A fifth way we can know God through the Bible might be the most obvious. In this sense, the Bible is far more important to us than all the communication systems of the world. The Bible is nothing less than the means God has chosen to communicate His thoughts and desires to us. The people of His book and their stories are not there to entertain us. They are there so that we can know what God wants us to be and do.

Learning From Literature.

Once more we can learn from the world of books. The classics of literature—novels, plays, or poems—have often been a message from the writer to the reader. He wrote not just to entertain or to make money; he wrote because he had something important to say. The writer’s job is to make that message clear; the reader’s responsibility is to make sure he gets it.

Many of the novels of Charles Dickens, for example, were exposés of social wrongs in England. The well-known Oliver Twist pointed out in popular terms the cruel conditions that orphans faced in 19th- century England. And even A Christmas Carol, with such powerful characters as Bob Cratchit, Ebenezer Scrooge, and the crippled Tiny Tim, called attention to the problems of low pay, long hours, and bad working conditions. Moreover, Dickens’ message was: Let’s do something to right these wrongs!

The Message Of The Bible.

The message of the Bible is a call to action. Its message is to do what God wants us to do. Its basic, overarching message is to accept the rescue from eternal damnation that He has provided through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. But there are many other messages in the Bible that call upon us to act. For example, God wants us to:

Such messages might be found in the form of a direct command, but they are often found in an underlying principle.

For one example, let’s find the message of the story about Daniel and his three prisoner-of-war friends in Daniel, chapter 1. Transported from their homeland to Babylon, they were selected by their captors as leadership material and enrolled into a kind of “officers’ training school.” As prime candidates of this foreign government, they were given the best of food and drink. But there was one problem—much of this diet was forbidden by Jewish law. Daniel and his friends had to make a choice. Would they try to please their captors or God? We are told:

Daniel PURPOSED in his heart that he WOULD not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he REQUESTED of the chief of the EUNUCHS that he might not defile himself (1:8).

Daniel’s request was granted. God, in turn, honored these four men and blessed them with unusual physical health and academic ability. Daniel soon held a very influential governmental role.

What is the message? What is the principle that surfaces in this story? It is this: God wants us to remain faithful to Him no matter how difficult, frightening, or pagan the setting is. He expects this from His children and honors those who make the right choice.

This principle is based on truths we should know before we read this story:

1. God as our Maker and Sustainer has a right to demand first place in our lives;
2. He has the power and wisdom to bless those who honor Him;
3. He possesses the moral integrity to do what is right with us.

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