PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

The Bible-A Record of God's History

The Psalmist, contemplating the universe as the work of God's fingers, asked with wonder: "What is mortal man, that You remember him / And the son of man, that You visit Him? (Psalms 8:4). And the apostle Paul declared that although God is invisible to our natural eyes, He did not leave Himself without any testimony before man: "For the invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being perceived by the things made, so that they would be without excuse" (Romans 1:20). These utterances reflect the fact that a sober and perceptive person must realize through the mysteries of this universe that there is God. Nevertheless, we can only see His handiwork in creation. How can we know God Himself? He must reveal Himself to us.

The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to us. Beginning in Genesis God unveils Himself, but not in the way that we might expect or in the way that fits our concepts. He unveils Himself as intricately and even implicitly joined with man. In this issue of Parenthood, we will contemplate a chapter written by Witness Lee in which he demonstrates how the Bible reveals God in the history of man.

As Christian parents we must take particular care of educating our children in the knowledge of God. When they grow older, they personally will need to come to know God and decide how they will relate to God in their adult lives. The basis of their decisions will be determined not only through observing their parents' way of living and learning from their practical training; another key element in their decisions will be your teaching concerning the Bible and its revelation of God.

Perhaps some Bible story books may be helpful for you to teach the history of men through the Bible stories, but very few if any of those books are adequate in discovering and depicting God's history in those same Bible stories. Ultimately, the parents are responsible to educate their children in the things of God. We must teach them that in His economy God has come as man to be joined to, mingled with, and even incorporated into man for His eternal expression.

God is omnipotent, but apart from the Bible there is no record about Him in the whole universe. It is even hard to find a record concerning some of the false gods. But we do have a record about God, that is, the Bible. The most wonderful thing on this earth among the human race is this record.

The Pentateuch, which the Jews call the Torah, was written by Moses. Moses was not very early; rather, he was at least four hundred years later than Abraham and at least twenty-five centuries later than Adam. Here then is a marvelous question: Where did Moses get all his facts for the writing of the Pentateuch? Genesis is a record written by Moses, but you cannot find Moses' support for his record. Therefore, people wonder where Moses got the material for Genesis, the account of Adam to Joseph. Sometimes Moses gives us a very detailed record, as in Genesis 3. Moses tells of man's fall through the serpent and even gives us the conversation between the serpent and Eve in much detail. But where did Moses get this material?

THE HISTORY OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH HUMAN STORIES

The best Bible teachers say that Genesis is a book of history. But Genesis is also a book of stories. If Genesis were just a book of history, the record concerning Joseph, for instance, would not need to be as long as it is. It is strange that only three pages of Genesis are about God's creation, while many pages are about this one man Joseph. Of the fifty chapters of Genesis, thirteen are about Joseph.

Why is the record of God's creation so short and the record of this youth named Joseph so long? You must realize that the history of God is not a history related much to the creation. If Genesis were a full record of God's creation, fifty chapters would not be sufficient. Scientists today spend not pages but books to tell us about the existence of the universe. But the Bible is not that kind of history. The Bible is a history of God in union not with the stars and the heavenly host nor with the beasts. The Bible is a history of God in union with man. Joseph occupies such a long portion of the record because God wants to show us how much He is there in Joseph's situation. In the creation God only said, Let there be light, and there was light. There is no more detail than that. But when the same writer comes to Joseph, the record is in much detail. Because of the detail, you cannot read the story of Joseph without your affections being touched. Therefore, from reading these details we see that our God in His history is very much related to humanity.

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