The basic issue is: Are you simply ministering to others from this book, the Bible, or are you one who has met Christ and who has a revelation of Christ? Are you one who has met and encountered the Lord fundamentally? Do you have a fundamental understanding of the Lord? If you do, you will spontaneously say, “Thank God, many things in the Bible are clear to me now.” From that time forward, day by day as you read the Bible, you will find passage after passage making sense to you. An inward knowledge of the Lord comes first, while a knowledge of Him through the Bible comes later. Once you have the subjective knowledge, you will find God’s word understandable and self-harmonizing when you study it again. What were problems to you now become meaningful revelations, and what was once insignificant now becomes very significant. Everything fits together; all the parts are linked up and nothing is insignificant any longer. From that point on, your days on earth will become days of knowing the Bible. Day by day what you see will match what the Bible says; the two will testify to the same things. You may not see everything all at once, but it will appear to you little by little, and you will see more as the days go by. We do not understand the Bible through the Bible. Rather, we know the Bible through inward light and inward revelation.
The misguided mind always wants to take the way of the intellectual man. Man thinks that he can study the Bible by himself. He thinks he can make the effort to understand it. He thinks that he can read it with or without prayer. He thinks he can study it, and he trusts in his study. But this is a wrong way. When the Lord Jesus was born, many Jews were very familiar with the Bible. Herod asked where Christ would be born, and the chief priests and scribes answered without looking it up that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of the land of Judah. They even quoted the Scripture which says, “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you the least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler, One who will shepherd My people Israel” (Matt. 2:6). They could recite the Scripture. But did they know Christ? Although they were so familiar with the Bible, they did not use it to find Christ. Instead, they used it to try to kill Christ. They used it to help Herod try to kill God’s Anointed. How wrong one can become in reading the Bible! How wrong a man can become by being familiar with the Scripture! What kind of things a man can do by the so-called understanding of the Bible!
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the Scripture was fulfilled point by point. While a person who knows nothing about the Bible can be excused for not recognizing this, those who knew the Scripture should have recognized immediately that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God from the many fulfillments of the Word. But did the Pharisees know this? They did not know Christ nor could they accept Him. They sewed the Scripture to the hem of their garments and their girdles. They had a knowledge of the Scripture and could expound biblical prophecies. They could tell others about the teachings and doctrines of the Scripture, but they kept Christ outside the door. A man can touch the Scripture without touching Christ. The Pharisees made the Scripture mere reading material, study curriculum, an object of doctrinal research. They could understand the doctrines, but they rejected the Savior.
At the same time that this was going on, there was another group of people. They did not have any Bible knowledge. Matthew was a tax collector. Peter was a fisherman. Even in Acts, they were considered “uneducated men and laymen” (4:13). Yet they had met the Lord. They had met Christ. God revealed His Son in them, and they knew the Lord. Peter received from God the revelation of His Son at Caesarea Philippi. He knew inwardly that Jesus was God’s Anointed, the very Son of God. As far as Christ’s ministry is concerned, He is the Christ of God. As far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of God. As far as His work is concerned, He is the Christ of God. As far as His person is concerned, He is the Son of God. This is the greatest revelation. The entire church is built upon this revelation. These uneducated laymen knew the Son of God, and they knew the Bible. Matthew was a tax collector; he had not previously known the Bible. But because he knew the Lord, he could tell us so much about the Old Testament in the New Testament. Once he knew the Lord, everything became clear. This is not learning a word by seeing the picture, but rather, identifying a picture by seeing the object. He first knew the Lord, and then he found out about Him from the books of the Old Testament. Suppose you know a brother personally. When another person brings you a picture of this brother, you can identify him in the picture immediately. You must first know Christ before you can know His book.
The trouble with some people is that they turn the order of Christ and the Bible around. They want to know the Bible first and then know Christ. But it is possible for a man to know the Bible yet at the same time to not know Christ. Matthew and Peter received mercy from God to have Christ first revealed in them. When they read the Scripture afterwards, every sentence was clear to them. We are not Jews and may not realize the significance of this. Suppose we were Jews and lived as Old Testament men in the land of Judea. When we studied the Old Testament according to the outward letter, the whole book would be a mystery to us. Today, the Old Testament is still a mystery to many unbelievers and so-called theologians. But Peter, Matthew, John, and James met Jesus of Nazareth, and God revealed His Son in them. The more they read the Old Testament, the more it was opened to them. When they came to a passage, they could say, “This is a fulfillment of what was written.” Throughout this book, from Genesis 1 to Malachi 4, they found that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, the very Christ. They did not know the Scripture through the Scripture itself, but through Christ. Those who know Christ know the Bible spontaneously. Many so-called Christians, nominal Christians, have read the Bible for years but know nothing about it. However, once they see that Jesus is the Savior, they have a different feeling altogether when they read the Bible. It is a new book to them.
Hence, when one knows the Lord, he knows the Bible. Revelation comes from Christ. Once a person has a revelation of Christ, he has a revelation of the Bible. Those who think that they know the Lord just from the book do not necessarily have revelation. The experiences of many who know the Lord tell us that it is useless to study the Bible by itself. We must remember that a man must first know Christ before he can know the Bible. This was the case with the twelve disciples. It was the same with Paul. He was a Pharisee, that is, one who knew the Scripture very well. The Pharisees were very familiar with the Scripture, yet they did not know the Lord. Although Paul was a good and pious Pharisee, and although he knew the Scripture very well, he persecuted those who were of the Way (Acts 9:2; 22:4). It is possible for a man to know and be familiar with the Bible and yet still persecute the Lord Jesus. Paul was such a man. Paul did not study the Scripture and then suddenly realize one day through his study that Jesus is the Son of God. Rather, God shone on him one day, which brought him the realization that this One was the Lord. Here was a man who hated and persecuted the Lord. He sought out believers, both male and female, in order to bring them bound to Jerusalem. He was a stern persecutor of the church. What a wicked person he was! Yet as soon as God flashed His light on him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Immediately he answered, “Who are You, Lord?” and went on to inquire of the Lord what he should do (Acts 9:1-6; 22:10). The prostration was genuine. The fall was real. Paul’s body fell, his self fell, and his whole being fell. Paul was humbled in his outward man, and he was humbled in his inward man. After he received this revelation, what do we learn of Paul in the rest of the book of Acts and in the Epistles? He was able to interpret the Old Testament. He was able to tell us that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Old Testament became an open book, a living book, to him.
You can read the Bible. But if you set aside the knowledge of Christ, your Bible becomes a closed book to you. This is why many educated and intelligent people find the Bible confusing and mysterious. You can tell them about all the merits of this book, but they will only shake their heads. To you this book is very clear, but to them it is very confusing. They do not know Christ. If a man knows Christ, he will know God’s word. This does not mean that no one can find God by reading the Bible. Some do find God from reading the Bible. But this is a case of God’s mercy; He chooses to enlighten such a person this way. While he is reading the Bible, God takes pleasure in revealing His Son to him and saving him. The way to know the Bible is by knowing Christ. Paul was led by God to the point where he could explain to others in his many Epistles who this Jesus was. When we read Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, we find a man who was crystal clear about the Old Testament. Where did Paul’s knowledge come from? He first knew Christ, and through that knowledge, he knew the Scripture.