30 - How To Read the Bible

Would you recognize God if you met Him? How would you know it was Him? And no, we’re not talking about things like a long white heard or brilliant light or voice like thunder. If God became a man, a normal appearing man, would you or I be able to tell that it was Him? What sort of person would He be? What qualities would you expect to find? This is the question that Jesus was asking these leaders. Here was a group of people who read the Bible… a lot, but in spite of all that reading they hadn’t met the God who wrote the Bible. When they read it they saw a book full of rules. So when they actually met God’s Son, someone who was exactly like His Father, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they didn’t like Him.  In the passage we are reading today Jesus is trying to explain to a group of very religious people that if they really knew God, if they had met Him in the pages of scripture, they would know that He had come from God. They had accused Him of blasphemy and arrogance toward God, but the truth was He couldn’t be more humble. He was completely submitted to the Father. The real reason for their hostility toward Him was that they didn’t know or love the God of the Bible.