This cost me $2.

Is there any better place for a baby to be than nursing at her mother’s breast?

My daughter, who was used to nursing, answered this question pretty loudly whenever I tried to bottle-feed her.

So, where am I going with this? Here:

I Peter 2:2

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

These will be the key takeaways today, the Lord being my helper:

• The Bible is not a bloated mass of contradictions and incomprehensible mysticism which is impossible to assemble any coherent worldview from
• Although some Bible passages are difficult to interpret, the Bible also contains many profound and comforting truths which are repeatedly stated in very clear, consistent terms

I will make my case by addressing 4 topics which are very important and very easy to prove from scripture:

• Creation
• A caring God
• The deity of Jesus Christ
• The crucifixion

For each topic, I will provide a verse or two and some commentary. At the end of the post, I will provide extra verses for each topic. I’m moving them to the end because I don’t think you need to read them all the first time through. But I am including them to help make my point. When you do scroll down there, the number of verses you find may seem daunting. But that’s my whole point. These are issues that the Bible is very clear and consistent on. Bonus: I will provide all verses explicitly, so you don’t have to immediately look anything up.

For those of you who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, I pray this post is a feast for your soul. And, for you hungry non-Christians out there, I hope God makes your mouth water while you read this. Dear ones, all the milk your spirit desires is right behind you…just turn around! 🙂

So, can we luxuriate in some verses that contain simple, timeless, life-altering truths?

Creation

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

God made the world. The animals. People. The stars. That’s where they come from. I don’t know about you, but I like knowing the answer to this very basic, very fundamental, very human question.

In the final analysis, this is not complicated! We make it complicated with all of our issues.

Just look at a flower. Look at how a caterpillar creeps up a wall. Look at how many years doctors have to go to medical school, and they still don’t understand us completely. Look up at the stars.

There is an all-powerful being undergirding the universe!! His name is God. His name is I AM, because He’s the only self-existent Being. He didn’t come from anywhere. He just is.

I have several more verses at the end of this post which echo Genesis 1:1. If you read the last one, you will also notice the answer to life is in there. Hint: it’s not 42.

So, I will say it again: The Bible is very consistent on the very important, foundational truth of creation!

A caring God

I Peter 5:7

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Still pretty simple, right? This one is not only very simple, it’s also very comforting!

Do you have any cares in your life?

I do. Oh, I have problems. And I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t cast them onto Someone much greater than I, Who actually cares about me. And the fact that He cares about me is one reason that I am very interested in His system of morality.

No, my morality is not just based on some utilitarian principle, some collective happiness optimization problem (and remember, I optimize stuff for a living 🙂   ), nor evolutionary factors. I have a Father Who cares enough about me to give me rules, and yes, He cares enough to chasten me when I stray, so that I can learn to follow Him and be truly happy.

He cares so deeply about us. There are expressions of incredible tenderness in the Bible, and I do hope you will check them out at the end of this post.

The deity of Jesus Christ

Ok, breathe….this one is for all the marbles.

The Bible (including Jesus Himself) says that Jesus is God. This isn’t hard.

A non-Christian friend of mine said he has Christian friends who weren’t sure if Jesus claimed to be God. So, let’s get this established. Some of the verses at the end of the post are very clear about this, but right now, I am going to use a couple Bible verses to advance the following, very simple argument:

• Jesus said he was the Christ
• Jesus said that Christ was God
• So, Jesus claimed to be God.

Jesus claiming to be the Christ:

Mark 14:61-62

But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Jesus claiming Christ was God:

Matthew 22:41-46

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

Jesus is agreeing with David that Christ is Lord. Notice that Jesus says David’s words were spoken “in spirit”. That means Jesus treated these words of David’s as inspired. If you are still skeptical because he said Lord instead of God, remember, I have many more verses at the end of the post to make my point.

So, please don’t dismiss my Jesus as just a “great teacher”.

Before moving on, I want to distinguish between the terms “the Son of God” and “sons/children of God”. Some may say, what’s the big deal with Jesus claiming to be God’s son…aren’t we all children of God?

First of all, not everybody is a child of God, but I will deal with that in another post. Anyway, yes, there are many children of God. So it’s fair for you to ask whether Jesus saying he was the son of God was really a claim of deity. My answer to that is, read the excerpt at the end of this post from John 5…the writer (John) and the Jews both are in agreement that Jesus had just claimed deity.

My other answer to that question is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

He identifies himself as the the only begotten Son of God. This is a comparison to biological sonship, not adoptive sonship. Jesus and the Father are of the same essence. Jesus is not adopted. God begat him. God does have many sons, but they are adopted:

Ephesians 1:5

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

He only has one “biological” son. So yes, John 3:16 is another claim of deity.

And no, God begetting Jesus does not mean Jesus is younger than God. The specific event in Jesus’s life that the Bible calls begetting was actually the resurrection.

Acts 13:33

God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

The crucifixion

I’m going to make an exception for this one. There are a billion verses about this, and I’m not going to paste any in here (nor at the end of the post) because this post is already really long! Just read the last few chapters of each of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and you can also find many prophetic verses about it in the Old Testament, and retrospective verses in the New Testament. I’m mentioning the crucifixion, though, because it is very easy to understand, very clearly and consistently documented in the Bible, and makes a profound point about Jesus’s love for us. After all, Jesus said:

John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  

The crucifixion is a pretty straightforward concept, and it is important to reflect on it every day of your life. It reminds me that Jesus loves me when I face rejection from others. It reminds me that Jesus loves me when I feel like I am a failure. It assures me that Jesus understands how it feels when I suffer. It makes me more willing to sacrifice for others. It helps me to make peace (if not to completely tie up in a bow) with the problem of evil.

The crucifixion is a never-ending supply of nourishment for your soul. Whether you will admit it or not, you need it. Badly. So, may I humbly suggest that you stop making this so complicated (I say this as a master overcomplicator) and simply drink it in? If your answer is no, I would honestly love to know why 🙂

Conclusion

Please don’t be intimidated by the Bible. It’s not a sheer rock face. Yes, it makes Everest look like a molehill, but its foothills are not challenging at all…if we are willing to humble ourselves. So strap on your pack. We’ve got a long, exciting journey ahead of us!

It would be a crime if I signed off without at least mentioning one more life-changing, death-defying, simple, clear, and powerful theme of the Bible, namely, the resurrection:

I Corinthians 15:4

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

I Corinthians 15:55

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Here are the extra verses that I promised:

The Bible is consistent, and on some issues, it is also very easy to understand! Here are a bunch more verses to back up the foregoing ones. For each topic, I organized them by order of appearance in the Bible. OT indicates Old Testament, J indicates New Testament verses that partially or completely consist of quotes from the incarnate Jesus, and NT indicates other New Testament verses. I want you to see that the Bible reinforces itself from cover to cover. And, as you read these, remember that even a verse that doesn’t mention God still says something about God….because God inspired the Bible. I hope these verses challenge some cultural misconceptions that we have about the God of the Bible, and make us more interested in knowing Him better.

Creation:

Exodus 20:11 (OT)

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Job 40:15 (OT)

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (OT)

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Matthew 19:4 (J)

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

John 1:1-3 (NT)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

Ephesians 3:9 (NT)

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 1:2 (NT)

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Revelation 4:11 (NT)

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

A caring God

Deuteronomy 24:5 (OT)

When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

Deuteronomy 25:4 (OT)

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

I Samuel 2:19 (OT)

Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

Psalm 78:38-39 (OT)

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Proverbs 12:10 (OT)

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Matthew 9:36 (NT)

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Luke 13:34 (J)

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Romans 8:26 (NT)

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Hebrews 4:15 (NT)

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

The deity of Jesus Christ

John 1:1-3, 1:14 (NT)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 5:16-18 (J)

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

John 8:58 (J)

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 10:30-33 (J)

I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Acts 20:28 (NT)

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Hebrews 1:18 (NT)

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

I John 5:7 (NT)

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Revelation 1:10-13, 2:18 (J)

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;  [the speaker here is the same person who identifies HImself as Alpha and Omega in 1:11]