It’s so unique among ALL the books ever written!
That’s The Bible, of inimitable distinction!
It foretold, then shapes and records world history,
To prove that our history is …The Lord’s story!
Let’s ponder these five qualities that make this Book so unique:
Prescriptive, proscriptive, predictive, retributive mystiques,
And its exhaustive promises, exemplified.
May your regard for this Book be revivified. 1
Prescriptive
The Bible is prescriptive for all core areas of life,
Laying down for us key principles Heaven regards as ‘right’.
It takes discernment to distinguish between what’s prescriptive,
Versus what, regarding past situations, is descriptive. 2
A key is, ‘In the mouths of two or three witnesses’,
Its prescriptions are repeated, thus Truth emerges.
Proscriptive
The Lord well knows prescriptions alone are not adequate.
Thus, with prescriptions, He specifies what He prohibits.
This may or may not be cited contextually,
But it won’t be missed when reading strategically.
While some Old and New proscriptions are in ‘black and white clearly’,
The in-dwelling Holy Spirit’s job is, very gracefully,
To develop and sharpen our perceptions of sin,
And to instill within us …‘disciple’s discipline’.
Predictive
No other books have matched The Bible’s predictive quality.
Of its predictions that are now facts, study the quantity!
Moments, days, weeks, months, years, centuries and millennia,
It correctly predicted events in advance! Voila!
Of incredible future promises it’s choc full,
And each one is backed-up with good and bad examples.
Connecting dots between its predictions-to-facts, historically,
Prompts us to ponder yet-fulfilled predictions, futuristically. 4
Retributive
When we decide to see or not to see,
The Holy Bible’s first three qualities,
We’ve set our course, and made our reservations,
To encounter it’s promised retributions.
Whether in this mortal life, or the next one, immortal,
Each of us shall reap our rewards or judgments infernal.
Here’s my suggestion: Pray that you will reap some NOW,
And for The Lord’s corrective adjustments know-how. 5
Promises, exemplified
Each promise is The Lord’s holy seed,
Stuffed with His faith, to meet His saints’ needs.
They’re designed to germinate and produce their fruit,
When they encounter His faith vibrating in you.
That is why He says, ‘Have the God-kind of faith’. 6
That’s what’s required to put His fruits on your plate.
So if, of His fruits, your life’s plate is empty,
Devils have stolen your faith in moves, preemptive.
Each promise is backed-up with The Lord’s examples,
Good or bad picture stories of life principles.
Right next to His promises, His examples are not aligned.
Thus, ask Him to direct your eyes before my point you malign. 7
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Ahhhh, The Bible…
The Lord’s views of our past and future history,
Reflecting His Heart and Mind to humanity.
He inspired, then preserved it to show us what He ‘sees’,
In us collectively, and in you, personally!!!
Do you know…
It’s His key resource for our knowledge of Him and Him of us,
So that, in this life, we will pass His tests, and fulfill His ‘MUSTs’,
So He won’t say, after we’ve gone askew,
‘Depart from Me, for I never knew you!!!’ 8
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1 Prescriptive – that which guides or gives directions, rules or injunctions with authority
Proscriptive – that which imposes restraints, restrictions or limits
Predictive – that which declares, foretells or indicates in advance
Retributive – that which gives rewards or punishments
Exemplify – to show or illustrate by example(s)
Revivify – to give new life to, invigorate, brighten or sharpen
See: Five Reasons Why The Bible Is the Most Important Book On Earth
2 In most cases, common sense helps us to discern what is meant for a particular person/people in a particular context, versus what is a general life principle for all time. In challenging cases, The Holy Spirit’s mission is to lead us into His Truth, so we won’t be deceived. He is faithful to do this, as we are faithful and diligent in our study. See: How Do We Know If a Biblical Passage is Prescriptive or Descriptive?
3 See: ‘in the mouths of two or three witnesses’, and Isaiah 28: 10-13
4 See: Bible Prophecies, Seeds of History (Poem). ‘Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the letter—no errors.’ See: Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible
5 See: Early Warning System (Series)
6 See: Mark 11:22, Young’s Literal Translation, the Complete Jewish Bible and the Wycliff Bible versions. This is another critical verse that many Bible versions get wrong, with their emphasis on having faith in God. The essence of this verse, and the lesson in which Jesus mentions it, is to have and apply our faith as an effective, efficient tool just as He, Himself, did in the encounter with the fig tree in Mark 11.
7 While the examples of many Biblical principles are easy to detect, it takes a perceptive, Holy Spirit-directed mind to perceive the examples of some deeper, conceptual principles. This comes with maturity in your walk with The Lord, and your hunger to know Him more intimately. It simply won’t come with a cursory, chapter and verse study of Scripture. Rather, learn to read The Bible as ONE Book, written by ONE Mind, The Mind of Christ, not 66 books divided into chapters and verses to be read ‘religiously’.
8 See: Matthew 7:23, Matthew 25:41, Luke 13:27, and especially Revelation 20:11-15, the point in our history in which these verses will be fulfilled. Caveat~
