Everyone knows that to steal is wrong. Even though someone might feel good after he has stolen something, in him there is a sense of justice which condemns his action; this is righteousness. As human beings, we are deeply fallen and improper, yet from the time we are young, none of us wants to be a failure, despised by others. We all want to be honorable, outstanding, respected, and distinguished; this is according to the holy nature of God. This shows that within created man there are indeed these four characteristics: love, light, holiness, and righteousness.

We all know that animals do not have these characteristics and virtues; only human beings have them. Why? Because when God created man, He created him according to the image of what He is-love, light, holiness, and righteousness. It is a pity that today many Christians still do not realize that when God created man in His image, He created in man all these virtues and characteristics.

Another special matter in God’s creation of man is that since God is a speaking God, when He created man in His image, He created man with the ability to speak just like Himself. Because God is a God of love, light, holiness, and righteousness, He created man with love, light, holiness and righteousness. Because God is a speaking God, He created man to be just like Him-also being able to speak.

Among the human race there is a special book-the Holy Bible. This book has always been held in the highest estimation throughout the generations. In Latin, it is called the Book of books, the unique book, or the most extraordinary book. This book has suffered opposition and has been damaged, but today it still stands upright and unshaken. On the earth today there are translations of the Bible among almost every race and in almost every tongue. The Bible has been translated into all kinds of written and spoken languages in the world. Aside from the Bible, there is no other book that has been spread universally in so many different kinds of dialects. Only the divine Word has universally reached almost every human language. In other words, God is the unique God, and the Bible is the unique word among the human race.

The Bible is among nearly every race, people, and tongue, and there are Christians among nearly every human race, people, and tongue. Therefore, the New Testament says that Christians are people who have been called “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). God has called us out of different languages. Today on this globe there is hardly a nation, people, or tongue in which there are no Christians. This is a glorious thing. In almost every people and every language in the world there are Christians and there is the Bible. When we Christians come together, although we are of different races and speak different languages, we can connect with one another in our conversations.

God is a speaking God, and when He created us, He wanted us also to speak. Not only do we have His image in love, light, holiness, and righteousness, but we also represent Him and have His image in our ability to speak. According to Genesis 1:26, God created us not only that we might have His image but even more that we might rule for Him. Therefore, He gave us the authority to have dominion over all the other creatures, that is, “over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth.”

Inwardly in our image we are like God, having love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Outwardly, God is a speaking God, and like Him, we also are able to speak. Among God’s creatures, there are only two kinds that can speak. One kind consists of the angels in heaven. Angels do speak. Before the Lord Jesus was born, an angel came to reveal His name to Joseph (Matt. 1:20-21). Charles Wesley wrote a hymn: “Hark! the herald angels sing, / ‘Glory to the new-born King’” (Hymns, #84). Therefore, it was an angel who spoke first, and it was an angel who announced the good news first; thereafter, we must preach the gospel.

Why is it that we human beings are able to speak? It is because we are God’s representatives. He created us that we might represent Him. The most important requirement of a representative is that he must be able to speak. If today someone sends a representative to us, yet this representative, being dumb, is not able to talk, then in the end no agreement can be reached since there is no possibility of having any discussion. This kind of representative is a useless representative. Today we can represent God because we can speak. I believe that many Christians have not thought about this. We can speak because we are like God.

We have already pointed out that God created man with two outstanding features: one is that He created a spirit within man, and the other is that He created a speaking organ for man. This speaking organ is not simple; it consists of the vocal chords, the tongue, the teeth, the mouth, and the lips, all of which are for speaking. Someone might say that these parts are mainly for eating and drinking. Please consider, though, how many times a day does a person eat and how many times does he drink? Actually, the most repetitious action a person does in a day is breathing; man continuously breathes. In the Bible breathing and speaking are linked together. Concerning the Bible, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” This means that God’s speaking is linked to His breathing. Since breathing and speaking are linked together, when someone speaks, he naturally breathes. In other words, if a person cannot breathe or will not breathe, he cannot speak.

In America a certain military physician who had done some research discovered that the exercise most beneficial to human health is deep breathing. If a person would do deep breathing frequently, he will be healthy. In God’s creation no other creatures can speak as well as breathe. Only we human beings can breathe and speak as well-this is something unique. According to 2 Timothy 3:16, we speak just like God speaks. Our entire speaking apparatus is mysterious and marvelous, and it was entirely created by God. God created us with such an apparatus in order that we may be able to speak.

In the old times God spoke through the prophets in many portions and in many ways to the fathers (Heb. 1:1). Today He speaks to us in the Son (v. 2a). If we read through the sixty-six books of the Bible, we can see that the Bible contains many words of wisdom, and all the things mentioned are wonderful and comprehensive, including subjects such as astronomy, geography, science, and physics. The book of Isaiah, for example, says, “It is He [God] who sits above the circle of the earth” (40:22a). In the original Hebrew text the word earth is the same as the word earth in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” When the Scriptures were written, man did not have the concept of the earth as a “globe.” As we know, the Bible was translated into Chinese at a much later time. About a hundred years ago when the Bible was translated into Chinese, Columbus had already discovered that the earth was round, not flat; therefore, the translators of the Chinese Bible could easily translate this verse into “He who sits above the circle of the earth.” Before Columbus discovered the new continent, however, hardly anyone believed that the earth was round; instead, most people thought that the earth was flat. Still, more than a thousand years before Columbus, the prophet Isaiah in his book referred to the earth as a circle, saying that God sits above the circle of the earth.

From this we see that the Bible is truly a heavenly book, the record of the divine speaking. It has everything in it. It has wisdom and life, and it is all-inclusive and most mysterious. The Bible is the Word of God.
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