is beautiful and attractive, but which draws away the heart from Him. His people are to seek to know and love and enjoy His blessed way through the world. Knowing Christ gives joy and peace, and satisfies the heart and soul. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you," said Christ. "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 14:27; 15:11).
Believing in Christ as Lord is not a matter for Sunday only; it is for every day that we need joy and peace, rest from desire for the world, from care, from hollow-ness and sham and falseness. But if you take Christ as your Lord here in Satan's world, you will have His enemies as your enemies; those who hate Christ will be hating you. But His love and care here and now are of ten thousandfold more value than all Satan and his world can offer, and of far greater value is the eternal inheritance He has in store for His own. Only those truly know Jesus Christ as Lord who have received the new life and nature which He gives to those who believe in Him. They only have the power, the ability to know Him, to love Him, to walk in His path here in the world. Belief on Him, knowledge of Him as Lord and Saviour, rest in His promises, all go together. Getting to heaven is not the goal of the believer on Christ, but the having-His life here in this world, with all that this implies for His people. They do not have to wait for heaven for the knowing Him, but know Him here and now. Being with Him will be far better than the life here, as much better as heaven is better than earth.
Here and now Christ has to show His love for His own by making all things work for good to them, by taking care of them in the midst of such surroundings as the world now gives them. Being Lord of all things, He keeps His promises to them, and what power, wisdom, and love does this reveal! Next to the power that takes up a poor, sinful hater of God and transforms such an one into His own likeness, fit for His presence, is the power that keeps and guides such an one through all the attacks of His and His people's enemies. His own have to be made overcomers over all their foes, have to be delivered from the countless evils of this present life, and made to meet the attacks of seen and unseen enemies.
He has given His people a Book containing a revelation of Himself, His power, His love, what He is to them. To know Him, what He is to us and what we are to Him, we search this Book, study it, live by it. How Christ regarded the Bible can be seen by His words to Satan in Matt. 4:4:"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"-words written down by Moses nearly 1500 years before-"that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deut. 8:3). There is nothing in this world of such value as God's Book, and what will those do who have spent their time fighting and attempting to degrade the Bible, when they stand before Him to be judged?
Christ has given His people His Book for a light in the present darkness, for a sword to use against present foes. It is the teacher in our ignorance, the guide through this labyrinth, the priceless gift of God in our poverty. Of course Satan hates it, as do all who are led by him. When you find any one showing hatred of the Bible, showing doubt concerning it in any respect, or manifesting enmity to it, you may know that person is marked for terrible disillusionment when standing before Him who is revealed in this Book as Lord of heaven and earth. As they are treating His Book, so-when He was on earth – did His enemies treat Him. With what result? Their city destroyed, they dying as criminals or sold as slaves because they would not have His mercy as their Saviour. The fate of the old world, of Sodom, of the Jerusalem of Christ's time, are warnings to men that they cannot with impunity reject the Word of God.
The haters of Christ's present mercy are bent on self-ruin. What an awakening it will be for the cultured and refined enemies of the Bible, as well as for the gross and degraded ones, when they shall come for judgment before Him whose Book they have been fighting, and preventing others from reading and accepting as the Word of God. Again and again have the despisers of mercy been overtaken with earthly judgment; but there is laid up for such an eternal judgment which is sure to find them out. Today there is mercy. Then there will be swift and sure judgment. -J. W. Newton.