A
fascinating thing is when Peter finishes his epistles, he comments on Paul’s
epistles.
II Peter 3:15-16 says, [15] And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is
salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given
unto him hath written unto you;
[16] As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
[16] As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Jordan
explains, “You notice in verse 15 that Paul had written to these people, and
then in verse 16, it says Paul didn’t write any of his epistles to the ‘circumcision
Believers,’ so what in the world were those people doing with his
epistles anyway? How’d they get them? What did they have?
“That verse
slaps in the face standard church tradition about how the Bible came about. The
old wives tale about the Bible is that in the 3rd and 4th
centuries some church councils got together and decided what the Bible ought to
be and selected books that ought to be put in the canon and books that ought
not be.
“I mean, you
read all that stuff and you’d have the idea that nobody in the 1st Century ever
had a Bible and that it was just by the good grace of the Church somewhere, and
some council meeting with a bunch of long-robed religious dudes, and if it
wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have a Bible.
“Now, you
know good and well Peter knows ‘circumcision Believers’ didn’t have the original
manuscripts; they had copies of Paul’s epistles that were obviously readily
available because you know whoever was making the copy of the Thessalonians
epistle wasn’t sending it off over to these people.
“If you go back
to chapter one of I Peter, you’ll see where all these people were: Pontius,
Galatia, all over modern-day Turkey. The Thessalonians epistle, that was over
in Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria and in that area. Well, they weren’t making
copies and sending them over to (Turkey) before the Thessalonians saints had
them.
“Paul writes
in I Thessalonians 5:27, [27] I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all
the holy brethren.
“Well, now I
know why they got them. Because the epistles were designed to be circulated.
Sometime you’ll hear somebody say, ‘Well, you know, Ephesians was really a
circular epistle. In the original it didn’t have, ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the saints at Ephesus.’ That was just something where in one copy they put
Ephesus, and in another copy put Laodicea.’
“You know
what that is? That’s just the hallucinations of somebody laying on their bed at
night trying to figure out something to say to impress upon people that they had
something to say when they didn’t know anything to say. Just hot air.
“There’s
absolutely no evidence at all that it’s credible in anybody’s book that the
original autographs didn’t have ‘at Ephesus’ in them. None at all and the fact
is, they did.
“There’s no
credible reason to believe the Book of Ephesians was a circular epistle not
meant for Ephesus, because, folks, all of the epistles were designed to be
circular epistles. That is, circulated and spread about.
“You see, as
your New Testament scriptures were being written, they were being copied and made readily available, and when they were made available, they were regarded and considered to be Scripture.
*****
“We talk a
lot about the doctrine of preservation of Scripture in the Bible. I don’t
believe the Bible was preserved just because it would be a good idea. ‘It’s
preserved in what’s there,’ somebody once said, but God had a DESIGN to
preserve what He’d written and the way He did it was to make so many copies of
it, in so many languages, available in so many places, that you couldn’t lose
it even if you tried to.
“Paul writes
in I Timothy 5:18, [18] For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that
treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.’
“That first
saying is in Deuteronomy 25 and the latter is in Luke 10:7. Think about this; Paul
writes to Timothy and says ‘the scripture saith,’ and then quotes Deuteronomy
and the Book of Luke. An Old Testament book and a New Testament book and he
puts them on the same plane . . . the Book of Luke, in Paul’s mind, and in
Timothy’s mind, was just as much the Word of God as Deuteronomy, written by
Moses, was.
“In other
words, they weren’t waiting until a 3rd and 4th Century
council to declare the Book of Luke as Scripture. Paul, writing by inspiration,
understands and recognizes, and so does Timothy. He doesn’t say, ‘Hey, Tim, I
got news for you. What that book Luke wrote, it’s Scripture.’ They both
recognize it right off! It’s an understood thing to them.
*****
“Everything
that Paul wrote--just like everything Luke wrote, everything Matthew wrote,
everything anybody else wrote--wasn’t Scripture. Some things he wrote were and
some things he wrote weren’t.
“Colossians
4:16 says, [16] And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read
also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle
from Laodicea.
“Now, is the epistle to the Colossians
Scripture? Well, there it is in your Bible. He writes, ‘Cause that it be read.’
Now, do you know of an epistle in your Bible called the epistle from Laodicea?
Well, then, what is that?
“Outside of
taking Revelation 3 and trying to make that be it, which would be a real
stretch, the obvious answer is there is an epistle that is either, No. 1,
missing from your Bible because it isn’t there, or, No. 2, it was never
intended to be in your Bible.
*****
*****
“Paul
reveals in I Corinthians 5:9, [9] I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with
fornicators.’ Do you know where that epistle is? It would have to be
before I Corinthians. He’d already written it to them.
“In other
words, Paul had already written the Corinthians some books; at least one
epistle. Now he writes I Corinthians, but it’s really II Corinthians, and II
Corinthians is really III Corinthians, but I Corinthians was the first one that
was Scripture. II Corinthians was the second one that was Scripture. There may
have been 30 other epistles that he wrote but they weren’t all Scripture. They
weren’t all designed to be Scripture.
“So, it was only
what was written by inspiration that was Scripture. By the way, you’ll notice
that Paul, in I Timothy 5, calls Deuteronomy Scripture and he calls Luke Scripture.
Do you think any of them had the original manuscripts of Deuteronomy? No. they
had copies. Do you think they all had the original autograph of Luke?
“If you read
the first four verses of Luke 1 as you read the first two verses of Acts 1,
you’ll see the Book of Luke was written to a certain individual. That person would have
had the original. Could it be possible that Luke might have kept a copy?
“Since Paul
was a friend of Luke, do you reckon Paul might have looked over Luke’s shoulder
a day or two and read a little of it and said, ‘Hmm, I think maybe I’d like to
have a copy of that’? Well, you wouldn’t have done that, would you, but I bet
he would have. Sure they did. Those guys were producing the Word of God!
*****
“II Timothy
3:15 says, [15] And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.
“Notice Timothy
had known from a child the Scriptures. Well, he didn’t have the originals; his
mom and grandma had copies of the Word of God that were considered to be Scripture.
“Joshua 8:32
says, [32] And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of
Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.’
"Verse 35 says, [35] There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
"Verse 35 says, [35] There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.
“You know what Joshua had? He had the complete Word of God. He had it all at that time. And he didn’t miss ONE word. Now, you need to think about that. When you hear somebody say, ‘Well, you know there are all these copyist errors.’ I know, but you know what God’s Word says? It says when Joshua got that copy, he didn’t miss ONE word that Moses wrote down originally.
*****
“Joshua 23:6
says, [6] Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that
is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to
the right hand or to the left.
“Notice it’s
the book. But how many books did Moses write? Five. It’s in five parts, but
it’s one book. You’ve got one book in your lap today that’s in 66 parts. Same
kind of testimony, just a few more pieces to it.
“Watch this
kicker in Joshua 24:25-27: [25] So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set
them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
[26] And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
[27] And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
[26] And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
[27] And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
“You see
what Joshua does? He comes to the end and goes and writes all this stuff down
and ADDS it to what Moses wrote! Now you’ve got the whole Pentateuch, or Torah,
and they keep it in the ark over there, and now Joshua comes along and has a
copy of it committed to him.
“Joshua stays
with it faithfully all his life and at the end of his life, he writes down
ANOTHER book that they add. The book Moses wrote didn’t just grow from what he
wrote in his five parts, but it’s growing from what Joshua wrote. This Book is
growing in its parts and in its size!
*****
I Samuel
10:25 says, [25] Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and
wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the
people away, every man to his house.
“You see how the book keeps
growing? Samuel goes in and lays that thing right there with the originals. The
Old Book just keeps going.
“II
Chronicles 32:32 says, [32] Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness,
behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz,
and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
“If you go
back and read the heading at the head of I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II
Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, you know what it says? ‘The first book of
the kings. The second book of the kings. The third book of the kings. The
fourth book of the kings.’
“That verse
says Isaiah wrote some stuff about Hezekiah and evidently had a hand in writing
and putting into the final form ‘the book of the kings.’ That writing would
also cover the Book of Judges and Ruth.
“You know
what’s happening? The ark’s getting full! The Book’s growing and it continues
to grow. Daniel adds to it, Jeremiah adds to it, Isaiah adds to it and Ezra, ‘the
ready scribe,’ works on the thing.
*****
“In Jeremiah
40 is one of those strange little passages that shows up in the Word of God
that you just sort of say, ‘Wow, isn’t that interesting?’
“You know
the story about Jeremiah and the Babylonian captivity. Nebuchadnezzar comes in
and takes Israel away and Jeremiah’s the prophet of God, left in the land; ‘the
weeping prophet.’
"He literally is under the protection of Nebby. He’s given
free reign. He’d been warning Israel that the judgment’s coming. God said, ‘Pack
up your bags, you’re going to be there 70 years.’ The fifth cycle of judgment
was there and Jeremiah tells them, ‘You’re going off into captivity; the land’s
going to enjoy her Sabbaths.’
“Jeremiah 40:1
says, [1] The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that
Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had
taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of
Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
“Notice what
this heathen Babylonian Gentile soldier says to the prophet in Israel. Verse 2
says, [2] And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto
him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
“You know
what he’s saying? He’s saying, ‘I know what’s happening.’ The Bible says in Leviticus
26 that, ‘When you don’t obey my covenant, then I’m going to put these curses
on you, and if you don’t hearken to me, I’m going to put these more on you, and
if you don’t hearken still, then I’m going to punish you seven times more and finally
I’m going to take you out of the land and what’s going on with you today is
just what the Bible said.’
“Now,
there’s an old heathen Gentile soldier quoting the Scripture to Jerry. That
means that heathen Gentile has done seen a Bible, folks, and has been sitting
in a Bible class somewhere and figured out what’s going on.
“Don’t you
let people tell you the Word of God wasn’t available. My point to you is, if
that guy had the Word of God, don’t you think some of God’s people had it? You
better believe it.
“The Bible
was distributed so widely and that happens a lot. The wise men, the Magi, when
they come to visit the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 2, those men came from
Babylon, from the east, from that direction, and they saw His star and came to
worship Him who was born king of the Jews.
"Where did they learn that
information? Out of the books of Numbers, Isaiah, Amos, Micah. Those wise men
had been studying the Bible.
“When you
read over in Joshua about Rahab and she says, ‘You know, we heard about what
God did when He brought you out of Egypt, but we’ve just been waiting up here
for you to come; we know that your god’s THE God.’
“That little
widow told Elijah, ‘Your god is the God of Gods.’ God had made His name great
in what He had done. The problem was His people didn’t believe what He gave
them.
“In Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John, here come the Gentiles to worship in Jerusalem Israel’s
king, just like Isaiah 2 said they ought to do, and what happens? All of
Jerusalem is troubled. They’re like, ‘Hummuhnuh, Hummuhnuh, what they talking
about, a king?’ You see, the problem was with THEM.”
No comments:
Post a Comment