basic motive of self-preservation. Anything else is to downgrade in spiration.. God wants us to know what His heroes are like; that they’re sinners just like us in need of salvation. They were used in spite of their weaknesses. This is the way He uses us, too. These Old Testament leaders are described to encourage us. They are the “cloud of witnesses” as Hebrews 11 tells us. For them to be perfect would make them unreal. Like us, they had a great and a merciful God. If they could please Him long before the cross and looking to it only in expectation, how much more should we to whom God’s love has been re vealed fully? We believe the Bible is inspired from cover to cover as well as from thought to thought. We have everything to lose and nothing to gain by substituting for such as surances only the assumptions of man based on his puny and limited knowledge. Sometimes older adults may become impatient with young people and new Christians because as older believers they already are convinced of the reality of the in spiration of the Word of God. Re member that there are others who have been brought up to disbelieve. Their faith, if any existed, may have been undermined in some classroom. Let’s try to help them see the truth in the light of Christian love and concern. Yes, the Bible is the Word of God. It’s unified as a whole. Trust it im plicitly from cover to cover. C hapter F ive G od ’ s W ord is a single unit, hav ing one subject and one Au thor. It is all equally inspired and authoritative. The Bible, being in spired, doesn’t gloss over any of the sins of the people about whom it speaks. We see their failings as well as their faith. There are those who would cast
record of Jesus’ discussion with the Sadducees, concerning the truth of His coming. He pointed out that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were real historical characters. His enemies were looking hard to catch Him in an error but they didn’t question Him at this particular point. They knew they could accept the historical facts of the Old Testament (John 8:33-39). The writer of the book of Hebrews refers to the patriarchs as real peo ple. This is internal evidence. Exter nal proof comes historically and archeologically, The two coincide per fectly. Should you travel in the Mid dle East, you would see the tomb of Rachel pointed out near the city of Bethlehem. There is also the burial place Abraham purchased for Sarah when she died. He and some of his descendants are also buried down in Hebron. Because of Mohammedan influence, it is extremely difficult for anyone to gain access to the real tombs themselves. These are quite traditional. Being real, these Old Testament people had their faults like anyone else (Gen. 20:2). The inter esting thing about the Bible is that it never glosses over the sins of its heroes. This was certainly true of David. This is further proof of in spiration. If mere man had been au thoring such a work, it surely would have been eliminated. We ourselves are more inclined to gloss over their faults than were the writers of the Bible. One of the customs of those an cient patriarchal days permitted men to confer special status on their wives by adopting them as sisters. Some liberal writers suggest that Abraham had quite likely done this. One man hearing this was pleased that maybe Abraham wasn’t a liar after all. We need to be careful about this. There is no need to white-wash this sin whatsoever. He had told a lie. The God who knows our inner most heart lays bare Abraham’s 20
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