Between this weekly column, the weekly radio show Sunday mornings at nine on 106.1 FLIP FM, Sunday morning class at 9:30, the sermon for Sunday morning worship at 10:30, the sermon for most Sunday evening services at 6, Wednesday morning ladies’ class at 10, and then Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 (all at the Main Street Church of Christ in Lockney); I sometimes find myself thinking, “What next.” After 30 years of teaching, preaching, radio, and writing, I sometimes find myself at a loss as to what to teach, preach, speak, or write about next…after all, at this point, I have covered the Bible a hundred times over. Yet, I always seem to find something new.
That is the beauty of God’s Word; it never gets old or dull, and there is always another nugget to find. Over the years, as I start working with a new congregation or addressing a new audience through some form of media, I like to spend some time exploring the various layers of Bible study. Now I am not going to spend time on this article this week doing that as I have covered it with the congregation in Lockney as well as on the Cogitations radio program. If you missed those, you can find it on the Cogitations’ YouTube channel; there is a link from the website www.cogitations.net. And while you are at that site, please click the ‘Talk Back’ tab at the top if there is a particular topic you would like me to explore in either this column or on the radio show.
But I digress; let’s get back to my rambling. I bring up the layers of study because the Bible is not simply a one-and-done kind of book. There are so many other resources to enrich the study of it. Take, for example, the ladies’ Bible class this past Wednesday at Main Street Church of Christ. In exploring where exactly the Queen of Sheba, who came to visit Solomon, was from, you have to go outside the Scriptures. Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:31 indicate that Sheba was to the south of Israel and at the end of the earth or where the land stops and thus on a coast. In the Ancient Orient Museum in Istanbul, there is an ancient tablet on display that talks of the politics of the Kings of this kingdom from which the queen came to visit Solomon, along with writing from ancient historians such as Josephus; we can know with some certainty that Sheba was located in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in what is modern-day Yemen. While the over all native of the Bible is not dependent on such facts it does provide a level of enrichment to the people and places mentioned in Scripture. It additionally provides a strong foundation that the Bible contains within it the story of real people, real places, and real events.
Many times, when I am studying the Bible, I will have several specially focused ones open. One contains a cultural note, another archeological and historical notes, and another highlights evidence that supports the truth of God’s Word. These, along with atlases, commentaries, and other such reference books, aid in gaining a very deep and complete insight into all that is set before us in Scripture. Through into the mix as well the original languages and now you are just beginning to touch the full depth of what all there is to gain from an encounter with any part of God’s Holy Scriptures. Take for example, particularly in the Old Testament, that the phases in the original language; ‘The Eternal One’; ‘The Self-Existent One’; ‘The Supreme Deity’; all simply get translated to either God or Lord in the English Bible…with some exception but those you are not going to find at your local book store as they were translation by individuals in the 16th-19th century and generally out of print, although of have one or two and I have read a few others. But just imagine the full scope of God that is lost by simply reducing Him to a three- or four-letter word instead of the full descripted phrase actually in the ancient text.
So, all this pointless rambling leads us to two important things. I have now written an article for the Cogitations column for this week when I initially sat down with no particular topic in mind to delve into. And most importantly, I have, hopefully in this brief writing, placed in the mind of the reader that the Bible is never a book with nothing to read. Even if you have read it a thousand times, you really studied it you its fullest depths and discovered all the richness of the treasure of knowledge, wisdom, insight, and revelation it holds. Odds are you haven’t. I can only speak for myself that after 30 years of studying the Scriptures repeatedly, including even obtaining a degree in Biblical Studies, I feel that I have only barely scratched the surface.
I want to encourage everyone reading this article to dedicate themselves to immersing themselves into a deep study of God’s Word that will consume every day of your life moving forward. And please feel free to participate in opportunities to study it together with others. You are always welcome to take advantage of the several opportunities to engage in a study of God’s Word mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article.
(Carl Hartman is the Minister at Main Street Church of Christ in Lockney)
