Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13Fellow Believers,
One day during my early Christian walk, I happened to tune into a religious program that was already in progress. The preacher was teaching from Genesis, the trials and victories of Joseph in particular. He talked about the perseverance and steadfast faith of that patriarch. He noted how Joseph refused to succumb to great temptation and how well he behaved even when he was unduly imprisoned. And the preacher called attention to the way God used hostile developments for the good of His children.
I must say I learned something from that sermon. Then, to my surprise, I discovered at the end of the program that I had been listening to a Jewish religious service and that the preacher was a rabbi!
"How can a Jewish sermon sound so much like those heard in Christian churches?" I thought to myself. "Shouldn't Christian teaching be distinctly different from that which is taught by Judaism." Then, a passage in I Corinthians 2 came to my mind:
We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (vv. 7-10).
You see, while the rabbi did an excellent job extracting the moral teachings from the Old Testament, he couldn't have recognized the more important spiritual message. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, we know that Joseph was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that his life foreshadowed the Lord's suffering and exultation.
Since then, I have always tried to study the Bible with a different eye. Besides learning the historical facts and the moral teaching, I meditate and let the Holy Spirit reveal to me the "hidden wisdom" therein.
I encourage you to do that, too, because when you begin to find in the Bible spiritual truths that even the most learned unbelieving pastor cannot discern and when you discover aspects of the gospel in seemingly straightforward historical accounts, you'll find an inner thrill that nothing else can offer. Itís exciting to know that the Holy Spirit indwelling you is indeed guiding you into all truth.
Fourth Quarter, 1998