The first lesson then that we learn is, that in the ministry of the

Word the Book must be read, and so read that its message shall be given

distinctly and its sense preserved.

At the beginning of His ministry our Lord entered the synagogue at

Nazareth and stood up for to read.  'And when He had opened the book' at

Isaiah 61 we find that He read one verse and the one sentence following, and

then closed the book, sat down and said, 'This day is this Scripture

fulfilled in your ears' (Luke 4:21).  A perusal of Isaiah 61:1,2 will show

that the Lord put into operation that great principle of interpretation

entitled 'right division' (2 Tim. 2:15), for He concluded His reading at the

words, 'To preach the acceptable year of the Lord'.  Had He read on to the

next line and said, 'and the day of vengeance of our God', He could not have

also said, 'This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears', for those two

sentences, though divided in our version by but a comma, belong to the two

different advents of the Lord, at least 1960 years lying between them.

Therefore the second lesson that we learn is, that not only must the

reading be 'distinct' to give the sense, but that it must also be 'rightly

divided', otherwise passages that belong to differing dispensations will be

confused and the hearers misled.

'And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while

He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the

Scriptures?' (Luke 24:32).

If we inquire what it was that caused this glow within the breasts of

the saddened disciples, we discover that it was not eloquence, although we

are sure that when He read the Holy Book, He, as none other, read

'distinctly' and 'gave the sense'; neither was it right division, although He

could never confuse the dispensation that He Himself came to fulfil.  No, He

made His disciples' hearts burn within them because,

'Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all

the Scriptures the things Concerning Himself' (Luke 24:27).

So we, too, in type and shadow, in prophecy and in doctrine, will seek

to see Him, and we shall preach Him, otherwise all our 'distinctness' and all

our 'division' will be dead and fruitless.  If, on the other hand, the

ministry of the Opened Book follows the lead given by these three examples,

we may confidently expect the sequel, 'Their eyes were opened' (Luke 24:31);

'Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the

Scriptures' (Luke 24:45).

There is a word that belongs to the Christian faith, if Christian faith

regards truth as supreme, that has been handed over to the enemy.  That is

the word 'rational'.  A rationalist today is defined as 'one who rationalizes

in matters of religion or sacred history', and rationalism as 'the practice