"The Three Most Important Texts in ALL the Bible"
Warning! Do not skim through this article to simply see what the
three texts are. This can be very dangerous for you. Some have read
the texts only and thus turned away reasoning that they could see no
special significance to these verses. For even a slow reader, this
article will only take a few minutes to read; then and only then will
you be able to make a conscientious decision about the importance of
what you have read. Please take a few moments to pray and ask God
to give you understanding of any truth that may be contained herein.
The Bible, contains two testaments, with sixty-six books, hundreds of
chapters and thousands of verses. It was written by forty authors, on
three different continents, over a period of 1600 years. Yet all of its
pages are one in theme and purpose because all of the contributors
were inspired by the same Holy Spirit of God.
If you are a Christian and accustomed to reading the Scriptures, you
may be asking yourself, 'How can anyone dare to suggest that one
portion of the Holy Scriptures is more important than another?'
Please let me explain: The only reason for the special significance of
the passages you will read is that if they are not understood, believed,
and adhered to, there is little hope that all of the other texts of the
Bible will be cherished and followed. I hope this will make more sense
as we go along.
The first and most important text in all of the Holy Bible is found in
the Apostle Paul's second letter to Timothy, (2 Timothy 2:15) "Study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The importance of
this text lies in the two points that we draw from the verse; What is
it that we are to Study? And to whom are we responsible? The verse
says "rightly dividing the word of truth," and speaks of itself, the
Holy Scriptures, which constitute the only real "word of truth" we
have. So, we are to study the Bible that we will not be ashamed,
but ashamed of what? And ashamed before whom?
It is obvious from this verse that man will, at some point, have to
stand before God and give an account of his life. If we study and
learn from the Bible what God would have us to be and what He
would have us to do, and if we follow through with what we have
learned, there will be no reason for us to be ashamed. Imagine, if
you will, a world full of people who claim to know and follow God,
but who in fact know very little of Him. Therefore they do not live
as He would have them to live. Does this sound absurd? Listen,
friend, our world is full of people who claim to serve and love the
true God of heaven, and yet who do not acknowledge the Bible
as His word for us. All sorts of religions exist with all sorts of
rules and regulations which are not holy; they are heathen.
Unfortunately, it does not stop there. Here in this country we
have hundreds of denominations which claim to be Christian, and
yet they have built systems of worship and religion that have little
or nothing to do with the teachings of God in His Holy Word.
The last and most important point to be made about this verse is in
the word "thyself". Look at the verse again, "Study to show thyself
approved unto God." When the judgment comes, you will be
responsible to God alone; no one else can save you! This is very
important because so many who profess to be Christians never,
ever study their Bibles. Very few will diligently study for themselves.
The norm today in the Christian churches is to go to church once
or twice a week and find out what the preacher has studied.
Friend, the truths discussed in the Bible are of eternal importance;
they will be the difference between life and death for all eternity.
Surely we can all see that this is much too important to trust to
someone else. Let us each one make the commitment today that
we will "Study to show" ourselves "approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
The second most important text in all the Bible is found in 2 Timothy
3:16; "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right-
eousness:" If we are going to follow truth, there must be a divine
standard to teach us 'what is truth.' Surely, if left to ourselves, we
will follow what sounds right, or what feels right to us. The question
remains, just because it sounds right, just because it feels right, just
because it's the convenient thing to do, or just because it's the
comfortable thing to do, does that make it truth? One man claimed
to believe in and live his life in accordance with the Bible, but when
questioned about a certain doctrine he exclaimed that he didn't
use the Old Testament, as it was written for the Jews. He didn't
accept the gospels, as they were just an account of what Jesus
did, and besides they were before His death. The book of Hebrews
was obviously written to the Jews, and therefore wasn't needed,
and the book of Revelation he thought to be a closed book,
impossible to be understood. All that was left were a few of Paul's
letters, and yet this man was sure that he was a Bible believing
Christian. I know this is an extreme case, but it should teach us
something: If there is any part of God's word that is no longer
in effect for us today, then who gets to decide which part?
Surely we would select the parts that we like, and come up with
some sort of reason to do away with the parts that made us
uncomfortable. This is certainly the reason why we have over
350 denominations of Christianity in this country alone. So I would
ask you to reason out for yourself: Do you really think that God,
who is the very essence of truth, could not care less about
whether we believe and follow the truth He has plainly given us
in His Holy Word? There are so many today who profess to be
Christians, and yet think that as long as they are sincere and
loving that God will not hold them accountable. We need to
consider the words of this verse found in Exodus 20:5-6; "Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of
them that love me, and keep my commandments." You will
notice that in verse six it defines those who love God as those
who keep His commandments. This Old Testament verse
holds perfectly with the New Testament, for we read in John
14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Friend, the Bible does not contradict itself; it does not teach
different requirements for different dispensations. God is perfect
and, therefore, has no need to change; (Malachi 3:6) "For I am
the LORD, I change not;" Again this is in harmony with the New
Testament; (Hebrews 13:8) "Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
and to day, and for ever."
This leads us to the third most important text in the Bible; it is found
in the last book of the Bible. In fact, it is found in the last chapter
of the Bible: Revelation 22:14; "Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
may enter in through the gates into the city." The importance of
this verse is twofold: Obviously it is important because it plainly
tells us what is required of us to inherit eternal life, and enter into
the heavenly kingdom It does, however, take on a special significance
when you consider that this subject of keeping God's commandments
is the most distorted and misunderstood subject in all the
Scriptures. Millions upon millions have been deceived upon this
point, and the Bible itself tells us that many more will be lost
because of this delusion.
You can go back to the Creation of this world in the book of
Genesis and read that the fall of Adam and Eve happened
because they disobeyed God's commandment. Then you
should look at the very last book of the Bible, as we have
just done, and see that the final issue, deciding whether we
live forever, or perish in the fires of hell, is the same issue way
back there in Genesis: "Blessed are they that do his
commandments." We need to realize that every page of the
Holy Bible is saturated with this message of love. David, whom
the Bible declares to be a man after God's own heart, said it
like this: "Great peace have they which love thy law: and
nothing shall offend them. "(Psalms 119:165) Remember the
description of God's last people upon the earth before He
returns; it is found in Revelation 14:12. "Here is the patience
of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of
God, and the faith of Jesus."
*For further study read Exodus 20:1-17 & Revelation 14:6-12