So God, in salvation, first touches the mind and understanding and then, at last, we

can begin to see things in a measure as He sees them, we can begin to see our utter need

met by the Lord Jesus Christ, which we could not do before. We can see something of

the beauty and the wonders contained in God's Word, the Word of Truth, and we can

begin to understand them. This is the commencement of the understanding of the Bible

and there is no other way to obtain it. To approach it as an interesting book can never

give real spiritual understanding. You can only get it when you have a saving knowledge

of the Lord Jesus Christ and He has given you this new mind. You must then rely on the

Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding as you read it, and we trust that this

may be the experience of us all as we study this wonderful Book together.

Now the Bible is a unity. It is not just sixty-six books put together in a haphazard sort

of way, of which one can read bits here and there, picking out those that are most

interesting and leaving the rest. This, alas is the way that many Christians seem to regard

it. Rather the Bible is the revelation of a great plan concerning God's creation. The very

first words of it start like this: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth".

There was a reason for God doing that. He did not do it just as a whim, or because He

wanted something to do! There was a great and wonderful purpose lying behind that

creation. Let us read together a verse from the Epistle to the Ephesians which stresses

this question of God's plan revealed in the Bible. In chapter 3: 2 the Apostle is talking

about God's manifold wisdom teaching principalities and powers by the church, and then

he writes this: "According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our

Lord." The word `purpose' is the word `plan', "according to the plan of the ages",

literally, "which He planned in Christ Jesus our Lord". The ages are the great span of

time, sub-divided into epochs and upon this great platform of time God is working out a

great redemptive purpose which is centred in the Lord Jesus. To regard it apart from

Christ will never give us understanding; in fact, there would not be a plan at all, the

whole thing would collapse if it was not resting solidly upon the Person and work of the

Saviour. But it is planned in Him. It embraces, then, all creation, heaven and earth, and

its being worked out in time, the ages, and it is centre in redemption because the creation

has been spoiled by sin and death and therefore it must be redeemed. It has to be dealt

with in this way, otherwise it can never come to a glorious fulfillment.

The same epistle tells us in chapter 1: that "God works all things after the counsel of

His own will". There is an irresistible force, God's omnipotence, behind this plan. Are

we not thankful that this is a fact? Otherwise the plan would most surely founder. It will

never founder because of lack of power or wisdom; the Lord has unlimited power and

wisdom and what He determines finally must be accomplished. It may be lengthened

out, because He is not just dealing with inanimate objects like the sun, moon and stars

which immediately obey His behest automatically. He is dealing with men and women

who are moral creatures having a measure of responsibility which enables them to say

"yes" or "no" to Him. When men say "no" to Him, God, in His mercy, very often waits,

but He will not wait for ever. He is indeed a God who is long-suffering and patient and

that may explain to us why this plan is taking so long to work out. The wonder of it is,

that in this gigantic purpose taking in all creation, heaven and earth, the individual is not

lost in it!