God in Christ - PART 203

The Bible states that you shall worship the LORD your GOD and Him only shall you Serve. The scriptures further state that you shall have no other gods before Him for the LORD your GOD is a jealous GOD! This is why we should not make for ourselves any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven or upon the earth!

In fact, the Bible remains the best selling book in the market place for a reason. As pointed out by J.G. Frazer in Passages of the Bible Chosen for their Literary Beauty and Interest, "The Bible is the epic of the world. It unrolls a vast panorama in which the ages move before us in a long train of solemn imagery from the creation of the world onward. Against this gorgeous background we see mankind strutting, playing their little part on the stage of history. We see them taken from the dust and returning to the dust. We see the rise and fall of empires, we see great cities, now the hive of busy industry, now silent and desolate - a den of wild beasts. All life’s fever is there, its hopes and joys, its suffering and sin and sorrow."

The Bible -- what a book! "Large and wise as the world based on the abysses of creation, and towering aloft into the blue secrets of heaven. Sunrise and sunset, promises and fulfillment, birth and death - the whole drama of humanity - are contained in this book. It is the Book of Books. The Jews may readily be consoled at the loss of Jerusalem and the Temple and the Ark of the covenant, and all the crown jewels of King Solomon. Such forfeiture is as nought when weighed against the Bible, the imperishable treasure that they have saved."

This is why we should "peruse the books of philosophers with all their pomp and diction [and discover] how meager, how contemptible are they when compared with the Scriptures!"

Indeed, I believe it would startle anyone if they could make a certain effort of imagination and read the scriptures freshly like a book, exploring the adventures contained therein while embracing the many lessons that are pertinent for life in the 21st century.

"This work, which through the King James translation became a part of the body of our language, which was often the one Book in the possession of our pioneering ancestor, its teachings intertwined in the warp and woof of the western free Christian traditions, not always for good but unquestionably making us what we have been and what we are, this food of our fathers is now being neglected by the children."

[Often, it is perceived that the] Bible seems to have dropped out of education altogether. In the long run, this will not matter, since one may safely prophesy that the Bible will outlive ever sect of opposition. However, the loss to the immediate contemporary generation is incalculable!"

Still, God Himself was in Christ. In becoming a man, God had a message of salvation to bring to humankind. He wanted us to recognize that even though life is but a vapour of smoke, He still loved us. Or as dictated on a tombstone -- "Once I stood where you now stand. I cannot come to you so you ought now to prepare to come to me." God is LOVE!