You can pick up a novel to read. You can pick up a work of nonfiction. You can pick up a bedtime story book. You can pick up a self-help book. You can pick up a biography. You can pick up a book of fantasy. There are scores of different kinds of books that you can read today, but when you pick up your Bible, there is nothing else like it! What sets it apart from all other books today?
First, consider what the Bible is NOT. Are you aware that Scripture repeatedly informs its readers what they are NOT reading? Consider each of these affirmations carefully. The Bible is “not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age” (1 Cor. 2:6). The Bible is “not in words which man’s wisdom teaches” and “not the spirit of the world” (1 Cor. 2:12-13). The Bible is “not according to man” (Gal. 1:11). The Bible is “not…the word of men” (1 Thess. 2:13). The Bible is “not to please man” (1 Thess. 2:4). The Bible is not “from someone’s own interpretation” and not “produced by the will of man” (2 Pet. 1:20-21).
Think about that. If you pick up the Bible, thinking that it is just like any other book that you can find in a library, you are continually informed that this book is not from man and does not contain the wisdom of man. So what is it?
Second, after considering what the Bible says that it is not, we must investigate what the Bible IS. The Bible informs us clearly of its divine origin. The Bible “is given by the inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). The Bible is from “men moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). The Bible is “the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 2:7). The Bible is “words…taught by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:13). The Bible is “the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37). The Bible is “through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:12). The Bible is “the word which God sent” (Acts 10:36). The Bible is “the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). The Bible “is in truth, the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13).
In addition to the hundreds of times that the Bible emphasizes its divine origin as “the word of the Lord,” note the other divine descriptions of Scripture. The Bible is “the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), “the word of this salvation” (Acts 13:26), “the word of His grace” (Acts 20:32), “the word of the gospel” (Acts 15:7), “the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19), “the word of faith” (Rom. 10:8), “the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19), “the word of life” (Phil. 2:16), “the word of righteousness” (Heb. 5:13), “the word of exhortation” (Heb. 13:22).
What a glorious book! What a unique book! What a treasured book above all others! Pick up your Bible! Read it! Know what it is NOT! And cherish what it IS!