So, this may sound strange to you, but I want to propose that you can be very serious about your use of the Bible and be using the Bible unbiblically. You can have a regular relationship with the Word of God, you can be serious about it and not be using the Bible in the way it was intended to be used. And so, I want to look at this next section in 1 Peter and ask the question, "What in the world is the Bible?"
Let me read these verses to you, 1 Peter 1:10-12:
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
Wow! Peter is saying some radical things about the Word of God and how we've arrived at this Book that we now hold in our hands. Pretend someone comes up to you on the street and says, "What in the world is the Bible?" How would you describe the Bible to them? Is it a collection of real helpful moralistic stories? Is it a collection of theological truths? Is it a collection of wisdom principles for daily living? What a different description of God's Word is in this passage.
The matter of fact is your Bible is essentially a story. It's not a collection of stories; it's one single story with a lot of phases and a lot of chapters. The Bible is the story of redemption. And it has one single character, Jesus. But I want you to get something in this passage. It talks about the prophets, "inquiring what person or what time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ."
Listen to this. He's saying that the Bible is an autobiography. Jesus wrote His own story. And it tells us that the prophets didn't understand it. The angels looked into it. Nobody was capable of writing the story that we now have here. The story of everything that was needed to lead up to Jesus, Jesus's life, Jesus's life interpreted for us, and the final culmination of the work of Jesus, no one was able to guide that story but the central character Himself; I'm holding the autobiography of the Savior in my hands. He guided the writing so that every element that was necessary would be in His story. So, every explanation necessary would be in His story. So, we would understand beginnings and destiny, so it would be in His story. How exciting is that! This is the story of Jesus.
Because the hope of the entire world rested on a single shoulder, history marched toward the incarnation of Jesus. Jesus's life marched toward the cross and the resurrection. The epistles look back on the work of Jesus. Those who are on the other side in Revelation celebrate the work of Jesus, this is the story of Jesus! There are not a whole lot of dramas where the central character is the author, but that's the case with the Word of God. And that's why it's trustworthy because the One who is the hope of the universe guided His Book so we would have, in that Book, everything that we need for our life here and for life to come.
