Lifting The Veil - How You See The Truth Of The Bible

How can you know the Bible is true, and specifically the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all it implies? Do you know it's true because that's what you learned from your parents? Is your belief in the Bible based on the fact that you were raised in a predominately Christian town, an accident of geography? Or do you believe because that's all you've ever known? While all these factors may influence our coming to the knowledge of Christ, the primary and ultimate ground of our knowledge and faith is that we meet the reality of Christ in the text of Scripture. As Paul says in Romans, "Faith (and the knowledge this implies) comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." We come to know the truth of the Bible by seeing it, just like we see the sun.

Now to understand this concept, we must first realize that our beliefs are not directly under our control. You can't force yourself to believe something you don't see as true. Think about it, there is nothing I could do to force you to believe that 1+1 does not equal 2. You believe what you believe because you see it as true. Take note the word "see." We see with our mind what appears true and thus believe.

When it comes to the Bible, people reject Christ and his gospel because they don't see the glory of God - they don't have eyes to see apart from the work of the Spirit. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 13:13, "Seeing they don't see; hearing they don't hear." If you don't see the glory of God in Christ, then you won't truly believe. But for those who do see, they are compelled to believe. You can't force belief any more than you can force a man to believe in the tooth fairy. But for the man who truly sees, you can't persuade him otherwise. But what causes some to see?

The answer Jesus gives is that God himself causes a person to see. When Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God, Jesus said it was the Lord who revealed this to him. The Apostle Paul describes this phenomena very clearly in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ."

For those who come to a saving knowledge of Christ and begin to see the Bible is true, on some level this is what happens. Let me close with the following testimony from a young Arab man, Al-Gharib, who was once a Muslim but came to faith in Christ.

"I cried out to the Creator of the universe, the Eternal God whomever He might be. I asked him to reveal to me the truth and nothing but His truth. I made a promise to Him that if He would answer my questions and reveal Himself to me, I will follow His path even if it will be different than Islam, Christianity, and Judaism...[after reading some passages in John] Suddenly, something incredible happened. It seemed like if I was blind or covered by a spiritual dark veil then I began to see. I began to read the Bible in a clear light and with understanding. The words of the Bible became alive while I read them and carrying power within. Furthermore, I began to decode the hidden mysteries of the gospel and the symbolic prophecies."