December 16

"Search the Scriptures" (John 5:39)-- the command could not be any plainer. But even if God had not expressed this duty so explicitly, the very penning of His Word would unmistakably convey His purpose. The passage of a law is enough to make subjects obey it. And it does not do any good for us to plead ignorance; the publication of law carries with it an obligation for us to find out exactly what it means and how it applies to us.

Christ fastens condemnation on the ignorance of men when He Himself has provided knowledge: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness" (John 3:19). Many people avoid the light because they do not intend to walk in it. Now if ignorance of the Word is condemned where light shines, surely God commands us to open our eyes to take in the knowledge it sheds forth; for a law must be broken before a condemning sentence is pronounced. Because you live within the sound of this gospel, you will be judged by it whether you know it or not.

The Jews once had the Word deposited right into their hands: "Unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2). These Scriptures were given to them, and now to us, as a dying father leaves his will to his son, not for him to throw it aside among waste papers, but for him to study it so as to perform everything written in it.

God's Word is called "the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3)-- delivered to their study and care. If we had lived when Christ was here in the flesh, and He left us one last special thing to take care of, would we not have abandoned everything else to perform the will of our dying Savior? It is for His sake that we keep and transmit this faith from one generation to the next as long as this world lasts.

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