Whose word to listen to?

My brother once challenged me to tell Him about the God whom I was so eager to share with him without referring to the Bible. His reason was sincere and genuine. He told me courteously, “Until I know your God and believe in him, your effort in showing me the Bible about who he is would not convince me.”

I have been thinking as well if it is possible to tell others who God is without using the Bible. If that is possible, why does God give us the Scripture? No doubt, God Himself could do without it. He could choose to reveal Himself like in the Old Testament when He spoke through the prophets to His people. Jesus, the Word became flesh, came and dwelt among the people, so the people around Him would know who God was.

As for us, who are neither God nor prophets, I don’t see how there is any other better way to describe God to others than by using His own words, that is the Bible.

For us to know a person better, we must hear from him directly. Any description of the person from a third person is only the latter’s own experience or opinion. It is only through the words of a person that we know the mind.

God has addressed Himself to us through His word to let us know who He is. If you don’t know Him today, is it because you didn’t listen?

Jesus answered Philip, “Don’t you know…anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say show us the Father?” (John 14:9) Yes, how can you tell your friend you want to know what he or she thinks when you’re not listening? How can you even know him, if he is not speaking at all?

When you ‘see’ Christ Jesus, surely you would see God the Father for Jesus is the Word of God. When you hear His word, surely you’ve seen Jesus. If you listen merely to the word of man, you’ll fail to ‘see’ the divine. How many preaching of today’s church is on God’s word than on men’s? Hear not, therefore, the word of man but God’s. Amen.