p. 10 | Do You Study Your Bible? by L. D. Santee

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 11, 1907

Do You Study Your Bible?

By L. D. Santee

L. D. SANTEE

We have become Seventh-day Adventists by the study of the Bible, and by recognizing its authority. It has taken us from other churches and from the world, and has united us on the platform, “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” It teaches of the life that now is, and that which is to come. It should be inexpressibly dear to us, as all our knowledge of the future is gotten from its revelations. All our hopes of the life to come rest upon its promises. It thoroughly furnishes us unto all good works. It is our chart and compass in life’s voyage, and if studied and obeyed, will take us safely into the harbor of heaven.

Every one who so regards the Bible certainly ought to study it thoroughly and prayerfully, and to know what is in it. It seems strange that many of those who call themselves Christians, and even those who profess to be teachers of the way of life, have never read this book through to know what is in it. That man who is ignorant in regard to the teachings of his Bible is sinning against his own soul. With the perils of the last days thickening, and with the coming of the Lord and immortality for the righteous less than a generation away, it would seem that all that revelation tells us of these thrilling events would be themes of earnest study and absorbing interest.

People generally claim to believe the Bible inspired, and yet they do not know its contents. The most of our people have read it much, probably by subjects mostly. There is no doubt that parts of it have been often and thoroughly studied. This is all proper and necessary, but it seems strange indeed that any could accept a book as a rule of action, and yet never read it through,

to see what it contains. It is right to study it by subjects, but we should become familiar with it as a whole. We should be so well educated in its teachings that we could never be carried away by anything that is antagonistic thereto.

A lack of Biblical knowledge is at the root of apostasy. The declaration comes down through the ages, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6. Of Israel, his adopted people, a nation blessed with priests and prophets, the Lord says, with sorrow, “Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Isa. 1:3. Contrast Israel in her idolatry, and suffering from the judgments of God, with another class mentioned by the apostle: “I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” 1 John 2:14. Which record do you desire shall be yours? It is as true as truth that what we study will affect the life; that the thoughts we harbor will mold the disposition, and shape the mind. This is why God has given us Phil. 4:8. Carefully followed, it will develop a charity that the schools of earth have never been able to equal. It will fill the home with sunshine, and produce the atmosphere of heaven. It was the first way that Paul did. Read verse 9. It produces the tenderness of Christian character. Never were truer words than are found in 2 Cor. 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.” Unless your experience has helped you, you do not know the joy and sunshine that will come to you by practising Phil. 4:8. It is easy to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The change that will come to you (if you never have tried it) is described in Isa. 61:3: “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” If you think that this description of the change that will be wrought is too strong, try it. I am willing to let your experience be the test. The Bible is emphatically the text-book for those that go out to labor in the cause of God. How inconsistent that such should not know the contents of the text-book they intend to teach. Those who have the “blessed hope” should know all that Inspiration has said about that hope and that life. Those who claim an inheritance in the earth made new, will certainly want to know of the conditions, of the joys, and of the surroundings of the redeemed inheritance; of the “fulness of joy” (Ps. 16:11) that is waiting them in the near future, and in what it consists. It is not strange that you should try to “read between the lines.” Thank God, these mysteries will be made plain when faith is lost in sight. No wonder that Christ said, “Search the Scriptures.” John 5:39. No wonder that God commanded through the apostle, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15.

The pioneers in our work were men “mighty in the Scriptures.” Their knowledge of the Bible enabled them to build on a sure foundation, and the result has been that the blessing of God has attended the work. We ask you, if you never have read the Bible through, to begin at once. Become familiar with God’s commands and his promises. It takes but little time each day. Don’t say that you have not the time. Three chapters each day, and five on the Sabbath, and you will read the Bible through in a year. Will you do it?

Chicago, Ill.