Search the Scriptures

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:

and they are they which testify of me.” (John 5:39)

Because there is so much confusion and so many voices regarding the proper interpretation of Scripture, we must all diligently search them out for ourselves. The Greek word for ‘search’ means a strict, close, diligent and curious investigation, much like men seeking gold or hunters looking for signs of their game. Many are content with a superficial reading of a verse or chapter here or there but searching the Scriptures must be a regular part of our Spiritual diet.

Certainly, there is much in the Word of God that can provide solace and consolation through a simple reading. There is milk for babies and meat for the strong, as stated in 1 Peter 2:2. Yet, babies do not remain so; as they age their need for strong meat grows! The author of Hebrews states, “For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:13-14)

All whom God the Father has chosen and the LORD Jesus Christ redeemed at Calvary will, in time, be born again of the Spirit of God and brought to see, hear, taste and know more fully the goodness of the LORD, 1 Peter 2:3. They are legally adopted as sons at the cross, having satisfied law and justice for them in Christ’s obedience unto death, Romans 8:15. They are not chosen, redeemed, justified, or adopted when they come to see it but they are brought to see Christ and know Him as He Who saved them by His blood, having already accomplished salvation for them at His death on the cross.

Just as a baby is born with life, hunger and appetite, so anyone born from above will manifest that life of the Spirit because of God’s righteousness established for them by Christ and imputed once for all to their account upon the completion of His satisfactory death for them, Romans 8:10. That life produced by the Spirit causes them to hunger and thirst after that righteousness, to know more of it and be in subjection to it as their only righteousness before a Holy God, Romans 10:3. It is just that hunger that causes them to search the Scriptures, as the prophets of old: “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.” (1 Peter 1:11)

In searching the Scriptures, one whose eyes the Spirit has opened will increasingly find Christ alone as the ONE SUBJECT and find in Him that salvation purposed from eternity, accomplished at Calvary and revealed by the Spirit. Christ said, “They are they which testify of Me.”