“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
The Word of God, according to Psalm 119:105, lights our way through this dark world. It gives us direction, lights our way, and guides our steps. The Bible, God’s Word, provides us with instruction on how to live: how to treat the people we meet, how to find a godly spouse and raise a family, how to treat the people we work for and those that work for us, how to be honest in business, how to select church leaders, and a myriad of other tasks in life. More importantly, it is the story of how a holy God interacts with fallen people. That story is worth not only reading, but learning, studying and memorizing. The entire Bible is about we relate to God, and the intersecting point between fallen man and Holy Almighty God is Jesus. Coming to God through faith in Jesus Christ is the only hope we have, and the Bible is that story.
It is a story that is ongoing. We must not loose sight of that. The New Testament Church Age began in Acts, and is still taking place. We are a part of that story, the story of the church being spread and the Kingdom of God being built. The story is yet to be finished, even though we know some things about how it ends. The story began before recorded time. Before this world was framed, God had the plan of salvation already in his mind. Jesus, according the Nician Creed, is eternally the only begotten Son of God. He had no beginning. His story spans before and after the existence of time as we know it. The story of the Bible is not old, it is timeless. And it isn’t finished.
We must read the Bible to know these things. The Bible is our source, our foundation, it is the Word of God, and tells the story of Jesus, our only hope of salvation. What we know about God is shaped by our study of the life of Christ. Jesus said if you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the Father. Reading about the life of Christ in the Gospels is how we see him. We must read about how he treated people, the kinds of people he talked to, what activities were important enough for him to do in the short time he knew he had. Reading the scriptures and praying were two regular activities Jesus made time for, so that’s a hint right there. Jesus was daily in the temple and synagogues reading the scripture because they were about him. That’s why we need to; because they’re about him. Remember also that every time Jesus quotes scripture, it is from what we call the Old Testament.
Don’t neglect reading the Old Testament. Much of the Old Testament prepares us to recognize Christ and understand his work when he appears. The Apostle Paul says the Law is like a tutor or schoolmaster to him. It teaches us who and what we are; unrighteous. And reminds us that nothing we could ever do will change that. It promises a messiah, and tells us how to recognize him. The gospel of Matthew makes many references to Old Testament prophesy. The high priestly prayer of Jesus makes no sense if you don’t know the story of the priest and the temple system of worship.
Two-thirds of the New Testament was written by Paul, and much of that is instruction and teaching about church. He teaches us what the mission of a New Testament church is, how to select leaders, and how a pastor and church leaders should be qualified. The Gospels tell the story of the earthly ministry of Jesus, and the remainder of the New Testament is the history of how his followers continued after his death, burial and resurrection.
We can’t share the message of Christ if we haven’t read it. We are to be conformed to the image of Christ, an image we need to read and study in order to see. We need to read the scripture, teach our children, and commit it to memory. When you buy a piece of electronic equipment, you read the manual that comes with it. This is your life, the church, and the Kingdom we’re talking about here. How much more should we study up on it’s manual than your new DVR? The Bible is one way God speaks to us. Paul commissions Timothy to rightly handle the Word of truth. We must spend time in it in order to know how to do that.
The Word of God will speak to us, but only if we’re listening.
The Master's Table 
Amen! Also not only according to the Nician creed. It is perfectly clear who He is by reading the first chapter in John.
Jesus IS the word of God. He gave Moses the law. He walked with the children of Israel in the wilderness. He told the prophets to write about him. Not only is the bible about him – it is written by him through people.
If we’re to study the Word of God – we need to study both Jesus himself and the bible. How can both be called the word of God? Just the way that you can talk about Beethove either as the person who once was alive, or you can say that this sheet of paper in front if me is Beethoven.
The term “the Word” is powerful. In Hebrew there are two words for that. “Mila” is just any word in a text, and “Davar”, the term used in Psalms 119, is the Word. Defined as “something that is being spoken by someone”. It’s equivalent to “logos” in Greek, the term John uses in his first chapter.
There is another greek equivalent to the word “mila”, I can’t remember it right now…
The idea that John puts forward regarding “logos” in his first chapter was well known in that time. Hundreds of years earlier Unkelus had used the equivalent arameic term “Mimra” in his Targum. Filo, the jewish egyptian philosopher who was alive at the time of Jesus, also spoke of the Word. These were all prophecies of Jesus. I also believe that the very same Word of God (Jesus) is the “wisdom” described as a person in Proverbs. The wisdom is a woman there, but that’s just a Hebrew grammatical issue. One of the words used for wisdom is “Bina”. Just switch between the letters “nun” and “yud” and you got “ben ya” – son of God
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