God The Writer

God the writer

JCC 01.11.09 pm

Although the Bible was written by people inspired by the Holy Spirit, there are several times when God wrote Himself

There are at least 5 accounts:

1. The writing on the stones Ex 32 and Deu 10:4 God wrote

It is significant that the tablets were written by God’s direct hand

All law and morality must come from God’s standard and character

This is a powerful picture of the inspiration of God’s word; though God did not literally write the Scriptures with His own hand, He did perfectly guide the minds and hands of the writers, so that the Scriptures are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), that is, given by the inspiration of God

10 commandments

He gave them his law, gave it to them in writing, as a standing oath of his favour

It was the same with the first writing, and both the same that he spoke in the mount

Here Moses saw the word spoken changed into the written word

Today we see the opposite; the written changed into the spoken

In the beginning was the word…………John 1

After the first tablets were broken, God wrote a second edition

The second edition needed no correction or amendment from the first

Nor did what he wrote differ form what he had spoken

The written word is as truly the word of God as that He spoke to his servants the prophets

It was God Himself who made this inscription a second time with His own hand

To testify the importance of it, that He attached to the Ten Commandments

Different from all other stone monuments of ancient times, which were made to stand upright and in the open air, those on which the divine law was engraved were portable, and designed to be kept as a treasure

JOSEPHUS says that each of the tables contained five precepts. But the tradition generally received, both among Jewish and Christian writers is, that one table contained four precepts, the other six.

The commandments were important for the people to keep reading

To remember what God had said

His word was now living with His people

Where they went, His went too

2. Ez 2

Ez ate a scroll with writing on it

The divine word is always accompanied by the Spirit Gen 1:2, 3

It’s the Spirit that gives it life

V 8. eat (see also Jer 15:16; Rev 10:9, 10 )

The idea is to be possessed fully with the message and digest it in the mind

There were unpleasant contents on it

Sometimes God’s word seems bitter for us to swallow

We want the Lord to say nice things to us

V 10. words written within and without, on the face and the back. Usually the parchment was written only on its inside when rolled up; but so full was God’s message that it was written also on the back

We are to take the words of God within us to consume it fully

3. Dan 5:5 The finger on the wall

The king saw the part of the hand that wrote a message: This is where we get our well-known phrase ‘the writing on the wall’

The Babylonian wise men could not read the writing because it was in Hebrew

And this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of each word.

MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it

TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting

PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians

God was writing for a reason; important

Sometimes people need harsh words from the Lord Himself

But what is written to us by the finger of God is clear to all

Everyone can read, but not all hear

4. John 8

The woman bought to Jesus in adultery

What did he do?

He wrote on the ground

‘What was Jesus writing on the ground?’

It is the only mention in the gospels of Jesus writing anything

It wasn’t on parchment, so we needn’t look for it in archeological digs

It wasn’t carved into stone or wood, so it won’t be found stashed away in catacombs under the Dome of the Rock or the Vatican in Rome

The one time we know of Jesus writing, He did it with His finger, in the dust at his feet

It probably didn’t even make it through the day, before being scuffed out, either by Jesus Himself, or a passersby

We love a mystery, and we don’t like unanswered questions

The Holy Spirit would have inspired John to include it in this account unless it meant something for us

Among textual scholars there is some debate as to whether this account even belongs in scripture. John 7:53 through to 8:11 is not found in the oldest manuscripts, and in addition, the style of writing in this passage differs in many respects from that of John throughout the rest of the gospel.