THE WORD

The devil said... “Command this stone that it be made bread.” Jesus answered...
“It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but every word of God.”’ Luke
There is a land of unparalleled appeal, small in compass, yet excelling all territory in its significance. Its affairs are interwoven with the destinies of every nation. It is both admired and hated, loved and despised. Men have fought for it till all its borders are now drenched in blood. King have conspired to its overthrow. The armies of aliens have ravaged it with fire, yet to this day it stands unmoved, fresh in its entire length run the great ranges. Peak upon peak rises, lifting the gaze to heaven above, and the shimmering white of untrammelled snow beckons the traveller on to realms still unexplored. Through the ‘Stern-Country’ the might ridges run, so that, from the green pastures and the comfort of the valleys the inhabitants look up into the unchanging solemnity of truth. Such however, is the general contour of the hills that all the ranges large and small, converge upon a scarred and rugged promontory that occupies the central region of the whole domain. In every part of the country this is visible and from it all distances are measured and every direction determined. From the foothills of the mountains, living streams burst forth into the valleys filling the fertile earth with vibrant life. Everywhere vigorous growth is encountered and famine is totally unknown in its villages and happy fields. Scattered through the lovely countryside are innumerable lakes, each like a mirror reflecting not only the countenance of all who peer into their crystal depths, but also the sense of the Infinite above. Below the surface of the earth there is a wealth of unfathomable mines.
Although the evidences of life are so prolific yet there is no sense of confusion. There is an atmosphere of peace and order and a sense of perfect suitability of each adjacent stretch of country to the other. Light and shadow interweave across the chequered landscape, reflecting somehow the every mood the human heart can know. One of the most striking features is the absence of any man made roads. Communication between place and place is by natural rights of way following, largely, the slopes and undulations of the terrain. There is no artificial transport. Whilst at first irksome, in a little while you realise that a superb character of the country can only be appreciated by walking at leisure in the direction of the central mountain and in paying attention to detail all along the trails. Even should you tread the same path twice over the country always yields fresh wonders to the discerning eye.
The people that dwell there are drawn originally from other nations. Their diversity of language, nevertheless, has not prevented them from contributing in harmony to the permanent reputation of their country, and if you enquire of them, you will find that now their speech is one, and the themes of their conversation in complete unity with each other. Those coming from the outside world, provided they are of the same mind, actually find no difficulty in understanding the inhabitants, although it takes a long while to be able to speak their language with any fluency. The people who inhabit the land, irrespective of the weather, have permanent light in their houses and welcome all who are willing to stop and talk with them. There is not one who would not spread a veritable feast if you but take the time to stay. Amongst them I have found folk who in their lifetime have fulfilled a variety of stations. There are people like peasants, fisherfolk and shepherds, there are scholars, princes and kings. Two of the most outstanding examples I recall are a physician and a tentmaker. All these are so interested in pointing the visitor to the central mountain and in speaking of the ruling Authority, who, apparently, some good while back now, laid the foundation of a plan in that district, which should bring blessing to all nations and ultimately, subject the whole world to the beneficent principles at present prevailing in their borders.
Contrary to general opinion, the frontiers of the country are well defined, but the borders as a rule are largely unguarded and this defenceless frontier region sees from time to time large unauthorised intrusions from hostile forces. Whilst wars have been fought in the country’s defence, generally speaking the aggressors are compelled to withdraw, by reason of popular support for the country’s integrity throughout the world. Perhaps the most inherent cause is the county’s ability to revive in even greater vigour, whenever the marauders retire. Actually the most unusual thing happens to the would-be invader, particularly if he has preconceived opinions of the territory or tries to carry out some pretentious scheme of survey not authorised by the Authority. Once he crosses the border he become affected in his vision. He is afflicted with something like colour blindness so that luxuriant foliage and fresh green fields look more like a desert than verdant pasture. It is due partly to the air. If he is caught by the Authority he will be presented with an edict which simply says, ‘I am come into this world, that they which see not, might see, and they which see might be made blind’. Such people generally retire in confusion, although frequently they will write books about what they profess to have ‘seen’, giving a thoroughly erroneous picture to the general public of the beloved country. Sometimes you will get an intruder who will persist in his injurious trespass, and those often die tragically of thirst; the blindness becoming so bad that even though streams abound on every side, they do not avail themselves of the life-giving waters.
Proper access to the country is sadly misunderstood. Many dignitaries of scholarship, experts of scientific standing and critics of acclaimed ability arrive daily at the frontier stations and present their special credentials. They are issued by renowned governments and seats of learning the world over, but, ironically, when these papers are examined, in the vast majority of cases, you find that the vital visa is missing. When told that they have failed to qualify for an authorised entry they are sometimes very angry but on inquiry they can find out that the procedure after all is quite simple. The unique part about the Authority in this matter is, that no visa issued by a human government or educational organisation is considered satisfactory. What is required is a bona fide declaration of the intention of the entrant. This includes an indication of an attitude of faith in, and submission to, the Authority, and a willingness to act sincerely upon the information obtained within the boundaries of the country. The Guide of the Authority is to be acknowledged as the official interpreter of the country’s policy and purposes, and the would-be entrant is asked to show willingness to co-operate with the Guide as He may deem fit to lead and instruct, towards the Central Mountain. When these conditions are understood many turn away in disgust, saying that they would want to be able to judge things for themselves. Some resent them as a restriction of their freedom and return in high dungeon to there own country. Some however, do persevere and submit themselves to the requirements of the Authority and go in. To these the Guide proves the most gracious person they have ever known and the Authority although unseen becomes an increasing prospect of wonder and desire. Every tract of the country proves something more of His excellence and soon the sense of His presence even in the remotest parts or secluded glades begins to be felt. As the traveller covers the various provinces, the Guide brings him by easy stages to the summit of the central hill. By the time the last stretch is reached all encumbrances are left behind and it is then that the traveller is suddenly overwhelmed with an indescribable sense of poverty, iniquity and need. On the pinnacle of the mountain is a weatherbeaten wooden cross. It marks the summit and from there you look out in ever direction. You gaze into an open heaven and yet peer down into the depths beneath. You can trace the road you have just trodden, you can even see the country from which you came. Suddenly it seems very far away and yet strangely enough there is no homesickness. Before you there stretches in all its indescribable beauty the territory of Divine Revelation - the country of the Word of God. You look away into the past and onto the future. You look within. You know that your country is not like this, nor is the arid selfish waste in the desert of your heart. You are suddenly nearer to God than you have ever known. The cross stands silent in the sunshine and the golden ridges protrude above the sombreness of the valleys far beneath, tracing their way to where you stand. This then is where they lead. All the mighty arches of His truth have brought you to Mount Calvary. The stones were rough when the cross was first raised many years ago but now they are almost worn smooth, for some many coming from abroad have knelt, and, in that quiet places so high above the world’s harsh turmoil, bowed in full allegiance to the Authority who lives in every portion of His Land. As Jesus comes many are the words that break upon the mountain air. There the cries of repentant and aching hearts throng the wilderness. ‘Lord remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom’, or others say, ‘Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?’ Most will simply cry out as they see him ‘My Lord and my God’ and in that moment old things pass away and all things become new. Once the new Authority is recognised the traveller becomes an inhabitant. In a sense he never returns to his former realm unless it be as an ambassador of the Word of God. This causes great resentment in the world. The change of nationality is so final. I suppose that is what hurts. ‘You are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints.’ The new language is gradually learned in the degree of your submission to the Lord who reigns and soon you join every creature there, saying blessing, honour, and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
During my years solitary confinement I lived in a very real sense in two countries. Physically I lived in a realm controlled by the principles of Marx’s theories of dialectal materialism. Mentally I lived in the incomparable country of the Word of God. I looked across my frontiers from the strongholds of Divine Revelation into their deserts wastes and improvised fortifications. They were the best attempt that I had seen I bricks of unbelief and mortar of reason, but, when you saw their territory, what after all had they worth defending? Frequently they would come in force raging against the border, declaring that I lived in wilderness, and try to drag me from my Lord of the Mount to become a slave under the spurious authority of that material space. There were many battles and I was wounded and torn from often they could never change my spiritual nationality even though at times they might entice me into their territory. They failed to understand my occupation. They thought I should be scheming how I should escape the Authority under which I served and come over to their dominion and serve with them. They spoke of the great improvement and advantages that their type of principles and government had recently achieved. My realm, they said was passing away. It was just a matter of time. Their blindness to Reality was complete so they pounded on until a truce was called, and they abandoned hostilities. Today I am still dwelling with joy and satisfaction in the magnificent country of God’s Word. Food for the mind and the soul is unfailing. Occupation with Christ is the most rewarding. A little while and the Lord of the Scriptures shall be Lord of all nations. Then shall the truth be known.
During the Temptation, our Lord and Master knew Himself the experience of the two dominions. Satan looked at Him and saw Him in a wilderness. Actually He was living in the glorious and sufficient territory of the Word of God. ‘Command these stones to be made bread’ suggests the tempter. The Lord’s reply reveals just where His days were being spent. ‘It is written, that man shall not live on bread alone, but by ever word of God.’ We might ask ourselves today - what is my country? Is it the realm of stones or the realm of revelation? The material or the spiritual? The way Satan spoke would give the impression that it was something very wonderful to turn stones into bread, a kind of proof of deity. Of course that is what the materialist thinks today. The stamp of Satan is certainly upon his philosophy. He has learned to ‘make’ stones into bread a long ago. The arid steppes of Russia are producing food for the millions. In this way the contemporary son of man ‘proves’ himself the son of God, at least to win his own satisfaction and the God of the Bible is not wanted anymore. To the Marxist, on the plenty of the bread ‘made’ from the stones, the Living God has become historically obsolete, superseded by the outcome of an ‘historical process’ inherent in human society. That is their boast. They maintain that men that have every material advantage yearn to more for a Creator, for they have lost the concept of the creature; yet, out of the darkness comes the light of Revelation on the lips of Christ. ‘Man shall not live on bread alone but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ In a moment He could make the desert blossom as the rose. He could make the wilderness a place of pasture and sandy ridges into fields of waving corn, but He will not create millennial conditions where there is no highway in the desert for the advent of their God. Life does not consist of eating bread. Paul says, to use a recent translation. ‘Food was meant for the stomach and the stomach for food; but God has no permanent purpose for either.’ On ultimate life is dependent on our assimilation of the Word of God. In the wilderness the Lord Jesus lived in His own domain and found all His sustenance there. His was the hidden manna of the Overcomer. He had meat to eat of which His enemy could never know. In the strength of that meat He had gone His forty days alone. This is the answer to all who would stand today against the inroads of a creeping and insidious materialism.
As Christians then, we are to know our Lord and to know our country. We are to be occupied whilst in the stony sphere, with the Word of God. Encompassed with matter, we are to be children of the Spirit. Amongst the things which are seen we look to the things which are eternal.
The Word of God is to be to us more than our necessary food. When we rise, it is to be our meat, as we lie to rest, our portion. As we walk and as we sit, it is to dominate our conversation. The very posts and gates of our homes are to know its constant adornment. It is to be sign upon our hands and as frontlets between the eyes. It is to show our feet and crown our head. It is to dwell with us richly in all wisdom.. In our youth it is to cleanse our way, in our pilgrimage to be our song, and in our age our sweet remembrance. In our prosperity we are to love it above fine gold. In our affliction though we be as a bottle in the smoke, it is to be our confidence. It is to be a lamp to our every step, our guide for the distant path. Every thought and intent must come beneath its scrutiny. By it we are born again and by it we are nourished every day. It is our bread, our milk, our meat. In the storm we have no other anchor and in the haven of His presence, His Word forever settled there, remains His personal guarantee of our eternal good.
The Word of God is to be the constant occupation of our heart and mind. The great questions is then: how should I approach it? This is vitally important today, when the emphasis on methods of Bible study is ousting and the emphasis of the trembling heart.
Over the years there have formulated in my mind a few basic principles in the matter of our approach to the Holy Scriptures. They underlie the little allegory you have just read and are now stated here
They underlie the little allegory

We must come to the Word of God first, with due acknowledgment of the Author. ‘God spake all these words.’ We are going to be told something by Someone who is very Lord of the Universe and sitting on the Throne of the heavens. We are listeners and learners. We know nothing. He knows everything. We must come, then, not so much to analyse it ourselves, but to allow ourselves to be analysed by it. It must ever be ‘What saith my Lord unto His servant?’ Intellectually we may collate the information contained in Scripture, academically we may seek to assess the text and formulate its chronology, but spiritual food can only be spiritually assimilated. Faith is the only faculty that operates in this divine country. In coming to the Word we must believe that God is. We must believe that God has spoken. Further, we must believe that God’s voice can be really heard and understood by those who are willing to obey.
Before you decide upon a method of study examine first your attitude of approach. Your hope of authorised entry into the territory of Revelation lies there. A vital approach to the Word of God, you will find, involves this threefold recognition.
First we must come as ‘bowed to God the Father’. That is we must tread the ground as sacred worshippers. We must take our earth-soiled shoes from off our feet, for the ways of the world are not His ways. With bended knee and prostrated spirit we must bow in silent adoration waiting in silence for what He has to say. We are to marvel in our hearts that the Almighty God should ever deign to speak to sinners such as we. We must stand in awe that the unapproachable God should do graciously come near and speak into our very ear. Every opinion must be hushed, all our suggestions silenced. We are in the presence of supreme Authority. We, who believe, can only linger in the stillness longing and waiting for the Father’s Word and then, as it is given, rejoice in the intimacy of Hid loving counsel granted to Hid children.
Secondly, we must come as ‘blessed in God the Son’. All our life and all our light are found in Him. Out side of Him we have nothing and apart from Him can attain to nothing. He is all our salvation. He is all our joy and all our peace. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Our approach then is to be Christ-centred. He is the only lesson we have to learn, the only Person we need to see. From Genesis to Revelation as we pore over the pages our heart’s cry is to be ‘We would see Jesus.’ Our sole desire must be to draw our waters from the head-spring of the Fountain. Show me but the source and let me drink of Jesus, for the single theme of all the written Word is Christ. There is no question. The Word eternal is the only content of the Word inscribed.
Thirdly, we must come as ‘born of God the Holy Spirit’. He it is who led us to Christ. By Him it is that each believing soul is born anew. He is the appointed elucidator of the Word, the ordained nourisher of our souls. He is the sustainer of all our spiritual good. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are ignorant of Christ. Without the Spirit, our hearts are devoid of holy desire, for ‘the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God’. Without Him we can neither worship in the sanctuary or minister to the people. Therefore as one born of the Spirit, He must be our exclusive Interpreter, our only Guide to the meaning of the Word.
We read then, as ‘bowed to God the Father’, for there is no higher authority than His.
We search, as ‘blessed in God the Son’, for there is no other lesson but Christ.
We learn, as ‘born of God the Spirit’, for there is no other teacher but the Holy Ghost.
The significance of this approach is, that when we enter the country of the Whole Godhead is for us - for ‘Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool... but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.’ (Isa. 66:1-2)
Bound up in the Approach is the full purpose of the Quest. The Holy Scriptures leave us in no doubt as to what that Quest should be, for the nature of the wisdom they unfold is clearly stated. They are ‘able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’. We are to come by their reading to the knowledge of God revealed in Christ Jesus. This is life eternal. This is a wisdom which excels all other. David could say in all humility. ‘I have more understanding than all my teacher for ‘Thy testimonies are my meditation.’ ‘I understand more than the ancients because I keep Thy precepts’. The youngest believer because of what he has received of God’s view of man in Christ, is infinitely superior in his outlook to the wisest pagan sage or any of the leading non-Christian philosophers. But true spiritual knowledge will always humble us, because it brings with it a consciousness of the greatness of God. ‘The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy.’ The quest is for this kind of wisdom, and as we read the Bible we find that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. By the faith which the Word of God begets, Christ himself is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification even redemption. We are told of three degrees of spiritual knowledge which for us, are the true content of the Divine Wisdom.
There is the knowledge of God Himself in Christ, thus Paul prays ‘that I may know Him,/ For Pal this is the excellency of knowledge, compared with which all else is as the refuse of the field.
There is the knowledge of God’s will; thus Paul says ‘We do not cease to pray for you that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His Will.’
There is the knowledge of His gifts; thus Paul writes ‘We have received the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God.’
It is in this knowledge that Christ Jesus is made unto us Wisdom. It will make fools of us before the world, but we can be quiet in the assurance that the wisdom of God shall at the last be justified in all her children.
This right approach in the quest, if sincerely and humbly pursued, will be the action of the Spirit produce the required result. This is evidenced primarily in our moral character. Spirituality is not measured by our ability to quote the text of the Bible or give the orthodox answers. Spirituality is measured in holiness. This is the emphasis that Pal gives to Timothy.
‘All Scripture,’ he says, ‘is given be inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ When still quite young I was taught this truth concerning the function of God’s Word in this little formula.
As ‘doctrine’ it tells us what is right
As ‘reproof’ it tells us what is not right
As ‘correction’ it tells us how to get right
As ‘instruction in righteousness’, it tells us how to keep right.
The Bible does not teach us how to be clever. It teaches us how to be right. We are to be right with God. We are to be right with men. We are to be right within. When we read the Bible we are expected to obey. We are to make the applying of His Word to our personal lives one of the major tasks of our occupation. Present obedience is always God’s condition for obtaining an increased understanding.
The Scriptures abound with many figures of this application of the Word.
We have in our hands ‘the Seed’*. This is the Word of God as ‘doctrine’. Christian doctrine is the sum total of all the principles of Divine Life. To hear the Word of God, in the sense that Christ taught, is to receive that seed into the ground of the heart and let it germinate there until it brings forth fruit. There is to be tangible proof of the work of the Word in a moral sense. We say we believe the Word, but that faith is only valid if it brings forth works. If your study of the Scriptures does not make you increasingly holy in character, then it may be you have never entered the territory under the auspices of the Guide. Maybe you are studying it like a map of a foreign country. It is all very interesting. You know the names and are acquainted with the data, but actually you have never been there. You are still very much at home where you are. When we begin to obey God’s Word and hearken to the doctrine, we become like faithful Abraham. Its first result is to make us leave our kindred and our father’s house and move forward into better country. The Seed of the Word always breaks to pieces the ground in which it grows.
We have in our hands ‘the Sword’**. This is the Word of God as ‘reproof’. It divides asunder soul and spirit, discerning both thoughts and intents of the heart. Being two-edged it is inescapable. We must feel it before we can wield it. But once it has wounded us it can become our weapon in the Spirit.
We have in our hands ‘a fire’***. This is the Word of God as ‘correction’. It is purgative, not only showing what is wrong but purifying as it burns. Our God is a consuming fire and the Word of His mouth will scorch us clean.
We have in our hands ‘a lamp’****. This is the Word of God as ‘instruction in righteousness’. He delights to lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, and this He does as a Shepherd calling to His sheep and lighting their way home.
Thus His Word which begets us in life, which pierces and arms us, which purges and cleans us, shall lastly guide us to glory. Progress in the Word is always progress in character.
The man who is spiritually occupied with the Word is a man who has his feet on earth but whose mind is instructed by the very wisdom of heaven. He is surrounded by corrupt fragmentary opinion and yet is hearing daily the counsels of the Father at the Throne of His power. The din and noise of the world’s traffic hurry past him but amidst it all he finds green pastures, still waters and the quietude of God. On every side is shifting sand but the Rock beneath him stands impregnable. With the advancing years his eye may dim but he endures as seeing Him who is invisible. All about him is riddled to decay and ready to pass away, not only man’s tiny buildings and his puny culture, but the entire panorama of the earth and sky. All shall be folded up as a garment, yet for this man there is in his heart that precious deposit which liveth and abideth for ever, the imperishable Word of the Almighty and Eternal God.

* * * * *

The turmoil of the conflict had passed away now and the guns of the atheists could be heard no more. All was still in my little bedroom in Hong Kong. The impossible moment had arrived. The bliss for which I longed was mine. Could it be three years since my fingers had turned the leaves of that much loved leather book lying face before me? Outside, from many a window in that block of flats at North Point, there stretched the long bamboo poles with the washing of the Chinese families, dangling in the great well of the buildings. Out in the gutters of the streets the indomitable Chinese costerfolk were selling their wares. There were no red flags. There was still poverty, but no terror. And in the quietness of my little chamber my mind relaxed. I was tired but still sane. In a brief while I would lie down on a comfortable bed and the boards of the cell would be forgotten, but what occupied me know was this Book. I opened it and there stole over me the atmosphere of solemn rite. As a mere man I was about to read the message of the Living God after several years. Ringing in my ears were forty months of man’s words, man’s wisdom, man’s argument, man’s hurt. Now on the page before me there ran the quiet yet pungent words of Holy Scripture. ‘Where is the wise... where is the disputer of this world?’ Even today I feel like running up and down the corridors of learning shouting out, ‘Yes where is he?’ Where is the wise? After the mad haranguings of the struggle meetings and the fanatical ragings of the Marxists, let me ask the multitude who read this book, ‘Where is the wise?’ Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Once more I gazed upon the Word of God and read His withering yet assuring words. ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ How gloriously iconoclast. Science, falsely so-called, shall surely cringe under the derision of our Maker. Every word and every line written or spoken independently of God, is doomed to be expunged. He does not want it, therefore in the end we do not need it. Godly scholarship is a faithful servant but the kind of intellectualism that crucifies the Son of God afresh and puts Him to an open shame, will meet the fate it deserves; especially so, when allied to a forceful policy that foists it fables on a public that can barely read. The leading poet of People’s China says that New China rises as a peak in Asia, but My God shall smite all godless rule in the day of His power. The stone cut out without hands shall smite the iron, the clay, the brass, the sliver and the gold of all human domination independent of the Most High. They shall be as chaff of the summer threshing floors. God creates and infinite worlds fill an infinite heaven. What then must His destruction be... I read a little further down the page and there the words shone forth ‘Christ crucified, the power of God and the wisdom of God’. My persecutors thought my God was foolish, but the foolishness of God is wiser than men. They thought Him weak but the weakness of God is stronger than men. ‘He that sitteth on the heavens shall laugh.’ The aesthetic government across the border boasted the allegiance of five hundred million souls. That they claimed, was the measure of their strength, yet after three years’ battle they had been unable to sever that single thread of God’s pure grace that kept my soul. They had been unable to break the grip of the Hand that held me. They had been unable in all their bitter and maintained bombardment to dislodge God’s Word within my heart. My Bible had been hidden away by the authorities so that I could not read it, but now I held it again. That was a great experience, but the greater thing was this, that God’s Word still held me.
A few minutes, maybe, and I would be eating bread and butter at the evening meal. I had eaten hardly any of that for nearly four years. My friends were so kind and I appreciated it so much, but really it did not matter any more. The words of the Saviour had become a reality, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word of God. I seemed to be emerging from a grave where emaciated souls lie crushed in a lifeless uniformity; where pale, immobile men expire, starved to spiritual skeletons for want of truth. I had lain with them and yet lived. The secret lay in no strength of mine but in the imperishable nature of the Word of God. When we have that which is eternal in our hearts we can never be destroyed. My heavens and my earth had passed away but His Word remained. It is the foundation of God and it standeth sure.
For those with eyes to see, the English versions of the Bible we so much treasure are penned in the blood of men like Tyndale. There is still the smell of smoke in the pages won through their agony inflicted by the sword and flame. They died that we might read. We say we have no time, but they had time. We want to live, but they were not afraid to die.
Yet if the slain men will not stir us, be it known the living God hath spoken. See then that you refuse not Him that speaketh. You stand today in the beloved but unfrequented country. What is your occupation? The time to answer is at hand.
*Luke 8:11 **Ephesians 6:17 ***Jeremiah 23:29 **** Psalm 119:105

By Geoffrey T.Bull.