Editor’s Note: In his article, “Open Secrets: When I First Understood the Bible,” the late Editor-in-Chief of Outreach magazine, James P. Long, reflected on the moment the Scriptures went from ink on a page to the living Word of God for him — a personal, soul‑shaking encounter that revealed the Bible’s open secrets.
“The word of God is alive and active. … It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” —Hebrews 4:12
I knew the book was special long before I knew why. It had been a Christmas gift from my parents back when I’d have chosen cars and trucks and guns. And yet there was, I sensed, something different about the boxed book with its black leatherette cover.
The Holy Bible
CONTAINING THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL TONGUES AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED. THE AUTHORIZED KING JAMES VERSION, 1611, RED LETTER EDITION.
I was 9.
Over the years, I made gradual progress deciphering the Book. But it was seven years later, at 16, that I first had the startling experience—and may I say how I felt it?—the startling experience of this Book “speaking to me.” It was a crisp, late-summer night high in California’s Sierra Nevada, before a crackling campfire, reading about the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The words, even the King James-ish thee’s and thou’s, seemed not so much a part of a book being read as a conversation being spoken. It was very much like being let in on a dreadful but exhilarating secret.
Was God “talking” to me through this Book of his?
I have occasionally had similar Bible reading experiences since. I have related, for instance, how the words, “Every good and perfect gift is from above” seemed to rise off the page as I had read them. Meaning was coming to me. Understanding. As if God were letting me in on another of his secrets: “Guess what? I am the giver of all your good experiences!”
I realize it is not uncommon for a reader to be struck by an aha! kind of feeling at reading most anything. Catching the meaning of something for the first time or seeing a concept in a new light may give a gentle high. But this was different because the ideas were different. God was letting me in on his thoughts.
I am now convinced that, in giving us the Bible, God has placed his secrets out in the open. Down where we can reach them.
Read them.
It does make sense to me, hearing these words I read as God’s. Think about it. God loves us—he’s dramatically demonstrated that. So wouldn’t he choose to communicate with us somehow? Wouldn’t he want us to avoid exhausting speculation about what he’s like and who Jesus was and where evil came from? Wouldn’t he warn us if he saw we were in danger?
God knows life can be perplexing, at times even sickening. Wouldn’t he give us information so we could understand it, and perspective so we could tolerate it?
God has expectations of us and has made promises to us. Wouldn’t he formalize things, put it all in writing like a contract?
And yet, I wonder: Why a book? Why written ideas? Why couldn’t God communicate, warn, inform, promise privately? With each of us, individually? Why couldn’t he simply whisper his ideas in my mind and yours and his and hers and theirs all at once? It would be so personal. So identifiable. So unmistakable. He is God, after all. He listens to millions of complex prayers simultaneously. Why couldn’t he talk to us—all of us—directly?
I have thought about this a lot and magnanimously grant that he could have spoken privately, individually, personally, simultaneously, directly. Since he didn’t, since he spoke through people into a Book, and through the Book to us, there must be some good reasons. And I have concluded there are some distinct advantages to receiving God’s secrets in a book.
The Book is objective. Objective, as in “object.” I can hold it, look at it, evaluate it, explain it. So can you. So can we, together. We can read it. Study it. We might come to different conclusions on the meaning of some phrase or idea, but we have a common source we can come back to: the Book.
Can you imagine, if we each claimed a private pipeline to God, how competitive we could become? Private “revelation” is so subjective. Subjective, as in “subject”—a subject in the mind to be pondered and discussed. We might disagree sharply. Who would arbitrate? And by what standards? How could we judge the ideas that you say flow through your direct, private pipeline? Or the ideas that I say God gave me?
The Book is something we can hold and value. I don’t mean worship; we worship God, not a book. And yet, these ideas about God are available in print. A portable library of life, telling the story of God’s unfailing love. Shouldn’t we value it?
