Just as the law is the word of God, the entire Bible is the word of God.
In John 5:39 the Lord said that the Scriptures testify concerning Him. Since the Scriptures are a testimony of Christ, they are also a testimony of God. If we really touch the spiritual meaning in the Bible when we read it, we cannot help but see Christ. Furthermore, once we see Christ, we cannot help but see God, because the entire Bible is a testimony of God.
All Scripture is a testimony of God because all Scripture is the word of God, revealing the kind of God He is. Just as the law reveals God, the Scriptures fully reveal God. Therefore, the Scriptures are the real and full testimony of God. The reality, the substance, of the Scriptures is God Himself, just as it is with the law.
When a person comes to read the Bible, he needs to contact God to be able to touch the reality and the substance of the Bible. If he reads the Bible apart from God, the Bible will be either dead letters or vain doctrines to him. This is really true. If we do not read the Bible while touching God and being in God, the Bible will be merely dead letters or vain doctrines.
I talked to someone concerning the Gospel of John and told him that this book is too mysterious, that it speaks of the word of life, the Word that was from the beginning. He said to me, “Mr. Lee, why do I not get anything meaningful out of the Gospel of John when I read it? When I read it, all I see are words like us, you, and them. When I read further, all I see are many phrases like in Me, in You, and in Him, and their plural forms like in Us, in You, and in them. What is so mysterious about these simple words?” O brothers and sisters, the mystery is precisely in these simple words and phrases. The mystery lies in the various pronouns and also in the word in. When a person reads John 17 without touching God, he will find words such as “You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” and “I in them, and You in Me” (vv. 21, 23). Thus, he may feel that these words are too shallow. But if he touches God, he will see the mystery. The Father is in His Son, and His Son is in us. Not only so, we are also in His Son, and the Son is also in the Father. These words tell us that God and man are completely united and have become one; therefore, they reveal the mystery in the universe.
When we read the Bible, we need to touch God, meet God, and live in God; only then can we touch the reality and the substance of the Bible. Otherwise, we will feel that the Bible is tasteless, having only dead letters or vain doctrines. We have often said that some read the Bible and find only dead teachings, such as being humble, patient, meek, and peaceful. But can we really be humble? Can we be patient? Is it possible for us to be meek or peaceful? The more we try to be humble, the prouder we become; the more we try to be patient, the quicker we are provoked; the more we try to be peaceful, the more contentious we become; the more we try to be meek, the hotter is our temper. As a result, we see that such teachings are simply dead letters and vain doctrines which are completely useless. But when we contact God in the Scriptures, the reality of humility will be worked into us and the power of being meek will operate in us. We do not need to decide to be humble, nor do we need to determine to be meek. The reality of humility which causes us to be spontaneously humble is within us; the power which enables us to be spontaneously meek is within us. The Scriptures are living and real because God Himself is the reality of the Scriptures; the Scriptures testify of God. Those who have not touched God can touch only the letter in the Scriptures. At the most they can touch only the doctrines in the Scriptures, but they cannot meet the God of reality, concerning whom the Scriptures testify. We must see that the Bible does not consist of doctrines. Rather, the Bible is a testimony; it is the testimony of God, and God Himself is the reality of the Bible.