- 2009 European Bible Conference, October 19, 2009 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  (1Peter 1:10-11)     The Lord directs a man’s stepsSome time ago, a very strange thing happened. One evening, I had an appointment with some brothers so I finished my meal quickly. I parked my car and was standing outside the office when some of my colleagues came out. I thought that if I stopped to greet and talk with them, I would be late, so I am sorry to say that I pretended not to notice them. At that moment, a huge tree fell down right behind me. If I had approached my colleagues, that tree would have flattened me. I would have lost my life with no time even to cry out. All kinds of thoughts went through my mind after that. If my life had been over that day, it would have been peaceful for me personally. I have never been particularly healthy, since I have been through many physical hardships in my life. But I thought first of all about the people closest to me. I have a wife and sons. If I had left the world in that way, what would have become of my family? My one small hope is that I may live to see my children grow up within the love of the brothers and sisters who work together with me, so that eventually they will come to realize the gospel, and live for the sake of the gospel. Then, I hope and pray for the blessing of leaving this world at that point. Yet, on that day as I had that experience, I wondered how this could have happened. Something like a virus that we cannot see with our eyes or feel may invade our bodies and destroy us. We may experience something that is beyond human control, such as happened to me when that tree just fell down right behind me. The tree had not been tilting ready to fall and it was not shaky; it was just standing there. At that time, a verse from the Bible came to my mind: “Look at the birds of the air … Are you not of more value than they?” (see Matthew 6:26). Jesus said that not a single sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s will, and that we are of much more value than one of those birds. For as long as we walk on this earth, we put on the strength of God and are under His protection whether we are aware of it or not, but we live our lives not really knowing this. This is the truth and reality that applies to all of us, whether we believe in the Bible or not.Of course, you may think that the tree just fell, but when that happened, I felt very calm, perhaps because of the words I have often read in the Bible that say, “Keep me as the apple of Your eye” (Psalm 17:8) and, “The Lord directs his [a man’s] steps” (Proverbs 16:9). I had a prayer in my heart. It is such a precious thing to be able to leave my life and everything in it in the hands of God who has the power to take me whenever He so desires. Even now, the thought remains in my mind that I must never lose this precious attitude that God has put in my heart.The reason I bring this up is to suggest that we compare the two ways of living in the world: that of knowing the Bible and that of not knowing the Bible. The things that the people of the world go through, whether great or small, are interpreted by each person in his own way. He may say, “It happens,” or “That’s just the way things are,” or, “It was just a case of bad luck.” Some people just brush things off as if nothing had happened and carry on with their lives. Even if a family member falls ill or passes away, people get themselves over it by saying, “That’s life.”If you read the Bible carefully, however, you will find that it says, “The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” and, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:1, 9). As we review these verses, we need to think about whether the things that happen to us, great or small and even the things that do not seem like anything at all, are related to God’s protection and His guidance of our footsteps. This is the task set before everyone of us, whether we know the Bible or not, and it is our duty to carry out this task. We all live individual lives, doing different kinds of work, living in different places, meeting different kinds of people, engaging in different levels of conversation. Every individual is different, but we meet for a common purpose. We each have our own eyes and ears, seeing and hearing the world in our own way, but one thing is certain and that is that we meet together in order to listen to God’s word. If that were not the case, why on earth would I be sitting here? We are of different races, we have different colored skin, and different colored hair, but we are all sitting here, listening to something, thinking about something, and the thing that we all have in common is the Bible we hold in our hands.Everybody has their own way of reading the Bible. The way my family reads the Bible is different from mine, and the way my colleagues read the Bible is different from mine. Even though we read the Bible in different ways, we read different parts of the Bible, different amounts and at different speeds, the most important thing is that the blessing that God bestows on each of us is the same. There is a difference between how much each person feels and receives into his heart, but the Bible says that God has given to each of us the same gift of salvation (see Acts 15:11, Ephesians 2:8).When Christians of this world read the Bible and realize something new, they often say that on that particular day that passage became theirs, but actually, this is not the case. The opportunity to be born again is different for everyone?the day, time, place and Bible verse are all different?but we come to the knowledge of the truth, in which we all believe, on one particular day at one particular time. Everything was accomplished when Jesus was crucified; it is just that we have discovered this later. That is why the grace that we have received individually is the same. The Bible promises that the same salvation has been accomplished within each one of us.Let me go back to talking about my story. When the tree fell, I wondered why a healthy tree would suddenly fall by itself. Before the tree fell, there did not appear to be any problems with it. After it had fallen, however, I found that the inside of the tree had rotted creating a large hole through the middle of the trunk. Even before the tree fell, the inside of it had rotted to the point where the tree could fall, but I was not able to see that and had no way of knowing it. When this event happened right in front of my eyes, I felt that I was alive because God was controlling my steps.When it comes to having been given the opportunity to have fellowship with brothers and sisters, studying the Bible and getting to know it more and more, you may think that each of us has lived his or her life in their own way and by some chance, we have all ended up at this gathering. Yet, if you acknowledge that we exist within the power of God, you will be able to see that it is not by chance that we are able to meet together with brothers and sisters who share the same faith, and open, read and talk about this Bible that we have come to believe. Even if the unfathomable power of God is not given to all of us or it does not seem as though the power of God is displayed in us individually, not a single drop of rain falls by chance and neither does a branch of a tree break by chance.When we ride in a car, there are times when we see creatures such as a bird, a deer, a squirrel, or a raccoon that has been hit by a car and left there. When we pass something like this, we register that an animal has died, but we do not give it much thought. Yet, as I just said, the Bible tells us that not a single sparrow will fall to the ground if it is not the will of God (see Matthew 10:29). In man’s eyes, the Bible may seem like a matter of chance, but the Bible tells us that nothing happens by chance. God knows everything.Upon noticing a branch of a tree breaking and falling, and dispersing the other branches as it falls, some people may express it in a poem, and others may write a story. Then there are people who will write a piece of music, others will take photographs, and others still will draw a picture. Yet, if we have the power in our hearts to think of God and Jesus who saved our spirits, the way in which we think about the events and objects around us changes completely. This is the difference between those who have been changed and those who have not.If you are sure of the Bible, live close to the Bible and entrust your heart to the Bible in the course of your life, the big or small events that happen will move your heart and evoke deep thoughts within you. You need to be able to consider the many different sides to these matters, such as, “What is the Lord trying to tell me? How is He trying to lead my steps? In what way is He trying to bless me?” “How far off the path have I wandered that He should punish me to this extent?” and so on. The Bible is telling us why we were born into this world and what we should think about such matters.   Searching what, or what Manner of TimeLet’s turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  (1 Peter 1:10-11) This passage clearly says, “what, or what manner of time.” It talks precisely about a specific time or manner of time. We can think of the time referred to here as the time when Jesus appeared in this world, was crucified and died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and the time when He spoke in front of His disciples. This is, of course, true, but if you think that “What, or what manner of time,” is limited only to the short period of time when Jesus was born and lived on this earth, then you will lose out when it comes to understanding the Bible.I would like to discuss a slightly difficult matter. In this passage, it says, “The prophets …, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,” and, “Of this salvation.” The word, “salvation,” is used. When we read a verse like this, we tend to think simply, “Salvation is grace, and grace is salvation.” This is also true. If you look at it in another way, however, the task remains for us to consider how to apply these words to our individual lives. Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith ? the salvation of your souls.  (1 Peter 1:8-9) Was Peter saying to the people who would receive this letter, “You need be saved in the future,” or was he saying, “You have been saved”? He said “Because you have been saved, although you cannot see Jesus, you love Him and rejoice”. This letter was written to those who were already saved, but in verse 10 it says “of this salvation.” This “salvation” is not just talking about salvation. Right before this, in verse 9, it says, “The end of your faith ? the salvation of your souls,” which is a premise to the words, “Of this salvation the prophets …, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you.” We may think that, because the prophets prophesied of the grace in regard to this salvation, salvation is grace, and grace is salvation. Of course, the “salvation of your souls,” referred to in verse 9 is saying that the seed of all blessings that we can receive, has fallen into our hearts. This is perfect, and can definitely bring us everything. If, however, we compare and search the passages about salvation in the Old Testament with those in the New Testament, we realize that the grace on the basis of which we have been granted “the end of your faith ? the salvation of your souls,” is something immense. We need to be aware of this. It is not wrong to think that we can go before God on the strength of just one verse from God’s word falling into our hearts. It is a definite fact that this salvation of the spirit has been accomplished within our hearts, and we have been freed from the fate of going to hell and have come to rest in the bosom of Jesus. Nevertheless, as we e

정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.