从迷惘到信靠
确定的预言
经文
彼得后书一16-21
16我们从前将我们主耶稣基督的大能和他降临的事告诉你们,并不是随从乖巧捏造的虚言,乃是亲眼见过他的威荣。
17他从父神得尊贵荣耀的时候,从极大荣光之中有声音出来,向他说:这是我的爱子,我所喜悦的。
18我们同他在圣山的时候,亲自听见这声音从天上出来。
19我们并有先知更确的预言,如同灯照在暗处。你们在这预言上留意,直等到天发亮,晨星在你们心里出现的时候,才是好的。
20第一要紧的,该知道经上所有的预言没有可随私意解说的;
21因为预言从来没有出于人意的,乃是人被圣灵感动,说出神的话来。
信息分享
「将这默示明明地写在版上」(哈二2),表示神准备向哈巴谷启示一些将来要发生的事情,而这就是我们所说的「预言」。
预言在圣经里面占据了重要的地位,事实上,圣经超过一半是用来预测将来的事情。我深信没有甚么比明白预言的性质,能够给基督徒带来更大的安慰和慰藉。预言是神与人类关系的基础,正因为这样,那些质疑「神对人的关心」的人总是集中攻击预言这个主题。钟马田(Martyn Lloyd-Jones)博士说:「不信神的人总是批评圣经的预言。」
今天教会里经常有人会告诉我们说,所谓旧约的预言,只不过是那些有政治天份的人自认为对某些境况有清晰的诠释。他们不认同那是神向旧约人物的启示。今天的经文在《阐释版圣经》(Amplified Bible)是这样说的:「没有任何预言是因为人的意愿而产生──它从来都不是因人的冲动而出现──而是人与神说话,被圣灵带领(推动和驱使)的结果。」我在想,要是圣经所包含的全都是人的思想,那么我们从今天的经文可以得到一些甚么呢?我敢说,不会比阅读吉卜林(Kipling)或莎士比亚(Shakespeare)的著作会有更多的领受。我的写作数年后就会有江郎才尽的情况出现,但神的启示永无止境。神从启示中出来,因为祂曾经先走进启示中。
「神圣的启示永无止境」
进深研究
来一1;提后三1-17;伯三十二8
1. 神过去如何说话?
2. 圣经是怎么样赐给我们的?
祈祷
我的父、我的神啊,感谢您让我明白圣经不是一本书,而是一本独一无二的书。圣经就像一口涌流活水的井,求您帮助我渴慕真理,常常饮用那清洁纯净的水。奉耶稣的名祈求。阿们。
From Confusion to Confidence
A sure word of prophecy
Bible reading:
2 Peter 1:16-21
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."[a]
18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things.
21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Message
The words "write down the revelation and make it plain" (Hab. 2:2) show that God was about to reveal to Habakkuk something that was going to take place at a future time and, as you know, that is what we call "prophecy".
Prophecy occupies a large place in Scripture - in fact, over half the Bible is devoted to predicting future events. It is my conviction that nothing brings greater comfort and consolation to a Christian than to understand the nature of a prophecy. It is something that is basic to God's relationship with human beings and that is why those who have doubts about God's concern over humankind concentrate their attacks on the subject of prophecy. "Unbelief," said Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "is always critical of Bible prophecy."
In today's Church, we have teachers who tell us that the Old Testament prophets were simply men of political genius who had clear insight into situations. They take exception to the view that God revealed things to them. Our text for today in the Amplified Bible reads: "No prophecy ever originated because some man willed it to do so - it never came by human impulse - but as men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit." What would we get out of our Bible reading today, I wonder, if all it contained were the thoughts of men? I venture to say, no more than we would get out of reading the thoughts of Kipling or of Shakespeare. My writings are exhausted of meaning after a few years but you will never exhaust the meaning of divine revelation. God comes out of it because God has gone into it.
"You will never exhaust the meaning of divine revelation"
Prayer
My Father and my God, I am thankful that the Bible is not just a book, but the Book. Help me to drop my bucket into the well of Scripture and drink from its clean and pure waters. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
Hebrews 1:1
2 Timothy 3:1-17
Job 32:8
1. How has God spoken in the past?
2. How was the Scripture given to us?
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